Utopia Management Inc

Hello,Utopia Management has confirmed that they will not charge me rent after 12/11. Therefore, I would like to retract / close my complaint. Is this e-mail sufficient or is there another procedure I must follow?Many thanks,[redacted]

Tell us why here...Utopia was informed by the governing HOA that the entire building was fumigated prior to [redacted] and [redacted] moving into the unit. Utopia manages a single unit in the entire complex and is not necessarily made privy to all the HOA business. As such, we must rely on the accuracy of the statements of the governing board of the community. I do not feel that this is fault of Utopia for not treating if the tenants never made a complaint about the pest issue and never gave Utopia the chance to rectify the situation. Section  42 of the tenants rental agreement, shown below, states the tenant  would have been responsible for pest control had they been the cause of  the pests.  Since this has been a problem prior to them moving in, [redacted] and  [redacted] would not have been responsible for the pest treatment."42. PEST CONTROL, FUMIGATION AND EXTERMINATION: If Tenant fails to maintain the Property in a clean and decent manner or causes an infestation of pests, Tenant is responsible for eradication of such pests, bugs, etc. (i.e. ants, fleas, roaches, rodents)..."-As stated in our initial response, the blinds were in fact not replaced, as they were in working order, but the remaining items were taken care of and confirmed with [redacted]'s response. -A revision of the tenants Itemization of Security deposit has been mailed out today, October 04, 2017. In that revision [redacted] and [redacted] will note that they are only being charged for items not considered normal wear and tear. [redacted] and [redacted] installed hooks on a wall that had to be removed, they removed the shower head that had to be reattached, please note that a new shower head was not purchased and the original that was left was reinstalled, they broke the toilet paper holder off of the wall, and they left items in the unit that had to be removed. The issue of the drawers being reinstalled is the responsibility of [redacted] and [redacted]. After receiving possession of the property, I went to the unit to perform the inspection. Upon entering I found that almost all of the drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms had been removed. I cannot speculate as to how the drawers could have been in that state since no one had access to the unit prior to my inspection--with the exception of [redacted] and [redacted]. The original deductions that she is disputing were initially ESTIMATED (as advised to [redacted] prior to this complaint being filed, both on the itemization letter, and via email). We have revised the amount for the make ready work from $336 to $140, but the cleaning charge of $235 or the carpet cleaning charge of $95 stands. These amounts are what the vendors billed in order to bring the unit to the level of cleanliness at [redacted] and [redacted]'s move in.   Section 8 of the tenants rental agreement, shown  below, explains why the tenants are being charged for the cost of cleaning and carpet cleaning:  8. SECURITY DEPOSIT DISPOSITION AGREEMENT: Tenant agrees to return possession of theProperty to Landlord upon termination of the tenancy in the same condition as received, normal wear andtear excepted. Tenant agrees to pay all costs and expenses necessary for Landlord to: a) repair damageto the Property, normal wear and tear excluded; b) restore, replace or return personal property orappurtenances, normal wear and tear excluded; and c) return the Property to the same level ofcleanliness as it was as of the Commencement Date. CLEANING REQUIRED TO RETURN THEPROPERTY TO THE SAME LEVEL OF CLEANLINESS IS NOT CONSIDERED THE RESULT OFNORMAL WEAR AND TEAR AND SHALL BE PERFORMED FULLY, AND/OR PAID FOR FULLY, BYTENANT.It is Utopia's position that this complaint has been resolved with the revision of Itemization of Security Deposit. Utopia has all written and photo documentation available should it be requested.

Utopia Management Inc has been a great help for me. They helped me manage and rent my house for about a year until I decided to sell and did not need any services. I needed full service, and they were able to deliver. They took care of everything. They found tenant very fast.They took care of repairs at a reasonable cost. They offered good advice and pricing. They are easy to work with and look out for both tenant and landlord interests.

