Charles Property Services

Efficient, professional, accountable property management. Works closely with the HOA Board. As a homeowner, I appreciate their timely responses to calls and e-​mails; and, how they schedule frequent walk-​throughs of the property. They work with carefully selected vendors/​contractors which provided high quality repairs and maintenance.

This company manages the Knollwood Townhouses out near McNears in San Rafael and they have done an extremely poor job thus far. This community used to be very quiet and now it is constantly filled with noise from various projects, and obnoxious gardeners.
They don’t send proper notice of construction/​repair plans, and you never know when you are going to suddenly find yourself enduring endless noise from painting projects or repairs that they fail to notify you of. They will only notify you of work being done on your unit or building, but not the building 20 feet away, which surely is just as important.
On the days when the gardeners come, they run their blowers all day long, pushing a couple leaves around in circles, making insane amounts of noise to kill time. When you call their office to bring things to their attention you will most likely deal someone who has hardly ever (or never) even been to the properties they manage. Stephany’s employees in her office seem entirely uninterested in hearing about what is happening, and one gets the sense that they have ‘better things to do’. Last time I called they said that I should just email Stephany.
When I called them to ask about the current painting project timeline, they were mostly clueless about the project and just said it was going to continue «weather permitting». It is so noisy that it is unlivable here. It is only common courtesy to notify everyone of this in advance. I would had moved out for a few weeks had I known.
I’ve dealt with other management firms who will notify you if there is even going to be 20 minutes of sawing going on by your building on a single day… that’s good management. Charles Property management wont even bother to notify you when there is going to be weeks of daily incessant generator and compressor and construction noise 20 feet from your head!
Many of these noise issues have been brought to their attention over the years and previous weeks, and nothing has been done about it. This is what happens when you hire managers that don’t live in the complex they are managing, or when you hire managers that oversee too many properties. There is no oversight, and unless the board makes a big stink about something, nothing gets done, and individual owners/​renters are not taken into consideration.
When the noise issues are address at Knollwood and Greenside I will consider updating/​revising this review.

When I bought my place, it was my first experience living in an HOA let alone dealing with a property management firm. I soon learned that it was going to be a bumpy ride. The property mgr at the time was not very responsive to owner requests and repairs weren’t made in a timely fashion. Over the next few years it seemed like we hired every «fly by night» property manager in Marin. It went from bad to worse.
A few years later I joined the Board of Directors and after about a year we found ourselves in the position of looking for a new mgr. We interviewed a few different companies, and finally hired Charles Property Services.
When Stephany (Charles) came on board, she immediately got to work. She started fixing all of the problems that had plagued the association for years. The first task at hand was to help the Board with the daunting process of updating the CC&Rs. She kept us on track and provided us with great insight.
At the same time, she started the process of having all of the buildings inspected to ensure repairs were made in a timely manner before more deterioration could occur.
Where in the past other property managers REACTED to problems, Stephany was being PROACTIVE.
A huge problem that had plagued our association were special assessments. In the first 5 years after buying my place, I paid upwards of $ 23,500 in special assessments. I won’t go into the dirty details as to how and why this happened, but I will tell you that after Stephany came on board, there has not been an assessment since.
Everyone at CPS is very experienced in managing properties. They regularly attend continuing education classes in order to keep their accreditation. They do not lie, they do not extort, they do not make up rules. They are professionals in their field.

Don’t get on her bad side, she’ll turn the board against you. This means if you simply lodge a complaint or notify her of issues, she doesn’t want to hear from you because she’ll have to do «work» and you”ll be put on her «bad» list. Most people won’t call her because she’s that bad. We have learned to live with the issues vs. dealing with her. Denise is inefficient, verbally combative, and unprofessional. Hopefully we’ll get a new company that treats people like the customer.

They are supposed to manage Roundtree Condominium Complex in Marinwood. Manage? It’s absurd! The quality of people living there has gone steadily downhill as owners move out & units are rented out by low class people with either substance abuse issues, on unemployment/​disability coupled with chronic alcohol/​smoking, single parents with out of control kids, cranky elderly people shouting at kids for playing too loud, obnoxious kids who lack parental supervision running amok, the most heinously filthy, unhygienic, nasty laundry rooms with cracked gross cement floors, stained dirty washers with mold crusted rubber trims, gross stained smelly dryers. the combination of which actually make clothing dirtier than before washing…& the constant noise levels of blaring t.v.s, music, yelling and the absolute WORST is the INCESSANT YAPPING BARKING ²⁴⁄₇ of dogs kept in tiny patios! There are only a handful of dog owners who responsibly care for their pets, and they happen to be owners of the larger dogs. It’s the smaller annoying ones whose idiotic owners just leave them in these 5×5 ft patios all day, bored & paranoid– barking at everything… all day long! It’s like nails on a chalk board listening to their high pitched screechy obnoxious barking! You cannot relax & be at peace trying to hear the leaves in the wind or birds singing. The caliber of people is in stark contrast to the upper echelon that is synonymous with Marinwood. The HOA needs a HUGE wake up call to bring Roundtree Condominiums back to the stellar community that it was built to be. Property Management companies are PAID for the continued 1^st class personal upkeep and meticulous appearance in keeping with the reputation of
Marinwood and OWES it to all the community and it’s tax payers.
Toss this Property Management company to the curb where it, and all the other old recycled «trash» belongs!

They are now in the extortion business! They will send letters with completely made up violations and demand that you attend their board meeting. If you are unable to make it, there is no phone number to call to contest, and they will fine for the fake violation.
If anyone else has this issue, please contact me. I will be happy to sue this company.

Unfortunately, the property manager Denise does not even know how to reply with civility to issues. Stay far away from anything they manage.

Terrible F. Don’t bother.