Hi Guys New here and first post so go easy on me please. Sorry about the novel. My wife and I purchased a 10 acre property built in 2010 in the Logan area in May 2017. We decided to use a chain real estate agent as our property manager, based on the professionalism of the one particular agent we dealt with while we were viewing properties. Based on the amount of management fee, my wife and I believed that the property manager would get 2 or 3 quotes for repairs which we have asked for, have the repairs conducted in a timely manner, collect rent and conduct inspections. 6 months later, my wife and I are concerned that the property manager’s inability to act is causing much unnecessary damage due to their extreme incompetence and a lack of care of our property. Their communication is slow, unclear, inconsistent and not comprehensive at all. They only answer what they are comfortable to answer. The contract states that we are not permitted to use another property manager until the contract expires in May and feel trapped in their very bad service. What is the best course of action? Can we change property managers without headaches? Should we take legal action for unnecessary damages and or ignoring requests? We may have a hard time proving though. Please any advice would be greatly appreciated Here are examples of their bad services; 1. Before the tenant moves in, we needed to inspect the property and pick up some items left on the property, so we also attempted to clean the house ourselves during this visit. Since we were not able to steam clean the carpet, so we asked them to hire the cleaner for that & let us know if there are any additional cleaning needs to be done. Without any communication, we suddenly received the invoice came through at just over $900, $700 was for the general cleaning. After pointing out half of the work on their list was already done by us, the price changed to $330 in total. Despite the fact they claimed that they had to use the cleaner to meet their “professional standard”, we received the complaints from the tenants at first inspection of the property not being cleaned before moving in. 2. Other items on the property needed repairs after the first inspection most of which I had to organise myself in order to get it done. All of the invoices for repairs they did organise came through at around 3 times the quoted price to me. And some items like cracked tiles have still yet to be repaired as far as we can figure out, as after multiple requests to inform us when the repairs have been completed have been ignored, we only receive invoices. 3. For such a new house at least 1 repair request per month is lodged, but they do not seem to have a process to keep track of them. 4. We attempts to get a quote to build a driveway as currently it is a crappy dirt track 145M long with a dirt channel down the side. All vendors we have approached have said that they were unable to gain access to the property to properly quote as the real estate was too hard to deal with and the 2 quotes I did get the vendors admitted to me that they entered the property illegally in order to gain required measurements. apparently as predicted the driveway has since partially washed away due to recent rains in the area. 5. The oven stopped working in August they were told to get it fixed ASAP, it did not get replaced until just after Christmas and only when the cooktop also apparently stopped working in late October/early November, yet both were not even quoted until mid December. That was because the property manager asked us to pick the oven without giving us measurements, so we had to wait for them to come back with info. Once we selected a particular model, the property manager told us that the measurement actually needed to be done by the appliance company. As the vendor only gave us one model which we didn’t want, we had to do another search to provide another model. There are lot of waiting time between those email exchanges too. This kind of ineffective communication happens all the time. 5. Mould was reported in a bedroom in late October, so we advised to get it fixed ASAP to prevent any damage we did not get a quote for fixing this issue until just before Christmas a subsequent image of the mould clearly shows it is spreading and getting worse. The quote was worded as if they had not inspected the property, so we have asked the property manager. They had no idea if they actually attended, so had to ask the tenant. This has not been still fixed, so we asked them to do so by the end of next week. No reply so far. thank you Davo
The quickest and easiest way is to pay their management fees out in advance and just wipe your hands of the grubs. There's normally something written into your contract with the agent about this, good thing to do is read it.
I assume the contract runs out in May 2018? I wouldn't be 'paying it out'. I'd be speaking to the head honcho at the real estate and making a formal complaint, detailing everything you have just written. Then tell them you want to terminate the contract early on the basis that they aren't doing what they get paid for - and that they're lucky you aren't asking for your money back (or maybe you are?). Seek another PM, and then get them to talk to each other to transfer documents and keys etc.
If they're making that many mistakes there's no doubt that higher management know what's going on, the OP will not be the only one that's complained. They'll justify their actions with some far out stretched response meanwhile they hold the reins on your house where you can occur bigger losses from their laziness or incompetence. A lot of RA's these days will be pay the exit fee for you just to get the business. I would have got my house out of their hands as quick as possible, it's not a toy car you're dealing with here and they can pull all sorts of vindictive stuff on you at the end of the tenancy. I've learnt my lesson from going through this a few times.
There's a number of issues here- but we'll start with the Elephant in the room. If you're talking about Logan in QLD (?), then it is COMPLETELY ILLEGAL for you to be on a "contract". The termination clause for a continuing appointment (i.e. Property Management) cannot be changed under any circumstances- it is thirty days unless mutually agreed to be sooner.
They would have had to sign a Form 6 and a Property management schedule. I believe it would be a legal binding agreement between the LL and RA.
That's right. The Form 6 is the only form that can be used to appoint an agent, and the termination clause for a continuing appointment on a Form 6 cannot be changed under any circumstances.
And if you're in breach of the condition by not giving them a months notice of termination then what ? We've already seen on here with a post of a LL having problems when the RA denied keys to be handed over to the new PM. I've been in a similar boat where the RA wouldn't hand the keys over and claimed they lost all the files and keys when I appointed a new PM. If you had a bad falling out with the PM, they normally bag you out to the new PM and you might start off on the wrong foot them also. When a PM does a lot of mistakes and you wait till the lease finishes to terminate the agreement, it normally doesn't end good from my experience, hence why I said it's easier to pay them out and move on.
I've read on here many times (and on the old forum) that many PMs will take over the management and offer to take no fees for the notice period with the old PM. I'd be wanting a new PM to take over that very day. Walk in and ask for your files (or get the new PM to do it) and pay the old PM the required 30 days.
I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not talking about any problems you might have within the rightful thirty day termination period, the issue is that the original poster said there is a clause in their management agreement that claims to bind them to that agency until May. This is highly illegal.
Hi Guys thank you for your input I have reread the contract and it does state that the contract finishes on 27th May 2018 and that if I were to terminate early that I would owe the value of the contract up to that date approximately 20 weeks of management fees I do remember that there was a statement of cannot select another property manager until this date however I have failed to locate it in the contract this time around I assume this clause is what you are stating is illegal? I will reread I have since found out that they have yet to replace the oven and stove top but have already taken payment they have also just informed me they have just booked the mould men to attend site for inspection despite previous emails with quotes. where do you think I should go from here?
From what you have written last night, it seems that they may be defrauding you by taking payment for the oven and stovetop. A payment to a solicitor to check your contract would probably cost less than 20 week's PM fee. There are lawyer's on PC who deal with Property issues.
Yes, the term you described cannot be inserted into a Form 6 Appointment of Agent. My suggested course of action; 1. Contact agents to; - Clarify the mould quote. It's quite possible they could have quoted without visiting if the images were good. You just want to make sure there is a guarantee with the work. - Challenge them on why the oven and stovetop haven't been replaced. 2. Contact the RTA, Office of Fair Trading and/or your Solicitor regarding the illegal term of your Form 6 Appointment of Agent. You need to give thirty days for termination and it is my understanding that the agency cannot hold you to any fees further than what is described legally in your Form 6 accrued during the termination period. HOWEVER, I do note that the last time I sought to contact the REIQ and the Office of Fair Trading, they weren't particularly helpful to me regarding the specific amounts that the outgoing agency can charge you relating to the termination.
You're in NSW and doing all this by email, Davo? I'd be putting aside a few days and going for a drive to deal face to face with the agent.
