Property Manager Disaster!!!

[Yvette V.]

I hired a property manager for one of my properties who also found the tenant. The tenant has paid late from day one and property manager has been very lenient so it has only gotten worse. This month she decided that she did not want to deal with the problem and it only been less than 2 months. So she terminated our agreement. We are still within the 30 day term period but she won't tell me if the tenant paid her for the rent and has stopped communicating. Any thoughts that wont get me in trouble? :-)

[Ricky A.]

@Yvette V. ,

Wow! That's tough!

I'm not sure if the PM having E&O would help much. Since she's not communicating, how do you find out if she has it? Plus, I'm thinking it would only kick in if there's a suit and she called on it. Since she's new to PMing, I doubt if she has it anyway.

Reading your story, I'm just thinking of the psychology behind it. New property manager, lenient to tenant on move in amount, lenient on late rent, doesn't want to deal with a PM 101 issue...sounds to me like she's extreme in avoiding confrontation.

In that case, I would "pop in" on her and demand an answer to the questions in person. She's not communicating because she doesn't want to deal with you just like she refused to deal with the tenant. Don't give her a choice by showing up unannounced.

Also, giving her the space to tell the truth is important. If you think she might have been misusing the tenants funds, you might want to give the appearance of giving her an out by letting her know you can work something out. Getting to the truth is, of course, the goal.