When it came to doing my due diligence in choosing a property management service, I take responsibility for not doing a good job when selecting Landlord Leasing. In every aspect of property management with the exception of "quickly" placing a tenant in the property, Landlord Leasing should be avoided at all cost. Even the pro aspect of placing a tenant into the property later turned out to be a bad action! When it comes to the six areas of property management that they advertise under Management Services, Landlord Leasing gets a grade of F on 4 of the 6 areas and of those 4 I graded them on, only those 4 were needed by me.
1. The credit and screening of the tenants that they placed in the property turned out to be sub-par. They never shared the credit report information or score of the tenants with me.
2. For tenant placement, the tenants left the property in the middle of the night at the end of the month, not paying for the last month of rent and leaving me with a $643 utility bill from the city of Elyria. You see, Elyria will hold the owner of the property responsible for unpaid utilities even though the utilities are placed in the tenants name. Now, the city holds an additional deposit of up to $150 in the event that the tenant and sends the owner a copy of the bill if the tenant gets behind. Landlord Leasing provided no assistance in tracking the tenants or made no attempt to recover lost rent or funds I had to pay to the city for unpaid utilities. Landlord Leasing should have been completely familiar with the city codes and ordnances that govern agreements between the agent and owner.
3. With respect to bookkeeping and accounting, Landlord Leasing gets a grad of D-; considering that the tenants left the property at the end of the month without paying, the deposit was not returned to me, and clearly Landlord Leasing dropped the ball on managing this service.
4. When it comes to maintenance services, here Landlord Leasing really shines. Yes, they shine as bright as the light that emanates from the deepest part of the Marianas Trench! While the tenants were occupying the property, Landlord Leasing was informed by the tenants that the property needed repairs on the roof, the interior, and some plumbing. Mind you, this was work to be performed not prior but after the tenants were occupying the property. Oh, I did not mention that I am an owner of this property that lives out of state. I believe this aspect played a key role in Landlord Leasing taking advantage of the agreement and the horrible work that was performed by their "independent contractors." On inspection of the property after the tenants had left, it was determined that the work on the roof, interior, and plumbing all had been done extremely poorly and had to be reworked. If Landlord Leasing performed an inspection of the work after it had been performed, they either ignored the quality of the work or they are simply inept. If you are an owner that is out of the area, you will need a second pair of eyes to perform a QA on work performed by them and/or validate estimated cost to ensure it is inline with actual work required. Considering their service and the expenses I was charged that resulted from poor management and shoddy workmanship from substandard contractors, Landlord Leasing gets an overall triple F grade.
So, lessons learned; the expression of Caveat Emptor never rang more true that when it comes to wisely selecting a management company to handle your property. Key aspects to check are, how long has the company been in business, do they have good references, check them! Do they have qualified and licensed contractors or just "handyman" qualified people to perform repair work that may be required, if you are an out-of-area owner, do your best to have another method to validate quality of work performed or confirmation that the property is being managed to your satisfaction, and lastly, if you cannot establish that you can have complete confidence in the management company you enter in agreement with, look for another management company. Nevertheless, Landlord Leasing will not deliver the most reasonable expectation an owner will have for the services needed to manage your property. If you chose them you will, ultimately be disappointed... read more