Anonymous PROPERTY : experience and WARNING!!

ukgalwaymcguire

Anonymous property services..
word of warning..
my brother, has rented a apartment from them for the past year, always paid rent on time, when he moved in he noticed small amount if damp in the back bedroom... he informed them of this 2 weeks after he moved , NO ONE ever got back too him. Then in nov 2008, he noticed damp in the back bedroom had got a lot worse informed them of it and how much damage it seemed too be doing
heard nothing in weeks, by which time, he had many of his work suits (very expensive ones) covered in mould. he also suffered a eye and skin infection from the mould (it was all over the ceiling in the bedroom)
completely ruined our Christmas plans as he had to move into the spare room so therefore couldn’t put family members up over the holidays.
Anonymous came out too see the problem 2 weeks before Christmas, and then left it until a week ago.
my brother then asked if he could have his landlords contact details, as he thought it only right too let the landlord know the damage done too his property from the mould had been ignored by Anonymous for over 5 weeks, thus causing more damage than need be.
the short of this was Anonymous didn’t give him any details for the landlord,
and basically told him his agreement will not be renewed and has 3 weeks too get out.
he has found another apartment, less money and round the corner from me, so that’s ok.
but my brother fought hard too get compensation too dry clean his suits
and too get more than 3 weeks out of them too leave.
he was successful, but he has over 15 years experience in the uk of being a manager of a very large estate agents, I would hate too think what would happen too anyone who gets tangled with these unprofessional people and did not have a property background too fight them with...
be warned people Anonymous are not good people too deal with at all..
they are extremely unprofessional, and the way the deal with tenants
is absolutely disgusting
there was other little issues, as in something wrong with the freezer, in general when they actually bother too follow up a call they sent 2/3 contractors round who don’t know what is going on at all, don’t fix anything and generally make things a lot worse!!!
don’t deal with them, there only concern is making money and totally ignoring tenants..

LadyMayBelle

Sorry to hear about this.

Did he put his complaints in writing? Im not being smart but SO many people I know DO NOT put their complaints in writing or keep a record of contact with the property company.

Why didn't he leave sooner? It is possible to get out of a lease (if there was one) if repairs etc aren't carried out.

I was, up until recently in a place managed by Anonymous and while I know others have had problems I personally didn't, especially regarding issues around refuse disposal..

sgthighway

Do you mind telling us what housing estate the house was in?
Anonymous are the best Property Management Company in Galway but I do know somebody who had a similar problem in a house in Oranmore but he got it all sorted with the help of Anonymous.
I wouldn't let one experience like this put you off Anonymous. I'm with another company (not by choice) and I can see myself in Court in the next 2 years for not paying fees (another topic for another day).

ukgalwaymcguire

sgthighway wrote: »

Do you mind telling us what housing estate the house was in?
Anonymous are the best Property Management Company in Galway but I do know somebody who had a similar problem in a house in Oranmore but he got it all sorted with the help of Anonymous.
I wouldn't let one experience like this put you off Anonymous. I'm with another company (not by choice) and I can see myself in Court in the next 2 years for not paying fees (another topic for another day).[/quot


no it wasnt an estate.. its a apartment between barna and salthill,
in a block of 4.. lovely place but extremly poorly managed by Anonymous

it took them 11 months too do a check of the property... which is disgusting, and the apartment is worth around €350000 its 4 years old, and its the showroom apartment i really feel sorry for the landlord,
but he has listened too Anonymous version of events rather than the actual
truth

jenno86

Sorry to drag this off topic but ukgalwaymcguire I find your posts very hard to read. Could you use capitalisation in the correct places e.g. 'Anonymous' and not 'anonymous'. It does make it easier to read. Just one other thing your quotes, whats going on there like?!

biko

A tip - it's to, not too.
Too is mostly used in too much and too late.

happyoutscan

Anonymous Property also look after the apartment building I live in in Salthill. With the exception of frequent garbage collection as well as the general tidiness of the building there are a number of issues brought up by the residents that have gone unheeded and/or completely ignored.

After a number of break-ins we (ie the residents) asked if cctv (already installed but not recording) be better utilized (like recording it???). We were met by a resounding 'we will look into it'... that was over a year ago. A total lack of interest made worse by the fact that the apartment boundary is not secure. The back 'boundary' is a bit of a wire fence, so anyone can just stroll onto the grounds and check the doors and they're in (doors don't always close).

The intercom system was updated last year, but our apartment wasn't finished before we were going away for a few months. I emailed Anonymous with my sisters phone number (i gave her the keys) and told them to let her know and she'd be here to give access for the intercom system to be fixed or whatever). The couple times she came over the contractors didn't show. Since we've been back we have rang about it but still have no buzzer. Four times in the past three weeks I've had to go out to the An Post depot to pick up parcels that couldn't be delivered because the ******** buzzer doesn't work (I won't mention the apartment of mail and parcels that get stolen from the mailboxes) . In any event, the upgraded system is the cheapest going... you can't turn it off.

