What happens when a pool isn't properly maintained?

Several things can happen to a pool if it isn't maintained properly.  One of the more interesting effects we've seen is shown in the pictures below.  Yes, this actually has happened to one of our properties.  Since we specialize in turning non-performing properties into valuable, income producing assets we see many problems that many management companies don't generally deal with.  In this example we took over management of this property in February from an owner and manager that doesn't have the best reputation in our area.  I'm not going to name names but let's just say people around here don't enjoy doing business with this guy.

Enough background, lets get to the facts.  The previous owner/manager capped a crucial hydrostatic relief valve at the bottom of the pool which is a major no no.  The hydrostatic relief valve is meant to relieve water pressure that builds up underneath and around the pool when the ground is over-saturated.  Large amounts of rain, which we've had at all of our properties lately, cause the ground to become over saturated with water.  This in turn puts an immense amount of pressure on the pool.  It can be so much pressure that if not relieved properly it can push an empty pool out of the ground by more than a foot!

This is what happened to our pool.  Since the old management company capped the hydrostatic relief valve (we were not aware of this) when the rain came there was no place for the water to go so it actually pushed the pool out of the ground about 13".  Had the hydrostatic relief valve been working properly the extra water would have been released into the pool, relieving the pressure and preventing our pool becoming a boat!

As you can imagine this is not a cheap or quick fix.  Because it was raised so much all of the connecting pipes were damaged beyond repair.  We will be replacing this pool with a much nicer one but in the meantime it's definitely out of commission.  Since we don't have a working pool onsite and the temperatures are reaching 100 we are giving our tenants free passes to the YMCA water park nearby.  All residents can use these passes to take their whole family whenever they please for the rest of the summer.  By the time summer comes back around next year we will have the new pool in and operational.