Yates Wood & MacDonald

I filed a complaint with the BBB about Yates Wood & MacDonald and they did not provide a response. Do not waste your time with this classless, thieving company who has no regard for their tenants — only their bottom line. If you are a property owner looking for a management company to manage your rental property, you must ask yourself, «Do I want to have people associate my property with a company who does not follow the law as required by the WA Landlord and Tenant Act and does not attempt to resolve disputes in a timely manner?» If so, then this is your company! Tenants, same thing — if you’re considering renting in a large building or complex, do your due diligence in the management company. Yates Woods and MacDonald will do an amazing job in screwing you over despite a legal binding contract that states their obligations as a landlord clearly.
For the record, when the Washington State Landlord and Tenant Act clearly states that a landlord has 14 days to provide a statement of any charges along with any refund due to the tenant, it means exactly that — 14 days! Not business days or excluding holidays — 14 days! Not only is this LAW, it was also state in the first page of the lease agreement! Yates Wood & MacDonald not only violated the law, they also are in breach of contract. If you look at their website, the first thing that pops up is «Integrity. Sometimes one word says it all.» I had a great laugh out of that!
We paid our rent on time, we never had any complaints about us, our building manager, Bob, was always very friendly and accommodating, and he even remarked, «Wow, you cleaned it better than our cleaning lady does!» Given that, you’d think we’d receive the entire security deposit back… they claim a «standard carpet cleaning charge» for every tenant even when it states otherwise in the lease.
Integrity. Sometimes one word says it all. A better word would be «unethical».

Had no idea this was my building management until closing — verifying the ZERO-​star reviews.
Verbatim from Toni — condescending, unprofessional, neither understanding nor helpful.
«Since you’re in a condo, it’s mostly a privately owned space, so you’re responsible for most of the things yourself. It’s really a privately managed space. Really, as the homeowner, you’re responsible for the whole ball of wax. Your community is rather independently managed»
Question: What is HOA being paid for?

Never have I witnessed such rude, antagonist attitudes as I have with YMW! I’ve had an issue with my condo for over 2 years. When trying to get any assistance from YMW I was ignored, stonewalled, walked all over and told «too bad, it’s your issue.» I will never buy a condo in a development managed by this poor excuse of a business. I’d like to ask where all of the monthly dues are being spent? Each homeowner pays quite a sum each month only to have some amenities taken away or now being charged a fee. The correspondence sent by YWM has always had an undertone of negativity and lack of respect to the homeowners. In fact, we are financially threatened for so many situations it’s hard to keep track. They don’t treat people fairly, they don’t know how to do the right thing and quite honestly shouldn’t be in business. Never again YWM… never again!

No one works together and Kathleen is absolutely horrid. VERY RUDE and condescending for no apparent reason. She should have been fired on day one. She bolds and underlines various things in her emails to try and come off rude upon an initial response to simple inquires, purposely avoids phone calls (voice mail always full so you can’t even leave a message), and wants nothing good for the home owner.
Dues are expensive and people deserve respect and timely responses. She is supposedly in the «field» until 2pm every day but she has no idea what my property (or anyone’s for that matter) even looks like and claimed I had an entrance that is nothing like what I have for days via email. I have flippin’ lived here for 10 years and I would know if I have stairs or not! Why fight me on that?!
If you want something simple done for the property, such as a light bulb replacement, it can take up to six months. My property is well known as the most poorly run HOA in the area thanks to this management company.
Like some of the other Unilocal posts, I would also like to give them no stars at all in this review. I would love to know what education or background she has other than being a B**ch
The other employees are also unprofessional. I get a half hearted «Hello» every time I call. Not «Hi, Yates Woods, how can I help you»

I am the president of Sunset Heights Condos, an 80-​unit condo complex in Renton, WA with a pool and a club house.
Our association was with YWM for over 20 years, and the mismanagement of YWM has cost our association tens of thousands of dollars.
Most recently, I found out that years ago, YWM failed to release the lien on the association owned unit. This means that I had to pay a lawyer thousands of dollars to go through a quiet title process to prove that we own something that’s been on our books for over 20 years. All because YWM is fundamentally incompetent.
After re-​joining our board, I found out that YWM recommended budget increases based on nothing more than their estimates and assumptions, not on market affordability. This means that our association ran through $ 80,000 in reserves in just under 5 years because we were not bringing in enough to pay our bills. The board was making bad budgeting decisions because YWM was giving them horrible advice.
Additionally, as an MBA with years of managing multimillion dollar budgets, I conducted a mini-​audit of YWM books for our association, and found situations where they had authorized the past president to spend association funds without proper documentation, potentially giving him association money without proof he’d spent the funds.
When I brought these issues forward, YWM summarily dismissed me, refusing to give us a new competent property manager. So we fired them and switched to GFK Management. (I gave GFK a 4-​star review that you can look up if you’d like).
You can — and should — do better.

If I could give this management company negative stars I would. They are absolutely terrible and make decisions that are not logic based. They knowingly charge late fees after admitting that their bank lock box processed payments late. They make it impossible to get anything done by giving misinformation and the runaround so they don’t have to spend money. My condo was leaking through the ceiling because the builder pierced the roof when they put in the deck above me… I told them about it in January and it finally started to be addressed the following October. Terrible people to deal with. Very condescending and immature.

They manage our condo association and the manager they have chosen is not professional in handling matters. Previous management was diplomatic in handling any situations.

They manage our condo association. And when I say manage, I’m not sure exactly how helpful they are. Our representitive is… definitely polite. But polite while giving you generic answers thay leave you to figure anything and everything out yourself. I miss the old company we had. Currently the HOA board is the only ones who seem to be happy with them but I guess that would be why they are still here!