Landlord-filter: Rental agency mis-handling apartment we're renting out
July 30, 2019 2:20 PM Subscribe
We're still not rented after 6 weeks on the market, and the listing agency is low energy, has slow-walked online photo updates, a website transition related to their ownership change, and any advice to us on pricing/staging/etc. What are my options?
I've been renting out two apartments for almost twenty years, in a residential district of an East Coast city. (It's a 3 unit building, and my family lives in the top floor.) I've rented the apartments myself three times, via Craigslist mostly, and three times I've used XYZ Realty. They charge a month's rent for their services: the advertising, the showings, and the screening of prospective tenants. XYZ was fine all three times - we signed the agreement, and very nice tenants and a lease appeared 3-4 weeks later.
Not this time. In mid-June, we signed up w/XYZ to rent one apartment, starting on Aug 1. They suggested a monthly rent range, and we chose the high end. The prior tenants moved out June 30, and we spent two weeks repainting and recarpeting, and there were a few visits by prospects.
Mid-June through mid-July is the hottest time in our rental market. Things are now starting to slow down.
I've discovered since we signed up that XYZ has moved to new offices, and so is no longer on the main drag of the shopping and business district a few blocks from our apartment. I also discovered, shortly after we signed, that the rental showing team had moved from XYZ to ABC, due to an ownership change. This also entailed a new listings website (new: ABC.com, old:XYZ.com).
I didn't monitor the previous three situations, since everything just worked. This time, it seems that the team is not all that motivated, that they've been slow to update the listing website with new photos and a new price, and that the transition from XYZ.com to ABC.com has been sloppy. (XYZ.com looks broken, with PHP errors where rental listings should be on the home page, and there's no mention of the new ABC.com website on the old XYZ.com website, so I worry about whether the web visits of prospective tenants are going to the right place.)
Our contract w/XYZ-now-ABC is that they get the first month's rent if we sign any lease through the end of our contract w/them, plus one month after. (So if I terminate the agreement today and sign up a new tenant I find via Craigslist in three weeks, XYZ/ABC is still entitled to one month's rent.) The contract is also mum – I've now read it and re-read it – on what efforts XYZ/ABC is required to put into finding us tenants.
I've been in twice weekly or more email contact w/them for 2.5 weeks to be sure photos get updated, to get updates on visits, etc. At the suggestion of one of their agents, we dropped the rent 8% a week ago (to below the range they initially suggested). I'm at a loss as to what else to do.
I could ask to be released from the contract and to have the "plus one month" clause struck -- that seems like the most "real world" solution. I could ask them to re-double their efforts, but I have very little control over that nor much way to verify what they're doing.
More that I can ask about? Other options?
I've been renting out two apartments for almost twenty years, in a residential district of an East Coast city. (It's a 3 unit building, and my family lives in the top floor.) I've rented the apartments myself three times, via Craigslist mostly, and three times I've used XYZ Realty. They charge a month's rent for their services: the advertising, the showings, and the screening of prospective tenants. XYZ was fine all three times - we signed the agreement, and very nice tenants and a lease appeared 3-4 weeks later.
Not this time. In mid-June, we signed up w/XYZ to rent one apartment, starting on Aug 1. They suggested a monthly rent range, and we chose the high end. The prior tenants moved out June 30, and we spent two weeks repainting and recarpeting, and there were a few visits by prospects.
Mid-June through mid-July is the hottest time in our rental market. Things are now starting to slow down.
I've discovered since we signed up that XYZ has moved to new offices, and so is no longer on the main drag of the shopping and business district a few blocks from our apartment. I also discovered, shortly after we signed, that the rental showing team had moved from XYZ to ABC, due to an ownership change. This also entailed a new listings website (new: ABC.com, old:XYZ.com).
I didn't monitor the previous three situations, since everything just worked. This time, it seems that the team is not all that motivated, that they've been slow to update the listing website with new photos and a new price, and that the transition from XYZ.com to ABC.com has been sloppy. (XYZ.com looks broken, with PHP errors where rental listings should be on the home page, and there's no mention of the new ABC.com website on the old XYZ.com website, so I worry about whether the web visits of prospective tenants are going to the right place.)
Our contract w/XYZ-now-ABC is that they get the first month's rent if we sign any lease through the end of our contract w/them, plus one month after. (So if I terminate the agreement today and sign up a new tenant I find via Craigslist in three weeks, XYZ/ABC is still entitled to one month's rent.) The contract is also mum – I've now read it and re-read it – on what efforts XYZ/ABC is required to put into finding us tenants.
I've been in twice weekly or more email contact w/them for 2.5 weeks to be sure photos get updated, to get updates on visits, etc. At the suggestion of one of their agents, we dropped the rent 8% a week ago (to below the range they initially suggested). I'm at a loss as to what else to do.
I could ask to be released from the contract and to have the "plus one month" clause struck -- that seems like the most "real world" solution. I could ask them to re-double their efforts, but I have very little control over that nor much way to verify what they're doing.
More that I can ask about? Other options?
Response by poster: @zdravo - Excellent question. I've reviewed it, and it does not -- "assign", "assignee", etc. do not occur in the document. All the clauses that refer to the listing agent refer to XYZ.
The contract does state: "... owner(s) agree to pay leasing fee if the property is rented during the term of this Listing Agreement ..., or within 30 days of the expiration, to anyone to whom the property had been shown by Agent, or to anyone to whom the property had been shown by any other persons during the original listing term."
This would seem to cover the case where an ABC employee (or even some random person) shows the property during the period of the listing agreement, which ends when I give notice. (But it doesn't bear on your question directly.)
The email announcing the change (from XYZ to ABC) said, in part: "I am pleased to let you know that effective [two weeks after we signed], the management accounts of XYZ will be transferred to ABC. "
So it looks like I may have two loopholes: first, as you noted, that the contract didn't provide for assigning the listing agent's role to anyone else and, second, as I read the leasing fee point more closely, that I was wrong about how the extra 30 days worked -- as long as the ultimate renter didn't see the apartment during the listing agreement, no money is owed to the agent.
Thanks.
posted by alittleknowledge at 8:00 PM on July 30, 2019
The contract does state: "... owner(s) agree to pay leasing fee if the property is rented during the term of this Listing Agreement ..., or within 30 days of the expiration, to anyone to whom the property had been shown by Agent, or to anyone to whom the property had been shown by any other persons during the original listing term."
This would seem to cover the case where an ABC employee (or even some random person) shows the property during the period of the listing agreement, which ends when I give notice. (But it doesn't bear on your question directly.)
The email announcing the change (from XYZ to ABC) said, in part: "I am pleased to let you know that effective [two weeks after we signed], the management accounts of XYZ will be transferred to ABC. "
So it looks like I may have two loopholes: first, as you noted, that the contract didn't provide for assigning the listing agent's role to anyone else and, second, as I read the leasing fee point more closely, that I was wrong about how the extra 30 days worked -- as long as the ultimate renter didn't see the apartment during the listing agreement, no money is owed to the agent.
Thanks.
posted by alittleknowledge at 8:00 PM on July 30, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by zdravo at 6:03 PM on July 30, 2019