No surprise when I logged on today to write this review to see that they have bad ratings, I should have known better and checked their reviews before ever doing business with them.
My first bad experience with them was almost 7 years ago when my family signed a lease with Utopia and gave our current landlord our 30 day notice. 5 days before our move in, we were notified by Utopia that the current tenant of the property decided on staying in the unit which force my family to spend thousands of dollars are finding temporary storage, lost deposits on our moving company and then rushing into a more expensive lease so we have a place to live. Very unprofessional for them to rip a lease that was already signed.
Flash forward to today, it is time for my family to move again. It took several phone calls and e-mails just to get a hold of the agent for the property [redacted]. Last week Wednesday she promised to send me pictures of a unit we heard was coming up for lease that was not even listed on their website. A friend told us about it and thought it would be a perfect unit for my mother to live in as it has hardwood floors which would benefit her asthma (only reason she needs to move). I stressed the importance to [redacted] that I must have this unit and I will do whatever it takes to rent it. Everyday I called and e-mailed her and never got a response. The following Tuesday comes around, she calls back and asks me to fill out an application online. We fill out the application, we get a call this morning after our credit was ran to be told that the unit had been rented to someone else.
Why wouldn't they just give me a call or e-mail to let me know that the unit was rented already? They had to wait until after we paid the application fee and the credit score was ran. I would suggest to any and all people to not do business with this company. From the top to the bottom they are a mess. I spoke to the VP of the company Andrew, who also seems to be an owner of the company. The only thing he could apologize for was that we did not get fast enough responses from his employee and a refund of our credit application fee. After he proposed his resolution my response to him was " Would this resolution make you happy if you were in my shoes?", Andrew replies "No it wouldn't make me happy". Why would a business operator provide a resolution that doesn't make the customer happy? He was really at a loss for words and must have gotten his job because a family member of his is the President, which most likely means he's family with ownership. I think it is time to fire baby brother and hire someone who knows how to operate a property management company.
I have work experience in property management, and I currently am a CFO of a customer service based business and I would strongly suggest to never to business with this company and a property owner or a tenant. They are not capable of providing a good value added service that property owners look for in a management company.
I hope that people read this review before even calling, I really regret not reading their reviews before attempting to do business with them.

Working closely with myself, it was a very quick and easy transition between tenants. I was kept informed of every move, sometimes on a daily basis. An excellent job. Well done and thank you

5 stars for Utopia Management Inc.! They are always friendly and super responsive to emails. The people they hire to do work around the place are fantastic as well--respectful, professional, discreet. Would highly recommend Utopia Management Inc.

Utopia Management Inc.was great to work with. They found us excellent tenants and were very friendly and professional at the same time. They are very responsive and attentive . I highly recommend this company.

Utopia Management Inc approached us to help let out our home and found us tenants very quickly. We have found Utopia Management Inc team helpful and professional through out.
We would recommend Utopia Management Inc and will be letting other people know about the service we have received so far. Thanks for all your help.

February
4,
Revdex.com
San Diego
Viewridge Ave #
San
Diego, CA
RE:
Complaint #[redacted]
Dear
Sir or
Madam:
We are in receipt of [redacted]'s complaint regarding
unauthorized charges for maintenance on his managed propertyWe can understand
that Mr[redacted] may feel that he was wrongfully charged, however we feel that we
did what was in the best interest of both Mr[redacted] and his tenants
We
received a repair request from Mr[redacted]'s tenant indicating that the heater was
not functioning. Mr[redacted] was initially
contacted by a representative in our maintenance department to advise him that
the heater was not operable. He advised
that he would like the heater inspected.
Our maintenance representative proceeded to dispatch our HVAC vendor to
diagnose the issue. Upon arrival at the property,
the HVAC technician inspected and diagnosed the problem and proceeded to
contact the maintenance representative to seek authorization to make the needed
repairsOur maintenance representative gave
the authorization for the repairs to be completed.
As
written in the Professional Management Agreement between Mr[redacted] and our company,
Utopia Management has been granted the right and power to: "Make or cause to be made repairs, improvements, alterations, and
decorations to the Managed Property; order materials, supplies, and services
for the Managed Property; and pay from funds held on account for the Managed
Property invoices and bills for such materials, supplies, and services. Owner shall pay all expenses incurred by
Utopia at the Managed Property immediately upon demand. Utopia shall not be obligated to advance
Utopia's own funds in connection with the Managed Property or this Agreement."
While we try to accommodate all of our clients' requests to approve maintenance
work prior to completion, we cannot always make these concessions. In this case, our representative made a
judgement call to ensure that the tenant had a working furnace, as is required of
all rental propertiesBy doing so, she not only provided heat to an elderly
and medically fragile tenant in a quick and timely fashion, but she also was
able to save Mr[redacted] the potential costs of abated rent on top of the cost of
repairs
Mr
[redacted] also cites that the repair costs were excessiveAt first glance, the cost
for the services seemed excessiveBut
after further review with HVAC specialists, the parts and labor charges seem
fair for the work performed
We
extend our apologies to Mr[redacted] for his frustrations, but at this time, we do
not feel that our actions were unreasonable or that Mr[redacted] is due a refund for
the services that his rental property received
Sincerely,
Utopia
Management

