I hired a property management company to maintain my rental house because I wanted to be sure things were taken care of and I was paid on time. I used REMS as my property management company for 18 months (Aug '11-March '12) and it was a big mistake. It was not easy to be paid on time or correctly. On occasion when the tenants paid late, the $50 dollar late fee was incorrectly charged to me - this happened four times! In July 2011 there was a deposit error where another client's check was put into my account. The person in charge of accounting, Aimee, suggested that I remedy the situation. She wanted to give me the other client's bank account number so that I could transfer the funds. I gave REMS my banking information in confidence that it would be secure. It concerns me that she was going to be so casual with this information. For whatever reason no utilities were collected in Sept 2011.
When the tenants gave their 30 day notice I decided I was done with REMS. I felt it was important for me to be in compliance with the contract I signed and give my 30 days written notice that I would not be using REMS after the current tenants finished their lease. After that they left me high and dry. When I complained that it was their responsibility to take care of the final inspection and move out, the owner emailed me this: ""Regarding the security deposit refund process, normally REMS takes care of all of this as your agent. However, it is my understanding you are no longer using our services or at least won’t be at the time this refund is due (30 days from move-out)."" Wow. So essentially I paid them until the 31st of March when the tenant moved out but they couldn't be bothered to finish the job. Even the tenants had poor things to say about REMS - that they received eviction notices even when they had paid on time. Looking over the final statement REMS charged the tenants a $50 late fee three different times even though they had paid by the 5th.
In the end, even though it was a pain, I'm glad I handled the move out inspection and the refund of the tenant's deposit - I knew it was done right. I should have just done it all myself from the beginning.
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