There is and has been for about a year a leak outside our windows. It appears to be coming from an apartment a couple floors up and is from the overflow pipe (each apartment has a small overflow pipe leading outside). Our windows are so filthy they can't be cleaned. I've tried three times, no go. I'm guessing there is a combination of someones toilet and bath water that has encrusted my windows, and that can't be too healthy for everyone walking/cycling/driving by this 'drip' all the day. It's loud enough to be heard from inside so maybe a drip doesn't do it justice. Apparently it's a matter for the landlord according to Anonymous. I must thank them for their interest

I don't have a great knowledge of rental rights/agreements etc or the contracts between landowners and property managers, but I reckon if each of these apartments is paying around 3000Euro yearly to the management company then there is room for drastic improvement.

As it is we are moving.

mernamora

I too had the misfortune to use this rabble a couple of years ago.Very glossy image and they love telling you how big and wonderful they are...until the problems occur...
they dont care about tenants
they send a text to you chasing your rent at 9.30 a.m the next day if you're one day late.
they are rude and arrogant
nice image Anonymous-shame the staff dont give a damn...

my advice would be this

if you are a landlord looking to let your property-dont use them
if you a tenant looking to rent a property-dont use them
if you are a freeholder with a residential or commercial premises and you need a managing agent-dont use them
if you are considering using them for any purpose whatsoever-dont use them.

ukgalwaymcguire

mernamora wrote: »

I too had the misfortune to use this rabble a couple of years ago.Very glossy image and they love telling you how big and wonderful they are...until the problems occur...
they dont care about tenants
they send a text to you chasing your rent at 9.30 a.m the next day if you're one day late.
they are rude and arrogant
nice image Anonymous - shame the staff dont give a damn...

my advice would be this

if you are a landlord looking to let your property-dont use them
if you a tenant looking to rent a property-dont use them
if you are a freeholder with a residential or commercial premises and you need a managing agent-dont use them
if you are considering using them for any purpose whatsoever-dont use them.

Totally agree.
my point of this post, is my brother has a lot of experience in the property field at a mangerial/area manager level.
i saw what he went through and i couldnt imagine someone without that experience getting through that fight, and the eye/skin infection is still there 2 months later.
not all lettings agents are like Anonymous though, i have a wonderful agents
(not Anonymous , PlausibleDeniability property services are wonderful)

LadyMayBelle

www.threshold.ie might to of assistance to some of you, in particular happyoutscan. You need to familiarize yourselves with rights and what to do/what not to do. You shouldnt have to stand for such incompetence so I dont see why people do.

Fozzie Bear

Anonymous are diabolical. I rented a house from them a few years ago on college road. Same problem with mould in some wardrobes. In the end we managed to get the landlords details from a girl we knew who worked in Anonymous. Only then did they have the mould sorted. Over the 2 years i was there they allowed people to move in and out without changing the names on the contract. In the end they had no idea who was living in the house and wanted us to sign a new contract. The contract listed all the items in the house but over the years some items had obviously gotten broken from wear and tear. We would not sign the contract until they came out and did a full inventory of the house. They refused claimed we were in violation of our contract and told us we were being kicked out and they were keeping our deposits! We contacted the landlord who came around with a Anonymous rep heard our side, looked at the unsigned "contract" with incorrect names for us and bollocked the rep. He demanded the rep gave us our deposits back and told him he would not be using Anonymous again. They are a bloody disgrace and are a manifastation of all that is wrong with management companies in Ireland. Avoid them like the plague.

Mike...

Anonymous are scum i have dealt wit them for numerous problems and i was not even a tenant,they hold most of the private parkin in the town and they clamp at will. I have heard numerous horror stories about them.beware big time.

JohnCleary

Property management companies are about as useful as an STD tbh. In these recessionary times, the 2 'services' that I would gladly see die are property management companies and recruitment agencies - The world managed without them in the past, what's so different now?

banshee_bones

Now feel free to correct me if i am wrong and i very well could be but as far as i know Anonymous were involved with the letting of and or management of the GMIT student village of Glasan....

robbed so so so many students out of entire deposits claiming all sorts of things like house not clean-when it was, rooms needing to be repainted, never were, and then they randomly pick a student from said house and BILL them for extra! After taking 90% of the deposits of the 5 tenants in the house...

Complete madness and i could never understand all the students who WENT back to be robbed of their deposit a second and even a third year!

Sponge Bob

were they not the ones who put about 200 students on one shared 2mbit pipe and called it Broadband ???

