Reminder: property Management companies are traditionally protective of landlords and not tenants. A good property management company balances this so that the arrangement is fair for both sides.
This property management company takes landlord protections to the extreme.
This is the specific clause within their leases that they use to screw over tenants: "If Tenant vacates prior to the expiration of the term as identified above, Tenant shall be fully responsible for the rent and all utility and operating costs for the premises until a new, qualified Tenant is secured, or until the end of the term- whichever is earlier. In addition, Tenant shall be responsible to pay the leasing fee and all associated costs to secure a new tenant."
Our situation- we provided notice that we would not be living in the house 3 month before the expiration of the lease. The property management took about a month after we notified to list the property because they were fixing the roof. They did find a new tenant fairly quickly after that, but charged us $1400 to "secure a new tenant." Therefore, they were able to use the time we were paying rent to fix the house for the next tenant, got a new tenant, and got to charge us instead of the landlord to re-lease the property. We continued to pay rent, pay utilities, and mow the lawn the entire time before they were able to secure a new tenant.
This is one property management company I would be very careful of. Not great for renters who are looking for a fair, equitable agreement with a landlord. read more