Valley Maintenance

Review: We hired this company to manage my home rental that I own in the State of Montana. Our contract states that our rent will be direct deposit into my bank account by the 10th of each month. I have not received any money from the rent at all. I have mead several attempts to contact the owner of this company, [redacted], and I have received no response and they don't answer my calls. I also sent a certified letter on March 21, 2014 and they signed for it, yet no response. The have not held up their end of the contract I've signed and they haven't sent me any money even though they've collected $3150.00 so far from my property.Desired Settlement: I want this company to send me the rent they've collected as they are a property management company and I have a signed contract the have breached in several different aspects. I want this company to not represent me effective March 21, 2014 as per the certified letter state that I am terminating my contract with this company as I've done so precisely as the contract states under Section 12 "Termination By Owner".

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted];

I am counsel for Valley Maintenance. I’ve been forwarded your email of April 21, 2014 under ID No. [redacted]. Valley Maintenance is a property management and rental management company in Bigfork, Montana, with a stellar reputation. It signed a management contract with [redacted] and shortly thereafter rented the property. The property had significant repair issues, not previously disclosed and Valley Maintenance promptly repaired them. [redacted] refuses to be satisfied with any disclosure, receipt, invoice or paperwork, despite the benefit to her property or to the tenant. We have attempted to negotiate a mutual termination of the contract, but [redacted]’s only priority is to take custody of the tenant’s security deposit.

Unfortunately, [redacted] also directly contacted the tenant, which inflamed the situation. The tenant has now threatened termination. [redacted] has filed an administrative complaint in Montana. I will shortly be filing district court litigation to resolve it. While I would otherwise be open to having Revdex.com mediate the dispute, that will not be possible since there is already other litigation which will take place.

When the litigation is concluded, I will copy you on the results.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

Regards,

[redacted],

I am requesting that you will continue to investigate this complaint. Valley maintenance and Property Management has continually deceived us and continues to conduct business with less than ethical and professional standards as required by the Montana Department of Reality Regulations according to the standard required by a licensed property manager. We have filed a formal complaint against this company and the licensee [redacted] because of unethical and illegal business practices. the complaint has been scheduled on June 3, 2014, for a formal review in front of the board of reality regulations. the director of the business standards division, [redacted] ([redacted]) [redacted], has stated that what she has done to me as the property owner is illegal and [redacted] will most certainly have her license revoked for this. In the faxed documents you shall find a "Letter of Termination by Default" written on May 22, 2014 by myself. In this letter is an explanation of the timeline of events that have transpired during the course of my contract with this company. I also have sent to you all of the E-mails between [redacted] and myself. I realize that the information I faxed to you may seem confusing, although I kindly ask that you review as much as possible and try to evaluate what is happening here.

After I sent the certified Letter of Termination to [redacted], she would no longer respond to me as my property manager and furthermore she then obtained an attorney instead of completing the duration of her contract with me, which was to terminate 30 days after the letter of termination had been received. She continuously ignored my request to not complete unapproved repairs to my property, she also didn't deposit my rent proceeds into my account until nearly two months after receiving payment. She has ignored multiple requests to send me copies of the keys to my property and [redacted] has illegally withheld the deposit and trust account from me which, by law, was to be transferred to my bank 3 days after the contract commenced termination. More so, according to the tenants [redacted] and [redacted], [redacted] has advised them to not pay rent to us as well as told them an array of defamatory statements regarding my personal character.

I would urge you to contact [redacted] at the phone number listed above and speak with her as to the States position regarding this case. She is well aware of this situation and she can inform you of the multiple ethical, professional and legal violations perpetrated by [redacted] and Valley Maintenance and property Management . The main reason I filed a complaint with the Revdex.com is to make this situation known so that it can be reported to the consumer. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com;

Thank you for forwarding the latest [redacted] rebuttal. The matter is before the Montana Department of Labor, the Montana District Court and has been argued and re-argued before the Revdex.com. We do not agree with [redacted]'s claims, alleged "facts," and her witnesses do not state what she claims. Further discussion is pointless. We will litigate this to is eventual outcome in Montana. We will not respond to further notices or correspondence.

Incidentally, your "CC" function does not work. I've previously entered additional email addresses for my responses and the recipients (myself included) have never received them.

