Help! My PM did costly work on my duplex without my approval.

[Amber Masterson]

Cleveland City, OH is requiring rental property owners to test for and mitigate their properties for lead. My PM had the work done without getting my final approval to do the work. There are several issues with how they handled things:

1- There was no follow up on how and if I’d like to proceed.

2- The work was done without my final approval

3- I was never notified that the work was done.

4- The price I was charged was significantly more than was originally quoted. – $6,622 was charged vs the quoted $5,490. No one asked for my approval with the price difference.

5- I was never given an itemized list of the work done

6- They are taking the monthly rent payments from the property and putting it towards paying off the bill. They never asked my permission for that.

What should I do? How would you recommend handling the situation with the Property Manager? 

[Theresa Harris]

Check your agreement with your PM.  I'd find it hard to believe that they don't need your approval to spend that amount of money. I'd also ask them why the bill was >$1K higher than the quote.