This letter is in regard to the customer response to the above complaint ID. While we understand and can appreciate the concerns of the customer, we unfortunately are standing by our position. Section 5d, Authority and Powers, of the Professional Management Agreement signed by Ms. [redacted] states the following:
“Owner authorizes and grants absolute discretion to Utopia, its affiliates, agents, successors, and assigns the exclusive right and authority, at Owner’s sole expense, to:
Make or cause to be made repairs, improvements, alterations, and decorations to the Managed Property.; order materials, supplies, and services for the Managed Property; and pay from funds held on account for the Managed Property invoices and bills for such materials, supplies, and services. Owner shall pay all expenses incurred by Utopia at the Managed Property immediately upon demand....”
As stated in the initial response to this complaint, we do not believe that arefund is due for the services rendered as it was deemed that the corrected issues were a threat to the property and the safety of the tenant. Additionally, we have made adjustments to Ms. [redacted]s account to reflect that she would like to be notified of maintenance requests as they arrive so that she may take an active role in maintaining the property (it is to be noted that this notation is simply a courtesy that we try to, but cannot always, accommodate). We again, extend our sincerest apologies for any confusion or inconvenience.

This is the worst property management company I've ever rented from. They are terrible communicators, completely unresponsive to tenant requests, and continually break the law.

Utopia Management Inc. have looked after 2 properties for me and I have been impressed with what they have done. Both properties have been let without any void for the last 3 years!

To:        S[redacted] , Revdex.com San Diego, Orange & Imperial CountiesFrom:    Patricia Terry, Utopia Management, Inc.Date:     December 7, 2015Re:         [redacted],...

#[redacted]          Thank you for your recent correspondence making us aware of the Revdex.com complaint, filed on 12/5/2014, by [redacted], a former tenant of ours.  Ms. [redacted] provided a 30 day notice to vacate on October, 2015.  Upon giving notice, she was contacted and reminded that her lease term was through 1/31/2016 and that she would be vacating early, thereby “breaking” her lease.  She was reminded of Section 4 in her lease agreement, signed 1/26/2012, entitled “Termination of Tenancy” that advises, “Should a Tenant vacate the Property before the Expiration Date, Tenant agrees to pay the balance of the rent for the remainder of the Term, less any rent Landlord collects or reasonably should have collected from a Replacement Tenant.”  Ms. [redacted] was also directed to Section 35 of her lease which provides for an alternative to “breaking” the lease and allows the tenant to pay a $500 Early Termination fee.  She stated that she did not wish to pay the fee and she felt that it was unfair to hold her to the terms of her lease. In an effort to minimize the amount of lost rent that Ms. [redacted] would have to pay, we suggested that she accommodate showings to prospective future tenants and allow us to conduct a pre-move out inspection both of which she did.  Ms. [redacted] moved out of the home and returned keys to our office on 11/3/2015.  There was a $1600 deposit paid upon move in.  Utopia returned $555.20 of the tenant’s deposit.After Ms. [redacted]’s departure, the home required cleaning, carpet cleaning and general maintenance.   Much of the general maintenance was not billed to her.  She was billed only for the hauling of trash and replacement of light bulbs.   Funds were deducted from the deposit for the following:Maintenance – Hauling trash left behind / Replace lightbulbs throughoutCarpet Cleaning to include spot/pet treatmentCleaningRent – 11/1 – 11/10 @ 57.88/day$156.00 $145.00$165.00$578.080 Upon Ms. [redacted]’s departure, the trash, recycling and yard waste cans were filled with trash and left on the side of the home.  Our maintenance tech bagged, hauled and removed the trash from the premises.  Ms. [redacted] has stated that, upon moving out, she scheduled a trash pick-up of the trash cans and trash but the cans were placed on the side of the home rather than on the street for pick up.  Our maintenance tech replaced burnt out light bulbs with new ones (six (6) in the bathroom, one (1) in hallway, two (2) in the kitchen, five (5) in the dining room, two (2) in the family room and two (2) in the garage.)  Our cleaning vendor went out and fully cleaned the home.  Carpet cleaners went to steam clean and odor treat the carpets.  The final deduction from the deposit was for rent from 11/1 to 11/10.  Ms. [redacted] returned keys to our office on 11/3 and did not make rent payment for November.  We withheld funds to cover Ms. [redacted]'s rent from 11/1 to 11/3 and rent from 11/4 until 11/11 when the new tenants took possession.

