Trikin Properties, Inc.

I am sorry you are disappointed with the service you received.  It is somewhat concerning as you have not been under contract with us, indeed it was our company that terminated services with you.  We had actually made attempts to do this in the past but you had essentially refused and at...

the time we chose it was best for the tenants and the asset to remain.I am unsure of the concern over the tenant placement, as it was done in accordance to how we operate and any agreements we would have made.  This would have included a background screening in accordance with our posted rental criteria, including credit, criminal, job, and past rental history.  It is true, and federal law, that we cannot share credit information.  I am unsure why it would be a complaint against us, as we are following the law to protect both our company, you, and the asset we manage on your behalf.As for management fees, we do indeed charge fees during the time that you work with us, and our contract does not state anything otherwise.  As you know, we had acquired management of your property through a purchase of another management company.  We had sent you a new contract in 2013 which you would not sign.  That contract did state our terms and it is the contract we would follow.  While we typically would not manage a property without it signed, we again felt it was in the best interest for you, your property, and the tenants if we proceeded while working with you.  I am very sorry that the tenants have often been behind on rent and difficult to work with.  We had recommended in the past to terminate their lease and acquire new tenants, but we were unable to get you to agree.  Throughout that time, we have dealt with demands such as only wanting to correspond with one person in our office and through written letter, phone calls lasting over an hour, mostly of non-constructive dialogue, constant threats of lodging complaints yet an unwillingness to use other management companies (that we offered to help you acquire), and more.In the end, I had notified the staff to terminate the agreement as we could no longer justify the liability of an owner that seemed to nearly relish in being angry with our company, yet not wanting to leave.  We have been trying to reach you by phone, yet it goes straight to voicemail.  In the three years we have management your property, you have reached out or responded to me via email ONCE and that was to begin this complaint.  I am unsure what you want now, or ever wanted.  I do wish things were not at this point, and if I thought in anyway you had desires to listen to our advice, we would have been happy to continue.  As it stands, I wish you the best, we will do everything in our power to make a smooth transition for you and the tenants.

I am rejecting this response because:
Case # [redacted]August 20, 2016The following is the response to the comments by Trikin, dated August 18, 2016.  The Trikin response is not satisfactory.  My expectations of how to resolve and close the matter are at the end of the letter.I am pleased that Trikin acknowledged the receipt of the signed contract.  I accept their apology for claiming that I had not signed one, and for their terminating the wrong contract.I thank Trikin for finally sending me copies of some of the receipts for the work done on my property, even though several are more than a year old.  I am still waiting for the receipts from 2013 amounting to $714, to which I am entitled by the management agreement.  (Please see my letter to Mr. [redacted] of January 26, 2014 in the attachments to the August 12 response.)I received the invoice for the work done by [redacted] on April 25, 2016.  The invoice is dated 2/4/2015.  It is for $231.79, in excess of $150, and I should have been consulted about the work.  The invoice also notes two financial charges on overdue balance ($3.37 and $3.42), for which I was charged.  Why? I would like to offer an addendum to Mr. [redacted]’s narrative about the $1498 electric repair bill.  I do not question the necessity for the work. When was the problem discovered and when was the call, attempting to inform me of the need to do the work, made?  I first found out about the work, not from Trikin’s phone call, but from the August 2015 statement.  Since  nobody could be reached at Trikin, I tracked down the contractor ([redacted])  and they sent me the bill.  (See the attachment with the dated envelope.)  The date on the invoice is July 17, 2015, before July 23, 2015, when, according to Mr. [redacted], the problem arose or was handled (the statement is not clear).  By the way, I did not receive that bill from Trikin until April 25, 2016, nine months later.When reviewing the Tenant Ledger Report for my property, recently provided to me by Trikin, and for which I am thankful, something caught my attention.  In less than three years, Trikin collected more than $2500 in late fees from the tenant’s payments, to which they are entitled by the lease agreement.  As they head for the exit, having diligently collected all the management and late fees due to them, I will, as of this writing, be left with more than $3000 in unpaid rents and water bills.  All perfectly legal,  but would I hire a property manager like this?  I do not believe that I started  the public “war” on “he said/she said”;  I was merely responding and giving my observations to Mr. [redacted]’s comments. I categorically and emphatically disagree with his comments about  “many unanswered phone messages,”  left on my phone. The truth is just the opposite.  It does not seem practical to rehash the accusations about the phone calls, etc., so I would kindly refer Mr. [redacted] to my letter of August 12 and the attachments. If he has not read them, he should.What Mr. [redacted] may see as my attempt to damage his company’s reputation,  I regard as my civic duty to inform the public of my experiences with Trikin, so that other owners and renters can judge for themselves.  In my opinion, Trikin has exhibited a pattern of non-responsiveness, negligence and not following the management agreement. I do not question Trikin’s reputation or Mr. [redacted]’s impressive positions in various associations, I am just commenting on my dealings with the company, and I stand by my little anecdote.  (“Trikin ..  does not answer phones, ...they never respond.”)  For the record, I cannot question and have not questioned Mr. [redacted]’s “stability”, as he has mine, since I have never spoken with him.  I do, however, need to take a pause when reading his comments. I would much prefer that Mr. [redacted] addressed the issues, rather than engaged in personal attacks against me.In order to resolve the matter, I expect the following:I want to receive a copy of the current tenant’s move-in inspection report.  Without it, I have no record of the condition of the property on move-in.  The property was vacant for four months, and I was charged managements fees for all that time, even though Mr. [redacted] had assured me in his email of June 20, 2013, that this would not be done.  I expect a reimbursement.The tenant ledger shows an item for $698.57, labeled “ Water utility.“  This appears to be a reimbursement for unpaid water bills, which I had  paid, and  I would like an explanation.I would like an explanation of how the late fees are handled.  Does the property manager take out the late fee and remits the balance to the owner?  This can make a difference in the case when the rent has not been paid and the property manager terminates the management agreement.I was assessed a cleaning charge, believed to be $125, and for which I did not get a receipt. Since I was informed by Jessie [redacted] that the previous tenant, Mrs. [redacted],  had left the property in a move-in condition (attached move-out inspection report and email), I told her that cleaning was not necessary and that I should not have been charged for the service. (See the above cited letter of January 26, 2014.) I have never received a reply on this matter.I want the never-provided receipts for 2013 in the amount to $714.I would like assurances that the security deposit for the current tenant, held by Trikin, will be sent to me.Respectfully,[redacted]

