'I cost the property management company over $500k': Property owner gets back at scammy apartment management company for messing with his tenants

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Aug 14, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

It's not often you'll find people rooting for landlords; there's not exactly anything about a group of people who have a reputation for milking their tenants for cash, increasing rent for improvements and repairs that they never actually completed, and taking deposits with little-to-no justification, that inspires people to root for them. It's worth recognizing, though, that this generalization doesn't remotely cover every landlord out there. There are plenty of landlords out there who are renting out homes for perfectly good reasons other than the pursuit of pure personal profit through the exploitation of people who can't afford to buy one.

The same can't be said for management agencies, who manage buildings on behalf of building owners purely as a for-profit operation, usually finding ways to scalp both tenant and landlord for extra coin. So, the fact that this story centers around a property management agency and their site manager not doing their job will come as little surprise to any of us.

Luckily, before he brought this property management agency on board, this landlord received some sound advice from some close associates, which protected him when the agency neglected to do their job and gave him an avenue for revenge by encouraging his tenants to see restitution. 

See the building owner's story below, as shared with Reddit's r/NuclearRevenge subreddit, along with a selection of reactions from readers of that original thread.

Advertisement
  • 01
    Daytime - 下 $6 150 converreceibranscisive
    via Sigmund
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Ranthrow607 site manager neglected to take care of my property, so I cost the property management company over 500K Some background- I (35M) own a 72 units apartment complex. When I bought it, it was in a good shape and I spent several million getting all apartments renovated. The rent wasn't increased for any of the tenants and I made sure that it never went up by more than $50 a year for lease renewals (baked into the leases).
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 03
    Font - Shortly after all the renovations were completed, I started the search for a property management company and ultimately settled on one that seemed well aligned with wanting to put the tenants first. As we were doing the contracts, I had my real estate friend also look at them. Between him and my lawyer, they recommended having a clause added in there. The short of it is "If there are any legal actions brought up against me for the apartment complex due to neglect of the property
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 04
    Font - management staff, the property management will be responsible for all those costs and any legal fees incurred." This wasn't added in secret, and the legal team from the property management company agreed and everything was finalized. They took over the management of the complex a month later. I was fairly hands off and only visited the site every 3-4 months. Other than that, I'd have the monthly updates sent to me by the manager on site.
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 05
    Font - A few months ago, I found out that a couple of the apartments had been left in severe shambles after the tenants moved out, and the cleaning crew we had took care of it. I didn't find out until after the fact that it was not completely accurate because one of the apartments apparently had a bad roach infestation in the storage closet outside the apartment. After the new tenants moved into that apartment, they brought up the issue to the Site Manager. In the monthly reporting the Site mana
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 06
    Font - that maintenance staff tried to address with it traps and bug bombs. I didn't think too much of it and left it at that. Next month, the same thing. And the third month, after receiving the monthly report, I called the site manager stating there is a re-occurring issue and I wanted it taken care of professionally at that point. The month's rent was waived for the tenants in that apartment, and they were put up at a hotel for a week while the issue was to be addressed. Once they returned to
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 07
    Font - The Site Manager either by mistake or by negligence didn't communicate with the exterminators the extent or the location of the infestation. Instead of the storage closet, the apartment was fumigated, and after that, the roaches made their way into other apartments in the same building and the nearest building, and the problem got so much worse. The same option was given to all the tenants in that building, waiving the month's rent and putting them up in a hotel for a week while the issue
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 08
    Font - addressed. They all took that offer up, however one of the tenants decided to take legal action. While I wasn'tt happy about it, I understood where they were coming from, having their lives disrupted by something that should have been addressed properly to start. As we were midst negotiating with them during mediations, my lawyer reminded me of the clause with the property management company and suggested we give them what they want. That is where I started my nuclear revenge.
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 09
    Font - I had the rest of the tenants from the 2 impacted buildings be suggested to anonymously that one of the tenants had filed a lawsuit for the damage and they should do the same by getting in on it. Through the mediation I pretended to be outraged at the whole matter. The negotiation started at 3 months of free rent but ultimately we all settled on 1 year of free rent for all those tenants.
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 10
    Font - Overall that came out to 16 apartments with rent averaging from 1700 monthly that the property management had to pay for due to the negligence of the site manager, equaling to roughly $325,000 in just the lost rent they had to pay for. And the cherry on top- due to the breach in service for Property Maintenance, they also have to provide free services for up to 6 months while I seek out a new property management company, costing them an additional $146,000, and still pay for the legal fee
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 11
    Font - TL;DR: Site manager screwed with my tenants' homes so I cost the property management company over half a million in damages, lost rent, and legal fees.
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 12
    Font - Claydameyer You need to take your friend and your lawyer out for a drink for having you slip that clause into your contract. Well done. 2.8k Share 1.6k ●●● Ranthrow607 OP I'm taking them to Gen Con. Flights, hotel, food, everything covered. Share ●●●
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 13
    Font - slendermanismydad I hate my property management company. Good. I also worked for a guy that did property management and I hated him too. I see why property owners use them but they're mostly useless douches. 215 Share Ranthrow607 OP I don't know enough about property management or I'd do it myself. I'm going to college again to become a therapist to be able to help people, or I'd spend the time to learn and do it myself. 131 Share
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 14
    Font - MamaDMZ That's what they get for being sho at their job. Good on you. 373 Share
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 15
    Font - chaos_given_form Yay nice landlord i wish there was more 129 Share
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 16
    Font - Catmeow82 Oh man, I wish the folk who owned our apartment complex were like you. Your tenants are very lucky you care. 18 Share
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 17
    Font - Bubble-Grape-7931 Dang it must be hard to be that incompetent 14 Doscida Share It's easy but very expensive 48 Share
    via u/Ranthrow607
  • 18
    Font - xela2004 How On earth their lawyers let them sign something making them financially and legally liable for damages like this lol. What kind of dumb lawyers they have? 11 Share Spaceman2901 Lawyers that assumed that they'd do the fog job they contracted to do? It was an "in case of negligence" clause. If the landlord had been sued for other reasons, the management company would've been free and clear. 19 Share ●●●
    via u/Ranthrow607

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

landlord landlords pro revenge rental revenge tenant nuclear revenge landlord-stories renting
Scroll Down For The Next Article