"Negligent" would be the central theme of my experience with this property manager.
Sherrie Venuti-Meuser allowed the unit that I lived in for 2 years to go 5 years without an inspection or maintenance. The unit was inspected once when the original tenant took the lease. The lease was then transferred to the next tenant, who held it for 4 years, and then to the next tenant who held it for 1. According to the statements of all 3 of those tenants, the first time any single representative of Sherrie's South Shore Realty entered the unit after that initial inspection was in early July of 2016. This review is being posted in September of 2016.
In an almost laughable turn of events, this "representative" was a repairman who took one look at the dishwasher -- which had been broken since I moved in and inoperational for 3 months with no repairs in sight -- and said "yeah, it's busted." As of writing this review there is no functional dishwasher or disposal in the unit, almost 3 months later.
Following this, we made repeated attempts to receive a copy of the lease. While there is no Florida statue that requires a landlord to produce a copy of the lease at the request of the tenant, they continuously made excuses and gave us the runaround. The secretary at the front desk, Louise, would say that we needed a "valid reason" for her to print off a copy of the lease. It's not like we could've told her "so we can see, in writing, that you are violating the terms of it." There, unfortunately, is no Florida law against this practice. The only thing that Sherrie stood to gain out of withholding a copy of the lease is to allow her to continue neglecting and mismanaging the property she was responsible for and to dissuade tenants from confronting her about it.
In August of 2016 she entered the rental unit with approximately 30 minutes of notice when none of the tenants were home. Only a text message served as a forewarning. For those wondering, Florida statute requires 12 hours of notice from the landlord prior to them entering the unit, except in emergency circumstances, of which I can guarantee there were none.
The unit was held at full occupancy for 5 solid years with no effort required on the part of Sherrie. No additional lease documents to draft, only ones to be renewed. No ads to place, no new tenants to locate and vet, no maintenance done, nothing. Then, when she arrives to do the first inspection of the place in 5 years, she informs my roommates and I that there would be a $40.00 charge to do the move-out inspection.
A charge to do her job.
The job that she had neglected for 5 consecutive years.
If you're a renter looking for fair, equitable treatment by a responsible landlord who will do right by you, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. If you do not, expect numerous and egregious violations of your lease while neglecting your needs and rights as a tenant.
If you're a prospective home-buyer trying to find someone to help you navigate the intimidating world of realty, working with Sherrie's South Shore Realty can almost guarantee sub-par representation.
If you're an owner looking to hire a property manager, you're better off hiring your third cousin who lives out-of-state.
Anyone reading this reviews is absolutely allowed to contact me via Google+ to verify anything I've said here or get further corroboration.
Please, please, avoid these people at all costs. read more