Lease-only placement gone sideways: wrong lease, no transparency, tenant already move

[Kush Khandelwal]

Hi all — looking for perspective from experienced landlords, especially anyone who’s remote or has worked with lease-only agents.

I hired an Atlanta leasing company strictly for tenant placement only (not ongoing management). From the start, the process was harder than expected — slow responses, missed follow-ups, and repeated overpromising on timelines and deliverables.

Some of the issues along the way:- 

-They added a $395 “admin/move-in inspection fee” to the tenant that was never disclosed to me before I signed the agreement (on top of a full month’s leasing commission paid by me).

-Limited transparency during marketing: inconsistent updates, delayed listing fixes, and unclear activity reporting.

-A tenant was ultimately placed and moved in without me ever receiving a full lease draft for review or final approval, despite my being responsive throughout.  

The biggest issue:

-We had discussed using my lease (they said they were fine with it). To highlight - I was to take over managing the property and hence needed my lease to be used.

-Instead, they issued and executed their own boilerplate lease, without confirming or requesting my template.

-That lease is not appropriate for a lease-only handoff — it repeatedly directs the tenant to the leasing company for rent, maintenance, notices, etc., even though they are exiting and I’m self-managing. 

-It also omits material terms that apply to this tenancy (monthly admin fee, early termination provisions, etc.).

When I raised this, the company claimed they had asked me “multiple times” for my lease (they didn’t), and now they’re saying I should personally swap the lease with the tenant after move-in — even though the lease was drafted, issued, and executed by them.

At this point I’m trying to understand:

-Is it standard for a lease-only agent to push lease correction onto the owner after issuing the wrong document?

-Shouldn’t the party who issued the lease take responsibility for correcting it with the tenant?

-What recourse do I realistically have here as a remote landlord?

Appreciate any insight. Thanks!