Debra Fowler-Mills
Soc.120 Real Estate/Property Management
Instructor: Richard Abshier
August 26, 2012

Rental Apartments and Homes, Management
In apartment and housing rentals the management and staff deal with all kinds of people from vendors, contractors, tenants, and possible tenants. The management and staff must conduct themselves in an ethical manner. As in life sometimes, have to bite our tongues, as not to offend anyone, you should also remember that any information obtained is private should be kept private. Never give this information to another tenant or client. Your integrity and the company that you work for is very important. putting the ethics and integrity at risk could cause you to lose your job or even be sued by the person who`s information you talked about or gave out.
Making sure that the property is safe for all to live in, and is a safe hazard, free environment for a family to live. Remembering to continue getting education on new ways of providing correct information and knowing what to do in different circumstances.
Like all things in life we have ethics and values that we should follow. When working in Property Management you have all kinds of people you must deal with. Conducting the day to day business brings many challenges that we must make choices, Making the ethical choice is easy when you follow the Code of Ethics of the Accredited management organization (AMO). (Symmonds 2012). There are so many areas to cover in Rental apartments and homes that ethics must be followed. I hope to cover the ethical issues that I experienced while working in this area of real-estate. The manager must meet ethical codes addressing financial reporting requirements; the code requires reports to be submitted in time with accurate financial and business data. (Harman 2010). After working in property management for several years as office manager’s assistant, and being a partner in an apartment and home rental company as a manager. I saw a several ethical issues. I saw a managers/owners belittle residents. I heard them discussing tenant issues or problems that, that person had with a tenant to another tenant who lived near that person. This was very hard for me to watch and listen to, ethically it was wrong should never have happened. I found myself trying to explain things and make tenants happy but not all I did was enough, at a rather small office and the apartment community in another state. The manager knew each of the tenants by name, and most of the tenants knew each other. After being there a while, I noticed that other things were being lied about, things that I did not want to be associated with, If caught they could have gone to jail. Being new in that office I did not say much, I tried to do my job as best I could. The manager/vice president instructed me to lie to people. I refused. He also instructed me, not to talk about business issues with the President. In hindsight, I should have talked to him anyway. The unethical behavior made it very uncomfortable to be in that office. Moreover, caused the loss of respect and lost friendship, and partnership.
. The code of ethics states that, The Property Manager shall treat all Tenants professionally when applying for, living in, and vacating a managed residence. The Property Manager shall hold in high regard the safety and health of those lawfully at a managed property (2008 Property manager experts). There are concerns about ethics in all areas of Real Estate, Health and Safety would be number one on my list. The Institute of Medicine wrote this “Hazards in the home can cause physical illness, compromise growth and development and lower school performance. Hazards such as mold, radon, tobacco smoke, and household chemicals are at all economic levels. Some health hazards such as lead poisoning, asthma, and fatal injuries—occur at disproportionately high rates in poor quality homes of children in low income families.”(T.I.of M 2012). Too often, you find rental properties that in my option are not what the property owner would live in so why expect others to rent. The surprising thing is they do not seem to care or think anything is wrong they have the attitude renters will just trash the place anyway because that is what they are used to getting. As a past property owner/manager I always wanted the place to be what I would live in, having that attitude kept the units rented and the tenants took care of them. W Somerset Maugham wrote, what is ethical? Many agents use 'legal' as their standard. It is legal to receive kickbacks and so they do it. It may be legal to have 'dummy bidders' and so they do it. It is legal to quote one price to sellers and another price to buyers and then blame the market. It is legal to take money from home sellers in the full knowledge that this money is not to promote the property but to promote the agents. (Jenman 2010). Ethics should be top priority in all forms of business; I think John F. Moors made a great statement on modern business. “Though the object of business is money-making, its essence is service. Facts in support of this conception face us on every hand. For example, follow through the day the most typical of all citizens, the suburbanite. A cook serves him with breakfast, his town with a sidewalk, an eager boy with a newspaper, an