PM couldnt find keys for Open House on Sat

I have a couple properties being managed by a major real estate agent in Sydney's lower north shore.

Long term tenants left one IP 2 Sundays ago. I got in there the Monday/day after, arranged quotes for painting and flooring, paid premium to tradies to have work done by last Wednesday, husband & I worked on site every night until past midnight to clean up the property (on top of our full time jobs), so that we could put the property on Domain last Thursday to advertise the first Open House last Saturday 2:30-2:45pm.

The floorplan that was done by the agent was missing a window in the main bedroom. Thought that was a problem.

PM advised me last Friday her male colleague will be showing the property on Sat. Never heard of him and never dealt with him before, but didn't think there would be an issue. How hard can it be to do an Open House!

Saturday morning, I text PM's colleague to ask him to point out to prospective renters there's a dishwasher in the kitchen during open house as it was not mentioned in the Domain listing. He promptly replied "that's all fine, leave it with me". I thanked him for his fast response.

Saturday noon, we flew to Melbourne to deal with our other IP, landed in Melbourne at 2:30pm. Didn't hear anything from PM's colleague, thought about following him up but decided I won't micro-manage, will trust him to do the job he's paid to do.

Spent the rest of Saturday dealing with IP in Melbourne ... heard NOTHING from him, not a call or text.

This morning (Tues morning) I receive a text from PM to say "the open house didnt take place on Saturday as the keys could not be located, apologies for this but confirm the keys are in our office and we will do inspection tomorrow (Wednesday)". So they've got the keys ... he just somehow couldn't find them ...

I didn't have time to call PM today but I just checked out the online listing, there's no inspection scheduled for tomorrow, it says "inspection by appointment".

Husband and I busted our a$$es to get this property ready for open house last Saturday, on top of finishing up a big reno for IP in Melb. The worst part is there's a key lock outside which had a set of spare keys, if PM's colleague who was doing the open house called me I would've given him the password and he could have carried out the open house.

I consider my PM competent. She's definitely one of the better PMs I have dealt with but I'm very disappointed by her colleague's incompetence and the agency in general.

I will call PM tomorrow to find out whether her male colleague even showed up to the property to take down the names and contact details of those who attended, whether they have followed them up, whether any of them has agreed to come back for an inspection ...

I've always considered the first open to be the most crucial one ... I may have lost out on some genuine applications or have prolonged the vacancy period as a result of his oversight.

Has this occurred to anyone? What would you do in my situation?

Thanks all.

 

Can't find they keys? That's a paddling.

 

That's pretty disappointing. I would expect an immediate phone call about the keys. I will also expect a same day phone call about the open for inspection - after he finds the keys! Can't be that hard to find a stored set of keys.

 

Ridiculous isnt it!

 

Out of all the incompetent things I have experienced from PMs over the years ... this one may top the list ...

 

I've had some mixed emotions about some PM's on the northern beaches. Our current PM is pretty good but I'm losing count of the times I have to email them about rent payments not going through on due date and statements not being emailed. Minor stuff in the scheme of things but it does worry me about the bigger issues arising if they can't get the small thing right.
Inspections are not a small thing though - that potentially money from your pocket.

 

If it was "the truth" I am sure there would of been an immediate phone call to you to check if anyone local had a set of keys. Might have been an easy fix

 

You sound like my boss at work.

Whenever he tries to complete a task I always try and sabotage it lol.

 

is the open inspection for tomorrow a rescheduled inspection time to the people who turned up and were not able to view the property on Saturday?

Having trusted incompetent people in the past with clients I really value, I also feel sorry for your pm

 

This can happen with large agencies that have many properties to show on the one day leading to wrong or forgotten keys.

The person doing the open house is most likely an assistant, which is why you haven't heard of the person before. It's quite common and the property manager may even have Saturdays off or every 2nd Saturday off which is why the property manager did not call you about it earlier.

In the end, it is up to you if you forgive the mistake and how you want your property handled.

 

Can you ask for any compensation for this? That's just poor customer service from the PM's colleague.

 

In this case, best thing to ask for is to waive the letting fee.

 

Being through a similar incompetence before. During one of my open homes, I was passing by and saw some people standing outside the house, but no PM in sight. I went there, acting as another prospective tenant and the guys said they have been waiting but no one showed up. I didn't have the keys on me.
Left from there and called the REA office after sometime, the person who was supposed to be at the open home said he was there but no one showed up for entire open home duration. I spoke the principal of the agency, who was unaware of the situation and needless to say that guy was fired with immediate effect.

 

I just don't get the point of lying about it. Surely their job is worth more to them than lying and losing it!

 

They should have contacted you or arranged a locksmith to open up the property. Things such as getting the details wrong in the ads, not communicating etc are not little things for a good office.

I personally would start talking to other agencies and walk the listing.

At the very least, contact the licensee in writing (and the franchisor if there is one) and place your concerns forward with a please explain and how are they to be mitigated in the future.

 

Keys are required to be tagged and kept in a key safe. If they had the keys which were returned by the tenant /subbies they'd have 3 sets to account for.

Why did they go to site without the keys or wrong keys? (Maybe mon keys).

 

I had a similar experience, also on Sydney's lower north shore. First Saturday open for the IP, agent left the keys at his office. My friend who lived across the hallway said there were well over a dozen groups standing around watching the agent futilely bang on the door.

Thankfully he successfully opened again the following Wednesday and signed a tenant immediately.

 

It was a mistake. Most of the time, all of the sets for the property are kept together on one key ring, which makes issues like this hard to work around if they are misplaced.