Problem with Property Management Company

[John Gerwatosky]

Hi all,

I signed up with a Property Management company back in October last year (2018). Since day one, it has been spotty communication with them and I could never get real answers out of the owner of the staff. Whenever I sent emails, they would go unanswered. Whenever I would call to ask for a question, they would say "We will check and have the owner call you back" and still would RARELY get responses. I only had two units (SFR) with them starting back in October which were both rented under Section 8. They were only collecting rent from one of the units (Only half rent), because one of the units was fully paid by Section 8 and the other was 50% paid by Section 8. All in all, my point is that they did not have much work to take care of with my units so the spotty communication was odd. I recently purchased a Duplex and had them take care of this unit as well (Bought the end of February).

I came to find out that one of my Section 8 SFR was vacant for all of January and all of February. I had absolutely no idea because at the beginning of the year, I was paid the rent for both SFR units. Then when February came, I did not receive any rents. I got a letter from Section 8 that stated "Please be advised that because of the Government shutdown rents will be delayed." I basically assumed that the money would be deposited in March. So I waited and waited up until the beginning of March (And the money only came for half of one unit) and called Section 8 to find out that one of my units has been Vacant since the beginning of January and all of February. I called my Property Management company to ask what the deal was and they had absolutely NO CLUE that it had been vacant for that long....

Another issue I was facing was that every month, I would not receive my payment till closer to the 26-28th of every month. It would take them almost an entire month to send rent to me that was collected on the first of the month. I recently found a new Property Management company that is very reputable and I was very excited to switch. However my old PM company is telling me that I am bound by the contract. 

My question is, how do I get out of the contract without buying myself out?

I sent over the contract back in October and they never sent me a signed copy back. My assumption is that they honestly probably lost my contract and dont have it. Should I request it and hope that they dont have access to it anymore? 

The contract states:

"Term of Agreement: This agreement will continue from the date hereof for a period of eighteen (18) months beginning on the first of the month following the signing of this Agreement.

Early Termination: In that event that Owner chooses to terminate this Agreement at any time prior to the date determined, Owner must make a single payment to Lindsay, the amount of which will be determined by the following formula: Ten percent (10%) of the rents which would have been collected by Lindsay between the date of Owner's early termination and the date determined in the Term of Agreement clause as the normal termination date of this Agreement."

Keep in mind, I only signed a contract for 2 SFR (Not the duplex). Also that one of the SFR is vacant currently.

Rent of each unit:

1. SFR: $645

2. SFR: $645

3. Duplex: $400 each unit 

What are my options to get out of this contract? 

Please keep in mind that they never sent back an executed copy of the agreement (They never signed it). PLEASE HELP!