Lazy property manager

[qlu]

Wife and I just bought a nice apartment but the property manager is extremely lazy, hasn't answered our emails in 3 weeks, hangs up the phone, rude, etc.. Noticed they have a lot of 1 star reviews on Google. If it were up to me they would be instantly fired and we'll definitely bring it up at the board meeting. Do we have any rights against lazy property managers?

[Escafusa]

Is this the agency in charge of looking after affairs and the running of the building? Surely there is more than one person working there? Can't you speak to someone else?

[qlu]

Is this the agency in charge of looking after affairs and the running of the building? Surely there is more than one person working there? Can't you speak to someone else?

He's the one that is in charge of our building, we're going to try to escalate things to the higher ups, but judging by the google reviews it seems like they don't care either. We'll find out soon enough.

Yes they're in charge of running the building. We don't own the doors, windows, and exterior walls, so any changes/repairs to those must be done by "community" aka property manager. There's one wall that is damaged and should be repaired to prevent further and future damage and corrosion. Caulk on windows are 30 years old and need to be redone, stuff like that.

[Nickles and Dimes]

We're in the same situation. Not much you can do unless all the other owners agree to fire this property manager/company. Document everything and submit it to the other owners at your next owners meeting. You might also look in other property management companies and find out what they charge for the services they offer. But you really need the support of the other owners on this issue and it would be good to have documentation (an anecdotal and photos) that are convincing. Good luck.

[Escafusa]

We don't own the doors, windows, and exterior walls, so any changes/repairs to those must be done by "community" aka property manager. There's one wall that is damaged and should be repaired to prevent further and future damage and corrosion. Caulk on windows are 30 years old and need to be redone, stuff like that.

This should be discussed at the next annual meeting.

You might also look in other property management companies and find out what they charge for the services they offer.

If the building is small, you can also look into running it yourselves, it's not compulsory to have a company running it for you. It could be much more efficient and things may get done more quickly without one.

[qlu]

We don't own the doors, windows, and exterior walls, so any changes/repairs to those must be done by "community" aka property manager. There's one wall that is damaged and should be repaired to prevent further and future damage and corrosion. Caulk on windows are 30 years old and need to be redone, stuff like that.

This should be discussed at the next annual meeting.

You might also look in other property management companies and find out what they charge for the services they offer.

If the building is small, you can also look into running it yourselves, it's not compulsory to have a company running it for you. It could be much more efficient and things may get done more quickly without one.

It's not small, it's medium, 15 units. They also manage two other buildings on the property, so I wonder if our building alone can break free from this company.

My theory is that this guy is avoiding us because we're right and he doesn't want to do work. He's also not responding to our emails because he doesn't want it in writing that he's rejecting our request. In other words, he doesn't want to get sued or in trouble for not doing his job and he doesn't want a paper trail which is why he's not responding to our emails. He's also nearly impossible to reach on the phone. We're going to try one more time to reach him on the phone and then ask the receptionist to speak with his manager.

[Fraufruit]

You might want to send registered letters to him in case this winds up in court.

[Escafusa]

It's not small, it's medium, 15 units. They also manage two other buildings on the property, so I wonder if our building alone can break free from this company.

Very unlikely that's possible if the three buildings are run together because they all belong to the same parcel of land. All three blocks would have to change companies together. And you probably need the support of at least half of the owners from all three blocks for a big change like that.

[qlu]

You might want to send registered letters to him in case this winds up in court.

It's not small, it's medium, 15 units. They also manage two other buildings on the property, so I wonder if our building alone can break free from this company.

Very unlikely that's possible if the three buildings are run together because they all belong to the same parcel of land. All three blocks would have to change companies together. And you probably need the support of at least half of the owners from all three blocks for a big change like that.

So what do we do now? We tried calling again today, he answered and after speaking 5 words he randomly hung up and became impossible to reach. Very frustrating.

I guess we have to send registered mail like Fraufruit suggested.

What if they still refuse to respond to us or even do any work at all, what are my options?

Is this company commiting fraud by taking our money and purposely avoiding doing their job?

I don't even know when the next annual meeting is because it's the property manager's job to arrange it and notify the owners, so I'll have to ask neighbours when I see them.

I've never experienced this before in my life and have lived in 3 countries and multiple cities.

[Escafusa]

Is this company commiting fraud by taking our money and purposely avoiding doing their job?

I don't think it could be legally regarded as fraud. And in any case, it would be very difficult to prove anything, unless of course you do send a registered letter with signature and get no reply - even then, unfortunately, I don't see it as being regarded as a criminal matter. Though the behaviour of this person is ignorant and disgusting. It makes you think what their reaction would be if there was an emergency involving the building, perhaps even caused by them sitting back and doing nothing.

I've never experienced this before in my life and have lived in 3 countries and multiple cities.

Same here. Welcome to Germany.