Westwind Management Group, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have
reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID *** and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me It is disappointing in all our communications I never directly received acknowledgement of error or apology from Westwind Management That implies to me Westwind's business rating is more important than their daily customer service
Sincerely,
*** ***

The Consumer rents a home in the *** *** Association in Aurora, Colorado. Westwind Management Group, Inc., is the managing agent for the Community. The Community is a townhome Community and each townhome owner owns their lot. Based upon the Association’s governing
documents, each owner owns and is responsible for the repair, maintenance and replacement of all of their utility lines (water, sewer, gas and electric service) from the point where these services enter their lotUnlike many Communities, the association does not maintain any of the water and/or sewer lines in the communityOnce the water and/or sewer line reaches the common line, meaning the line is serving more than one home, the Aurora Water Department is responsible for the maintenance and repairSeville is a year old Community and the water piping used at the time of construction is not as durable as water piping that is currently manufactured. According to our records, the following dates reflect the most recent breaks within the Community (not necessarily affecting all residents): 8/11/10/7/11/24/12/1/1/6/Repairs generally take between and hours to repair It is not always known when the water will be turned off. Aging City of Aurora pipe failure is especially frequent because of constant hydraulic pressure and the pipes rarely just leakThe water lines are very large in diameter and when they break, the matter is considered an emergency and the water department will immediately turn off the waterIf the break occurs in an area that is covered with asphalt, the City will return at a later date, at their convenience and repair the asphalt. We are not always notified; they just show upThe water department has recently separated the meters in two sections for the community; the north section and the south sectionPreviously the community was tied to one meterWhile we have inquired, we have not been notified of any future plans for further isolation of sections of the Community or if the City ever intends to replace all of this piping. We ask all of our clients to provide email information so that we can communicate quickly to those clients. Once we are notified of a scheduled or emergency shut off, we promptly send a blast email out to all owners who have supplied us with an email address for notification. We try to keep everyone updated on the repairs and when water service is expected to be restoredWe normally generate several email blasts during a situation of this nature. In checking the address of the Consumer, we find that the owner of this home has not provided us with an email address so that we can provide this vital communication. Owners are also required to keep us informed as to contact information for their renters. The Consumer’s name and contact information was not provided to us and the last renter the owner provided to us was “*** ** ***. Unless we hear otherwise, we will add the Consumer’s email address to our email communications for future email notificationsWe understand how inconvenient and difficult utility interruptions can be; especially for water service. We apologize that this Consumer was inconvenienced; however, if we do not have the information necessary to notify a resident of an interruption, that resident will be surprised, inconvenienced and frustrated when water service is stopped. We appreciate receiving the email information from the Consumer and it is our hope that future email blasts about utility interruptions will help to better inform the Consumer of future plans. Thank you for your inquiry

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/03) */
The Consumer owns a home in a condominium association called *** Westwind Management Group manages the business affairs of the Association at the direction of the Board of DirectorsThe Association is
responsible for common area maintenance issues only
Each home in the association has a utility closet that contains their individual water heater, furnace and air conditioningHomes are stacked on top of each other to three storiesOnce we were notified of a water issue, we made arrangements for several contractors, who are familiar with the construction of the buildings, to inspect the closet and determine what is leaking
Based upon these inspections, it was determined that a plumbing leak exists between the Consumer's home and the home above the ConsumerThe contractors believe that the most likely issue is an AC condenser line or a faucet in the upper closetBased upon the Association's governing documents, the leak is the responsibility of the owner that lives above the home of the ConsumerThe upstairs homeowner has been notified of the issue, in addition, at this time, the upstairs homeowner has been provided the contact information of the Consumer with another request to resolve the issueWe have explained the situation to the Consumer and have invited the Consumer to Board meetings if questions aroseAs I understand it, the Consumer did attend the Board Meeting in August and asked questions of the Board
Under these circumstances, the issue is outside of the jurisdiction of the Association and rests with the two homeownersThis fact has been conveyed to the owner on numerous occasions
Thank you for your inquiry

As explained in our first response, the owner of the home where the Consumer rents did not provide us with any contact information regarding the Consumer and subsequently the Consumer did not receive the many communications that we have provided to residents within the Community.  We are unable to repair the memory of what the Consumer experienced in the past.With contact information provided to us by the Consumer, we look forward to an improved experience for the Consumer in the future. Thank you for your inquiry.