Sincerely,

[redacted] Law Office, PC

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

Regards,

To: Whom it may concern,

On 12/13/2013 I hired Valley Maintenance & Property Management to rent my home located at [redacted]. Since then I have had numerous conflicts with their business practices and many ethical concerns. The first arising from a conversation that I had with [redacted] whom is an agent of Valley Maintanence & Property Management. She had stated to me how she might of passed up a qualified applicant because she had held off on renting our home because our realitor (at the time) had told her during a private conversation that she might have my house sold to a prospective buyer. [redacted] had stated to me that she had a renter but did not get back to him becauase of this delay and now he was no longer interested in renting our home. When I heard this I had no choice except to fire my realitor, [redacted] of National Parks Reality, Bigfork MT. I did this because the delay of renting my home was at the request of my realitor and was not authorized by me and therefor created a "conflict of interest". I continued the contract with the property management compnay at that time because I was unaware that as a licensed property manager that this is in clear violation of the ethical standards expected to be upheld by the individual [redacted]. Since then we have continued to be charged for unecessary work done to our home without our authorization. The first incedent of being informed by [redacted] that we were being charged for snow removal even though they was no showings that day or weeks thereafter. Secondly I was informed that I was being charged for cleaning the home which had just been exstensively remodled and cleaned by the restoration company, Post construction. At that time we told [redacted], by phone, that there is to be no more work done without prior aproval. [redacted] did not respect our demand and went ahead with other work directed by her without consent or approval. An incedent occured where the tenant had request that the countertops be caulked where the counter meets the backsplash and where the backsplash meets the wall. She did contact me regarding this and becauase of the high cost of "Her Guy's" wanted to charge us we chose to have the previous construction company we hired due the job for half of what she would've charged. Then the next day she informed me that the bathtub downspout needed caulking in both bathrooms and at that point I refused to have anymore caulking done because it was unecessary according to Cory owner of Complete Restoration, which is the company that completed the remodel just weeks prior to us hiring Valley Maintenance & Property Management. He stated that the bathtub downspout had a factory seel and didn't require caulking. When I told [redacted] this she had stated that her company is required by law to do the caulking as it posed a potential "Health and Safety" risk as stated in the landlord tenant laws. She explained a rediculous theory of how droplets of water could possibly run down the back of the downspout, behind the bathtub and create mold. So she went ahead with the caulk job and charged us for it. After this I wrote a "Letter of Dispute" to Valley Maintenance & Property Management and sent it certified mail. I outlined the conflict of interest as to not renting the house at the request of [redacted], the excessive charges for unecessary repairs and the fact we had not recieved any of our rent proceeds they had collected from the tenants on behalf of our property. We had requested that she forward all invoices bills and reciepts for the work authorized by her company and she didn't respond. We asked her to justify these expenses and pay us the remaining balance from the rent and she didn't respond to that either. The fact is she has paid me no proceeds of the rent collected on my property and has not given me any invoices for the work done. [redacted] has collected rent for two months now and paid me nothing. I made several calls to the office and to [redacted]'s cell phone and had no response for weeks after sending the letter of dispute. Then weeks later I recieved an E-mail from an attorney stating that I shall have no more contatct with Valley Maintenance & Property Management, also the letter of dispute was improper and finally that they would not be returning the damage deposit, rent money as well as deducting another $300 from April 2014, rent for any future expenses that might occur.

Sounds unbelivable, it is! I have since research the Montana State laws concerning Licensed Property Managers and have found violations regarding Landlord Tenant Trust Accounts. Also I have included the NARPM "Code of Ethics and Standards of Proffessionalism" and I've highlighted the multiple violations of these standards as well. I am requesting that your agency review these documents and consider the violations of Montana State Law and Ethical violations set forth by NARPM. I will say this in conclusion, I have discovered that a property management company is not to do business as a home repair company. In fact Valley Maintenance & Property Management do both! Maybe this is the reason they are charging me for repairs to my propert that ar not necessary. If you read the enclosed printout from the website "Yelp" you will see that wording in their company profile submitted by them, states they are in the business of home repair and home maintenance. If you have any questions regarding this matter then please feel free to give me a call.

