QUESTION
Can our prop management co. charge monthly mgmt fee when rental house is vacant? See contract language below.Tks
Asked on May 21st, 2012 on Contracts - California
More details to this question:
First time house was vacant, $90 monthly fees waived after we complained. Now, it''s vacant again and they''re asking for fee.
THIS IS COMPENSATION PORTION OF OUR CONTRACT: ¿¿¿Owner agrees to compensate Agent in accordance with the following fee schedule: Monthly management is $90.00 per month for single family properties and $160.00 per month for duplexes. Renting or leasing is 50% of one month''s rent; to be charged no more than once per 12 month period per unit. Service oflegal notices to resident is $35.00.
Extraordinary maintenance: In the event that Owner requests Agent to undertake work exceeding normal management, an hourly fee shall be charged equal to the then current monthly management fee for single family homes or 10% of gross maintenance work billed, whichever is greater. Normal management does not include modernization, refinancing, fire restoration, rehabilitation, vacancy preparation on new accounts, preparing a property for sale, repairs exceeding $500.00,¿¿¿¿¿¿
1 ANSWER
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The attorney client relationship permits the client to rely, within limits, on the advice of an attorney as applied to specific facts. Ask a Lawyer does not create an attorney client relationship but rather is for askers to pose questions of a general nature, which also might be of potential interest to other askers. What is offered here is analysis, not advice. We have not reviewed the entire agreement, or email or oral conversations which may have modified the written agreement, which might modify the analysis. With those limitations, reading only the language you cite above, the management fee is not waived when the property is vacant. Empty property requires one type of management, leased property requires a different type of management, but nothing in the language above waives the management fee in the event of vacancy.
Answered on May 22nd, 2012 at 11:07 AM