ComplaintsforRent It Furnished Realty

• Initial Complaint

  02/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  The management contract with RIT expired on September 30, 2023. I managed my unit and collected the rent by myself and there was no management service but on October 16 2023 i received the owner's statement, which indicated 367.92 was deducted from my owner's deposit. I instructed the property manager to delete my record from the system but they did not remove it and charge the management fee. I also informed them that I would not use their portal to collect the rent. On July 21 I gave them 2 months' notice to end the management agreement and advised them to inform the tenant accordingly but they did not inform the tenant in a timely manner. On September 27 2023 at 5:14 pm, they notified the tenant but they provided the wrong information. I asked them to inform the tenant that the owner would collect the rent but they told the tenant that the owner would collect the rent through our portal which is not true rather it is a ********** activity. On October 31 2023 tenant sent a notification to end the lease and I agreed. I CC this email to Wendy; the RIF property manager but Eica (CEO) sent an email saying that tenant must use their portal to inform the end of the tenancy. As per the Tenancy Act if the owner and the tenant agree to end the month-to-month lease verbal information is enough. On October 16 they also sent an invoice to the tenant stating that the tenant owned the rent and ********** to report to the credit bureau without discussing the issue with me. I hired them to act on my behalf in good faith but they did the job against my will and against the law. but I already informed the PM that I received the rent from different means. The tenant has requested to update the rent payment method as per the tenant's request and as per the tenancy act I agreed and updated the rent payment method. Erica (CEO) and Wendy (PM) acted like a judge, not like a property manager They did not provide me a pre-inspection report. They also hold tenants' deposits.
  

  Business response

  07/11/2023

  In repose to Mr. ******’s claim:
  Please see the attached terms & conditions signed by Mr. ****** which clearly speak to his concerns.
  It clearly outlines that once the contract for full property management (PM) is cancelled, which it was for Sept 30, 2023, the tenant remaining in the property must continue paying rent through our tenant portal for the duration of the tenancy. Rent is then forwarded (minus any fees owing for tenant placement of the tenant) to the Landlord within 1-5 business days. Once the PM contract was cancelled the tenant was instructed to pay rent as per our agreement by our company. Mr. ****** however instructed the tenant to breach her agreement with Rent it Furnished and pay him directly. This led to confusion for the tenant and eventually led her to break her lease agreement with the landlord and vacate the suite for Nov 30, 2023. Mr. ****** breached his contract with us in collecting rent from the tenant for Oct and Nov outside of our company. Rent it furnished has acted 100% in good faith and in accordance with the tenancy act and our terms of service and will continue to do so as we close out this tenancy with both parties. We also decided not to report the tenant for late and delinquent rental payments to the credit bureau due to the wrongful instructions provided to the tenant by Mr. ****** and the pursuant confusion.
  For the settlement requested: Mr. ****** will receive his entire $500 PM float as soon as we receive the account closure form provided to him. There was no deduction made, contrary to his claim and no deduction is required on our end. The tenant’s security deposit will be returned to her, or to the owner (should damages be noted & agreed upon), once the tenant has vacated, and as per the owner’s lawful instruction at that time. We are happy to assist Mr. ****** with anything related to this process but we must follow proper procedures and honor our terms of service with both parties.
  Rent it Furnished continues to be 100% compliant with the BC Tenancy Act and adhere to all terms and conditions set forth. We look forward to a smooth conclusion to this situation by Nov 30th when the tenant will vacate the property and our agreement/contract with Mr. ****** is concluded.
  Thank you,
  Erika W*****
  CEO, Rent it Furnished Inc. 

  Customer response

  07/11/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: My concern is not addressed.

  1. My tenant is concerned that RIF will report the issue to the credit report bureau  On November 1 2023 without my knowledge they solicit the tenant and ********** to report to credit bureau.I want them to send a formal apology letter to tenant saying that they will not report the issue to the credit bureau. I want them to return 
    owners deposit (500$) close my file and return all documents related to the property and delete the information from the system (As per PIPA) 3) Return tenant's damage deposit  3) I want answer why pre-inspection was done if so where is the pre-inspection report  3) Whey annual property inspection was not done as per the contract 4) when i give them 2 month's notice and asked several time to inform to the tenant but they did not inform her on timely manner. They informed her on September 27 2023 at 5:14 why? 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ******

  Business response

  23/11/2023

  hi there, 

  We are now in contact with this client and are handling the move out with him as a courtesy and free of charge. 

