Benefit National Property Management

I have been getting so frustrated with this company. I looked them up on Unilocal to see if anyone else had experienced the same lack of costumer service as I have. Benefit National Property Management always responds very fast when I submit a service request or to my emails. However, they are very condescending. I submitted a service request for three things, the only one that was addressed immediately was the issue that concerned them for insurance reasons. The other two issues mainly effected our utility bills and I had to call and email to find out the status of these requests, it was clear they did not care. The lack of communication is very frustrating and when ever I do receive an answer is very vague and rarely addresses my concerns. I was told not to contact the property owners, all communication should go through the property management, however they write off many problems saying its on the owners to address it, this basically leaves me with no one to talk to. I had a friend read through the emails to see if maybe I was being biased, their impression was that I was being treated like a child by this company. After reading these reviews, I am dreading having to deal with this company further when we move out. I wish I had read these reviews before renting our house.

Jack was supposed to show up for our final walk through before moving out. He sent me an email confirming 2 days ago, now he no shows us after we took time off work to accommodate his hours. This company is a trouble! Its been a terrible 3 years dealing with them.

Absolutely horrible property management company to deal with!!! We left the house cleaner than when we moved in, yet Dawn said we left it in a very dirty condition. I went above and beyond cleaning the place, wiping down baseboards, vacuuming all the edges, mopping floors, wiping out cabinets and drawers, the list goes on. We rented for one year and had to break our lease due to a great opportunity to buy. We didn’t argue about the lease up fee taken from our deposit. (Half months rent) But the rest of the charges were complete BS! $ 25 to replace a few light bulbs, $ 25 to move 2 ladders, a broom, and a roll of carpet into an outside shed, (and those items were not even in the shed when we moved in OR were even listed anywhere on our rental agreement), $ 35 to pull out 2 nails and some staples from a wall (we were not even required to patch any nail holes so why the $ 35 charge), $ 45 to replace a trash can that was in the backyard, used only by the gardner, one day the trash can was gone and he’s the only other person with access to the yard. Hmmmm maybe they should ask the gardner where the hell the trash can is. $ 75 to clean out the water and debris in the empty pond when it rained after we moved out so how would we clean it out? $ 270 to replace stove top grates because they were faded in color. UMM, isn’t that considered wear and tear after a year? They weren’t new when we moved in or clean for that matter. And finally $ 150 for minimal cleaning, yes minimal, because I cleaned it really well!
They are unbelievable with these charges! Even having to deal with them while we lived there was a pain in the ass. Every service request was met with questions, it wasn’t just a simple process, Dawn had to question everything, almost as if we caused the problem. And she also had the nerve to tell us we submitted too many service requests. So what exactly are we supposed to do when things don’t work or break or are just a hazard? If we don’t submit a request and something major happens then we would get blamed for not submitting a request.
I am so glad we bought our own house and do not have to deal with this unethical property management company who pull charges out of their ass just to take our money.
Jennifer has since responded to our review! Just as scripted as I thought it would be.
This company that prides itself on customer service has yet to give us a straight forward answer to how they can charge us the following:
* $ 25 to move two ladders into a shed. Let’s think about that for a moment. How can you justify charging someone $ 25 to move a ladder into a shed?
*$ 35 to remove 2 nails and some staples from a wall. I know that is back breaking work, but $ 35?
*$ 75 to clean out a pond that was filled with rain water because it rained AFTER we moved out. Should we have jumped over the fence after we moved out to clean it?
*$ 45 to replace a garbage can that was there after we moved out. Did you check with the gardner?
Our security deposit was $ 2100. They took out half because we terminated our lease early. I was totally fine with that.
My issue is over $ 180. It’s not a money thing, rather it’s a principle thing.
I have a real issue with companies such as Benefit National who take advantage of hard working people and can’t justify their reason with an honest straightforward answer.
Jennifer, of course people are going to air their complaints on this forum. That’s what it is here for. It was created so honest people can warn other honest people about dishonest companies such as the one you work for. Your scripted and impersonal responses are a joke.
Send us a check for $ 180. If not I’m going to keep you very busy on here!

