EGL Properties

I own an 8 unit apartment at 2540 7th Street Santa Monica, 90405 and used EGL a number of years ago. It was fine when the original founders Eli and Gabriella Litov(hence the name EGL) ran the business but once Gabriella's daughter Michelle took over it went downhill fast. She uses her own maintenance company that charges over and over again for unnecessary work and when I complained she said it was needed but without explaining why. How could she justify that the same "kick plate adjustment" in the same unit was done every 9 months at a charge of 50 dollars per adjustment when she didn't even know what a kick plate was, and neither do I? This was clearly abusive but not in her mind, because when she did these "kick plate adjustments" for all 8 of my units and lots of other phantom work, it added up to at least 10,000 dollars per year in pure profit, just by cutting and pasting the fake work descriptions into the accounting. Yet she refused to discuss it except to say "the work was needed". The worst experience was when my property manager whose name was K. Doss(I'm sure Michelle remembers him) noticed a water leak from the water heater in unit 6 but did nothing about it. The water leaked for months into unit 3 below and caused a mold infestation that required moving the tenant out for 3 weeks at 180 dollars per night as required by the Santa Monica rent control laws, and then having a HAZMAT team come in to clean up the mess. It cost over 50,000 dollars in damage but when I mentioned this to Michelle she said it was not her responsibility because K. Doss no longer worked for her! Apparently she is responsible for collecting her fees and having her maintenance company overcharge for unneeded work, but for nothing else. I live in France and I now manage my place from a distance avoiding predatory management companies. I suggest other owners do the same. My advice to owners: avoid Michelle Vaakil at all costs. It is unfortunate that her mother could not find someone responsible to take over the business. The reason I am writing this review years after my awful experiences with Michelle is that I see from other owners that she has not changed her ways one bit. Oh, and by the way, Mabel was my property manager after K Doss quit and she refused to talk to me whenever there was a problem so Michelle herself became my manager and she also ignored my complaints. When I asked to get the keys back so I could use another management company I was told I must wait until the end of the 1 year contract, which meant another 6 months of abuse. Michelle has no shame. You can verify that 2540 7th St, Santa Monica is owned by the Alex M Garvin Trust at the LA county tax assessors office website. You can also look me up on Facebook and LinkedIn. I only represent myself and I have a long memory for this kind of abuse. -Alex M Garvin, PhD, Mulhouse France