All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hello Corby,

You should check your local property code and see if they have a required a grace before you can charge a late fee.

In Texas the Property Code prohibits assessing a late fee until rent has remained unpaid for at least one full day after the date on which the rent is due.

Kevin

Hello Elicia,

Virtual assistants are getting more and more popular in property management.

We use virtual assistants for a lot of our data processing.

One of the things that we have our virtual assistants do is send a survey monkey survey out to our residents after a maintenance request has been completed.

Another thing that we have our virtual systems do is post our available rental properties on some of the rental websites for additional marketing.

We also use virtual assistants to update our property management software.

We have a different set of virtual assistants that specialize in handling after hour maintenance calls.

Virtual assistants make us much more efficient and free up our PMs to stay on top of their emails and phone communications with owners and tenants.

Good luck with your future endeavors in the virtual assistant world.

Kevin

Hello Lance,

Did your mom attached a signed letter in the email. Management agreements are basically real estate contracts and the proper way to terminate them is in writing with a signature of all parties that signed the management agreement. Just sending an email without a written signature is not necessarily an acceptable method of properly terminating a management agreement.

Usually management agreement can be terminated without any fees at the end of the lease agreement or any time the property is vacant. Again, I would recommend that you have a real estate attorney review the management agreement as they vary from company to company and state to state.

At this point I would have your attorney send them an official termination and to turn over all documentation and accounting for the funds in a timely.

I did a little googling and research on attorneys in the Memphis area and I found: Crislip, Philip and Associates, looks like they are familiar with landlord-tenant law - http://www.crislipphilip.com

The property manager should have given the tenant a receipt for each time the tenant paid cash.

There are some property management companies that give tenants a discount if the tenants pay on time or early. The property management agreement is a limited power of attorney and does give management companies the rights to negotiate rental amounts.

Also, I recommend you go after them for embezzlement if they do not provide you an accurate accounting of the funds. Judges take a very poor view of property managers that embezzle funds.

If the PM did not make any missing funds good you be able to get a judgment and submit it to the Real Estate Commission recovery fund.

In regards the lease agreement:

I know each state is different on their rules. In Texas, if you look at the parties listed on the lease agreement it is the owner and the tenant not the management company.

When you go to the signature page on the lease agreement that is where the management company signs on behalf of the owner.

I think the longer this situation goes, the messier it will become. My best advice is to be proactive as possible and engage a real estate attorney as quickly as possible, they will be able to you sound advice on what action you should take on your mom's behalf.

Hang in there!

Kevin

Hello Lance,

I am sorry you're still having problems with your property manager.

I'm not an attorney so I cannot give legal advice and I would recommend that you speak with the real state attorney and have them review your moms management agreement and send the management company a letter for them to cease-and-desist all property management activities and to turn over a copy of the lease agreement and accounting of all funds collected.

It is okay for an owner to fire a property manager, but you do need to review your moms management agreement with the property management company. Some management agreements require fees to be paid to the property management company to properly terminate the management agreement.

Usually when an owner terminates a management agreement for cause or negligence by the property management company the fees are waived. Terminating a management agreement for cause is not necessary just because of poor customer service by the management company. If the management company has failed to preform a duty in the management agreement such as not providing monthly statements or for properly accounting for funds, then you may have just cause.

Normally the lease agreement is between the owner of the property and the tenant and signed by the management company on behalf of the owner. The management agreement is like a limited power of attorney and gives the management company permission to sign the lease agreement on behalf of the owner.

I do not necessarily think it's a good thing the tenant may be getting an attorney involved as the management company works for your mom and if the management company were to damage the tenant's credit the tenant may also have some recourse against your mom. I think you really need to be proactive here and try to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

As far as getting a hold of the tenant you could probably pay UPS to deliver a notice to the property.

Again, I strongly recommend you get a real estate attorney involved to look over the property management agreement and send the management company a letter terminating their services and turning over the lease agreement and any documentation pertaining to the property and accounting for all funds.

I hope you get this result soon.

Kevin

Hello Joe and Steve,

Steve thank you for the kind words.