**NOTE** I do not rent from this company. I am basing my review on the walk through that I received from Vivian today. I was very excited about a property and was prepared to have applications in upon my leaving the property. She ruined the entire experience. She is very brash and over powering. She would make comments that were extremely rude to myself and to others that were doing walk throughs. If a company employs someone as rude as her, then there’s no way I would trust renting from them. Good luck to you guys, but no thank you.

Worst rental company I’ve ever delt with. My husband left me high and dry with our son (18 months). I could not pay rent, so I received a pay or quit and had to be out by the 31^st. Understandable. I paid what I could which left my son and I very little. I held an estate sale to pay for the other half of rent. They were able to find renters but they weren’t going to move into the house till the 8^th of the next month, so I was told I still owed rent until then. Ok no prob. The last couple days I busted my butt to get everything out of the house, mind you I still have to work my job and take care of my son. I called two days before my move out date and asked if I could give my keys on the 2^nd of the month so I could clean the house and a little more time to get my things out, since I was still paying rent till the 8^th. Marsha said, No, that was unacceptable. Ok.
So, the 31^st was a Friday, 4 pm rolls around and I have one more load to go to the storage and then get back to the house to get my animals and son. I called to ask if I could slip the keys under their door since they closed at 5 and there was no way I would get there in time. The First Lady I spoke with said it was absolutely fine. Not 5 minutes later Marsha calls me harassing me asking why I didn’t have my things out and that I had to bring the keys then. She kept asking me over and over and over again why my things weren’t out. It was like taking to a five year old who just says why? Why? Why? She didn’t listen to anything, she didn’t want to work with me one bit. Finally I got her to agree to meet me the next morning at 6 am on a Saturday morning. I got there early, my son and cats in the car. Waited till 6 am walked in the building tried the door and it didn’t open. So I slipped the keys under the door and left. Wasn’t going to wait around with an 18 month old, with my animals in the car. I leave, 5 minutes later, Marshas calling my phone. Unbelievable!!!
I’ll be going to a lawyer this week because I’m pretty sure my rights were violated.
Marsha I hope when you are high and dry and someone gives you as much of a hard a time as you gave me, you think of me. Because karma is a B!

This place was terrible to rent from. We had a power surge about a year ago and my refrigerator stopped working. We had to live out off a cooler for 3 days until Monday morning with two babies. We tried to call benefit and all we got was an answering machine. There was no after hrs person or number to call. There is a number to call if you want to see a property but no call back. On Monday all I got was attitude from Dawn and she asked well did you put in an email. For three years it was always a poor attitude from Dawn. You can’t always explain in an email the latest issue with your home. I’m sure Dawn is a nice person but as a renter your at the mercy of the management co and they really let us down when we needed them.

This review is based on our moving out experience. We were great tenants for 3 years, we took care of this rental like it was our own home. This home looked way better when we moved out to when we first moved in! When we first moved in the rental was nothing but white on white paint, and the white carpet was dirty. My husband put up custom made shelves for extra storage in the garage, put pavers in backyard along with adding plants, upgraded the light fixtures in the backyard, and we painted all the rooms in the house.
We got the pre move out inspection because they said that would be to our benefit and did everything that she pointed out including their laundry list of things to do before you move out. They told us to take pictures of the paint we did in the rooms and that they needed a picture of the storage shelves in our garage. Sent pics to benefit and they said they would send to the owner and see what she says. Well we never heard back from them on the paint and shelves so we assumed we were good! If we were aware that we needed to paint a room back to white, we would have done so! We didn’t find that out till we got our deposit check back that they deducted $ 295 just to paint a room back. Are you kidding me?! Nickel and dimed us about a tub stopper ($ 15) that was broken, was already broken when we moved in. They removed a warning sticker on window ($ 5) oh and don’t forget they had to install a new battery in the detector ($ 5). They also charged us an additional cleaning fee of ($ 65) for a wipe down. Mind you we were on our hands and knees cleaning that place from top to bottom an entire day not to mention days before that. We also got the carpets professionally cleaned. That place was spotless we thought for sure we would get our whole deposit back! But much to our dismay they took out $ 385 out of our deposit. This property was up for rent for about 2 – 3 months prior to us moving out. The kicker to this is that when we moved out they edited their listing & retook all new pictures for this property with all the painted rooms we did along with the overhead storage. The overhead storage in the 2 car garage now became a feature in the property description but your going to nickel and dime us… What a joke!