Until 2008, the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) placed Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loan guarantees on communities without further qualifications.  These loan guarantees help first-time and low income buyers purchase homes with government backing and the guarantees remained...

in place for homeowners associations without the need to recertify or requalify the community.   Since 2008, HUD changed its policy as it related to condominium associations only.  Changes to the policy have taken place every year or so and some of those changes have been detrimental to recertification applications at times.  This does not affect townhomes, single family homes, patio homes or other types of associations that are not legally a condominium.    Every two (2) years, condominium associations are required to recertify their approval with a very extensive and cumbersome qualification process.  Qualifications include many aspects of the association including financial conditions, levels of contributions to reserves, legal issues the association may be involved in, ratios of owners to investment homes, numbers of homes owned by one person or entity, construction defects, insurance coverage, etc.  HUD also requires that a substantial number of documents be submitted with the applications.  Management companies have been placed in the position of assembling and affirming this information. In the event that a management company provides information that is found to be false or incorrect, the responsible management person (the person preparing the recertification) can be subject up to $1,000,000 in fines and up to thirty (30) years in prison.   The Consumer lives in a community by the name of Champagne Condominium Association, Inc.  On September 19, 2015 Champagne’s FHA Certification expired and was not renewed by the Association due to qualification issues required by HUD.  The loss of FHA Certification means FHA backed mortgages cannot be used in Champagne at the current time.  However, there have been no changes concerning VA and conventional mortgage plans.    We are in the process of rectifying the qualification issues that are necessary so that a recertification application can be submitted to HUD for Champagne and we are very close to making that submission.  Once the application is submitted to HUD, HUD generally will review and respond to the applications within forty five (45) to sixty (60) days.   We are very sorry that the Consumer is frustrated with the HUD recertification application process that is required; however, we do not write the rules for HUD and we do not control all aspects or conditions that make the Champagne Community either qualified or not.  We will not be offering any compensation to the Consumer for this process.   Thank you for your inquiry.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because- [redacted] never informed me of any letters or other actions that were taken or followed up with me in any way. He never asked me to participate in any hearing and never asked me for additional information. Of course the resident and the owner would say there is no noise problem!- More often than not, [redacted] does not respond to phone calls, emails, letters.- The Board president did come over, but not when the noise was occurring. She was sympathetic, however, and was the one who encouraged me to file the noise complaint.I would like someone from Westwind Management to be present when the noise is occurring and then make this determination. I would also like responses from Westwind Management and the HOA in writing.Thank you.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/06/02) */
[redacted] Revdex.com Case # XXXXXXXX
The Consumer is not clear about Westwind Management's role in her community. Contrary to her statements, we did not hire a contractor to perform any work in her community. The...

homeowners association we work for, [redacted] hired the contractor. We simply act on behalf of the Association, as their managing agent, to facilitate work, solicit bids for work when needed, handle the Association's day-to-day business operations, etc.
The Consumer is dissatisfied with the progress on the gutter replacement project taking place out at the community. Much like the Consumer, the Association's Board of Directors, as well as Westwind Management as the Association's managing agent, are not happy with the lack of progress. The majority of the delays are the result of the incredibly rainy and even snowy May we experienced. That is not to say that some of the responsibility doesn't fall to the contractor who has failed to properly man the gutter replacement portion of this project.
The contractor, as of last May 28, is on their third gutter subcontractor. The change in subcontractor is in an effort to move through this project more efficiently and ease the frustrations we have with the project. The project now seems to be moving along quite nicely, but it will take a few more weeks to complete the entire community. We do not have an estimated completion date quite yet; however, we are hopeful work will be completed by the end of June.
The Consumer has obviously incurred damages to the interior of her home as a result of this project. The contractor, [redacted] has been great about contacting residents with damage and repairing that damage at [redacted] expense. Since receiving the Consumer's complaint, we have left a voicemail for her (June 2, 2015) and copied her on an email to ** (June 2, 2015), in which ** has been asked to schedule a time with the Consumer to inspect her interior damages and put in place a plan to make necessary repairs.
It is doubtful the Consumer will be paid for damages incurred, but [redacted] will make those repairs at their expense.
We are truly sorry for the inconvenience the Consumer has experienced as a result of this project, but rest assured, we are taking all necessary steps on our end to ensure this project is completed as quickly as possible and completed correctly, and to ensure all damages are repaired accordingly.
If the Consumer has any additional questions or concerns regarding this matter, we have advised the Consumer to please contact the [redacted] for the [redacted] at XXX-XXX-XXXX ext. [redacted] or via email at [redacted]@westwindmanagement.com.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 9, 2015/06/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I met with the project manager of [redacted] to show him the damages that had occurred. After the floors were reviewed by [redacted] we received a check for the damages.
The gutters have also been replaced and I no longer have water leaking in. I am satisfied with the resolution of this issue.
I appreciate the follow up from [redacted] and [redacted] and I very satisfied with the results.
Thank you.

[redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I think this management company has one to many excuses and not any solutions. They know who my landlord is because he has made numerous complaints on my behalf.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

The complainant filed a direct complaint with our company detailing the same issues noted in the Revdex.com complaint. Follow up from our Chief Operating Officer was provided on Friday 7/2/9/16 to the complainant and is synopsized below:Shortly after the complaining party moved in, a complaint was filed...

with Westwind Management Group concerning noise emanating from the home above the complainant's. Westwind Management Group, Inc. issued a courtesy notice to the upstairs neighbor on 9/24/14. The homeowner responded to that notice and while acknowledging that they and their tenants would be understanding of and considerate of the request, they felt strongly that they were not creating an unreasonable amount of noise. In addition to this initial courtesy notice, the Board of Directors held a hearing regarding the noise disturbance on 10/21/14. The Board of Directors for this complainant's community association recommended to both parties that they give consideration to mediating the dispute as both refuted the others' claims and the Board of Directors could not make a determination of fault without witnessing the noise violation. On 3/25/15, the complainant requested someone from the Board of Directors visit the home to witness the noise disturbance. The Board President agreed to do so and the Manager, [redacted] notified the complainant with contact information for the Board President on 4/2/15. According to the community's records, the complainant contacted the Board President on 5/18/15 to witness the noise disturbance and found that none existed. The complainant filed another noise complaint on 5/25/16 detailing issues of noise between April and May of this year. Westwind Management Group sent notice of the issue to the above neighbors within less than 5 business days after receipt of the complaint. Westwind Management Group's Chief Operating Officer has now provided a link to both the City code that pertains to nuisance noise and a link to the City of Glendale for the complainant to report this issue to the local municipality as all resources have been exhausted through the community association.With respect to the concern regarding parking, the manager for the community association, [redacted], has already taken the appropriate action to address the issue. The complainant is welcome to contact [redacted] or his assistant Rachel Kaelin with any further questions about the noted vehicle, which information has also been provided to the complainant in the response from our firm.Thank you.

Westwind Management Group, Inc. assesses fines and fees in direct accordance with its clients' covenant enforcement policies and delinquency policies. Every time an account is assessed a fine or fee as described a letter is generated to the owner of record at the mailing address on file....

Westwind Management Group does not have the authority to remove fees and fines from accounts or to assess them outside of the Board of Director's approved policies. All requests for account adjustments must be reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors for the client.I received a call from this owner concerning this matter on 4/28/17 and promptly emailed her. She responded and I believe we have adequately worked through her concerns regarding follow up from our office. In addition, she has submitted a request to her Board of Directors to have these fees and fine removed from her account. See attached correspondence. The Board of Directors will review the request and all information related thereto at the next regularly scheduled meeting. The Owner will be notified of the Board's decision, in writing, following the meeting.Please let me know what else is needed to resolve this concern. Thank you.

Our office apologizes for any frustration over lack of communication, and has taken steps to remedy this moving forward. As noted in the attached response, our office has detailed the reasons why noise complaints are difficult for a condominium association Board of Directors to mediate. At this time our firm has acted in accordance with the directives of our client Board of Directors in this matter and have further invited the complainant to attend the next board meeting (see subsequent attachment) to address her governing board directly regarding all of these concerns. She agreed she would attend. Westwind Management Group does not have the authority to physically investigate the noise issue and make a determination regarding whether or not noise is present or a nuisance. The attached email correspondence and this written response serve as written response to the complainant.

We are sorry that the Consumer experienced difficulties with our billing process and we are working on improvements to our billing process and software to address those issues.  We will issue a check to the Consumer for the $87.00 that she has requested.