I am writing from the tenant's perspective. I lived in a property that was managed by ProMax for almost 3 years. My experience with them is that they don't fulfill their obligations to the tenant and most likely to the owner. I also find them to be often adversarial in tone to the tenant. I know the owner is the customer, but they should also remember where the revenue is generated. It is almost impossible to get someone on the phone when you call and email responses come only if it is in their favor. Here are a few examples:
-- When I first moved in, I got an email from the management company telling me all the things I SHOULD NOT do. This is after I had signed my lease that had my and their contractual obligations already spelled out. I found it set an adversarial tone immediately. I always felt like they treated me skeptically like some miscreant who was on the mission to destroy the owner's house.
-- Each year for lease renewal time, I'd fill out the renewal contract, mail AND email it in as well. I'd also ask for confirmation that the lease renewal had been received. In the two times I renewed my lease and despite multiple contacts each time, NO ONE EVER RESPONDED. My only indication was that my check was cashed each month.
--yearly maintenance was performed by the company the first year, after that no one ever showed up, despite the contract saying that certain maintenance was required and paid for by the landlord. I did a lot of the maintenance myself. If you are the owner, demand receipts.
--There tended to be a lack of office coordination. If I actually did talk to one person, that message never got to anyone else. There were a few times I would receive an email from someone in the office asking me to do something that I had already taken care of with someone else.
--I considered moving out after my second lease, but couldn't find a good place to move, so I resigned a lease for the next year. So this means I received the checkout inspection appointment letter twice. Both years, it was the exact same form letter (which is OK) that said (paraphrasing here) "due to the high volume of checkouts at the end of the month, we need to inspect your property for checkout earlier in the month, around the 25-27th. You will need to turn in your keys and be completely moved out at this point. There will be no refund for the earlier departure. You must leave utilities on for the rest of the month or be billed for utility shut off". So apparently it's OK to charge me for rent when I don't have enjoyment of the property to live there despite it being their inability to inspect to the lease schedule.
--Their check out conditions are ridiculous. THIS IN ITSELF IS A REASON NOT TO SIGN A LEASE WITH THEM. If I had to put the place back into the condition I arrived, that would be one thing, but the tenant handbook details a condition that is almost impossible to achieve. For example, when I arrived the fireplace was still dirty with ash still in it, yet upon departure I was expected to have the chimney professionally cleaned (I did). I also had a cleaner come through and do a high professional clean (when I moved in there was still food in the fridge!), yet I got billed $75 more dollars out of my deposit. I was also billed for repairs to the upstairs stair case where the OWNER had placed a baby gate and scratched up the wood. You can be present during the inspection if you want, but they clearly state up front that you can't protest the inspection on the spot as they evaluate when the inspector returns to the office. They also state that you have no recourse to go back and do any repairs yourself...you turn in the keys at inspection and are at their whim for repair costs.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't rent a property from these guys. I bought a place in DC, and if I need to rent it at anytime I would never, in a million years, use them as my management company. HOMEOWNERS, AVOID THIS COMPANY... read more
