Century 21 Selective is a full-service realestate company operating in Central Florida and owned by Jack Luiz. They not only assist in the buy/selling of realestate but also offer property management services for property owners and renters. As a home-owner, and since I live in another state, I contracted Century 21 Selective to manage the rental of my second home in Oviedo, FL in April.
The primary reason for hiring a property management company was to take the hassle out of renting my house out directly myself as it seemed more difficult since I was living in another state. The company would advertise and secure a screened renter, perform background checks on all tenants, handle all lease and legal contracts between tenants/property management company/myself, collect rent monies and direct deposit into my bank account, and be first contact to handle all tenant issues.
The "Exclusive Property Management Agreement" between myself and the company was clearly, if not excessively at 4 pages of fine print, worded. It spelled out every detail of each others' obligations. The lease agreement they used for the renter was equally detailed in that scope at a hefty 12 pages. Everything was agreeable, so I signed the contract and the company put a "for rent" sign in my front yard. A renter signed a lease with the company within a few days and became my first tenant. Everything seemed to be going smoothly up to tha point, but that is when the company had a contract to be paid and that is when thier practices began to become questionable.
My account was given to a particular Realestate Agent within the company, whom I initially blame for some of the problems, but after repeated trouble and contacting everyone within reason I soon realized it is company wide. The owner, Jack Luiz, is ultimately the most responsible and after fianlly dealing with him directly on several occassions I am certain he is also intenfull in his conduct and more than likely oversees and directs others to do as he says—right or wrong.
The lease agreement says that rent is due by the 1st of each month and if not received by the 4th then a late fee will be assessed as "additional rent". The Exclusive Property Management Agreement states that Century 21 Selective will collect rent and withhold 50% of the first months rent and 10% of each subsequent month as a fee. It also says that "property owners... Will receive payment within 72 hours of processing".
The second month into it the tenant was late making his payment and noone informed me at all of the situation. It was not until the 12th of the month, noticing NO deposits made into my account, that I contacted them to find this out. First problem is a total lack of proactiveness and taking responsibility in managing my rental property, they were not doing anything until after I called them about it. The tenant came in and paid rent along with a 5% late fee. Another week, not 72 hours, later a deposit was finally made in my account and was only in the amount of 90% of the months rent, no late fee.
Keep in mind, several emails and phone calls were required just to get to this point. Now I ask what happened to the late fee that was paid by the tenant and I was told "the late fee goes to century 21." Through several more emails I recite to them (my contact agent, not the owner directly yet) exactly how the contract explains how late fees are considered extra rent and the owner/company split on rents collected are 90/10. I go on to tell them how them keeping 100% of a late fee would not make ANY sense for a property owner, putting the full burden on us while unjustly rewarding a mangement company. It took several weeks and several more follow-up emails and phone calls, being told "the person who handles that will be in on monday" and other similar responses, and without remorse or any explaination, I fianally get them to send me a check for 90% of the late fee. I'm quite certain it was the specific undistbutable wording of the contract that made them change course rather than thier ethical judgement on the correct action to take.
Well a couple of months later the same thing happens again, the tenant is late paying rent, pays a late fee along with rent, the company takes much longer than 72 hours from receipt to deposit into my account, and they fail to give me any of the late fee keeping all of it themselves. I have to go through a similar process of repeated emails and phone calls to resolve the exact same issue as previously. Belive it or not. It happened a third time a few months after that, and just as before the company tried keeping all of the late fee until I had to fight to get them to give me my share, even saying in one email "do I have to go through the same process every time to prove to you to do the right thing".
The tenant has been late a few more times since then and the company still has problems on properly dispursing those funds. I am currently writing this, January because NOTHING has gotten any better.in fact I could say it has only become worse. Six months ago, the owner Jack Luiz took over the handling of my account after way too many problems occuring under the management of the previous agent. He assured me he would be on top of things from then on, make sure everything went as it was supposed to, and above all make sure I was properly informed of all matters as they came up. I specifially asked Jack to be proactive in communicating with me on any issue, such as the tenant being late in making a payment or prior to a three-day notice being placed on the front door (which I found out had happend several times without my knowledge at all), and he agreed giving me "his word".
Well the very next month was a complete contradiction to what Jack had promised. The tenant is late. The only way I am able to know this is by watching for deposits into my bank account which are typically happening a week or more after the tenant pays rent, so it is not until around the 10th to 14th of the month each time that I see things aren't going as they are supposed. Then I have to initiated the process of finding out what is going on because no one from the company does anything until asked and the first thing Jack does is pass me off to Karen in accounting instead of personally handling it as he had previously assured me he would.
This month, January after contacting the company on the 11th this is the response I got "The check (from the tenant) was deposited on Monday Jan 11th and the funds were deposited into your account today Jan 15th. The tenant did not include the late fee but he will add it to next months payment". The tenant had paid on the 9th confirmed by him and the company. The funds were NOT deposited into my account by 4:30PM on the 15th, which I confirmed in person with my bank, so I called the office to see why. I was then told verbally by the accounting person, same as quoted above, that the funds were deposited into thier bank today and were scheduled to transfer into my account, which I still have not seen.
I have had other problems with the company in managing my rental property, including hiring a shady and corrupt contractor to take care of some basic maintenance issues which were not done properly and way overcharged ($95 to tighten a water hose). I would honestly speculate that at least someone in the company was in collaboration with this contracter and getting something in return for thier favortism towards him. The company is Safe Home Builders and the owner is Michael O'Donnell, DON'T DO BUSINESS with them either, but that is another complaint.
My main purpose for writing all of this is to make others aware. I have been able to handle the improper and corrupt business practices of Century 21 Selective, but I wonder how many are out there that have been taken by thier tactics. How many other owners have had all late fees collected by them kept entirely by them without any knowledge or clear undestanding of such action. How many others have had thier money held in limbo, for whatever reason by the company, and have gone through some sort of financial duress as a result. Forbid they have been late making thier own mortgage payment due to such actions.
Since the current tenant wanted to continue to stay beyond the first years lease, the company did try to get me to sign a new contract. The new contract of course had much different language giving the company 100% of any and all extra fees collected including late rent fees. It also gave them exclusive prviledges and future control over the selling of my home, who would list it and get commission, and other one-sidedly beneficail elements. Also of course they made NO EFFORT to inform me of such changes and were even 2 months late in bringing it up at all, the entire process reaked of deception and puposeful intent. I refused to sign, at which point Jack told me I would then be bound by the original contract even though the dates had expired and I would be charged $500 to break it.
Although I know Jack is completely wrong and I could break my contract with him due to numerous failures on his and the company's behalf to uphold thier end of the agreement, I have decided to allow things to remain as is until the end of the second year for the current tenant. At that point I will do my best to part ways without conflict with Century 21 Selective, but what they will do between now and then is yet to be determined. I know I will be watching very carefully on how they handle the closing arangements and return deposits I made for emergency repair fund ($250) and whether the cleaning fee withheld will actually be used to hire a professional cleaner (unlike the initial cleaning fee they charged me to get the house ready to show but was actually performed by the renting agent and not a cleaning service company as stated).
I hope someone reads this and understands that this company may and most likey is treating all of thier customers this way and that they could be improperly retaing an untold thousands of dollars in fees that should have been going to property owners the entire time. If thier business practices are not illegal (or are they) they are certainly unethical and corrupt. I have since set up direct communication between myself and the tenant, making the whole reason for a property manager obsolete, and I have heard nothing but negative feedback from him regarding the company also. I strongly advise against anyone doing any business of any kind with Century 21 Selective in the Central Florida are.
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