Property managers allowed unsupervised showings, resulting in theft

[Account Closed]

Hello! After years of self-managing our single-family rentals, we decided to hire a property manager to provide full service management. I understand that it's unrealistic to expect anyone to treat your property with the same level of care you would, but the company we hired has been a NIGHTMARE. 

The most concerning is that they allowed unsupervised showings on a vacant unit- something we were not aware of until serious theft had occurred. The details of the incident remain unclear, but they intentionally granted access to someone who subsequently stole major appliances. The management company replaced some of them, however there are still several other fees related to the theft that we are trying to get reimbursed for (they told us we would not be charged, they charged us anyways). There are several other issues (undisclosed maintenance markup fees, excessive charges to our account, significant reductions to agreed rent without communication, etc). We have a PMA, but it doesn't  seem to address these things in a way that is specific enough to where they're violating the agreement. I am wondering if anyone has ever taken legal action against property managers, and if they think we have a potential case? I hate to go that direction, but their negligence has cost us thousands. Thanks in advance!

[Jonathan Greene]

Quote from @Account Closed:

Hello! After years of self-managing our single-family rentals, we decided to hire a property manager to provide full service management. I understand that it's unrealistic to expect anyone to treat your property with the same level of care you would, but the company we hired has been a NIGHTMARE. 

The most concerning is that they allowed unsupervised showings on a vacant unit- something we were not aware of until serious theft had occurred. The details of the incident remain unclear, but they intentionally granted access to someone who subsequently stole major appliances. The management company replaced some of them, however there are still several other fees related to the theft that we are trying to get reimbursed for (they told us we would not be charged, they charged us anyways). There are several other issues (undisclosed maintenance markup fees, excessive charges to our account, significant reductions to agreed rent without communication, etc). We have a PMA, but it doesn't  seem to address these things in a way that is specific enough to where they're violating the agreement. I am wondering if anyone has ever taken legal action against property managers, and if they think we have a potential case? I hate to go that direction, but their negligence has cost us thousands. Thanks in advance!

What due diligence did you do before hiring them? You should fire them right away and talk to an attorney to prevent the loss, but I wouldn't expect much and it could be a waste since a company that does this will not have the money to do anything.

When you have just one unit and you are looking for PM companies, your options are the bottom of the barrel because it's not a good use of the big one's time.