Chicagoland Leasing and Management, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/15) */
Contact Name and Title: *** *** Property Mgr
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: ***@mychicagolease.com
The owners emailed and seemed to have multiple issues with our services and my email to them was letting them know we do not
require clients who are not happy with our services to stay with usWe spend a lot of time and energy having to explain and justify our actions to owners which isn't conducive to doing our jobs well
We have done multiple property reviews and photos have been emailedIn addition, we have a handyman go twice a year to install/remove the window A/C units who lets us know if anything is amissNo where in our contract does it state that we will provide written reports with photos to owners every six months so even though at the very minimum we do three property reviews a year (by a property manager or handyman) we don't provide reports owners
Regarding charging owners for the smoke detectors, they were at the property but had fallen down and the handyman installed new ones since the ones they had seemed old (when we took over the property they were already there so we did not know their exact age)This was one of items he fixed at the property so the cost was minimal ($30?) with the bulk of repairs being other items that were listed on their invoice
I would like to point out:
- They have not had a single day of vacancy in the almost years we've managed the propertyIn between tenants, on average there is a two week vacancy period so this has saved them approx $as we've had three sets of tenants
- They have paid $in leasing fees total to us and one agent commission to another brokerage of $since we leased the property initiallyNormally leasing to three tenants would cost them approx $in leasing fees and agent commissions over the past years, so this way we have saved them approx $
Although they seem aggravated about paying for management services which is what we have earned, we have saved them thousands in other ways and by having happy tenants back-to-back and they choose to focus on smoke detectors that literally cost $to replace, are required by law, and affect the safety of their tenants and habitability of their home
If someone doesn't trust us to do our jobs then they shouldn't be doing business with usWe're looking out for their best interests and saving them money but every time they have a question about a $charge takes time away from us to be able to do our job which is manage propertiesWe will not be providing estimates for other companies as that is an unrealistic expectation and not part of our jobThey don't have to go with a different company but they have to trust us to do what they hired us to do which is what my email was to them
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/08/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Core issues have not been addressed and no reasonable resolution offered in light of the factsPlease refer to the attached document providing a response to CLPM, including new discussion points they have rasiedAs mentioned in our response, the supporting documentation can be provided on request as we are only able to upload one document at this time
Final Business Response /* (1001, 18, 2014/10/10) */
Response:
The service they are paying us for is to be on call 24/and for our
knowledge and expertiseThings do not happen every single month but when
they do the management fee rarely covers our time and energy to handle it
Ten percent of our properties every month generate ninety percent of our
work and there is no way to know if an appliance is going to fail, your
tenant is going to break their lease/move in an unauthorized pet or
person, or your bathtub is going to start leaking into the unit belowWe
are available at all times to handle any of these things (among many
others) for our owners
We did our job according to what we were contracted to do for the price we
were contracted to do itPaying a set management fee every month does NOT
entitle clients to "several quotes for work to be performed"We use
trusted vendors who charge reasonable ratesTrying to get "several
estimates" would ruin our reputation with vendors as only one of the
contractors will end up with the jobAfter going out to give an estimate
ten times and not getting the work, most vendors would not continue to
work with usIt also doesn't make sense to get multiple estimates for
small repair jobs when most reputable vendors will charge a minimum trip
($75-$100) fee for their time to come and give an estimate
Only disreputable vendors do "free" estimates since they build the cost
into their estimateFor example, Roto-Rooter gives free estimates and
doesn't charge for nights and weekendsSounds good, right? Not so much
when they quote you $to do a repair that another company charges $
forWe know this because we handle a lot of repairs every month so why
would we bother to get a "free" estimate from this vendor when we know it
will be high and we're not going to pick them?
I cannot explain and justify everything we do to every clientIt's time
consuming and not necessaryObviously the tenants have been happy which
is why they refer their friends to rent when they moveHaving to explain
the useful life of smoke detectors to owners is not our jobSome last
years and others only (I assume these ones were on the cheaper end)The
tenants probably took them down because they were beeping and dyingIt
doesn't make sense that the tenants would steal them
Comparing a tenant being responsible for stealing an appliance to their
potential responsibility for "stealing" the smoke detectors is silly since
smoke detectors are mandatory by law and for the safety of the occupants
which is what the owners should be concerned withAn appliance is nice to
have but not necessaryAgain, we're talking about a $expense total
which we could have given the owners as a credit but frankly our job is
not to pay to make our client's properties safe and habitableThey get
the rent as they are the landlords so it is their responsibility
If they want to risk a good relationship with tenants by charging them $
and accusing them of theft for not having working smoke detectors then
that's up to them but I don't feel comfortable doing that and even if the
tenants did steal the smoke detectors it would make more sense to keep
them as happy tenants and pay $and have them hopefully renew instead of
accuse them of being thievesWe used our best judgment in this scenario
which resulted in a page Revdex.com complaint
Some owners want to manage the property how they see fit with an
agent/property manager as a "frontman"This isn't something we're
willing to beWe are the experts in this field and it's our job to
enforce the lease in a manner that keeps the owners and tenants happy
These owners wouldn't allow us to do thisIf we're managing a property
for a client then it's a safe assumption that we have more knowledge and
expertise in landlord/tenant law as well as tenant relationsWe would
prefer owners to not be as involved since it becomes more of a liability
and makes our job more time consuming and difficult
We want clients who appreciate our hard work and who trust us to do what
is in their best interest in regards to managing their property and not
have to explain and justify everything we doThe management contract has
been month-to-month for some time and can be canceled by either party with
a day notice
At this point it seems like there are too many issues and trying to work
together as we have since Nov would be fruitlessGoing our separate
ways would behoove both our company as well as the ownerBased on the
owner's last response, it's pretty clear that they need to acquire the
services of a company that allows them to be more involved in the day to
day decision makingHaving a good business relationship when it comes to
property management is largely based on trust and it seems as though the
owners don't trust us to do what's best for their property and the future
satisfaction of the tenants
Please confirm you receivedThanks