South Carolina Dopers: Legal help needed!!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I tried searching the SC gov’t website, but I can’t find what I’m looking for.

I’m looking for a list of rules/codes/responsibilities that a property manager must do when managing a rental property. Among other things we’ve learned, our former tenant did not own a lawnmower, a vacuum cleaner, and the police were called out to the house seven times since January 2004.

We are starting to realize all our property manager did was collect the rent. They did nothing to insure the property was being maintained. Any idea where we can get the info we need?

2

Try here

3

Or here. Scroll down to “Tenant Responsibilities.”

4

Thanks, guys. I have a feeling this is going to get ugly.

Basically, if the tenant won’t pay for the repairs, the property manager is going to have to. We relied on them to make sure the property was maintained.

5

South Carolina Tandlord-Tenant Act

There may also be ordinances specific to the municipality in which the property is located.

IANAL etc.

6

That of course is “Landlord,” not “Tandlord.”

I don’t suppose you have a written contract with your property manager? Might not be a bad idea in future to have one.

7

Heh, it looks like people from other states (and even another country!) have this covered.

Good luck, ivylass.

8

I’m not really sure how well they’ve covered it, given that they’ve given links to Landlord-Tenant laws, and ivylass isn’t asking about a Landlord-Tenant relationship.

She’s asking about the responsibilites of the property manager: someone she’s hired to take care of renting the property for her. IANAL, but I imagine that’s a very different ball of wax then a Landlord-Tenant relationship, one that may depend more on the nature if the property manager’s employment (contract?) then anything else.

ivylass, my standard “I need legal advice” advice is: Go to your local bar associations lawyer referal service. Look 'em up in the phone book–they’ll find an appropriate local lawyer who will be willing to do a half-hour consult for a relatively low fee (~$30).

9

Yep.

Having said that, was there anything specific in your contract with the property manager specifiying his/her duties? And so far as maintenance, a lot of rules are based on local ordinances, so it’s not necessarily all written in the Giant Tome of SC Codes.