Could I Sue? - my property manager's handyman scared my tenant

[Account Closed]

My property management company received a call from my tenant..

Now I think the tenant wants to break the lease because of what he said. 

Do you think I have any legal recourse against the maintenance man for giving recommendations where he wasn't qualified to do so. 

Im likely going to be out of rent. 

She had a concern about the floors. It's a pier and beam house and she thought there was a dip in section of the flooring. 

I received the maintenance guy's feedback and he went wayy outside the scope of checking things out and reporting back to me for next steps.

He spent 10 minutes at the property and decided to speculate that the ceiling was falling, that there was "probable foundation damage, caused by probable probable pest damange. 

He suggested that I relocate the tenant while repairs are being made. 

Keep in mind I had a professional home inspection done a year ago that didn't find any of those things. 

[Ricardo R.]

@Account Closed sorry to hear that. As you're starting to narrow it down, your issue is with your PM and your realtor too at this point. However, I would say that your PM is not a general contractor but which needs to hire a qualified and licensed contractor to assess your property. Your PM has no direct involvement here in giving you the assessment that your received for your property. The issue here is of course that your PM needs to vet their licensed contractors more closely. I would say again however, that neither you nor your PM are licensed contractors and if this gentleman is a licensed contractor he IS by default the subject matter expert and his opinion IS valid whether you agree with it nor not - it is valid until you get another licensed contractor to disprove it... most 'home inspectors' are not licensed contractors and in fact most home inspection reports actually state right on them that the home inspector is not responsible for missed items. 

If you had hired a licensed contractor yourself and the same thing happened you most likely would not be able to sue unless you could prove that the contractor was acting out of malice or intention to hurt your business but a recommendation or opinion on construction/repair/maintenance issues from a licensed contractor is very much within their scope even if it may be wrong but still follows code and other laws, it is within their scope and different contractors will have different opinions which is why they need to be licensed.  

With that said however, you didn't hire the contractor yourself and instead looked and placed your trust in your PM to do so and so... yes your PM should vet their contractors closer and should ultimately be looking to making things right with you. I do think it is shady that they went behind your back to attain the inspection report from your realtor but they may have been trying to validate your concerns so that they could make it right... regardless they should have asked you and should have gone through you first! Your realtor here too, is a bit at fault for releasing your inspection report without your consent. Ultimately, whether your PM is at fault here or not, they should be looking to resolve the issue in some way that will make you happy after all you do look to to them to lessen your stress and ensure your property is run smoothly and so if they don't at least make an attempt to make it right somehow, I would look to find another PM which is more of a 'partner' with you, instead of just a hired management company. I hope this helps and hope you resolve the tenant issue.