AVOID AGENT — *** YVETTE ANTHONY *** — AT ALL COST!!!
She is a TERRIBLE agent!
We agreed via email AND over the phone a confirmed time of 5:15pm to meet at a housing property. I had mentioned I would be driving up from San Diego (property is located in Temecula, about an hour or so drive north) and asked if I arrived to the property a little early due to lite traffic would closer to 4:30pm be okay to meet. She said no and insisted and confirmed 5:15pm worked for her only.
The following day I drove up from San Diego and got to the location right on time, 5:12 to be exact. At 5:20pm I called the number provided twice with no answer but left a voice mail on the second attempt. I then proceeded with an email asking where she was as I was at the property. I receive a call within minutes of the email sent to Yvette and this is how it went:
NOTE* Read this conversation as Yvette replying with an I DON’T CARE attitude.
YVETTE: «Hi this is Yvette — I was just at that property showing it to a 5pm appointment and I am now on my way to a 5:30 appointment. I don’t know why I would tell you 5:15?»
ME: «Okay, well I am here now at our agreed upon time of 5:15…»
YVETTE: «Ya, I am so sorry but i don’t know why I would have told you 5:15, I am on my way to a 5:30»
ME: «Okay, but I am here and it’s unfortunate now for me because I drove all the way up from San Diego.»
YVETTE: «Ya, that is unfortunate, I don’t know what to say — I don’t know why I would have told you 5:15.»
ME: «Okay, well thank you for your time» and hung up…
Her replies back to me were so unprofessional, rude and selfish. I have never dealt with someone so irresponsible and tactless.
What should have happened was Yvette turning around to show me the property as we agreed, or, insisted she have someone else show me the property, or, ask if she could show me the property after her appointment.
VERY unprofessional and VERY RUDE!!!

This place is the most unprofessional business I’ve ever used I do not recommend them to anyone. Please stay far away from this place

We were EXCELLENT TENANTS for 3 years, improving the house and leaving it BETTER than it was. We were told to have a pre-​walk through so we could be told what needed to be fixed prior to moving out. We did this with Jack.
We then received a bill for items like LIGHTBULBS and BATTERIES. They actually charged us for having someone to come and replace these for some odd $ 80. I think this was sneaky and nasty considering we bent over backwards to make the house immaculate AND we did the recommended PRE-​walk through to make sure things were in order to their liking.
This kind of treatment is disappointing and unprofessional. I can’t tell you how ticked I was, but we let it go.
Also, when we were tenants BN was mostly approachable, but as soon as we gave notice we became the «enemy;» we were treated in an abrasive manner and no longer given the benefit of the doubt as trusty renters. Benefit National began nitpicking about things like «drains,» «lightbulbs,» «fire alarm batteries,» and so on. Are you kidding me? We could have repaired those items for pennies on the dollar. We had a professional cleaner come to make the house spotless, we stayed and swept everything out, cleaned windows, etc. These are all things we, as renters, are not required to do. Did we get credit for that? No. I am convinced that Beneifit National Title is not a business to rely on for clear communication.
I am certain Benefit National will reply to this Unilocal review (because they do with all of them) and I am certain they will maintain that this is not true but I can assure you I did not take time out of my extremely busy schedule to write a review on Unilocal for the fun of it. I am a professional in the community and for the future will be sure to pass on to other customers that Benefit National Property Management is not the #1 choice… there are better ways to run a business.
We now have our own home, THANK GOD, so we no longer have to answer to this management company. Good luck to the new renters!
Be warned!
Update**** 6÷10÷15
Just noticed this response from Benefit. Was good until the end!
I wrote 6 in one day because I had just gotten the App. If that puts my review in question then I guess I should remember to write reviews on separate days (BS!).
The reason I wrote it a year or whatever later is because I didn’t know about Unilocal.When o finally got the app benefit was one of the first places that needed a review in my opinion.
I am a working professional, I have advanced degrees, I own 2 homes and I have no time to sit and wait for responses. To suggest my review was not legitimate does not surprise me. I would think that the people on here that complain over and over are the ones you need to question as they make complaining a career. My complaint is legitimate and my review is absolutely necessary for full disclosure purposes.
Hopefully you have made the changes!
Accountability sucks, but at least it gives us honest, hard-​working people a voice.

