Chamness Properties

Chamness Properties is a property management company in Davis. Some believe that Chamness Properties does not manage their properties well, though others have been quite happy with their experiences with Chamness Properties, remaining friends with Bob Chamness and his wife Fiona for years afterwards.

makeshift room, worst bedroom in the house,no official door,thin walls- rents for $575 in 2007

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2006-08-27 14:37:52   DO NOT RENT FROM CHAMNESS PROPERTIES! OF THE LAST 6 TENANTS, NO ONE WAS HAPPY! BOB CHAMNESS IS A SLUMLORD! —SteveHernandez

2006-12-27 22:40:24   the site of Bob Chamness is ucdavisrentals@aol.com. Steve is right, the man is a slumlord. He will try and get you to do all he can by promising to take money off of the rent. I'm not sure that this is legal, but it doesn't really matter as this guy's word isn't worth anything. As soon as he has you on a lease he becomes verbally abusive and demanding. He will profess deep dissapointment at your "lack of integrity" for not doing things for free and claim that him and his poor wife are just barely making it through retirement with their rental income. Bullsh**. He's just another predatory slumlord. —JustinRegnier

Bob is the worst landlord you will ever meet. He i always up in his tentants business calling you on your phone at all hours. Since I have lived there we have had 3 rotating roomates eversince because the individuals can not stand him. He seems nice and will tell you he accomadates everything and you have a choice when it comes to selecting your future housemates, but this is all lies. He takes away your rights, lowers and increases rent(very money hungry:watch out for late fees, my advice don't intial that part and don't rent the makeshift room:illegally converted against every code), very difficult to deal with, will try and slap you with a court case for everything or refuse to give you the respect you need or security deposit for that matter. Wants to only communicate wiht one person i ntheh ouse, the list could go on and on. Demands to have key to your room and access to the house, is bad about coming unannounced: for example came to shampoo carpets in one bedroom on martin luther king day, made noise for over 6hrs. Be careful of the things he says he really does not know what he is talking, thinks students are inferior and anything that he writes or types must be a legal document. Sent a friend to serve a housemate the place itself is ok ,but don't exepect to get much out of it but a in your face landlord who won't weem to go away Oh and no garage or driveway space!!!!! backyard is crap makeshift room walls are so thin can hear everything, DON'T RENT HERE UNLESS YOU PLAN ON MOVING SOON,also very difficult to break a lease without penalities

2007-11-19   I was surprised to see these comments on daviswiki. I rented one to two rooms from Chamness Properties for about 5 years and didn't run into any of these difficulties. I think I had a late fee once ($10 or $15) when I had to pay rent two weeks late. When I had problems with the house, they got fixed. There was a standing offer to do yard/house work for pay, but I always had steady work and I don't think I ever took him up on it. But it was a set amount of dollars per hour (depending on the work and the year). My rent changed, I think, once in five years and also when I rented a second room for an office. I don't remember any surprise visits, either, I was always told ahead of time someone was coming over. My dealings with Chamness Properties were always straight forward and didn't match the negative comments here. — Michael Baer

2007-11-24 16:10:32   I read with interest the negative comments posted here about Chamness Properties. I rented a room in a Chamness Properties house and did not encounter any problems with Bob Chamness. The room I rented was a very nice converted den – the same room someone has characterized as an “illegal” room.

My personal experience during my stay was the only people who had any problems with Chamness Properties were the tenants who either trashed the house or who didn’t uphold their obligations to the lease.

As with any landlord, if you sign a lease with Bob and don’t abide by the agreement, he will get on your case. He is honest and direct so you know where he is coming from.

To categorize him as a “slum lord” is ridiculous! People should not throw rocks from behind fences! If you don’t pay your rent and he ends up taking you to court, does that make him a “bad” landlord?

Bob and his wife did nothing but provide me with all the free furniture I could imagine and cook me dinner on several occasions! It's easy to see who's in the wrong if he becomes an "unpleasant" landlord towards a tenant that's trying to weasel their way out of a legally-signed contract!

—JeffL

2007-11-30 00:32:00   While I am not surprised to see unhappy ex-tenants mudslinging, I am surprised by the extent to which they'd go to slander Chamness Properties. I have not rented from Chamness, but I have worked for them for over a year, so I have experience with them and their properties. I like them, and I find them to be refreshingly nice, honest, and caring people (and unlike all too many Californians, not superficially so!), but I aim here not to let that color my estimation of their business. They're not the ideal landlords (I myself would replace some of the old equipment and fixtures they use...but then again, that's my fantasy where money doesn't exist and there's no reason not to replace a 30-year-old lawnmower, even if it does do its job without too much hassle). That being said, they seem to be pretty on top of communicating with tenants, and getting tenant needs taken care of well beyond their typical demesne as landlord (e.g., helping tenants acquire free or almost-free furniture and miscellaneous computer parts like wireless internet cards).