Sorry, you did indeed email the contract to me - it was originally sent through docusign, which is what I had looked at, it was indeed on file from your email in 2013.I am unsure how to address communication, as you have worked with us for three years.  You have been under a month to month contract for much of this time.  We have offered to stop working together in the past, yet you did not want to.  In the end, we terminated the contract.  We have had many unanswered calls to you, including the one that ended in a large repair.  It was a no power issue that was not resolved for days on 7/23/15 so we did indeed authorize the repair to protect you, your asset, and our company.  This was an electric outage, it HAD to be done.  As we have terminated or been terminated by very few owners in our time, I am unsure what to make of the last statement of the supposed other property managers.  We are active in both the National Association of Property Managers where I proudly served as the Minnesota Chapter President and the Minnesota Multi Housing Association where I currently serve as the Chair of the Independent Owners Committee.  It is natural in our business that personalities are sometimes not a great match.  It is what we terminated our relationship.  If there is indeed an issue where we improperly charged management fees in the past, I am MORE than happy to refund those fees.  I have concerns of the damage to my and my companies reputation that you seem intent on doing.  I have no desire to treat any contract unfairly.  You are very difficult to work with, which is fine, my job was to manage my company as they managed your property.  We have put tremendous effort into that.  I have multiple emails from my staff of the calls with you were essentially a one sided yelling match.  I have multiple emails questioning your stability.  I have multiple emails requesting we terminate the contract.  I did what I thought was best which was to continue on and manage your asset while we would get occasional nasty calls.  I did it until we could no longer, and it was at the time that we finally caved in that you chose to make a public complaint.I am sorry, I simply do not have the time or energy to make a public "war" on he said/she said.  While I have access to all emails, I do not have access to the phone calls.  I am happy to resolve any material issues, namely, if you were improperly charged fees, I am happy to refund.  The tenants we were happy to manage through getting them current, but at this point, we are unable.  The tenants have all intentions to pay and have a rent plan, so please reach out to them.  If you wish to discuss your large repair I am happy to, as I stand behind we cannot leave your place without electricity and we were unable to reach you to get it resolved.  We used licensed and insured contractors, we have provided you with the receipts, and in the end, it was the right thing to do.