PM invoiced me for consultations with tradesmen and myself.

[arniew]

I was staggered to receive an invoice for $250 from my PM for the time she spent consulting with tradesmen and a couple of meetings with me at the property. Apparently a few tradesmen came to assess the work required, but found it beyond their expertise and only one accepted the job.
I have never been invoiced previously for this type of situation and I assumed that this would have been covered by the management fees I pay. I also feel that the PM should have at least itemised each consultation, along with the duration of each visit.
I wonder if this is normal practice and, if so, I certainly won't mind paying the invoice.

[artemis]

What does the contract say?

[Keys]

^^^ (mamc)

[arniew]

Artemis, I am not at home at the moment to check the contract. I have a new PM in the same agency I have had for a few years, but previous PMs did not charge me for their services. It just seems an excessive amount to pay. My neighbour works in this agency, so I had better sound her out about it. My query to the forum is just to gauge whether this is a normal practice. Thank you.

[Sharon]

Ive paid for a PMs time before in a TT situation and also in a case where a tenanted property was being renovated in that a fair amount of time was involved. Little things I hadnt even thought of things like Asbestos considerations, access of a shared driveway, a string of health & safety stuff.
For the TT case we were billed for 2 hours @ $50 per hour. The hearing only went on for 15 minutes but with the amount prep and stuff + the professional presentation was easily good value compared to what other professional like a lawyer might charge. Im originally from California so to get a professional person who knew what the heck they were doing at only $50 an hour was great value. Might add in my experience NZ has some excellent Property Managers at budget rates.

[donna]

It's a tough one - if they're doing work on your behalf then they get paid - as their time is money just like anyone's however some PMs charge it as a percentage of the bill. I was being charged 15% + GST of the invoice amount. After a few years I balked at it and now I don't get charged at all.

cheers,

Donna

[FJW]

I was staggered to receive an invoice for $250 from my PM for the time she spent consulting with tradesmen and a couple of meetings with me at the property. Apparently a few tradesmen came to assess the work required, but found it beyond their expertise and only one accepted the job.
I have never been invoiced previously for this type of situation and I assumed that this would have been covered by the management fees I pay. I also feel that the PM should have at least itemised each consultation, along with the duration of each visit.
I wonder if this is normal practice and, if so, I certainly won't mind paying the invoice.

Whats stipulated in your management agreement with respect to facilitating maintenance?

Its a mix bag with respect to which agencies put a fee on r & m....