  To respond to out communication with the tenant, again this is as per contract with the tenant and with the owner. the terms/conditions have already been provided to the BBB. The tenant was NOT reported to the credit bureau as she was confused by contradictory communication with her landlord and didn't know what to do about paying rent. She is moving out end of Nov and we are handling her move out with the landlord, as mentioned. The message she was getting is an automated message based on our service agreement and helps tenants avoid being reported if they pay rent late, or not at all. Owners generally appreciate and benefit from this service as it reduces late or delinquent payments. We will not be sending an apology letter for that notification. 

  The owner float is being returned as soon as the Landlord signs the account closure. he has this now and I think this is being done once the tenant moves out. There is no dispute with that. 

  we will not be deleting his information from our system as we are liable to keep it for auditing purposes for 7 years. We strictly follow Pipa and his information will only be used as legally allowed. 

  The tenant's damage deposit is returned to the tenant (or partially to the landlord should there be a claim) upon agreement between both parties, or upon a legal file being opened by the landlord. all will be done as per the *** and our service agreement. In fact, this is all autoamted and our senior property manager has agree to help **************** with this task at move out. 

  The tenant was not informed about any changes in her payment process as this was not required and she was to continue paying rent on our platform. The tenant was informed that any maintenance or property management would now be handled by the owner. This was all done on time and as per our service agreement. 

  the Move out will be handled by a professional PM with ****************, free of charge and to help him navigate the transition.

  Thank you 

  Customer response

  02/12/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************

• Initial Complaint

  29/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  RentItFurnished managed our condo for 6 months. They informed us that we had a difficult and demanding tenant. At the end of tenancy, we were charged a moving out cleaning fee – the comptroller authorized this refund to the tenant, and withdrew the funds from our account without our authorization. The tenant complained that the washer and dryer were not working; a property manager showed her how to use the appliances and confirm that they were in good working order. However, we were charged for a technician’s visit a few days before the end of the tenancy - she was shown again how to use the appliances and the technician confirmed in writing that the appliances were working. We told RentItFurnished that we wouldn’t pay for these costs as no repairs were required. However, RentItFurnished deducted the funds from our account without authorization. Additionally, our $500 (float) deposit has not been returned. We have been trying to get the company to engage with us as our banking account was debited on August 16th without our consent. The company ignored requests to discuss our concerns until, after several emails, a property manager emailed us to explain the charges – not address our concerns about being charged for them. We continued to ask someone to call, so another property manager phoned to inform us that we didn’t pay these charges, even though the August statement reflected the billed charges. We stated that we needed to speak with her supervisor. Several emails later, the comptroller spoke with us via a Teams call on September 16. He reassured us that the unauthorized charges to our account would be fully refunded ($307.78) along with our $500 deposit for a total owing of $807.78. He stated that (quote): “We will reimburse you for everything” (and within a day). This did not happen. We have sent an email to the comptroller and CEO asking for an update, but are not getting any response from the company.

  Business response

  06/10/2022

  Dear ***** *******
  
  This is our written response to the complaint received by BBB from ******* ********.
  
  First of all, we want to say that we understand the client’s frustration with the process of closing their account with our company, but we do not agree with the claims filed against our company.
  
  Our team has been in touch with the client since the first day we were notified of their intention to close their account and the clients met with 3 different people from our company who explained to them the charges/ expenses on their monthly statement.
  
  The clients don’t agree that they should pay for us to send a technician to check the maintenance request we received from the tenant about the dishwasher not working properly. It’s our legal responsibility with the client to answer any maintenance request received by tenants, unfortunately, in this case there wasn’t any issues with the dishwasher. The tenant refused to pay for that cost and we explain to the client that based on the agreement the client signed with us we could file a dispute with the residential tenancy branch to claim that cost from the tenant’s damage deposit but there would be a $500 charge to file that claim and the total cost of the technician was $119. This is a situation that can happen from time to time when you are a landlord.
  
  
  The refund of $75 paid to the tenant was claimed by the tenant as the property was not professionally cleaned at the move-in, which the owner agreed to on July 26. Thus, the cleaning fee was returned to the tenant (deducted from the owner's account), however, not in full only $75.35 remainder because of the technician’s visit which was $119.65. Originally, the tenants wanted to receive the full cleaning fee they paid of $195, but they agreed to have the technician visit deducted from the cleaning fee refund they should receive.
  
