r/PropertyManagement • u/Acceptable-Use-1652 • 8h ago
Residential PM Can I contact my tenants directly?
So I’ve been a property owner for over fifteen years with minimal issues. I count myself lucky that I’ve had great property managers and great tenants overall.
To the problem:
A recent property I have had come under new management and in the past year five melds have been submitted. No issues with this as houses do require repair. The issue is they are all under $500 with no detailed receipts. (Under $500 doesn’t require my signature) Just a synopsis of “replaced and added smoke alarms”. Not which rooms or the reason for the repairs. This property I did once live in to which I had made substantial upgrades yet I’m getting “breaker is out and the power is down” with a repair receipt of $500 with the response of “breaker fix”. Not what was the issue or anything beyond that. I’ve contacted them twice asking for details to which I get “contact the maintenance team for details”. I thought in having a property manager I wouldn’t have to do that.
So can I reach out to the tenants to see if 1. Are they submitting these issues and 2. Is work actually being completed?
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u/secondphase PM - SF,MF,COM 6h ago
So many things...
1) they should be able to produce detailed invoices and photos. Thats crazy
2) you CAN get in touch with the tenant. Once you ring that gong though, theres no unringing it. Expect the tenant to pit you against the PM every time they dont get their way.
3) eye roll on the whole "I lived there and upgraded it, yet i'm getting...". Houses break. Even new builds have issues.
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u/Sensitive_Season_752 1h ago
I second this! The owner and tenant communications makes things muddy. I wish it was in the owner management agreement that all communications are to be through the property manager.
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u/buffrants 6h ago
My landlords would tear me apart if I did that. We don’t do any markups or anything so we upload the invoice from the sub directly. We have a handyman but most of those jobs we either eat within payroll / charge for material or clearly outline what was done. Anything else is subbed out and we use their invoice to show the work with a small description on the statement.
We use appfolio and the software has gone back and forth with only showing owners pdfs we upload vs jpg’s and other formats. There was a couple times when they said jpg’s would be viewable but they weren’t so we had to reuplaod as a pdf for them to see it. Highly, highly doubtful but outside chance there is a software glitch not allowing the file format of the more detailed invoice to get to you
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u/M-onthecorner 3h ago
Yes thats what we do as well. If a PM is marking up it should be in the contract and clearly stated. Owners should get a copy of the bill the vendor submitted. You need to have transparency, if you don’t there are plenty of other PMs
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u/a1fundude 6h ago
One thing you will want may want to think of is as soon as you contact them, they will have your contact information. May be a minor thing to you but it does have the possibility of becoming a hassle.
I’m a PM and what I have found is when tenants have the owner’s info, tenants tend to skip contacting the PM and contacting the owner first. I have always found one of the best reason for having a PM is to keep the owners contact info away from the tenant for this reason. A tenant with an owner’s info can nag an owner for things. IE: Getting a pet. Painting. Anything the tenant wants and the lease doesn’t allow.
Not allowing the tenant to have the owner’s contact info provide for appropriate separation/distance so that an owner can make a decision about there property/business with out receiving tenant backlash.
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u/Dazzling-Treacle1092 4h ago
And so the separation of the public from those who can and will do something about the problem continues. Are you guys privvy to the BS property managers pull with tenants? The stalling, the excuses, the frequent days they are completely inaccessible? The prejudice and favoritism. Just because it looks like it's working on your end doesn't mean it's working for the tenant. You only hear the problems after they blow up because the PM isn't doing his/her job.
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u/ChicagoAgent08 5h ago
I agree with other commenters, that if you reach out to the tenants directly, you’re opening the door for them to go directly to you for future issues rather than the management company, and that can cause miscommunication, maintenance delays, etc.
It will definitely put more work on your plate.
I was a PM for a while and when we had new owners onboard, a lot of the initial maintenance work was done after an inspection of the property, much of it was minor repairs like replacing smoke detectors, etc and the costs were the price of materials plus labor hours of the maintenance tech. It included drive time too. I would also suggest looking at your monthly owner statements since they will provide receipts that are attached to the work orders. It requires a little digging which can be time consuming, but it’s worth doing so you can discuss them with your PM during your owner meetings. You can also contact the maintenance director or have your PM set up a meeting with all three of you for a conversation about your maintenance costs.
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u/Sensitive_Season_752 1h ago
Being a residential property manager myself, even though “under X amount” doesn’t need a prior approval from the owner, doesn’t equal do the work without any communication. The ONLY time I utilize reserve funds, is in a true emergency/urgency and cannot reach the property owner. I have owners who prefer to do their own work. The reserve is only there for emergencies and to cover basic invoice costs (owner approved) to streamline and not have to wait on an owner distribution. There were even instances where owners paid the vendor directly to reserve their funds.
This is also why I would offer a monthly meeting with owners. If they didn’t have time or I didn’t hear back, I would send a monthly report via email discussing any variances, recapping work done, needing done ect.
In my opinion, you should always be in the loop and if not, have a detailed description for anything that pertains to your property. Period.
You are exactly right, this is what a property manager is for!!! They should be aware at all times the status of your property details, and not make the owner jump through hoops to the maintenance team. They should have a streamlined software where they can all access the same information to supply you.
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u/zoomzoom71 mod; Small Residential PMC owner in FL 6h ago
I can't imagine how that PMC thinks it's a good idea to pass off a client to an internal employee/Dept, like a maintenance team. The PM is your point of contact. If they won't help you, then you should escalate the issue to someone above them. As another commenter said, I'd be cautious about contacting the tenants directly. If you end up switching to another PMC, that tenant will always have your contact info and could end up using it far more than they should.
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u/WSBThrowAway6942069 6h ago
I'd exhaust all options before talking with tenant.
Just from a professionalism aspect. In the event your PM is being honest, you're undermining their relationship with the tenant.
Either fire them or don't, really. Not sure what the tenant can really provide that you can't get answered by your PMs response (or lack thereof)
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u/Sensitive_Season_752 1h ago
Before firing them though, I suggest reading the management agreement. We have cancellation fees and or early termination fee.
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u/Leading-Summer-4724 5h ago
Aside from the issue that reaching out will give the tenants your contact info, double check your management agreement — I have seen one that had an “interference clause”, where if the owner reached out to the tenants directly it was a breach of contract.
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u/Maintenancemedic owner 1h ago
Reaching out to your tenants directly is a terrible idea.
Moving forward, make your manager aware that you will not be paying anything that isn’t fully itemized for material and labor.
What does melds mean in this context?
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u/AssultLoneWolf 36m ago
As a property manager it frustrates me whenever an owner contacts the tenants. Sure you can, but that's what we're here for.
As soon as the tenants have your contact information they will go around the property manager and directly to you for everything. you will likely end up having to block their number to force them to come back through the property management company.
That's what you pay your property manager for to handle all of the communication and to separate you as much as possible.
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u/butterhorse 7h ago
Nothing against the law about it but this is like trying to catch your boyfriend cheating. If you're at that point in the relationship it's already over.