Knowing what I know now — after renting from Benefit National Property Management for 12 months — I would highly recommend NOT working with this company. From the day we moved into our rental home in Temecula to the day we vacated it was a painful experience.

— Our home was dirty upon move-​in and I had to argue with the woman who did the walk-​thru as she kept insisting it had been cleaned. I pointed things out I don’t want to repeat here, showing her that it hadn’t been cleaned. In fact, it hadn’t (confirmed by cleaning company who had our home «confused» with another home on the same street). Very frustrating.
— It took weeks in some cases to get needed repairs made, or to have repairs made to the same standard set upon move-​in. The ceiling fan in a bedroom was incorrectly wired and was smoking. It could have set the house on fire. We disconnected it, removed it and asked for a replacement. Again, it took weeks and no one even acknowledged the fact that it was incorrectly wired.
There are numerous other examples, but the bottom line is that if you’re renting in the area and Benefit National is the property management company, ask questions and keep everything in writing — you may need it.

I will continue to defend my position, as well. I did not post slander. I posted a true account of the negative experience I had with this company. I deleted my initial review after deciding that I had included too many personal details.
The bottom line is that I was treated rudely and I believe this company has some very questionable practices. Everyone is free to make their own decisions, but BUYER BEWARE if you want to a avoid an ongoing headache!

Benefit National Property Management is an excellent group of individuals. Every person I have spoken with has been extremely nice and helpful. The fact that they have a large staff, leads me to believe that they are not a little office trying to get their feet off the ground. The office seems to be well established, and they seem to have all their ducks in a row — vendors are in order and procedures are in place.
VALERIE is the leasing agent and she is absolutely GREAT! She is straight shooter and is straight to the point. Which is a very good quality, not only in a person, but in a real estate professional as well. She was very efficient in showing the property to multiple prospective tenants at the same time. She was friendly in the manner in which she answered every-​ones questions. She always got back to me very quickly on any questions i had about the property. Overall, my experience with Valerie Wheat was very professional and pleasant. She is a very nice woman, who does her job to the best of her ability and Benefit National Property Management is lucky to have her as their leasing agent.
MARSHA is a representative inside the office and was very pleasant in processing a credit to my account. I had to change the mailbox key (because there was not a key when i moved in). Marsha was very helpful in answering my questions and i received the check within the time frame she promised.
DAWN is a representative inside the office as well. Dawn is absolutely wonderful. She is a very nice lady. Her and i talk frequently because the property had a leaky toilet that needed to be replaced. She has handled everything from scheduling, repairs, and communications with myself and the landlord, in a very efficient, professional manner. She is very easy to get a hold of, and she is very fast in communicating a response. She has very good follow-​through as well. Her time-​frame in responding is immediate. DAWN IVEY is another GREAT asset to the Benefit National team. Without Dawn, I’m sure there would be a lot of unhappy tenants and owners. :) She makes the process of communicating with the owner very easy (from the perspective of the tenant).
In an ideal situation, you would not need this much communication with a property management company, but in my scenario I did, and I’m very grateful that Benefit National has a staff that is equipped to handle my type of situation with professionalism and speed. There are many unforeseeable circumstances that can arise with owning or renting a home, and its extremely comforting knowing that you are part of a property management company that will be in your corner, and do what they can for you, whenever possible.
Benefit National is a great property management company. I would make them my recommendation to any homeowner, as a management company; or any renter as well. Thanks again Dawn!
— Deforest Cooper

I rented from BN for a little over 3 years. I am surprised by some of the negative reviews. I never had any issues with them at all. Jack was always very nice, all the girls in the office were always helpful. My move out went smoothly (thank you Candy and Alicia) and I got all of my deposit back. I have now been renting from a horrible company (Port Street Reality) and I am missing BN. I would, and have, recommended them to people. I am presently browsing their site to look for a new place. I am almost afraid to rent from anyone else.

