Property manager unreachable

[scabbage]

Jurisdiction

Texas

Long story short, I'm a property owner. I'm in this bizarre situation, in which my property manager simply disappeared with tenant's deposit and two months worth of rent, all add up to $7500.

Some detailed info below.

This PM was referred by my neighbor. The tenant, who signed a one-year lease, is a relative of the PM. Lease ends at the end of coming March. Everything is fine until the PM failed to deposit Dec rent. Made multiple attempts to reach the PM and eventually got a response back with an apology and a promise to deposit, which never happened.

In the meantime, I also reached out to the broker who sponsored the PM. The broker told me that, while the PM is sponsored as an independent contractor holding an agent license, the PM actually is not allowed to practice property management through the brokerage. This implies that the agreement b/t me and the PM is not valid.

As for now, the PM simply cut off all communication with me and her ex-broker (her sponsorship got terminated due to the incident). It also appears that nobody can reach her with her current phone number. She still owe me the initial deposit from the tenant, plus Dec and Jan rent.

Besides making a complaint to Real Estate Committee and Realtor Association, is there anything I can do to recover my loss?

Thanks.

 

[army judge]

Besides making a complaint to Real Estate Committee and Realtor Association, is there anything I can do to recover my loss?

The FIRST thing I would have done is report the THIEF and what he/she did to the proper law enforcement agency.

That way the criminal justice system will extract (in one way or another) the tribute that was stolen from me.

 

[adjusterjack]

Besides making a complaint to Real Estate Committee and Realtor Association, is there anything I can do to recover my loss?

Call the police. You've been robbed by a criminal.

Advice for the future. If you can't handle your own rental without a property manager, sell it and get out of the landlord business.

 

[zddoodah]

Advice for the future. If you can't handle your own rental without a property manager, sell it and get out of the landlord business.

Interesting suggestion given that most of the most successful landlords in the U.S. use property managers.

 

[Zigner]

Interesting suggestion given that most of the most successful landlords in the U.S. use property managers.

In other words, you agree with the suggestion.

 

[adjusterjack]

Interesting suggestion given that most of the most successful landlords in the U.S. use property managers.

I wasn't referring to the most successful landlords in the U.S.

 

[scabbage]

Thanks guys for replying.

First off, the reason I'm not managing my own property is because I'm out of the country for an extended period of time. Hence I need to rent out the place with the help of a PM.

Some updates.

- Still cannot reach the PM
- New PM tried to make direct contact with the tenant but they refuse to answer the door. Tenant would not response to email either.

We highly suspect that the PM IS actually the tenant, who used her sister-in-law's info when signing the lease. But there is no proof yet. My new PM took pictures of the license plate numbers of the cars in the drive way. She'll help me run some identity checks on those license plates in the coming days.

This is very unexpected situation. If we issue an eviction, and if the PM is actually the person living in the place, we could be evicting the "wrong" tenant.

I haven't inform the law enforcement about this issue yet as I'm hoping my new PM can find out what is happening soon.

 

[adjusterjack]

I haven't inform the law enforcement about this issue yet as I'm hoping my new PM can find out what is happening soon.

The longer you wait and hope, the more money you lose.

You need the cops and a lawyer.

 

[scabbage]

Update:

- Cops notified but cannot file a case against possible theft since I'm out of the country.
- Cops will make contact with missing PM, current PM and the tenants.

Will report back.

 

[justblue]

Wow, this whole situation sounds like an episode of a cop show. Interesting life you have. However, I think that you can't handle your own rental without a property manager. In that case, you have the right to sell it and get out of the owner's business. I'm sorry you've generally gotten into such situations, but I think it's going to be a good lesson.
However, you did not come back with any updates. I hope everything was solved by the end. For those who do not know where it is safe to rent a space, I recommend checking this site (spam removed). They never let me down.

Andrew, Spam violates the ToS of this site. Posting to long dead threads in order to post a commercial link to a company that is doing so poorly that they can't afford to pay for advertising violates the TOS. Your post has been reported.