Property Manager put my tenant in moms rental

Property Manager put my tenant in moms rental by Landord (Washington) on February 1, 2012 @03:26

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I hired a property manager to evict an existing tenant I had that was behind in rent. The PM started the eviction but did not want to follow-through and take the tentant to court. In 3 months of working with our bad tenant, she NEVER introduced herself to him, or met him. She didn't even go inside our home until AFTER he was moved out, 3 months after she started managing the residence. When she did go to house 2 weeks after the tenant moved out, she said it was the worst she has ever seen a house left by a tenant in 14 years! The PM's answer to get the tenant to leave was, to have the tenant "save" his money and when he had enough, the PM would move the tenant into their own mothers personal rental. They said they did this as a "favor" to us. We did not receive any rent, the PM got the rent for their mothers unit. The PM even had the tenant live in our rental for 3 extra weeks, after he had his money for them, until the "lease" was up in the mothers rental.
When the tenant left our home, they had let their 4 cats damaged the home with urine and feces, there was cigarette smoke damage through-out the entire house, he left the house filthy, and he left all his junk behind to have hauled away. The PM used personal friends to clean and do work. They did not get them smell of cat urine out of the house. The PM said there was nothing more they could do....so my husband and I had to do ALL the work of cleaning, priming, painting, and repairs all ourselves.
I have never used a property manager before, but I don't feel this is ethical.
Do I have any legal recourse?

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Re: Property Manager put my tenant in moms rental by Anonymous on February 1, 2012 @03:51	[ Reply ]

Probably no recourse. But now you know why experienced landlords do not use property management. PM's do not work for you, they work for themselves. They make money by renting and evicting. You got took by a typical PM. Not all PM's are bad, there are some good ones. There must be, somewhere.

Re: Property Manager put my tenant in moms rental by Anonymous on February 1, 2012 @04:07	[ Reply ]

Depends on the contract you signed but probably not. If using a PM you really need to find a good one and write down in a contract exactly what is expected of them and that no money will be paid to them if they do not follow these rules. If they are an honest PM then there should be no problem. If they are shoddy they probably won't sign and in that case good riddance!

Re: Property Manager put my tenant in moms rental by MrDan (Georgia) on February 1, 2012 @09:29	[ Reply ]

Washington State requires Property Managers to have a State Real Estate License if they do not own the property. You should as least file a complaint with the State. Did you do a background check on this "Property Manager" before hiring him?Contact an attorney for info on any legal recourse you may have against the "Property Manager" also.