PM stealing or not?

Started by NicoleO1 • 20 replies • 2352 views

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NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

We recently changed from one PM to another. The prior one was instructed NOT to pay any bills without the approval of the Board.

They essentially stopped providing services the moment we sent notice, and of course they paid themselves for the last month they were with us. It's alot of monty to pay for no service provided. Any suggestions on recourse? The company is NOT responding ot written or telephonic requests.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Do an audit once you get the records and see what it discovers.

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

The records we have shows they paid themselves... so yes, money was taken out of the account without our permission

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

If it was money for services rendered as required by the contract or reimbursement for expenses as authorized by the contract, then the Board approved those expenditures when they approved the contract.

If that was the only money you are talking about, it's not theft. It may be failure to follow procedures, but it's not theft (unless those services were not provided or expenses were not incurred).

The problem was created by the Board when they allowed the MC to pay the bills vs. only depositing and making ledger entries for the Association. Whenever possible, it's best to have the job of making deposits and issuing checks separated. The MC, in my opinion, should have never been on the signature card, had access to the Associations accounts or had custody of the blank checks.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

How was your contract set up? Were you to pay them a month ahead or behind? I had a situation where our lawncare contractor original contract was delayed a month when first contracted. The prior president had set it up with May being the month it started instead of April. So when we changed, I had to pay out the former contractor the month of May and hire the new one to start in April. So we paid 2 contractors for the month of May because of the overlap.

Seems this is the same situation. Have to honor the timeline of the other contract before paying the new one. Otherwise you have to pay both until new pay period starts.

Former HOA President

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

The answere is all within the "terms of the contract" like Melissa and Tim stated.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Nicole, having followed the postings of the problems in your HOA I feel compelled to ask: Is the name of your HOA by any chance Peyton Place? For that is the only place I can think with such a plethora of problems.

For those too young to remember, Peyton Place was a nighttime soap opera full of drama and intrigue.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

It is reasonable that your previous property manager would pay itself and then, when compensated, obey your command to NOT pay any bills without direct board direction. Once you fired them, they stopped....as your board requests. No, the PM didn't steal money. They held you to your contract and then followed her directives.

Next time, your board should treat property managers as a respected and professional partner in property management.

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By GlenL on 03/11/2015 9:18 AM
Nicole, having followed the postings of the problems in your HOA I feel compelled to ask: Is the name of your HOA by any chance Peyton Place? For that is the only place I can think with such a plethora of problems.

For those too young to remember, Peyton Place was a nighttime soap opera full of drama and intrigue.

Was that necessary Glen?

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By NicoleO1 on 03/11/2015 7:49 PM

Was that necessary Glen?

I also find it kind of creepy that someone would even be following this forum so closely that something like this is even noticed. GAL

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By NicoleO1 on 03/11/2015 7:49 PM

Was that necessary Glen?

I also find it kind of creepy that someone would even be following this forum so closely that something like this is even noticed. GAL

JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,001

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By NicoleO1 on 03/11/2015 7:49 PM

Was that necessary Glen?

YES

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

These comments are not helpful. I feel like no matter what questions I have I am being singled out and made a mockery of. This is a serious site, not a school ground. You seem to get your jolllys by being a bit of a bully. I can only imagine how you run your board, management company etc. We are adults here seeking advice or guidance. I don't need to be made fun of at my expense all why trying to shed less than a credible light on my situaiton. Thank you , and please don't private message me as some of you have, it's harrassement and against this sites policy.

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

Nicole,
I have only lived in HOA communities that have been self-managed. However, I can sympathize with you on the antics and selective enforcement of the sites policies. I have suspected that there has been private messages behind the scenes for some time now, thanks for confirming it. Honestly it's disappointing to say the least. Like I said I'm sorry I can't help you with this particular issue, can help.

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

sorry hit submit too fast meant to say "hopefully someone else can help".

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Since I've never been able to figure it out, can someone explain how to private message someone from this site?

The only way I ever heard of was when you voluntarily give out your e-mail (which some of us have).

The other option, which may be what some consider to be private messaging, would be to select "subscribe" box (directly above the submit button) when you make a posting. When this occurs, whenever the thread you subscribed to is posted on, you get an e-mail with that posting. This is not real private messaging.

To my knowledge, only the moderators have the ability to e-mail someone directly unless you post your contact info on your own.

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By NicoleO1 on 03/22/2015 9:07 AM
These comments are not helpful. I feel like no matter what questions I have I am being singled out and made a mockery of. This is a serious site, not a school ground. You seem to get your jolllys by being a bit of a bully. I can only imagine how you run your board, management company etc. We are adults here seeking advice or guidance. I don't need to be made fun of at my expense all why trying to shed less than a credible light on my situaiton. Thank you , and please don't private message me as some of you have, it's harrassement and against this sites policy.

Nicole,
Even if you are mistaken about the term "private message" definition, I still acknowledge the important part of your message and am disappointed you have been made to feel that way here.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

BTW -

To see if you are subscribed to any thread or to unsubscribe from a thread, do the following:

Left click on "my profile" (located on the upper right side of the page just above the list of forums)
This opens your profile page.

Left click on the center tab labeled "subscriptions"
This opens a page showing all of the threads you are subscribed to

To unsubscribe, simply click the "X" on the right side line showing the thread.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Nicole,

I doubt you are being singled out. It's a shame you feel that way because of some of the postings, but I'm sure that wasn't the intent.

There were 5 replies to your initial posting (two from me) before you responded that you felt one posting was uncalled for. 4 out of those 5 postings attempted to help. The 5th, I took, as an attempt at humor agreeing with you that based on all of your past postings your Association seems to have more than it's share of issues.

I'm not sure why you chose to focus on that one posting vs. the other four. However, that is what you chose to do. Hopefully you were not referring to mine, Kerrys or Amandas replies as not being helpful.

Sometimes it's simply best to ignore (as best you can) the postings that get under your skin. Responding to those posting normally have the opposite affect then the one you may have hoped for.

On a side note, It's easy to review the past 500 postings any member has made. This is done by selecting "my profile" then click on "view posts by user" located on the profile tab. This opens a new page showing the last 500 posts you made. By replacing your user name with that of another member and clicking on search, you can see the last 500 postings made by any member of this site.

I often do this when an issue being presented seems familiar or if I think the poster had previously posted about the same issue. I'm not doing it to be creepy, I'm doing it to offer better advice. By reviewing those past postings, I can see if things changed or if the poster is simply asking the same question a different way. You probably have even read some of my posts where I reference those past threads.

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

Thank you Tim,
Very handy tip, didn't know you could look up someones history. Did a couple of searches to test it out, very insightful. It helps to know what to ignore and not take personally. I have to be honest I happened to come across some things that I would consider "creepy" that's all I'm gonna say!

AmandaR2 (South Carolina)
Posts: 566

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AmandaR2 on 03/22/2015 3:10 PM
Thank you Tim,
Very handy tip, didn't know you could look up someones history. Did a couple of searches to test it out, very insightful. It helps to know what to ignore and not take personally. I have to be honest I happened to come across some things that I would consider "creepy" that's all I'm gonna say!

Of course I did not mean your history Tim. I'm sure you know that.

But...........I didn't want you to "perceive" it differently.

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