Worst company ever. Completely rude staff. Dawn and Marsha are the most conceited people I have ever had to deal with.
Had to break lease to move out of state for husbands job transfer and that was the best part. After having to deal with their harassment on an ongoing basis was ridiculous. Every time work needed to be done on the home, they use their «own» staff hired people in any repair or maintenance. This way they can either spy, send pictures or have the worker accuse the tenant of «tearing» up the home. Their own pool cleaner would leave notes on the door imposing «$ 50 low water penalties» on out door on a weekly basis. We were not allowed to hire our own maintenance people ever even though we are paying that fee. I have never in my life hired workers and allowed them to impose «fees» on me.
Once we realized we would be vacating and reading other reviews we decided to use our deposit as last months rent. (If your vacating one of their properties I recommend this as they have no intention to ever give that back to you)
We gave 30 days notice and left even two weeks earlier than that to give them the consideration of getting it rented quickly to another unsuspecting person. The home was professionally cleaned, even cleaner than it was when we moved in. Any damages caused by us were repaired. (We are homeowners ourselves). Took 165 pictures before vacating.
Of course, they made up over $ 4000 of damages and cleaning which they say we owe. Instead of taking us to small claims and proving these charges their loophole is to try to damage your credit and send it to collection and hurt you leasing another home.
I have retained an attorney in regards to this will be reporting to CA Housing authority and to the Better Business Bureau.
We had also requested to have a conversation directly with the homeowner as we’ll and they would not allow that.
Homeowners beware…
Tenants…lease from anyone but this company, I assure you will be sorry

Horrible to work with. They don’t know what customer service is. Whatever you do, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

This review is about our leasing and move-​in experience. I plan on writing update reviews for other experiences (ex. submitting a maintenance request, moving out, etc).
We found the listing for the property we rented through their web site (after having found another one of the properties on Zillow). I immediately texted my husband to give them a call. The person we dealt with was Jenna and she was really nice. She was also very good about returning calls when she says she would. Our leasing agent was Valerie. She was also very nice. Also very prompt about responding to emails or calls.
We submitted our application (fax) on Wednesday evening (11pm), heard back decision by Friday midday.
During our walk-​thru, Valerie was very helpful. She kept pointing out things for us to make sure to check-​out. There were a few issues that I probably would have missed but she pointed them out herself.
The house itself was very clean but I am not sure I can attribute that to Benefit… more to the fact that the home owner is a very clean person and truly cares for her home.
Overall, I would have to say that our experience with Benefit National so far has been positive.

Staff was super friendly and helpful while looking for my new place! I didn’t feel pressured or hassled into something I wasn’t comfortable with. Had a few minor bumps with the property when we first moved in that were immediately handled by maintenance. Altogether so happy in our new home and grateful to have found Benefit National to help us along the way!

Horrible experience ! They are in unethical and not professional. They make things up and try to claim damages that are not true. They are trying to steal money from deposit with made up damages. My husband and I are professional people and haven’t rented in over ten years. This is the worst and don’t know where to turn

I was very apprehensive about renting my home and finding a reliable property manager before moving overseas. I did my research and called almost every property management company in the area. From the first interaction with the office I knew they were the right choice. Jack came out to my property and had great insight and a lot of experience on the property management business. Only took 5 days from listing to find a renter. The background check, website and professional office staff made the whole process very very easy. Thank you for the great job that you do. Highly recommended to everyone looking for a great trust worthy and reliable Property Management Company.