Problem with Rochester Property Management

[Brian Roces]

I'm still a sophomore when it comes to REI I have several properties in different states so I have different property managers. I've dealt good PM and decent ones. I finally hit a bad one, and that one was replace by a worse one (same company)

I'm having and issue closing up a relationship with a property management company in Rochester, NY. 

I have severed ties with them  as of September 30, 2015 and am still waiting for final numbers and payments on November 13, 2015, almost 2 months later. 

The property manager seems to have falsified repairs, inflated invoices, and possibly rented apartments without leases and pocketed the proceeds. I'm working on building the case against this PM but would like advice as to where I should start my complaints and what kind of legal action I can take. 

Thanks in advance!

[Rebecca Lebowitz]

Coming from a property manager, I'm always really distraught when I hear these stories, and sadly they happen far too frequently.   I've gotten calls from three investors in the past 2 weeks with similar stories from their previous property managers and it never ceases to stop upsetting me to hear these horror stories from my counterparts.

You said that it "seems" to be they falsified repairs-do you have proof of this?  You can demand access into your properties, with of course proper notification given to the tenants, if it's currently occupied.  Take pictures, then match with invoices (i.e-if they charged you for a new hot water tank but the ones in the property clearly are dated)

If there are Sec 8 or DSS tenants that possibly were placed there, you could check with the agencies and give them the addresses of the properties and see if they had been paying rent payments for those properties (note: they will NOT give you tenant info, but at this point you probably just want to know if there were tenants in there at all).  Of course you can match this with any documentation the PM stated the property was vacant.

Inflating invoices may be a bit more difficult to "prove" and get award damages, because a lot of times repairs can be subjective and depend on other factors surrounding the repair.  But depending on how egregious the invoice amount in relation to the repair was (using hot water tank example: $2k for a hot water tank, sometime outrageous like that) may be pursuable.

Best of luck to you, and I promise not all property managers are bad!