The Evil Property Manager

Property management companies need to make sure that they have the proper personnel working for them. By proper personnel I mean, people who are trained to control their anger and emotions. What I am about to recount to you is true and has nothing to do with MN townhomes for rent.

Recently, a certain piece of property was sold and given over to a property management company. As per usual, the company assigned a particular property manager to that piece of property. The property manager proceeded to change management of the property and replace maintenance workers. These replacements, chosen by the appointed property manager, spoke English as a second language and not very well.

The property manager, who I will call Rebecca, inspected the property. She then proceeded to start making changes. I will admit that the property was slightly rundown and did need some improvements. It was the way she proceeded to make those improvements that I and other tenants had a problem with.

Rebecca wrote up a completely new list of rules for the tenants to follow. She did not take into consideration what is called the ‘grandfather clause’, which basically means that the existing tenants do not need to follow the new rule unless something changes with that particular tenant that relates to that particular rule. For example, Rebecca changed the rules that only 2 small pets were allowed by each tenant. Many tenants had a couple of large dogs as well as a couple of cats. She proceeded to tell some tenants they had to get rid of 2 of their pets. She was wrong!

She also instructed all the tenants that they “had” to paint the outside of their units because they looked “grungy” (her word, not mine). She also did not take into consideration that many of the tenants are low income and do not have the money to purchase paint. The painting was going along with the idea of cleaning up the property. Some tenants were not taking care of their units.

My unit fell into this latter category. As an explanation, the reason I was having trouble keeping my unit cleaned up outside is because I am disabled and need to depend on other people to do the work. I also care for my 90-year-old mother who is in a wheelchair. The problem was that the new rules indicated that if you could not do it yourself, Rebecca would have the maintenance workers come in and do it for you and you would have to pay $50 per hour per worker to get it done. My disability check is not big enough to pay this kind of fee.

Rebecca was kind enough to listen to me explain what I was doing about getting my unit cleaned up. She said that she understood my situation and she was willing to work with me. A week later, she came into my home and confronted my elderly mother who suffers with congestive heart failure, high blood pressure and osteoporosis. When I came in later that day my mother was pale and having difficulty breathing. I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance because I was afraid she was about to have a heart attack. Luckily, she calmed down once I was home. Rebecca said she understood, or at least I thought she did, that I was the one responsible and not my mother because I told her so and she still came into my home and yelled at my mother in a very disrespectful manner. She could have caused the death of my mother.

Luckily, after I contacted the owner of the property, Rebecca was no longer the property manager assigned to the property. I do not know what happened to her and I really do not care. The property management company took the proper steps by removing her. This incident gives you an idea of what I meant by property management companies needing to have the proper personnel.

Please do not get the wrong idea that every property management company has this problem. They do not! Luckily, it does not happen very often. Property management companies do an excellent job for people who have investment properties. They are a needed commodity in the business world.