  We explained to the client that in order to close their account they should sign our property management account closure document which they refused.

  Customer response

  07/10/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1. The company has not been in touch with us since the start of this matter on August 16 when funds were deducted from our checking account. We had contact with two other people but they did not address the situation - namely that the company debited our bank account without authorization. It was only after we had to escalate the issue to the CEO, Erika W*****, that the Manager, Robson S****, contacted us. We have had only one conversation with the manager via Teams on September 16 - we have a full record of that conversation. In that call, he indicated that the company would reimburse us for the full amount owed: $500 "float" plus the $307.78 additional deduction.

  2. There was never a problem with any appliance. For the record, the technician that came in verified that the user just did not know how to operate the washing machine and that there was nothing wrong with the appliance. The company does not even know the issue when referring to a "dishwasher" problem.

  This is the second time dealing with this particular matter. On February 7, Helen T***** (Assistant Property Manager with the company) went in and showed the tenant how to use the washer and dryer and confirmed at that time that there was nothing wrong with the appliances (email attached). The technician was brought in days before the tenant left the condo to once again show the tenant that there was nothing wrong with the machine. This is a cost that should not be passed on to the owner. The property manager could have done the same thing again. We question why there was a need to send in a technician the second time at this late stage when the property manager was tasked with this and was being paid to handle such matters.

  3. The property was professionally cleaned prior to the tenant moving in (invoice attached). As part of the agreement prior to the tenant moving in on February 1st, we paid a set-up fee and the property manager approved the suite for rental and provided pictures of the unit for posting. The unit was rented within a week of it being posted. There was never a mention of the need for further cleaning.

  4. The company took the $307.78 out of our checking account without our knowledge or approval. As well, they have deducted this amount from the $500 float. We were double deducted. We do not agree in the first place that the $307.78 costs should be incurred by us. We have asked the company several times to review the August statement and to correct the accounting error. This has still not been done.

  5. The latest email from the company has a threatening **** (attached). We were given an ultimatum yesterday by end of day to accept and go away. We do not appreciate this and do not accept the ultimatum. This goes completely against the conversation we had with Mr. S**** on September 16 where he reassured us that he would get back to us in a day or two, and yet he did not contact us until we received this harassing and bullying email from him yesterday. We can provide a complete record of this conversation if you wish. Our treatment by this company is totally unacceptable. We do not accept any of the company's rationale. RentitFurnished owes us $500 (float) plus $307.78 = $807.78.

  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

  ***** *** ******* ******** **** * **** ******** ****** ********** ** ******       ********** ******* ********

  Business response

  12/10/2022

  
  Dear ***** ******,
  
  This is our written response to the complaint received by BBB from ******* *********
  
  First of all, we are sorry for the client’s frustration with the process of closing their account with our company, but we do not agree with the claims filed against our company.
  
  Our team has been in touch with the client since the first day we were notified of their intention to close their account and the clients met with 3 different people from our company who have all explained to them the charges/ expenses on their monthly statement on several occasions. Everything was reviewed internally and all billings are correct.
  Our response to the client’s rejections:
  
  1. Yes, we were. We have emails from Aleana the Property Manager, Joey the Sales Manages and from our Robson our Financial Controller. The withdraw from the client’s bank account follows our contract, ****** *** ****** ***** ********** *** ** ***** *** **** ** ***** ******** ** ******** *** *********** **** at the level of $500 and to replenish the *********** **** monthly if required via automatic debit to the Owner's bank account provided to RIF.” The withdraw of $307.78 was to replenish the owner float of $500.00. As of today, we only hold $500.00 to return to the client. The contract is attached
  
  2. The cleaning fee of $195.00 was originally paid to the owners, and then reimbursed to the tenants due to no cleaning provided. This was agreed upon (see email attached from the owner) and on the statement attached, this $195 consists of the $119.65 and the $75.35 which equals the $195, charged to the owner. This $195 is the owner expenses. Again, the owners agreed to reimburse the tenants for the cleaning fee of $195 as the owners did not provide a professionally cleaned suite, which is against our agreement with the owners and with the tenant. Here is the email when the owner agreed to reimburse the owners; However, the tenant agreed to have the amount of $119.65 deducted from the $195 cleaning fee refund. We explained that to the client that this was just a matter of how the information is shown on the statement. We could display a negative income amount of $195.00 instead of $75.35 and not show the expense of $119.65. at the end of the day the whole amount is $195.00 which was the amount deducted for the owner’s bank account plus other expenses.
  