[EDIT] Yep , it was Anonymous .[/edit]

A list of sneaky Anonymous property management stunts here from a few years back

http://www.pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054898101

Das Kitty

If he's been there more than 6 months I don't think he can be told "we're not renewing your tenancy." There was something in Friday's Times about that.

bearclaire

banshee_bones wrote: »

Now feel free to correct me if i am wrong and i very well could be but as far as i know Anonymous were involved with the letting of and or management of the GMIT student village of Glasan....

robbed so so so many students out of entire deposits claiming all sorts of things like house not clean-when it was, rooms needing to be repainted, never were, and then they randomly pick a student from said house and BILL them for extra! After taking 90% of the deposits of the 5 tenants in the house...

Complete madness and i could never understand all the students who WENT back to be robbed of their deposit a second and even a third year!

when i look around galway and you see thoose little " Managed by Anonymous " plagues everywhere.
then all these stories, makes me wonder are they some kind of cartel!!
why the hell are they still in business, this is some kind of scum bag company hidden under a silk cloak.
this is defo something the media should investigate

john cleary.. totally agree why do we need these middle men companys
fleecing money at will

Mrs OBumble

bearclaire wrote: »

when i look around galway and you see thoose little " Managed by Anonymous " plagues everywhere.
then all these stories, makes me wonder are they some kind of cartel!!
why the hell are they still in business, this is some kind of scum bag company hidden under a silk cloak.
this is defo something the media should investigate

I've been told that it's partly to do with what happens when developer's finish, or rather don't quite finish, an estate. I didn't quite follow the full story, but it's something to do with the property management company getting into an untouchable position: the estate isn't finished, so the owners cannot get control of the PM contract yet. This then gives the existing PM company a real incentive to NOT get things finished!

FWIW, I've heard both good and bad stories about Anonymous. It really does seem to depend on what staff member you are dealing with.

Mrs OBumble

JohnCleary wrote: »

Property management companies are about as useful as an STD tbh. In these recessionary times, the 2 'services' that I would gladly see die are property management companies and recruitment agencies - The world managed without them in the past, what's so different now?

The property-management service has existed for a long time, the only difference now is that there are dedicated companies instead of just a branch of real-estate agents.

I'm a landlord (overseas), and had to choose between using a PM company and asking a friend to manage the property for me. I definitely prefer the company: screening out unsuitable tenants and dealing with rent defaulters etc is way more than I'd ask of a friend. Remember, for every story you have about scum property-mangers, landlords have an equally good one about tenants who short-paid rent, put holes in the walls, used the property as a drug-lab, etc etc.

Suffice to say I picked a PM company with a good reputation, and that offers a high level of service to property owners (credit and reference checks on tenants, quarterly inspections, they take photos of the property which I can see via a secure web-site, monthly financial reports etc). I cannot know how good their service to the tenants is, but have to hope that it's similar.

One key difference is that at home we have domestic rates, so tenants with a tiny amount of cop-on can go to the council and get my contact details from the rating roll. (Yet another good reason for having local taxation!)

sgthighway

The City Council and County Council haven't "taken ownership" of many estates in the last 10 years so the Developer has to appoint a Management Company. Some Developments are really left in a bad state.

Anonymous would have a company setup for every estate and each company would be run like a business. This company would also have an Ad-Hoc Committee and AGM. Tenants are on these committees. Tenants should be entitled to a copy of the Finances and AGM Reports. They would also be entitled to attend and AGM.

If I had a problem and was getting know where with the Property Manager; I would go over his/her head to the MD; Tom Murphy.

With the economy the way it is people have enough to worry about than to have to worry about their living conditions and surrounding areas that are supposed to be managed by the Management Company.

Zzippy

I've heard bad things about Anonymous in the past but tbh I have no problem with them, I live in an estate managed by them and its probably the best kept estate in the area, we constantly have landscapers in tidying up the place and trimming bushes etc. Just to add a bit of balance to the thread...

Mrs OBumble

sgthighway wrote: »

Anonymous would have a company setup for every estate and each company would be run like a business. This company would also have an Ad-Hoc Committee and AGM. Tenants are on these committees. Tenants should be entitled to a copy of the Finances and AGM Reports. They would also be entitled to attend and AGM.

Tenants, or property-owners?

sgthighway

JustMary wrote: »

Tenants, or property-owners?

Whoever pays the fees to Anonymous - in most cases owner I suppose.
Will check it out with a mate.

s_carnage

JustMary wrote: »

Tenants, or property-owners?

It would be the property owner who is allowed to attend the meeting and vote. It's the same rights you would have if you were a shareholder in a company. Everyone who has a house in the estate is entitled to one vote.

po0k

ffs. That's my tea-break wasted cleaning up this sh1te.

Do not mention company names please. The Management of property in perpetual development scam has been running for years around the country. Write letters to the Irish times or something instead of putting boards into a libellous position (thanks to a lack of refinement of such law when dealing with internet community sites).
Thanks.