engineer with safe conduct to the city. “Bag carried, sir?” is his welcome there. Thereafter both necessities and luxuries are everywhere thrust upon him—collars, fish, custard pies, vacuum cleaners, pyramids of oranges and of apples vigorously shone on anonymous trousers. A street car takes him to his office-building, an elevator to his office, cleaned for him in the cheerless hours of darkness by a woman on hands and knees. Throughout the day a stenographer and office boy do his biddingand knees. Throughout the day a stenographer and office boy do his bidding. At lunch a restaurant serves him. When evening comes, superabundant theatres seek to entertain him. No socialist, however ardent, can conceive greater eagerness to serve. The very streets are congested with people bent on serving one another. The activities produced by charitable agencies are in volume as nothing by comparison. There is, however, a stern condition. The recipient of this service must pay for it. With rare exceptions, ability to pay can come only from the recompenses of service. The service of business is reciprocal.” (Moors 1916). There will always be ethical concerns in the Real Estate Industry, In 1943 Somerset Maugham said that” Consumer complaints are so high in real estate that some training courses now teach agents how to avoid being sued. One course, conducted by a real estate institute is titled: 'AUCTIONS - AVOID BEING SUED'. The course advertises "new information", such as 'The law relating to auctions'. To state that the 'law' of auctions is a new topic is a staggering admission.” (Jenman 2011).
Ethical issues and the ethical problems it can cause could be avoided if all persons working in the management office follow the code of ethics that the company has in place. A person should always think of the integrity of the company and of themselves, when dealing with others such as the contractors, vendors, potential tenants. Working with the public is very hard because you meet so many different kinds of people with different attitudes. Remembering that treating them with kindness, and a smile, remember their information and what they talk to you about is private information and should not be discussed with other tenants. The code of ethics are important breaking these codes and are caught it could follow them throughout their career.
Being education and monitoring is going to be the key in making sure that ethics in property management is up held. Potential tenants need to have the truth and all the facts about the property that they will rent or possible purchase. We all know that there will always be someone out there that will try to buck the system. They thrive on lying and cheating others. There will be those who will get caught, others will continue and never get caught. The person/persons losing are the tenants. If the property is not well maintained injuries can happen. However, as long as we have third party leasing agents and owners that trust them and do not check up on what is going on the problem will never stop.
Education on Hazards in the home are also important, management and owners are responsible for making sure that the home or apartment is hazard free. Being educated on these is important here is an activity description, Hazards in the home can cause physical illness, compromise growth and development and lower school performance. Hazards such as mold, radon, tobacco smoke, and household chemicals occurs at all economic levels. Some health hazards such as lead poisoning, asthma, and fatal injuries—occur at disproportionately high rates in poor quality homes of children in low-income families. Research is necessary to understand how hazards affect children's health and to develop interventions that can ameliorate or eliminate them. Recognizing the importance of housing health hazard research involving children, this report envisions a research oversight system with researchers, institutional review boards, the federal government and other sponsors, as well as the affected community having a role in ensuring the ethical conduct of this type of research. (Lo 2012).
SCANDAL “The current lack of ethics in real estate is one of our greatest national scandals. It is hard for anyone who is not involved in the real estate industry to comprehend the magnitude of what goes on 'behind the scenes'. Thousands of consumers are being ripped-off. In these days of high consumer protection it is amazing that the ethical crisis in the real estate industry is scarcely mentioned.”(Jenmen 2010).
Three reasons for this are:
(1) Real Estate is a big money business; (2) The Real Estate Industry is ‘controlled’ by real estate agents. (3) Consumers lack of knowledge. Cleaning up the industry would benefit the consumer, however would not be the best interest of the real estate agent. The government and consumers are being deceived by the real estate industry; the government never asks the consumer how to improve the industry it asks the real estate agents. Consumers rely on agents for advice; many are buying a home for the first time, or maybe selling a home. When thousands of dollars are being, used consumers think they are doing the right thing they do not realize how much they can or are losing. Consumers need to find out what really goes on behind the scenes.