  3. We don’t accept this receipt dated from September 15, 2022. The tenant moved-in in February 2022. We don’t understand why the client is sending a receipt from September when the professional cleaning should have done before the tenant moved-in. Also, please see the email attached from July 26, 2022 with the owner’s authorization to refund the cleaning fee.
  
  4. this has been explained on #1
  
  5. We apologize if the client thinks there is a threatening **** to the email, all we explained that is that we are happy to return the owner float of $500 even though the client doesn’t want to sign the standard pm closure agreement. We just informed the client that it’s their right to not sign the closure agreement even after we explained and addressed all their concerns. We will return the owner float of $500 and consider this matter closed. Once again, the withdraw of $307.78 was to replenish the owner float
  

  Customer response

  14/10/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  We are rejecting this response.

  
  Thank you, Mr. ******, for helping us try to reach a fair agreement and reimbursement from RentItFurnished. 
  
  It has been a few days short of two months since we contacted RentItFurnished about the deductions to our personal banking account without our authorization so it is most concerning that the recent response refers to the team being in touch since we contacted the company about these matters.  
  
  First of all, the contract that we signed was for 6 months only – February 1st to July 31st – so the account should have been properly closed at the end of the contract and we should not have had further charges or statements after this contractual period. We did not need to inform the company that we would be ending our services as the end date was clearly written in the contract. 
  
  Secondly, we have a record of all the correspondence with the company asking for them to address our concerns and our frustration with their failure to respond to us:

  
  • August 16th and 17th – we emailed asking for someone to contact us to discuss the August 16th statement that showed we were billed for charges that we were not consulted about, and that our $500 deposit was also debited for these charges.
  • August 20th – Oliver S****, Property Manager, emailed and said he didn’t know anything about the charges so Helen Taylor, Property Administrator, would contact us.
  • August 24th – We emailed Erika W*****, CEO, as no one from the company contacted us.
  • August 29th – We emailed Erika W***** again – no response.
  • September 2nd – Joey B*******, Sales Manager, emailed us a list of deductions, but did not address our concerns that we had previously raised via several emails to the company.
  • September 2nd – Erika W***** emailed us to say that she would speak with Aleana M******, Property Manager, and “will respond shortly.”
  • September 12th – We emailed Erika W***** again as we received no response.
  • September 13th – Aleana M****** called. She erroneously stated that we, in fact, did not pay the charges – the tenant did.  She would not discuss further so we told her that we need to speak with her manager.
  • September 16th – We spoke with Robson S****, Manager, via Teams call who assured us that, “We will reimburse you for everything” that day or the following day (we have a record of this call).
  • September 20th – Robson S**** emailed us to say that he was still looking into the matter and hoped to have an answer for us by tomorrow.
  • September 23rd – We emailed Robson S**** advising him that we were still waiting to hear from him and that we expected RentItFurnished to fully reimburse us as per the Teams conversation. 
  • September 27th – We emailed Robson S**** again as there was still no response from him or anyone at RentItFurnished.

  • October 6th – Robson S**** emailed us with an ultimatum indicating that RentItFurnished will only reimburse us $311.87 and that we would need to accept this offer by the end of the day or they would not reimburse anything.

  • October 6th – We rejected his offer which was completely contrary to what he had told us on the call.
  
  We are more than frustrated that we paid RentItFurnished $570.90/ month to manage our property and, once the contract ended, they billed us these extra charges. We are more than disappointed with their customer service and the way we have been treated as their clients. 
  
  The issue about the cleaning fee is most concerning from our perspective as property owners.  Aleana M****** did contact us on July 26th to inform us that the tenant had moved out. She informed us that, as the condo was not professionally cleaned prior to the tenant moving in, the company would be returning the cleaning fees.  I told her that this was no problem as I believed that she and the company had made the decision to not professionally clean the condo prior to the tenant moving in as RentItFurnished had assumed the care and maintenance of our property for over a month before the tenant moved in. 
  
