Contacting tenants when you have a property manager

[Matt McKinney]

My rentals are mostly multi family buildings with one single family thrown in. I hired a property manager for that property (as well as 12 other units) recently the market is booming and the tenants lease is up. I decided to sell so I could put the money in a stronger investment. Informed the property manager I would not be renewing their lease and intended to sell in early March. I enlisted the help of a good friend and realtor and she recommended I reach out to the tenants to see if they had any interest in purchasing before signing all the real estate paperwork and saving $ in commissions. On my monthly statements it lists the name of the tenant so from that I looked up their info on google. It’s all public record. I called them and explained I was the owner of the home and was offering them first right of refusal since the property was going up for sale as soon as their lease is up May 1. They were nice enough but said they had no interest in buying. Today the manager calls me and is ticked off. She said they were angry and called her and said they didn’t appreciate me calling them and demanded to know how I got their info. She said all communication has to go through her and they never give out tenant information. I told her I looked it up and it’s my house so I should have access to it if I wanted it. The contract with the property manager doesn’t say anything about them being entitled m to a cut of the sale if The tenants end up buying it so I wasn’t cutting her out. She wouldn’t get anything if she would have made the call and they did buy. So who is right here? Do I have a right to know contact info of the people in my rental or does it violate their privacy. The contract also says nothing about me having info or contacting tenants it’s a really basic two page contract.

[Kim Meredith Hampton]

Matt,

I look at this from the PM angle. You do have the right to contact the tenant, but really should have let the PM know you wanted do this. You made her look in competent and out of the loop, secondly, the tenant now has your phone number and will wast no time calling you if they don't like what the PM is asking them to do, or if telling them cant do this or that....Its like asking daddy, then going to mommy for a different answer. Our jobs as PM are sometimes thankless, 24 hours a day and want and need cooperation from our landlords.