I worked on keeping the outside of their properties clean and neat, and I helped to clean the insides between tenants. Part of the reason they continue to ask me to help them—despite my very limited time now that I have returned to the life of a graduate student—is that they like my perfectionism in cleaning. They want their properties to look good and be in good condition, though they could easily pay half as much for a shoddy job.

To categorize Chamness Properties as a "slum lord" is certainly inappropriate. Their houses may not be new or in perfect condition, but they're kept in better shape than most apartments I've lived in, and absolutely up to health code standards (again, moreso than some apartments I've lived in, and I don't exactly rent from College Square...). Their rent seems lower than most, especially as much as rents have gone up in Davis in the last few years. When tenants leave a phone or e-mail message asking about something, my impression is that they respond to it quite quickly. I've gotten calls at 9am from Bob Chamness asking if I could check on a problem that a tenant had left a message about just that morning, since he was out of town and unable to do so for a few days.

I've heard from them about a few disagreements they've had with tenants—but more importantly, I've seen and smelled the crappy conditions in which some of their tenants have left their properties, not to mention the rampant disregard some tenants had for the place, inside and out, from damaged walls, stained carpets, and (cat- and human-)urine-soaked furniture to waist-high grass and weeds that tenants had agreed to landscape. Or there was the time the tenants turned off the water over the summer while Bob Chamness was on vacation, and when I went by to check on things, I found the grass to be almost completely dead. Naturally, these things are entirely the fault of the property management for expecting tenants to report problems and not do stupid shit around the property.

As for the legalities: my parents taught me that it's far more important for tenants to have every agreement with a landlord clearly written out with all necessary details. That a landlord insists on this is generally more for your sake than for theirs. To respond directly to Justin's comment: how can you expect to break a lease without penalties?! A lease is by definition a legal agreement...of course you will be penalized for breaking it! —AR

2007-12-29 21:31:21   I have to question the sincerity of the people who have referred to Bob as a slum lord. He just spent the the past week of the Christmas holiday here retiling our hallway. I personally thought the hall looked fine, but he still chose to spend an extended period of time working to make his house look even better. He cares about things like mold that might start growing in odd places, when the tenants (myself included) don't even notice its presence.

I do agree with the previous comment that stated that he tries to get you to help pay the bills and then deduct the amount from your rent, but I just started doing that, so I don't really know how it's going to go yet.
Also, someone posted that it is "very difficult to break a lease without penalities"...well I'm pretty sure there is a reason leases were invented in the first place. Would you throw a fit if your cell phone company charged you a severance fee for early termination of your contract? Of course not, it's just the way things work.

Bob is also up for a nice long chat when there is no one else around to talk to. —hokusman

2007-12-29 22:25:07   I have seen several people profess surprise at the comments about Bob on this website. That would seem to indicate a pattern, no?

As to breaking the lease, the Davis model lease allows you not fulfill the lease as long as you have not yet taken possession of the property. I had not. I did bring several people by to try and help Bob fill the place(uncompensated). All of the reactions that I got were ones of disgust at the way Bob dealt with people. He is very good at playing the martyr and milking it to get people to do things for him. Once he has your sympathy, this escalates into verbal abuse and attempts to push you into doing things for him. These reactions cemented misgivings that I had about him and I notified him prior to taking possession that I wouldn't be taking the place.

When he slapped me with charges for the room not being rented out by the time my lease was due to start, I went by the place to check on it, as vacancies in Davis were pretty low and it seemed odd. I found that someone (I think his name was Eric) had moved in well before Bob claimed to have found someone. When I called him to verify that we was going to return my deposit (as he was contractually obligated to do), he started swearing at me, insulting me, and ended up hanging up on me. He also charged me $100 for "administrative charges" associated with advertising. Give me a break, the guy uses Craigslist. He did a good job of gauging just how much he could gouge without me taking him to court, I will say that. I tried to get the arbitration process going, but he refused to engage in that. I considered taking him to court, just so that the Judge would see him and hopefully remember the kind of person he is, but ended up getting busy finishing my masters'. It ended up being a blessing, I found an awesome place for the same amount, and great landlords that actually did pay me for the work I did at their place.