Utilitarianism; the theory of morality and how one should act. If everyone that conducted, business is using the code of ethics and morality being the way to act. I think this would help, solve the problem of the deceitfulness, businesses put in place a code of ethics and therefore someone should be accountable for unethical behavior. If tenants knew the rights they had and were more educated on the issues regarding tenant rights these unethical behavior’s may be stopped.
An example of this, when I was working in an office of an apartment complex a resident gave the manager a thirty-day notice, this means that person has thirty day to remove their personal belongings. The manager gives the full 30 days. However, the manager had someone go in the unit four days prior to the thirty days and threw everything in the trash, so that someone else could go ahead and move in. this was so unethical on his part. He did not have any regards for the persons feeling or belonging. The tenant came for her things and was highly upset to find she could no longer get into her apartment. She threatened to sue the manager for his actions if he did not get her things and have them cleaned for her or pay her for her loss. His actions almost caused some big trouble for the company. His promise to someone that they could move in early was the cause for all the drama. Watching him climb in a trash, dumpster to find her things was priceless.
I know from working in apartment management, I have seen thing like this from both sides of the spectrum, tenants doing things to the units, not giving notice of vacating because they do not want to pay that month’s rent they want that money for something else or to move somewhere else that they think is better. We all have the tendencies to be use utilitarianism or Ethical egoism; some I think do it not realizing they are being this way.
I would hope that doing things to satisfy one’s own interest would not hurt others. We live in a society that self-interest is all that matters to most people. Managers want to rent that apartment or house maybe to get a bonus for reaching a goal. We will truly never know why people choose to do the things they do with no regards to others and why we have a tendency to be selfish. As humans, we are not perfect we make choices for ourselves or for the company in which we work.
The view that is closest to my own would have to be Utilitarianism, to do things morally and because that is the way we should act. I am always doing things that I think is right. I get put down and told I am crazy. I tried living doing things that I thought was what others expected was right however I was not doing them because I thought that is the way I should act. Since I now do things the way I feel is morally right I am much happier. I guess an example would be my first marriage, I did things because I believed it was my duty do do thing the way my husband wanted me to act. Going to bars, using ugly language all of which were against what I believed is the way I should act. I soon realized that people look at things like that and judge you from where you go and who you hang out with. Doing and acting the way I thought he wanted me to act soon led to our divorce when I could not longer be that person. Morality is a very important thing for me. Telling the truth and using ethical behavior are a big part of my life and my business, As a child care provider morality is very important, the way I act will affect the lives of the children I watch, they are at the age when what they see is how they act. If we want morality and people to do the ethical things then we must start teaching them when they are young.
I would hope that most of us have the desire to do what is right morality. I believe that there are more people that do the right verses wrong. However we will never know the exact percentages because no one will admit that they do these things
Being educated, and making changes in how we over see things as owners/ managers could make a big impact on the real estate industry. The government needs to talk to the people not the real estate industry. We all need to remember to follow the code of ethics that is set in place within the company we work. We must at all-times remember to uphold our integrity, and the integrity of the company. Remembering that hazards in homes and apartments can cause injury to tenants and the manager/owner is responsible for making sure they are hazard free.

References
Bernard Lo (2012) The National Academies: Ethical Issues in Housing-Related Health Hazard Research Involving Children, Youth, and Families Washington, DC Retrieved 2012 from http://iom.edu/Activities/PublicHealth/HousingHealthHazard.aspx
Herman, D... (2010). KNOW YOUR CODE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, Journal of Property Management, 75(4), 48. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2214622011). AU Library
Jenman ( 2011) Promoting ethics and protecting people, Ethics in Real Estate, Authors First Pty Ltd Retrieved (2012) from http://www.jenman.com.au/Ethics-RE.php.
John F. Moors (1916). Ethics in Modern Business. Harvard Theological Review, 9 , pp 21-35 Retrieved ( 2012) from http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0017816000004223
Symmonds, J.. (2012, March). MAINTAINING THE AMO CODE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS. Journal of Property Management, 77(2), 24. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2666524471).AU Library