How do you deal with these PM

[TheAnalyst]

Hi,

I have a property currently under an agent's management. I am not only unhappy but angry with their management. They keep lying to me.

Under the conditions of management, I specified that they need contact me regarding any repair work. It was said the tenants reported to them urgent water tap leaking. They said someone from their office rang me. However, I never received a call from them and no phones left on my mobile (I only left my mobile no to them). They iniated the work which was 5 days later done by a crappy plubmer for $300 (to their claimed date of contacting me as urgent). I only knew after 2 months when I received the statement.

I knew they did not ring me. The tenants advised me they contacted weeks ago before the PM's office receptionist sent out a plumber to have a look.

The same PM recently insepcted the same property but did NOT see the running shower rose (not on their inspect report). After a week from their inspection, the PM sent me in email regarding the leaking. It took me 2 hours to reseat the tap because it was eroded too deep. It has been leaking for a long time.

I am taking back the property. I wanted them to refund me $300 because I had a condition in place. They made up by saying they rang me and it was an urgency. I am planning to take them to an independtant body. $300 was not much money but I am feeling angry about these crooked PMs.

Any advice please?

 

[yadreamin]

I am not sure where you can take your complaint in WA.
It is obviously a very slack PM.
We too have written instructions about the maintenance in the PM agreement. We attend to all maintenance imediatley and all parties concerned apreciate this.
The Pm did advise us that if there was a real urgency ie. burst pipe or electrical they would call in the tradies ASAP. We agreed.

The leaking tap doesnt really cut it though does it?

I would write or have writtten[by legal mate] a very professional letter stating the facts of the agreement and the incident and dates of repairs and your intentions to recover the costs from the PM.
Send this to the PM and then you may get a more favourable response like a cheque for $300. before you incure any more expenses.
They know they are in the wrong.

If your ip is in the Mandurah area l have 2 fabulous PMs that l can highly recommend to you.
Let us know how you get on with this.
cheers
yadreamin

 

[TheAnalyst]

I am not sure where you can take your complaint in WA.
It is obviously a very slack PM.
We too have written instructions about the maintenance in the PM agreement. We attend to all maintenance imediatley and all parties concerned apreciate this.
The Pm did advise us that if there was a real urgency ie. burst pipe or electrical they would call in the tradies ASAP. We agreed.

The leaking tap doesnt really cut it though does it?

I would write or have writtten[by legal mate] a very professional letter stating the facts of the agreement and the incident and dates of repairs and your intentions to recover the costs from the PM.
Send this to the PM and then you may get a more favourable response like a cheque for $300. before you incure any more expenses.
They know they are in the wrong.

If your ip is in the Mandurah area l have 2 fabulous PMs that l can highly recommend to you.
Let us know how you get on with this.
cheers
yadreamin

Thank you Yadreamin. I got annoyed by their attitude. They had done many wrong things. If they simply appologised to me, I would have fogiven them. On the one side, they not only denied the fact but on the other side, they still exagerated that how good they were --- care for the property, got a high rent, ....

 

[marg4000]

Put it in writing and decide exactly what you want from them.

I have had money refunded from agents for:
1. a hot water system that was replaced without getting a quote. The amount was excessive and in the end we went halves.
2. work that was charged to me but not carried out.

Probably time to look around for another PM.
Marg

 

[TheAnalyst]

Put it in writing and decide exactly what you want from them.

I have had money refunded from agents for:
1. a hot water system that was replaced without getting a quote. The amount was excessive and in the end we went halves.
2. work that was charged to me but not carried out.

Probably time to look around for another PM.
Marg

Thank Marg. These PMs are extactly like yours. I suspect they have a kick back from these tradeperson because they charge twice as normal work rate.

 

[Xenia]

I fully understand your concerns and agree the service is slack! The management agreement you have signed with them would allow them to call a plumber for urgent repairs without calling you first.

A refund of $300 and allowing you out of the contract will be at their discretion as they are under no legal obligation to do either. Fairness aside, I'm just commenting from a contract perspective.

I hope your tenants are paying for water

 

[lizzie]

The same PM recently insepcted the same property but did NOT see the running shower rose (not on their inspect report).

you wouldn't own camel's place would you?

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44672

 

[handyandy]

Give the Pm the flick..ASAP

Its really not worth getting hot under the collar about, Whether you get any retribution re the $300 or not are you really going to trust them moving forward? It appears to me that prior to this you already had problems and don't trust them so treat this as the last straw.

Cheers

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

$300 for fixing a leaking tap is a bit rich. It's a 10 minute job costing about $2 in materials. It doesn't require a qualified plumber to carry it out either and the agent should know that.

 

[The Fence]

Lose the PM...quick!

Manage it yourself, that way you have full control.....how are they going to perform when there are tenant problems...? they will dissapoint you again and again......

I could never trust them and they always claimed how good they were when they were absolutely hopeless.....

This is another terrible example of so called professionals NOT doing their job....

 

[TheAnalyst]

Thank you all.

I am getting rid of the PM and I am taking back sometime next week. They are just lazy, greedy and negligent. They prepared my property condition report - $187 for a renovated 4x2 no furniture.

 

[voigtstr]

What do people think of using a PM to get the place tenanted, but then self managing after that?

 

[The Fence]

You would be better off finding that tenant that you are going to end up managing.....dealing with them from the start.

I feel the agent may keep their good ones and pass off a not so good one to you knowing they are not on managing for you......

Might as well do the whole job not half a job.....

just my 2c...it works for me...

 

[wylie]

What do people think of using a PM to get the place tenanted, but then self managing after that?

We have done this a couple of times, and in the past year or so, agents are much more interested in doing this because of the tight market, but in years past, it has been almost a complete waste of time.

We have found a great agency who calls around, takes good photos and gets us on the net and this is the only agent we would bother with. They know that either they or we will find a tenant, and that we are not shopping our rental to any other agencies. They are happy if we find a tenant ourselves. In the past, I have run around local agents, given them all the details, and have not heard a peep from them. I don't understand why they even say "yes" if they have no plan to ever send anybody to us.

Anyway, as I said, last year or so this great agency does a great job, and has found us a couple of tenants. It is easy money for them with no ongoing hassles, but because we have built a relationship, we feel comfortable that they will not send us the "dregs".

 

[TheAnalyst]

I managed to rent out 2 of the 3 properties in 2 weeks with great tenants at top dallars. But the agents (for the surburb) got 10 siminar properties sitting on the websites and charging their clients' fees for nearly 3 months.... I do believe when you look for potential tenants, you would act more efficently and deligently than the agents. For the first few applicatns I ended up travelling 200km to check where they live and how they live and spent a lot of phone calls to their employors and landlords.... Would you think the PM would do these for you? No way. All they want is to put someone in your house and start to collect money from you. Without the tenants, means they have no income!