Property Management Drama

When we purchased our fourplex in January, it was being managed by a large property management company that focuses on operating student housing in downtown Madison, as well as larger complexes around the city. During the purchasing and closing process, I was shocked multiple times by their lack of organization and follow-through on a few things, but figured that was due to the suburban location and small size of the property we were buying - they simply had bigger fish to fry. Well, back in April, I started getting phone calls from the previous property management company stating that I need to pay some vendors they had contracts with at the time of purchase. Apparently, they neglected to cancel some agreements they had for the maintenance of the property, and didn't realize it until April. At that point, they decided that I should be liable for their oversight. The funny part is that I called them shortly after closing to ask what vendors they used to provide some of these services, but they never returned my call. At that point, Mr. Savvy and I had no idea the services were still being provided, but we did notice about a month and a half later when the parking lot would be plowed before we got there, or it would be cleared again after we left. We had no idea who to call to cancel this service, since we were never there when it was provided, and we weren't sure if it was just being done occasionally by the company that plowed the other half of the lot we shared. We even attempted contacting the landlord of the adjoining property. After a couple months of phone tag and being nice, I finally told the gentleman from the property management company in no uncertain terms that it was absolutely not our responsibility to pay the bill, and that they dropped the ball on this repeatedly. He even admitted that they forgot to cancel the contracts on the very first voicemail he left. He hung up at me at the end of the call, and I don't know whether that means the issue is closed, or if I should expect to make an appearance in small claims court. Either way, I know with absolute certainty that I will NEVER hire this company to manage a property. If you want to read about another blogger having property management headaches, check out Shaun's latest problems over at Shaun's Real Estate Adventures.