As to people leaving the places in disrepair, that's very true. I kept that lawn alive after it was neglected and came up with a plan to renovate the Temple house (never compensated for it, by the way). Some people just aren't fit to rent a doghouse to, and some people don't have the maturity to do the right thing in a legal agreement and as a human being. Hopefully I won't run into another Bob on the housing market. I am posting this in the hopes that you guys won't either. I think that Bob really believes in himself as the nice guy and a poor honest guy being taken advantage of. The numbers of people willing to invest time into trying to warn people off him belie this opinion, as do his relationships with longtime neighbors.

Good luck in the Davis rental market, I've wasted enough of the time in my life on this issue... —JustinRegnier

2008-01-01 18:52:50   The surprise expressed is bewilderment at how a couple tenants seem to have such a bone to pick with Chamness Properties. Perhaps not surprisingly, the tenants complaining seem to be tenants who try to break their lease...and that's the pattern that I see. I actually heard about some of the stuff you mentioned. Eric wasn't even renting the room you signed a lease for, and furthermore, he moved out before your lease started. I don't know what happened with your efforts to find someone for the room, but in the end, you didn't, and Bob had to do the work to find someone. Even if he's just advertising on Craigslist, he still has to come to Davis to show the place, taking his time and transportation costs to deal with filling your lease. It's pretty clear in the Davis Model Lease that the owner is at the very least legally entitled to charge pre-lease-commencement breakage to the resident, so long as the owner makes a reasonable effort to relet the place. Bob was looking around pretty desperately to find someone to take your spot; it's hard to find tenants right at the start of a quarter, since most people look for a place weeks or months in advance. —AR

2008-01-14 16:47:48   Bob is a horrible landlord who takes advantage of everyone he encounters. I lived in a household that had many problems with bob in everyway. I tried to get past differences and not deal with the other three t\roomates who moved in and out very quickly. Bob thinks his mediation helps find sutiable roomates ,but he just scares off people and they come to realize what a true jerk he really is. When all was said and done, he did everything in his power to corner you and not take you seriously. We had asked for a move out inspection and instead all he gave was grief, and excuses and then ended up gaining up on me for riduclous charges such as 50 dollars to clean a fireplace that our household never used, 100 dollars for adminstrative fees, 100 for liason fees with direct tv and small amounts for stupid items such as cleaning cob webs and such. Out of my 600 dollar deposit, I only received 100 dollars back and no our household did not leave the place a mess. We cleaned everything from top to bottom and even hired a professional carpet cleaning company to come and clean the carpet and yet we were still charged. He is not a nice person and has tried to verbally attack me as a tenant many times making threats and unannouced visits. One such example is when one of the tenants who moved out left some furniture and stuff behind, he claimed that if the furniture was not returned the house would be charged after having known the tenant left the items for the current tenants use. We were also charged for house items that wre purchased from a secondhand store.

His claim of letting tenants use furniture, dishes etc is just another scheme to deduct money in the end. He will most likley target one person in the house to try and deal with problems and will get in tenants personal lives. I am trying to file a suit against bob, but as seems to be a trend he ignored my certified letter and has refused to attempt to make a contact. Bob can definely be catergorized as a slum lord who takes advantages of students and tries to write the laws in his favors claiming to be knowlegable about fixing things and trying to gouge students out of their money. He will hit you with late charges so after reading all these comments if you think that you want a landlord who is rude, noisy, annoying, and in your face,rent from him, but don't be surprised if you end up being one of those unlucky individuals. Other problems with bob include raising and lowering rent as individuals move in and out, charging gardening fees and then blaming you for the grass dying threating that it is going to be 1000 dollars to replace. The property at least at the seine house is ok, but since he has fixed things and wired things gas and electric seem to much higher. He also takes over more than 3/4 of the garage with his stuff and the entire driveway with his trailer and bronco. None of the neighbors care for him and he has gotten into several arguments over the past. One of his charges that he mentions is rubbing paint off the post outside where individuals park their bikes so beware of that. Well enough has been said, I will update if i ever file a suit and let everyone know how it turned out FIND ANOTHER HOUSE:avoid 2807 seine or temple —ElizabethBarthel

2010-03-07 22:14:17   I am also surprised and quite shocked with some of the comments being made against Bob Chamness. I rented from Chamness properties for a year while I was studying at UC Davis. Bob was always prompt with resolving any issues we had, he was polite and friendly and I never had any issues with him.

I had a great time in Davis and would definitely rent from Chamness properties again if I am ever back in Davis.

—tomalgie

2012-03-25 11:17:26   I would have to agree that this man is the worst landlord I have every come in contact with. He is manipulative, subversive, and doesn't respect privacy whatsoever. I sincerely hope that folks visit this site before signing with him because it was a very bad mistake for me. Avoid the Chamnesses at all costs. —sjmcdonnel