"Property management" company for rental home changed 2 times in 3 years... bad sign or normal?

[sos-the-rope 395]

So the "Property management" company for our rental home has changed 2 times in 3 years... is this a bad sign or normal for Frankfurt?

 

There's no special difference in the quality of services I can see, nor is the rent going up more than usual (they said that outright in the notice).

[El Jeffo 30,539]

Who owns your home? Is the management changing because the owner has changed?

 

If the owner has stayed the same, it's likely that the owner wasn't satisfied with the previous manager and switched to a new one, then realized that the new one sucked, too.

[sos-the-rope 395]

10 minutes ago, El Jeffo said:

Who owns your home? Is the management changing because the owner has changed?

 

If the owner has stayed the same, it's likely that the owner wasn't satisfied with the previous manager and switched to a new one, then realized that the new one sucked, too.

 

No idea if the owner has changed - the whole block of apartments is administered by the same investment firm and now the firm that owns *that* firm has changed...! I guess this is typical Frankfurt stuff.

[sos-the-rope 395]

8 minutes ago, sos-the-rope said:

 

No idea if the owner has changed - the whole block of apartments is administered by the same investment firm and now the firm that owns *that* firm has changed...! I guess this is typical Frankfurt stuff.

 

or probably more accurately, the firm that manages the physical property on behalf of the investment company... layers within layers!

[cfq 37]

If you are referring to the company that manages the rental apartment on behalf of its owner ('Sondereigentumsverwaltung'), it is likely they were doing a less than satisfactory job and so the owner switched to a new one as soon as the contract could be cancelled, which probably had a minimum duration of a year.

 

I have my apartment rented out and have seen this from the owner's perspective. I decided to pay a property management company to get some of the work off my hands, but I actually ended up having to do more work to fix their mistakes!

[sos-the-rope 395]

2 hours ago, cfq said:

If you are referring to the company that manages the rental apartment on behalf of its owner ('Sondereigentumsverwaltung'), it is likely they were doing a less than satisfactory job and so the owner switched to a new one as soon as the contract could be cancelled, which probably had a minimum duration of a year.

 

I have my apartment rented out and have seen this from the owner's perspective. I decided to pay a property management company to get some of the work off my hands, but I actually ended up having to do more work to fix their mistakes!

 

That sounds about right.

[sos-the-rope 395]

The saga continues.

 

The landlord company told us end of last year they'd had some issues handing over "documentation" from the previous administrators, and so they'd need us to re-send the SEPA direct debit forms, and in the meantime pay 3 months' rent by manual bank transfer.

 

So we dutifully plugged away at the paperwork, and sent the money on time.

 

Then the landlord started going haywire.

 

They wrote to say they had set up the SEPA but the money wasn't being taken.

 

Then they told us to do more manual transfers. So we did.

 

Now they've started sending "warning" letters, the latest of which attached some outdated figures missing off the latest payments (well within the date range they say they include), and asking for 2 months' rent instead of  the correct 1 which we owe (and will pay!).

 

The letter threatens legal action at our cost.

 

The accounts summary clearly shows what must either be dumb mistakes (booking and cancelling random sets of payments every month) or an attempt to somehow fudge the books?!

 

Are they really completely incompetent, or somehow trying to scare us?

[sos-the-rope 395]

A friend who'd been in the nextdoor building had the same thing happen to her.

 

She apparently tried communicating and pointing out the errors, proving that she'd paid, etc. and even asking for help from the tenants' association. No change, more threats.

 

Is this how they try to make you move so they can raise the rent?!

[Kommentarlos 553]

Yes.

[sos-the-rope 395]

14 hours ago, Kommentarlos said:

Yes.

 

Do you have any tips about dealing with this? Have you experienced this before or heard about it?

[the.frollein 6,667]

If you're not yet a member of the Mieterverein, get thee down there and become a member now, then avail yourself of their advice.

[sos-the-rope 395]

10 minutes ago, the.frollein said:

If you're not yet a member of the Mieterverein, get thee down there and become a member now, then avail yourself of their advice.

 

My neighbour said she'd done this. The tenants' association had written polite letters for her, which were ignored. Then she moved out.

 

Another neighbour simply kept calling the landlords until it got sorted. I'm trying this approach first.

[dj_jay_smith 2,450]

Still join Mietverein yourself.

Keep records off all correspondence.

Keep records off all bank transfers made by you to there bank account either manually or via SEPA.

 

As long as you are paying on time the right amount into the requested account then I would just ignore there threats, they are hollow and invalid and they can't do anything as you have done nothing wrong.  It is difficult to get somebody kicked out of an apartment in Germany, so if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about.

 

Stressful I know.  Long term you could look at moving out, but if you are generally happy with the place (and price) then you just need to find a way to not let it bother you somehow.

 

I hope you have legal insurance.

[sos-the-rope 395]

6 minutes ago, dj_jay_smith said:

Keep records off all correspondence.

Keep records off all bank transfers made by you to there bank account either manually or via SEPA.

 

Yup, doing all this.

 

it's quite easy because the new landlord has failed to take 1 single SEPA payment, despite getting our permission to do so twice.

 

i'm tempted to rock up at their door with another SEPA direct debit mandate form in my hand and stand there waiting while they input it into their system.

 

on the internal figures they've (idadvertently?!) shared along with their "warnings", it appears they have actually deleted payments repeatedly (whether that means they cancalled real SEPA bookings, or just internal accounting shenanigans, beats me).

 

so i'm basically working for their bookkeeping department now...! when i got through to them this morning they simply said it was not possible to say what would happen about getting the SEPA set up...

[zwiebelfisch 6,610]

16 hours ago, sos-the-rope said:

They wrote to say they had set up the SEPA but the money wasn't being taken.

 

Then they told us to do more manual transfers. So we did.

 

Now they've started sending "warning" letters, the latest of which attached some outdated figures missing off the latest payments (well within the date range they say they include), and asking for 2 months' rent instead of  the correct 1 which we owe (and will pay!).

 

Pretty much every year I get money back from the Nebenkostenabrechnung, every year they reduce the amount of the direct debit and also transfer the money (ie refund me twice) then send an angry letter demanding I pay the missing balance.

 

Every year.

 

Doesnt really bother me, but it doesnt inspire confidence.

[sos-the-rope 395]

Just now, zwiebelfisch said:

 

Pretty much every year I get money back from the Nebenkostenabrechnung, every year they reduce the amount of the direct debit and also transfer the money (ie refund me twice) then send an angry letter demanding I pay the missing balance.

 

Every year.

 

Doesnt really bother me, but it doesnt inspire confidence.

 

"We made a mistake! How dare you!"

[Kommentarlos 553]

6 hours ago, sos-the-rope said:

 

so i'm basically working for their bookkeeping department now...

 

Yes.

 

The question they are posing is how much is your time worth.

 

I had a long commute, the chasing up was manageable, and was prepared to take the time needed. Long term renter in desirable area.

 

On the other hand someone else cleans my apartment for me as my time is worth more. 

 

[Kommentarlos 553]

On 5/7/2019, 11:47:43, sos-the-rope said:

 

Do you have any tips about dealing with this? Have you experienced this before or heard about it?

 

You‘re welcome.

 

[sos-the-rope 395]

I'm pondering setting up a standing order so that we push the money to them every month, and I'll send them a monthly confirmation and call them for a chat to make sure their accountant does his job.

 

Is there any way to avoid / fix the situation (unlikely) where the standing order goes out AND the management company suddenly find the time to set up a SEPA?