Is Property Management company responsible for this?

Question

Hello

Bought a single family residence from a full service company that rehabs houses and then manages. In the course of responding to an emergency call from the tenant this week, property manager discovered co-tenant that rented in 2015 is no longer living there (OK) and that other co-tenant moved in his girlfriend and her 2 kids at some point, without notifying property manager. Is it typical for property management company to keep tabs on who is living at a property? PM has also done several maintenance tasks at the house since purchase.

Brad Larsen · Answer

@Janet Lancaster Expecting a Property Manager to live under an expectation of knowing who is coming and going at a home at any given time is unreasonable. Here is the first question in doing what you want that you should ask - HOW?How would someone - anyone - know who is coming in and out of a home? Drive by daily? Install a camera system in the home? Hire a bouncer to sit at the door every day? The tenant is not going to willingly call the PM and explain the situation in 99/100 cases. Nor are they going to want to go thru the hassle of doing applications and paying for the fees associated. They will take their chances and do what they want to do in their own home. (In their mind - it's their home).Recommend working with the PM a bit closer and focus on the positive. Are they paying rent on time? Now that you know what is going on - is the tenant willing to update the lease? Hope this helps.

Michael Griffith · Answer

In our area, yes. Our terms are that anyone over 18 living in the home must be on the lease. For liability and legal reasons. Our PM agreements also allow reasonable maintenance requests under 250 to be done without owner approval.

Steve Maginnis · Answer

Hello @Janet Lancaster. It's very difficult to keep track of tenants who are supposed to be living in a property. Many PM's rent properties without ever seeing the lease signers, much less all of the occupants. I know I'm not good with names or faces, so If I don't see a tenant for six months or so, I likely would not recognize them . Most tenants are "off the radar" so to speak, which is a good thing because it means they do what they are supposed to and don't call in constantly for problems. It's even hard to know if a PM does periodic inspections. For example, a single mother tenant may have a boyfriend who is over when they perform the inspection. Do they live there or are they only visiting? It's tough to know, or believe what the tenant says. Sure, maybe the PM could investigate to see if there are men's clothes, shoes, etc. in the MBR closet, but it's still hard to prove, and even harder to prove if you go to court. I don't feel it is reasonable to blame the manager for not knowing, unless there are other contributing factors. Many tenants tend to do what they want regardless of how the lease reads. It can be very hard to evict for breach of lease. You need to have enough proof to convince the magistrate/judge.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I'm with Brad. The PM can't possibly monitor the home. If the PM personally visited during the previous maintenance request and saw that someone else was living there, then they should have acted. But the PM probably sent a vendor to the home and the vendor doesn't know or care who is living there. It's unlikely the PM knew.Once the PM does know, he should act by notifying the tenant it is a violation of the lease and require the additional adult to apply and be added to the lease. That's assuming the lease is written properly.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Does the property manager do regular inspections of the units during the year? If so, this is a good time for them to ask if everyone on the lease is living there or if there are people who aren't on the lease living in the unit. You can also remind them that you/PM need to know who is living in the unit. What happens if there is a fire or something?

Janet Lancaster · Answer

Are you as Property Manager responsible for keeping tabs on who is living in the house? This is the heart of the question.

Timmi Ryerson · Answer

I agree with Theresa. The Property Manager should be doing inspections of the property at least every 6 months. At that time it would be clear that there were children and probably another adult living in the property. I would not want to use a property management company that did not know who was living in the property at any given time. But I do agree that this kind of issue can be worked out with an agreement that your property manager does inspections. I would also ask them to send you copies of the inspection reports. For sure having kids and another adult will cause more wear and tear on the property. It may be a good reason to raise the rent at the next lease renewal period.

Margie Niedecker · Answer

I agree with Steve Maginnis, it is difficult to track. The PM discovered it and did report to you. The bigger question is - now that it's been discovered, what action is the Property Manager going to take?

Lien Vuong · Answer

@Janet Lancaster yes - it has a direct relationship with their responsibilities. They are accountable for your building and everyone that lives in it. More tenants means more wear and tear, water costs, and liability on your insurance. They should be accountable for any changes that they see and report to you.