To: Whom it may concern,

On 12/13/2013 I hired Valley Maintenance & Property Management to rent my home located at 13330 Risingwolf Drive Bigfork, MT 59911. Since then I have had numerous conflicts with their business practices and many ethical concerns. The first arising from a conversation that I had with [redacted] whom is an agent of Valley Maintanence & Property Management. She had stated to me how she might of passed up a qualified applicant because she had held off on renting our home because our realitor (at the time) had told her during a private conversation that she might have my house sold to a prospective buyer. [redacted] had stated to me that she had a renter but did not get back to him becauase of this delay and now he was no longer interested in renting our home. When I heard this I had no choice except to fire my realitor, [redacted] of National Parks Reality, Bigfork MT. I did this because the delay of renting my home was at the request of my realitor and was not authorized by me and therefor created a "conflict of interest". I continued the contract with the property management compnay at that time because I was unaware that as a licensed property manager that this is in clear violation of the ethical standards expected to be upheld by the individual [redacted]. Since then we have continued to be charged for unecessary work done to our home without our authorization. The first incedent of being informed by [redacted] that we were being charged for snow removal even though they was no showings that day or weeks thereafter. Secondly I was informed that I was being charged for cleaning the home which had just been exstensively remodled and cleaned by the restoration company, Post construction. At that time we told [redacted], by phone, that there is to be no more work done without prior aproval. [redacted] did not respect our demand and went ahead with other work directed by her without consent or approval. An incedent occured where the tenant had request that the countertops be caulked where the counter meets the backsplash and where the backsplash meets the wall. She did contact me regarding this and becauase of the high cost of "Her Guy's" wanted to charge us we chose to have the previous construction company we hired due the job for half of what she would've charged. Then the next day she informed me that the bathtub downspout needed caulking in both bathrooms and at that point I refused to have anymore caulking done because it was unecessary according to Cory owner of Complete Restoration, which is the company that completed the remodel just weeks prior to us hiring Valley Maintenance & Property Management. He stated that the bathtub downspout had a factory seel and didn't require caulking. When I told [redacted] this she had stated that her company is required by law to do the caulking as it posed a potential "Health and Safety" risk as stated in the landlord tenant laws. She explained a rediculous theory of how droplets of water could possibly run down the back of the downspout, behind the bathtub and create mold. So she went ahead with the caulk job and charged us for it. After this I wrote a "Letter of Dispute" to Valley Maintenance & Property Management and sent it certified mail. I outlined the conflict of interest as to not renting the house at the request of [redacted], the excessive charges for unecessary repairs and the fact we had not recieved any of our rent proceeds they had collected from the tenants on behalf of our property. We had requested that she forward all invoices bills and reciepts for the work authorized by her company and she didn't respond. We asked her to justify these expenses and pay us the remaining balance from the rent and she didn't respond to that either. The fact is she has paid me no proceeds of the rent collected on my property and has not given me any invoices for the work done. [redacted] has collected rent for two months now and paid me nothing. I made several calls to the office and to [redacted]'s cell phone and had no response for weeks after sending the letter of dispute. Then weeks later I recieved an E-mail from an attorney stating that I shall have no more contatct with Valley Maintenance & Property Management, also the letter of dispute was improper and finally that they would not be returning the damage deposit, rent money as well as deducting another $300 from April 2014, rent for any future expenses that might occur.

Sounds unbelivable, it is! I have since research the Montana State laws concerning Licensed Property Managers and have found violations regarding Landlord Tenant Trust Accounts. Also I have included the NARPM "Code of Ethics and Standards of Proffessionalism" and I've highlighted the multiple violations of these standards as well. I am requesting that your agency review these documents and consider the violations of Montana State Law and Ethical violations set forth by NARPM. I will say this in conclusion, I have discovered that a property management company is not to do business as a home repair company. In fact Valley Maintenance & Property Management do both! Maybe this is the reason they are charging me for repairs to my propert that ar not necessary. If you read the enclosed printout from the website "Yelp" you will see that wording in their company profile submitted by them, states they are in the business of home repair and home maintenance. If you have any questions regarding this matter then please feel free to give me a call.

Michaela Orton

P.O. Box 9715

Spokane Wa. 99209

(509) 342-9015