In response to Mr. [redacted]'s last correspondence, I wanted to inform you that he has received allsupporting documentation for all expenses incurred for his prope1ty. AIJ our clients receivemonthly owner statements that outline the expenses and income i"or the property. I havecompiled all the statements again and sent them to Mr. [redacted]. Additionally, he still has accessto the statements on line.Secondly, please make note that it was mutua1ly agreed upon by Mr. [redacted] and UtopiaManagement that ratl1er than waiting for him to send funds to our office to remedy themaintenance issues, we would use the existing funds in the account to fund the emergencyproject.Sincerelym[redacted]Utopia Management

In response to Mr. [redacted]'s last correspondence, I wanted to inform you that he has received allsupporting documentation for all expenses incurred for his prope1ty. AIJ our clients receivemonthly owner statements that outline the expenses and income i"or the property. I havecompiled all the statements again and sent them to Mr. [redacted]. Additionally, he still has accessto the statements on line.
Secondly, please make note that it was mutua1ly agreed upon by Mr. [redacted] and UtopiaManagement that ratl1er than waiting for him to send funds to our office to remedy themaintenance issues, we would use the existing funds in the account to fund the emergencyproject.
Sincerelym
[redacted]
Utopia Management

We've been leasing my appartment through Utopia Management Inc for over 10 years and have always found the service to be top draw. They have always offered sound advice and offered a very high standard of customer service. I would recommend this company without hesitation

[redacted] was very responsible in communicating with tenants and was an outstanding representative in getting things ready while I and my wife were busy taking care of other things. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with Utopia Management and look forward to working with them for many years in the future.

The service is excellent with the agents working really hard to get viewings. They were also very courteous, punctual and friendly. They were happy to offer advice on all rental matters, returned calls promptly and kept me informed of every stage of the process.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.[redacted] is lying.  This response is full of lies.First off, the entire building was never fumigated.  I can grab statements from other tenants to prove this information.  We lived in disgusting conditions for the entire time we were there and I have forwarded that compliant to Health and Human Services.  Utopia provided us a move-in inspection form and actually told us to "hold on to it and we'll collect it later."  This never occurred.  I do have it though with dates and initials on it.The maintenance requests that I put in WERE NEVER taken care of.  I requested the blinds be replaced.  They were not. The refrigerator WAS taken care of as [redacted] stated and SOME but NOT ALL of the broken switch plates were replaced.  No, we did not report any pest issues as we tried to put poison out ourselves and take care of it ourselves like it is stated in the contract.  However, we couldn't do this because I have not had the money to pay for pest control.  Nor would I have had the money to pay Utopia for bringing someone out.  So no, we lived in filth and just tried our best to vacate the place.  Finally we had the means to do so, so we vacated the place that is definitely a health violation and uninhabitable.Yes, I did opt for early termination and have explained to [redacted] that I will be paying her the first $1701 for the month of September on Friday.  I will not be paying for October or November until the END of the month if there is no tenant still.  I am disputing the charges they want for "cleaning" and "repairs."  The following items is what she wants me to pay for:-Removal of items left in the unit (this was some trash, but not actual big items)-Reinstall drawers pulled out (She continues to point fingers at [redacted] and I, stating we pulled all of the drawers out.  I have no idea how this occurred because we did not do that.  She did produce pictures of this for me - but I can't explain this because we simply did not do that.  -Remove hooks on wall in downstairs bedroom - Yes, this is my responsibility.-Reinstall shower head - We left the original shower head there.  [redacted] even confirmed, they installed the same shower head.  -Reinstall toilet paper holder - Yes, my responsibility.She is trying to charge me $571 for the above items + $235 for a "deep clean" + $95 for a carpet clean.  According to the CA.gov tenant rights document, it states that they should not be allowed to charge me for "normal wear and tear" items.  Even if they do, the document states that if they do charge, it should be reasonable.  [redacted] tells me they charge a flat rate of $56/hour of work for their maintenance.  According to this, for the $336 for "make ready" this would have taken them six hours to complete these simple tasks?  Something doesn't add up there. I'm not disputing the charges for the 3 months rent.  I do feel that Utopia is stepping on the tenant rights document.  I feel that they are overcharging me for these items.  It should not cost $571 or $666 total for cleaning and simple fixes.  That is a ridiculous amount of money.  I can understand it being a couple hundred dollars for these fixes, but not that much.  They are trying to get more money out of me than is due to them.  If it is necessary, I will provide you ALL of the paperwork, documentation and email correspondences.  [redacted] has said there will be an adjustment to the rate of $56/hour, but how much I don't know.  She has not provided me a new figure so I cannot determine whether I will agree with that number or not.  She said she would adjust it after I have paid the first installment of rent on Friday.
Regards,
[redacted]

