I know one of the victims, and she was told by the owner that she would be paid in full today. We’ll see….
http://www.10news.com/news/team-10-homeowners-say-property-management-company-owes-them-thousands
Homeowners in the North County say a local property management company owes them thousands of dollars.
Carousel Properties is based in Carlsbad.
Martin Benowitz says he hired Carousel Properties to manage is Oceanside condo. He’s known the owner, Kelley Zaun, for about 15 years.
But the recent missing money has changed their friendship.
“I’m out $6,000. How much are we going to stay friends?” Benowitz said.
Benowitz said he recently received a lien on his property because the HOA fees were not being paid—something the property management company was supposed to take care of. He also says he’s missing the rent money owed to him from the last two months, even though his tenant has paid.
He is not alone.
“There’s no reason or excuse,” said Rinda White who lives in Texas.
She hired Carousel Properties to manage her Vista home. She is also missing thousands of dollars.
“We’re on a limited income. My husband and I are both retired,” White said.
Team 10 obtained emails, which the homeowners say are from Zaun. In the emails, she admitted she “made several errors.” She also claimed she was dealing with health issues.
When Team 10 approached her Carlsbad office, she told Team 10 to contact her lawyer and shut the door.
Some homeowners want to pursue criminal charges.
Team 10 called her attorney, but have not heard back.
The owner paid up today, at least to the person I know.
In the future if he uses a different property management company, is there a way for your friend to prevent these kind of issues from getting this far before discovering it?
One of the things that I have like property management to have is a bond but of course, it is best not to get that deep under water in the first place.
Yelp is a great friend and the device that helped alert other victims.
The payments made to property owners (at least 32 of them) were reversed on April 18th… monies are still in arrears since Feb… not paid as stated!
I’m one of Kelley Zaun’s victims and I never recovered my money. Does anyone know the outcome of this investigation by CA Bureau of real estate? She went to work with Palomar property management afterward and unbeknownst to me they told my tenant to pay next month’s rent to them. Palomar decided to keep 2/3 of the rent when I got hold of my tenant and told him about Kelley. I’m trying to find out the outcome of her investigation…if it’s finalized or ongoing. Thank you.
Sorry Joy, I don’t have any other information regarding the outcome of this case. The Bureau of Real Estate is notoriously slow – the last I heard, it was taking 18 months for them to get to a case. The Carlsbad PD might be a better source.
Ten parties have filed a civil lawsuit against her:
http://courtindex.sdcourt.ca.gov/CISPublic/namesearch
HI I WAS A RECENT TENANT AND MY LANDLORD HAS DECIDED NOT TO RETURN MY DEPOSIT BECAUSE SHE NEVER RECEIVED IT. IT WAS PAID TO KELLEY WHO SHE HIRED. I HAVE BEEN PAYING HER FOR OVER A YEAR NOW WHEN SHE CAME AND ASKED US TO PAY HER FROM NOW ON. SO NOW I HAVE TO TAKE HER TO SMALL CLAIMS TO GET MY DEPOSIT BACK.