ComplaintsforAbrams Realty, Virginia Beach Real Estate and Property Management

• Initial Complaint

  05/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Property Management that continuously breaks their own agreement. On 2 separate occasions now they have charged repairs above the agreed upon *** dollar limit without seeking approval. I just get an invoice saying we made this repair at this cost. Which is not seeking approval to go forward. They did this and charged me *** dollars without approval for tenants that did not pay rent for the month and Abrams did nothing about it. They constantly say they will call back with answers to questions and simply do not. They also refuse to tell owners who they are sending out for maintenance requests. And if an owner wants a specific person sent out they expect the owner to call the company and have the company call Abrams to schedule. They are a property management company that does not manage. They just collect money and do the bare minimum. They will not do home checks or anything that the owner requests. They just charge you and break their own contract. They are a horrible company and are just money hungry.

  

  Business response

  06/10/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/05/26) */ As you're well aware, we, as a business and property management company, must operate according to law. The owner described in their complaint that, "We constantly say we will call her back with answers to questions and simply do not". We are a bit perplexed by this because to the best of our knowledge we have always returned her calls and emails. The owner notified us in December, 2021 with their intent to terminate our management services. We responded on December 30, 2021 with an email stating that we would provide proper notice to the tenant. We also let the owner know that the tenant called to inform us that the owner reached out directly to them by sending them a letter. We explained to the owner this is concerning for the tenants because the owner is not a party to their lease and all notices should be coming from Abrams Realty. Per our lease, the tenants signed and agreed that there are to be no communications with the owner of the property for any reason that is not previously authorized in writing by Abrams Realty. At no time should the Tenant research or attempt to communicate with the property owner. Doing so will be an incurable violation of the lease per Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. We informed the owner that we would be in contact with the tenants to provide them with proper notice and we informed the owner that we would follow up with her regarding her termination as it gets closer to the time the tenant's lease is ending. On 03/11/2022 our staff sent an email to the owner to follow up with the closing out of her account and the upcoming move out of the current tenants. We explained to the owner we need to give notice to the tenant moving forward as to the security deposit processing. The tenants lease ends 5/31/2022. In our email we explained to the owner that we generally do not process the security deposit of the last tenant at the close of a property management account. This is because any dispute of any chargers would fall on Abrams Realty and because we are not managing the property further we can not be held liable. In addition, as the relationship would terminate, we can not advise or process this. Because of this, we also do not perform an inspection at their move-out. We informed the owner that her options are: A. We return the security deposit in full to the tenant. B. We forward the deposit to the property owner to process. With this option, we would supply the lease information and contact info of the tenants at the time of move out. We would forward the owner the check for the security deposit as soon as accounting can process it after the tenant moves out. The owner would process the security deposit in accordance with law. On 05/06/2022 we notified the owner that the tenants have not paid their rent and that we have sent the necessary notices and contacted them for information on the late payment, as well as charged the late fee. On 05/09/2022 the owner responded by email asking if we have given the tenants 24 hr notice to enter the property so that we can see if they moved out and to inspect the property. On 05/09/2022, our staff responded by email to the owner letting them know we have confirmed the tenants have not yet moved out and with the current laws, we actually have to give more than 24 hours' notice. Current laws require 72 hours notice. Further, the owner is aware that the tenants had not yet paid rent for May and we explained to the owner that forcing an inspection when rent is late can be seen as retaliation. We explained to the owner we are in communication with the tenant and have been made aware that they are unhappy with the notice of their security deposit to be transferred to the owner and they would prefer that the rent be covered from their deposit. We explained to the owner we have charged the late fee and we must follow the lease. The owner stated in her complaint that on 2 separate occasions we have charged repairs above the agreed upon **** dollar limit without seeking approval. On 05/19/2022 our staff sent an email to the owner notifying them that the tenant submitted a maintenance request due to the HVAC not cooling. No heat or air conditioning is an emergency and we must act accordingly. We informed the owner that the repairs were made and the system is now operational. The cost of the repair was ******** Per our property management agreement, the owner shall maintain a minimum reserve with Abrams Realty equal to one month's normal disbursements plus ******* for maintenance and repairs. Our agreement states that repairs Abrams Realty shall purchase necessary supplies and pay bills related to repairs on behalf of the owner, and may perform such duties without the owner's prior consent if the expenditure for any one item does not exceed ******* PROVIDED, however, the foregoing monetary limitation shall not apply to (A) repairs or services that Abrams Realty, in its sole discretion, considers to be necessary due to an emergency or an impending emergency situation, and/or (B) repairs required by the Lease Agreement and/or federal, state or local laws or regulations. We have managed this property since 03/25/2018 and would need to go back through all of our past maintenance requests to see what the owner is referring to in regards to the other occasion she's referencing regarding a repair she claims we made without first seeking approval. No Air conditioning is an emergency and can not be withheld even if a tenant has not paid rent. The owner stated in her complaint that we do not tell owners who we are sending out for the maintenance requests. We always send an email informing the owner when the tenant submits a maintenance request. Per our agreement, we are not required to tell the owners who we send, but we do use third party licensed and insured contractors. The original invoices are always shared with the owner attached to their monthly statements so regardless, she sees who we use to do the work. We are again at a loss with this complaint. The owner stated in her complaint that we do not do home checks and we just charge them. We complete annual inspections and smoke detector inspections which take place during an inspection as required by law, the owner has a record of these inspections as they receive an invoice for each smoke detector inspection annually conducted that she may reference on her owner statement. Additionally, we only charge the owner for the items we mutually agreed upon per the agreement unless emergency repairs or remedies are needed due to either following regulations, protect the lease or due to emergencies. We have been inundated with complaints, bad reviews and demands from this property owner. At this point, we are having trouble keeping up. For your knowledge, we are consulting legal counsel about sending a cease and desist notice to the property owner as well as the potential for a defamation suit due to this matter. This client has manipulated this situation and made false claims against Abrams Realty causing us damages to our brand, as well as lossed time from business operations due to battling her continued harassment.

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