Joe, I would recommend that you respond to her in writing that she needs to put her repair request to you in writing according to her lease agreement.  I would send a letter regular mail and certified mail, this way you have a written documentation for your records.

 If she has mentioned anything that affects health and safety of an ordinary tenant you will want to jump on that right away regardless if it's in writing or not, but for any cosmetic or normal minor repairs you want it in writing.

 A lot of times it's a matter of educating and training the tenants that they need to follow their lease agreement.

Kevin

The best place to go to search for good property manager  is the National Association of Residential Property Managers. www.NARPM.org

You are able to search for members in your local area and then look for members with designations like Residential Management Professional (RMP) or Master Property Manager (MPM). These are property managers that are cut above the rest, and the ones that can be trusted to provide quality service and care for your investment property.

Also another designation to look for if you can find it is a company that has there CRMC designation. There are only about 50 management companies that are Certified Residential Management Companies. (CRMC).

These are companies that have been audited by the National Association of Residential Property Managers and have demonstrated a high standard for both procedures and customer service.

Again, I believe the best way to find a good property manager is to seek a property manager out and has invested in advanced training and education and has attained designations, usually they also have years of experience.

The best place to go to search for good property manager National Association of Residential Property Managers. www.NARPM.org

You are able to search for members in your local area and then look for members with designations like Residential Management Professional (RMP) or Master Property Manager (MPM). These are property managers that are cut above the rest, and the ones that can be trusted to provide quality service and care for your investment property.

Also another designation to look for if you can find it is a company that has there CRMC designation. There are only about 50 management companies that are Certified Residential Management Companies. (CRMC).

These are companies that have been audited by the National Association of Residential Property Managers and have demonstrated a high standard for both procedures and customer service.

Again, I believe the best way to find a good property manager is to seek a property manager out and has invested in advanced training and education and has attained designations, usually they also have years of experience.

The best place to go to search for good property manager National Association of Residential Property Managers. www.NARPM.org

You are able to search for members in your local area and then look for members with designations like Residential Management Professional (RMP) or Master Property Manager (MPM). These are property managers that are cut above the rest, and the ones that can be trusted to provide quality service and care for your investment property.

Also another designation to look for if you can find it is a company that has there CRMC designation. There are only about 50 management companies that are Certified Residential Management Companies. (CRMC).

These are companies that have been audited by the National Association of Residential Property Managers and have demonstrated a high standard for both procedures and customer service.

I believe the best way to find a good property manager is to seek a property manager out and has invested in advanced training and education and has attained designations, usually they also have years of experience.

As @Terry Hoefer said it sounds like attorney time.

The property management is the agent of the landlord and works for the landlord.

The landlord is overall responsible for the tenant security deposit.

Check with your new management company to see if they know of any good real estate attorneys in the area.

You may also want to check to see if property managers are required to be licensed by the Real Estate Commission to do property management which may give you further recourse.

I would definitely let them know that if they do not return the tenant security deposits very quickly that you would engage real estate attorney.

Send them a written demand letter certified, regular mail and email stating that they need to immediately transfer the tenant security deposits to you or your new management company within a few days. I would give them a set date and if the security deposits were not transferred on that date immediately have an attorney ready to go to take action.

Unfortunately, I have seen poor management companies mishandle their bookkeeping and accounting and were either unable to return the security deposit due to bad management practices, or simply embezzled the funds.

It Is like anything else, whether it be attorneys, doctors, roofers, etc. there is good and bad.

I strongly encourage landlords and investors when looking for a good property management company to go to the National Association of Residential Property Managers website: www.NARPM.org

Good property management pays for itself, while poor property management can cost an landlord thousands of dollars.

I sincerely hope you are able to recover the funds.

Kevin

Hello Lance,

I am just a little bit surprised to see that if the claim was filed through the real estate commission and that they found wrongdoing that they would not access the recovery fund. Is this not that what the recovery fund is for?

Each state is different and fortunately I have not had to deal with any problems that required money coming from our real estate commissions recovery fund.

If you have to go after them directly you will still need to use of the good real estate attorney.

Follow up with a real estate attorney and see if they come up with the same interpretations and what they recommend your best course of action is.

I know it is frustrating.

Kevin