I moved into a condo 2 weeks ago and immediately started to feel ill and have symptoms of asthma attack. There was a smell of mold coming from the bottom of the sink, behind the cabinet. I reported to the manager and followed protocol. A remediation tech was sent and found various leaks and signs of water damage under the sink that had been concealed by a vinyl covering. Before I moved in, I asked the leasing manager if there was any history of mold or leaks in the condo and she said no. I also think it’s worth mentioning thta when I toured the codo the air conditioner was off, which I am now learning left the unit suseptible to mold and compromised the integrity of the appliances. As a result of the remediation techs findings the PM offered “allow” me to break my lease and give me a partial refund on my deposit. I cannot accept the offer because there was a lack of transperency on the front end that is now costing me a lot of money. I am in an airbn which the PM initially offfered to cover but since retracted that offer after I asked for an extension to vacate the property to allow me time to find somewhere else to live. I find it interesting that the offer to break my lease was terminated after I tried to negotiate the time I have to leave and also pointed out the violations they were breaking. That seems pretty retalitory. Since then, they have put the offer back on the table one more time and I have until 9 am to decide whether I am going to vacate with partial refund of deposit or let them mediate the issue and finish out my lease. I am seeking legal counsel but given that they infomed me late Friday of this offer and giving me an expiration time of 9am, I feel at a loss.
PMC’s are not your friend any more than an insurance company is. Both entities operate on a cash flow basis and the objective of all transactions is to minimize cost. Mom and Pop landlords have a different objective….find a good tenant that will stay a long time and pay the rent. This is because it takes a two month turn in the best of times for a mom and pop to replace a tenant. If a PMC acts like you can kiss off….it’s usually because they have someone waiting to take your place and the person you’re dealing with has zero skin in the game. Most PMC’s are real estate agents who hire the ‘customer facing’ employee to shield having to deal with tenants and only deal with landlords to make promises that they can run interference. Again, an expense line item to be minimized…and they and you get what they pay for. It’s an investor profile as opposed to a passive income that supports a family and carries them into a retirement. Consider this your acid test….when dealing with people face to face from the get go who stand to make more or less money in their pocket based on the decisions they make, you will generally have a better outcome. Dealing with people by text, face-time and any other way that results in a fake personal connection will not be to your advantage since your brain’s perception mechanism isn’t capable of sizing up who or what you’re dealing with. In its simplest terms, the person at a PMC that you are dealing with doesn’t loose a nickle of you bail on them. Good luck.