Complaint Review: Real Property Management West San Fernando Valley

to whom may this concern, 

My name is Francisco Soriano, I own 5 buildings in Los Angeles area, between Canoga Park, and North Hollywood, 4 of them side by side. (very easy to manage and very close from Adel's  office) I would like to share my experience with Adel Rafael with you. 

Since I hire Adel, in august 2016 mistakes started happening all the time, from sending emails with private information to third parties, to missing statements, and unclear charges, to constant mistakes in statements and work never done, you name it. I have to constantly tell him what to do, because he would never go to see the properties and everytime I went to see them they would be dirty and in poor condition, and after telling him what to do I would have to repeat it constantly in order to get it done, and half of the time will never happened. When I told them after so many mistakes in the statements that if it happened again I would fire them the answer was "ok we will try but you have to remember that mistakes will keep happening".

When I asked after one month working together where were the statements he told me that put the statements together was very difficult and would take him very long time and for that he had to charge me extra.

When we have a vacancy he wait until the tenant leave to post it in the market instead of marketing it as soon he had a 30 days notice from the tenant so we would have the apartment rented as soon as possible. 

I hire Adel agreeing on paying him 5%. Soon enough 5% wasn't enough and he asked me for 6%. and top of that, he told me that if I wanted to get the statements I have to pay an extra 150 dollars. otherwise I wasn't gonna get any statements. After agreeing to pay 150 dollars I would have to fight every month to get the statements and they will be full of errors and mistakes like, paying mortgage twice, charging me 6% instead of 5, numbers don't coming straight, always missing bills, never had a complete statement without errors on it. When I asked him why number didn't add, he told me that I was too difficult and that I wanted the numbers to add to the cent. That a dollar here and there didn't matter. (pretty unbelievable by the way to have a manager telling you how much you should care about your money).

When there was a work that had to be done, I have to hire people myself because I would get a quote from him for literally ridiculous amounts. a 5 thousand dollars job to replace a water heater, I call my guy while traveling in Chile and messing up the day but my guy fix it in 2 hours, did it for 600 dollars, a quote for 20k to remodel a unit, I hire someone else myself, have it done for 11k, a quote for a retrofitting in the properties he got me a bill for 24k, I got it done for 9k, and so on...

When I told him that I wanted to leave him, he told me that he was fine with it because my buildings weren't profitable and the reason was because I interfere in the wrong things such as telling him who to hire for a job. Meaning I should have let him send his guys instead of mine in order for my buildings to be profitable. ( pretty shocking isn't it?).

I went to my buildings and I ask the tenants about the manager, what opinion they have about him. They said that he was never there. He would leave the country for months, and I have to discuss all of the problems, errors and mistakes by phone because he would be in vacations.

The last month we work together I needed him to be cooperative and handle me all the documents. When I called him for a missing statement after getting three of them for the other properties and find out they have been overcharge, after texting him and calling him, to get a check for those charges and the missing statement I realize that he blocked my number. I called him from a different number and he answered right away. Finally I got the last statement, and again with another extra charge and missing bills. 

Not everyone in the office is inefficient tho, but it isn't enough to overcome all of the above. 

I'm a very busy man and all of those problems cost me a lot of time and energy that I would have gladly apply in other projects instead doing all of that, which also cost me a lot of stress and distress that affect in my performance and personal life. I got so disappointed that I decided to run my buildings myself and is the best decision I've ever made in my life. 

We all know that property management companies aren't the best idea to manage your properties even tho it seems like it but in this case when on and beyond my expectations in the wrong direction.


After getting the information for my buildings back I found out there was very important paperwork missing. Leases, contracts and over 1 thousand dollars on collecting rents missing, also Adel still holding thousands of dollars on his account that needed to be deposited in mine long ago.  I email them asking them for all of that info and money which for them is literally a click away. So I explain in the email that if I didn't get any answer I would stop by next day so they can print it for me. Without the leases I can't tell how much money tennants need to pay and I need it for legal purposes and for my own records. I stopped by, they open the door fir me and I ask the girl who was there if she could provide me with that information. After a few minutes they called me from another room telling me Adel was on the line. So I put my phone on recording. Because I saw it coming. He treated me to call the cops for being in his office and told me to get the f**k out, which it was fine with me and I actually after that was about to call the cops myself. I told him that I only want what I pay for since i pay for their services, know what happened with that missing money and the paperwork (leases etc..) that by law belong to me. I have the whole conversation recorded cause this men is a lier and a bullshiter. Worst, worst, worst managment company I know, heard, and experience in my life. They don't deserve to be in business and nobody deserve to be treated like this. Horrible experience.

Francisco Soriano. 

HGN corp. CEO. Read less