Out of state property manager not paying our rents - Posted by Jon

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Law
1

Posted by Mark (SDCA) on January 05, 2009 at 16:22:42:

Yeah… it’s theft. So the police would be correct. How do the tentants get hold of them? They NEVER answer the phone? I would bang that phone repeatedly AND put a certified letter in the mail (return receipt).

Licensing is a state matter… if they are licensed then yeah you could hit them there too.

GL,

Mark

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Out of state property manager not paying our rents - Posted by Jon

Posted by Jon on January 03, 2009 at 22:41:52:

Any advice for this? We have an out of state property management company that is handling a few rental properties for us, the properties are rented still and they are not sending us our rent checks or returning our phone calls/emails

Where do you start? District Attorney, the states dept of real estate?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks,
Jon

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Depends on the state - Posted by Rich-CA

Posted by Rich-CA on January 05, 2009 at 22:47:56:

I would start by sending a letter to the tenants telling them that the next rent check has to go directly to you because the management company has been keeping the rents. I would also send a certified letter to the management company demanding they immediately forward the proceeds (include a dollar amount) with 7 days or it will be reported to their licensing agency (almost all states require PMs to be licensed RE professionals or working for same). You will also need to inform them that since they have broken their contract with you by holding funds due you, you are instructing the tenants to deal directly with you until you can find a local replacement.

You can also look at the Better Business Bureau website for your area and see if they are building up complaints (some state licensing boards also let you do this for their licensees). If complaints start building up, possibly they lost key personnel or they are going out of business. In either case, make sure the next rent check does NOT go to them and they know they no longer have the right to contact or deal with the tenants. Then file complaints with the police, BBB, state licensing board and so on.