Property Manager refuses to be fired!

[Roger Pearce]

For many years we had a fantastic PM for our 2 properties here in Ga. and in October she abruptly sold all her management contracts to a bigger company that has made multiple mistakes, is not transparent with communication and overcharges us for repairs. We would like to leave them and we have a new manager in mind.

Our contract with our old manager began with a satisfaction provision stating that if we are not happy with her performance we are welcome to give her 30 days notice and leave without penalty. That contract was sold to the new PM company in October and we have not been asked to sign a new contract with them. Just like all management agreements there is a 'Term' provision that states that their management contract will renew when the lease renews unless we give them 60 days+ notice before the renewal date. The contract does not make any mention of any penalties for firing them mid contract presumably because the satisfaction guarantee would supersede any fees.

To make a long story short the new management company is saying that the satisfaction guarantee is not a binding part of the contract and they choose to go by the 'Term' provision so we have to wait until the lease is renewed. Incidentally one of the leases is up for renewal in about 11 months. It should be up in 7 months but the new manager forgot to get the renewal contract signed for 4 months after they had told us it was complete (and didn't even charge the month to month rate) so their lease renewed last month when we pointed out their mistake. The  new PM is insistent that their lawyers have assured them that the 'Term' provision is all that matters and that the satisfaction guarantee is useless. He has offered to let us out of our contracts early but we would have to pay all management fees they would have received for the remainder of the contract. As I mentioned, no penalty for early termination is mentioned in the contract from our old manager, and we have never been asked to sign a new contract with this new PM.
So, what can I do? Sure I could just have the locks changed and tell the tenants that we have a new manager. But then I expect the current manager would just refuse to hand over the security deposits etc and may even threaten to sue for even more. If they refuse to pass the security deposits to the new manager what recourse do I have? Does hiring a lawyer usually scare companies like this into being honest? Does anyone here know good arbitrators in Atlanta?

I'm attaching a copy of the first page of the contract. Am I in the right or am I delusional?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Roger Pearce

[Adam Martin]

I’m also for going over their head and filing with the real estate commission.  You don’t get to pick and choose what part of a contract you follow and if their lawyer told them they could he is just as incompetent as they are and this should be an easy case.  Don’t forget the power of reviews as well as they can be very damaging to a company.  Never lie and only post factual information a potential client would want to know.  If they live up to their contract you may be willing to delete or amend them.