Regarding the fumigation issue: If the HOA was the one that informed Utopia Management that the entire building was fumigated, then the dishonesty is actually coming from the HOA and not Utopia.  However, Utopia, if you are acting as the agent for the owner, the HOA needs to provide YOU with documentation supporting that claim that they did the fumigation.  With an infestation as bad as that was, there is no way an actual fumigation took place in the building.  Not only that unit has roaches – it is everywhere in the building.  For your company, I suggest you look into this.  If this is the only unit you are managing, maybe you need to ditch this HOA.  This is not good business and reflects poorly on Utopia.  If the fault lies with the HOA, you need to cover your business.   I went back and read over the agreement again and realized that I read Section 42 incorrectly.  Both [redacted] and I were under the impression that pest control would plainly be our responsibility, however, upon reading the document again I did realize I was mistaken – I would only be responsible for pest control IF I caused it.  We certainly did not cause it, so it is an error of mine for not reporting it.  I sincerely apologize on that misunderstanding.   Regarding Revision of Itemization of Security Deposit: I have logged into the tenant portal and have seen that the make ready charge has been lowered to $140 vs. $336 as [redacted] has stated in her response.  This is much more reasonable.   There is one thing in your response I do want to point out to you.  You say: “They broke the toilet paper holder off of the wall, and they left items in the unit that had to be removed.  The issue of the drawers being reinstalled is the responsibility of [redacted] and [redacted]. After receiving possession of the property, I went to the unit to perform the inspection. Upon entering I found that almost all of the drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms had been removed. I cannot speculate as to how the drawers could have been in that state since no one had access to the unit prior to my inspection--with the exception of [redacted] and [redacted].”   I really do not appreciate you pointing fingers at me and making me seem like I trashed this place.  That is inappropriate.  The toilet paper holder was not “broken off” the wall.  What actually happened is I had a custom toilet paper holder on the wall and we could not re-install the original as the holes from the screws were too big.  So yes, that had to be fixed I’m aware, but don’t sit there and say “I BROKE STUFF OFF THE WALL.”  Again, I will say it one more time, I DO NOT KNOW what happened with the drawers.  Neither [redacted] nor I left the place that way.  [redacted]’s last time in the place was August 30th to allow for donation items to be taken away.  I was out of there by August 12th.  You claim that you were the first one at the property, but the work order says that the maintenance was performed on September 6th and the photos of the drawers pulled out were from September 6th.  That seems to align really well with one of the vendors taking the drawers out.  Because we do not have evidence to support we did not do this, obviously I have to pay the price for someone else’s blunder and that is horrible.  I don’t have the money to be worrying about something that I didn’t do.  To me that is a defamation of character and bordering on slanderous.  But thank you, you’ve taught me what to do and what not to do for the future.  Now I know I should take pictures of EVERYTHING.   Right now as it stands, my security deposit is not being returned to me.  I paid $1701 on Friday for the September rent since no tenant had moved in.  My deposit was automatically applied to October already. What I think is happening and if this is correct, here’s my final proposal: October Rent: If no one has taken the place by the end of October, I pay $1701 per early termination agreement (ETA). November Rent: If no one has taken the place by the end of November, I pay $1701 per ETA. The total of $470 ($140 for make ready, $235 for cleaning + trash and $95 for carpet cleaning) should be taken out of my $1600 deposit with the remaining $1130 being returned to me. If this is agreed upon, we can close this complaint. I have a lawyer who is following this case and is reviewing all of these documents.  The lawyer will be with me through all of this until my business dealings with Utopia have ended. [redacted]