EVERNEST/Bad property management
Rental Property Investor · Ozone Park, NY · Member since 2019 · 36 posts · 20 votes
Hello my name is Danny Rodriguez and I own a home in Detroit. I have all the documentations and email during the timeframe of my relationship with Evernest property management company. Since Evernest took over management of my property, they have failed to properly oversee it. After evicting a tenant, they allowed squatters to move in, who caused $17,000 in damages. I had to cover the rehab costs myself due to winter conditions and the risk of frozen pipes. Once repairs were completed, Evernest vetted and placed a new tenant, who refused to pay rent and caused an additional $5,000 in damages. From February 2024 to now, I have lost $15,000 in rental income. Based on their low quality of communication and customer service, I suspect my property was neglected or overlooked. Do I have grounds for a negligence case
Hi Danny, I'm sorry you're going through that but I going to layout somethings and some you may not like to hear but really it's just so that we can take a step back and look at this, for reference I don't know of Evernest property management and have no idea of what they do, I'm going off of purely what you provided here:
1) Squatters: "After evicting a tenant, they allowed squatters to move in, who caused $17,000 in damages."
How would you suggest they avoid this? Aside from them making sure the property is secured, doors and windows locked. There is not much else they can do here other than driving by it everyday, which I doubt 1) they include that in your agreement or; 2) you would pay an extra fee for them to do it. -- This happens in many homes around the country whether they are managed or not, whether they are for rent or not, whether they are for sale or not.
2) Damages: "I had to cover the rehab costs myself due to winter conditions and the risk of frozen pipes."
Again, what would suggest they do? Cover it themselves???... it is your property; they vetted the tenant (you said so yourself) i.e. background check and even so, that doesn't guarantee nothing bad is not going to happen, they werent the ones that caused the damage, and if they vetted the tenant as you say they did, they did their part. This is what YOUR insurance is for, so that you don't have to pay out of pocket, now whether you have insurance or what type and if it covers this situation that is completely on you.
3) Another Problem Tenant: "Once repairs were completed, Evernest vetted and placed a new tenant, who refused to pay rent and caused an additional $5,000 in damages."
Again you mention that they 'vetted' the Tenant, so they did their part, they ran a background check on Tenant, they don't have a crystal ball and they are not the ones destroying your property. For the damages, once again, this is what your insurance is for.
My Advice:
1) If you want management to check up on your units outside of what they normally do for all other units they manage, you should ask them about it and then expect to pay the additional fee for them having to go throgh the trouble and outside their system to do it for your property.
2) If you suspect their 'vetting' requirements are not strict enough, you should re-determine with them before another tenant gets in the picture and go with your more stringent criteria. A caveat to this, is that you then can't complain that they take forever to find tenants, so you need to find a sweet spot of protection and resonableness; otherwise your next post is going to be 'My PM can't fill my units'.
3) You need to re-visit your property insurance and what is and is not covered and adjust accordingly.
4) I'm not saying you don't have grounds to pursue your management company, I'm just saying that nothing that was posted here is grounds to do so, it would quickly get dimissed. Now, did they take steps to remdiate the problem in a timely maner when they found out? i.e. squatter and eviction; did they truly run the proper background checks per your agreement? --- these are all issues which you can pursue if they didn't abide by the agreement.
5) Lastly, you always have the option to find another management company which you think would be a better fit.
Again, I'm so sorry you are going through this and I know you don't like to hear this but this the plain truth of your situation as you have described it, I hope this helps you a bit.
Hi Danny, I'm sorry you're going through that but I going to layout somethings and some you may not like to hear but really it's just so that we can take a step back and look at this, for reference I don't know of Evernest property management and have no idea of what they do, I'm going off of purely what you provided here:
1) Squatters: "After evicting a tenant, they allowed squatters to move in, who caused $17,000 in damages."
How would you suggest they avoid this? Aside from them making sure the property is secured, doors and windows locked. There is not much else they can do here other than driving by it everyday, which I doubt 1) they include that in your agreement or; 2) you would pay an extra fee for them to do it. -- This happens in many homes around the country whether they are managed or not, whether they are for rent or not, whether they are for sale or not.
2) Damages: "I had to cover the rehab costs myself due to winter conditions and the risk of frozen pipes."
Again, what would suggest they do? Cover it themselves???... it is your property; they vetted the tenant (you said so yourself) i.e. background check and even so, that doesn't guarantee nothing bad is not going to happen, they werent the ones that caused the damage, and if they vetted the tenant as you say they did, they did their part. This is what YOUR insurance is for, so that you don't have to pay out of pocket, now whether you have insurance or what type and if it covers this situation that is completely on you.
3) Another Problem Tenant: "Once repairs were completed, Evernest vetted and placed a new tenant, who refused to pay rent and caused an additional $5,000 in damages."
Again you mention that they 'vetted' the Tenant, so they did their part, they ran a background check on Tenant, they don't have a crystal ball and they are not the ones destroying your property. For the damages, once again, this is what your insurance is for.
My Advice:
1) If you want management to check up on your units outside of what they normally do for all other units they manage, you should ask them about it and then expect to pay the additional fee for them having to go throgh the trouble and outside their system to do it for your property.
2) If you suspect their 'vetting' requirements are not strict enough, you should re-determine with them before another tenant gets in the picture and go with your more stringent criteria. A caveat to this, is that you then can't complain that they take forever to find tenants, so you need to find a sweet spot of protection and resonableness; otherwise your next post is going to be 'My PM can't fill my units'.
3) You need to re-visit your property insurance and what is and is not covered and adjust accordingly.
4) I'm not saying you don't have grounds to pursue your management company, I'm just saying that nothing that was posted here is grounds to do so, it would quickly get dimissed. Now, did they take steps to remdiate the problem in a timely maner when they found out? i.e. squatter and eviction; did they truly run the proper background checks per your agreement? --- these are all issues which you can pursue if they didn't abide by the agreement.
5) Lastly, you always have the option to find another management company which you think would be a better fit.
Again, I'm so sorry you are going through this and I know you don't like to hear this but this the plain truth of your situation as you have described it, I hope this helps you a bit.
I appreciate the time you took to answer my post. Thank you