  On January 28th, I emailed Michelle B******** and Aleana M****** to check in and, even days before the tenant moved in, there was no request from the company to get the condo cleaned. 
  
  We signed the contract for RentItFurnished to manage the property on December 21st and we handed over our fobs to Michelle B********, Sales Manager, who then informed us that Aleana M****** would be our property manager.  At the time of signing, we also paid the company $295. for a property management setup fee.  Again, at no time prior to the tenant moving in did we ever receive a request to have the condo professionally cleaned.  We heard from Aleana M****** that the company had agreed to return the cleaning fee because the condo was dusty – as RentItFurnished was managing the condo since December 21st and we trusted that the property manager was looking after it, we question why this issue was even raised.  Why did we pay the company monthly charges to care for the condo, and, furthermore, what was the purpose of the setup fee if not to ensure that the condo was ready for the tenant?  In our conversation with Robson S****, he informed us that he was the one who decided to refund the tenant – this decision would have been made at the beginning of the tenancy, and yet no one spoke to us about this until July!  If the decision was made to refund these fees to appease a difficult tenant as Robson S**** described her, why weren’t we consulted about whether we would pay for professional cleaning, or if the tenant, overseen by the property manager, should have thoroughly cleaned the property as she was required to do based on the Tenancy Act. Never did we imagine that RentItFurnishedwould expect us to be on the hook for cleaning our condo following a tenant living there for 6 months!
  
  We submitted the cleaning fee from our previous tenant to show that there were no issues with her paying to have the condo cleaned when she moved out (the date is in error and she is providing us with a correctly dated invoice).  No one lived in the condo until it was rented – we spent time outfitting the condo with all new furniture and accessories and before handing over the fobs to RentItFurnished. The new tenant vacated the property without cleaning the condo and fulfilling the requirements as per the Tenancy Act. RentItFurnished chose to hire a professional cleaner rather than deal with this difficult tenant, and so will need to cover these costs – this is not a cost that the owner should have to incur.  As per our Teams conversation with Robson S**** on September 16th, which we have on record, he agreed to reimburse us for this charge.
  
  On July 26th, I received an email from Aleana M****** informing us that a “colleague attended and showed the tenant how to operate the washing machine again and that once again there were no issues with the dryer.  It was surprising when we were charged for the technician’s visit – this is contradictory to Aleana M****** telling us that a colleague had attended, not a technician. This was the second time that a colleague had to show the tenant how to operate the machine. The invoice from the technician was July 20th – days before the tenant moved out, and she might even have already moved as Aleana M****** stated on July 26th that the tenant was no longer living there. We have made it clear that we will not pay these charges. On October 6th, Robson S**** emailed us that the company would reimburse us for the technician’s services, confirming his agreement that he stated on the Teams call with us on September 16th which we have on record.
  
  It is good to hear that we are finally going to receive our full deposit of $500 that we are entitled to as per Robson S****’s response to the BBB on October 12th, and further to his agreement on September 16th.
  
  Further, we are expecting to be reimbursed the cleaning fee ($195), the technician’s fee ($119.65), as well as our $500 deposit. This was the assurance that Robson S****, as manager of RentItFurnished, made to us in his call on September 16th. We are holding the company to this agreement and have a record of the Teams call.
  
  We expect that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible - before RentItFurnished spends more staff time dealing with this matter and we waste our valuable time. 
  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *** ***** ********

  Business response

  24/10/2022

  Dear ***** ******,
  
  

  Our view about this case is the same, we have explained the numbers multiple times, we have processed the return of the $500 owner float deposit as per document attached and we have considered this case as closed.

  Customer response

  25/10/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  

  
  

  ***** ******

  Dispute Resolution Coordinator

  Better Business Bureau

   

  Attention: ***** ******:

   

  We are rejecting this response. We expectRentItFurnishedto honour and fulfill the commitments made to us by the Comptroller, Robson S****, on the Teams call on September 16^th:

  
  

  He said:

  “We will pay for everything.”

  “We will reimburse you for everything.”

  “I will try to organize this today – my boss is not in the office all day.  I will finalize this today (get her approval), renew the contract to repay the $307.78 plus $500 . . . so we can process the payment.”

  “I will try to get this approval today – if not Monday . . . will redo the form for you to sign so you can get the refund.”

   

  We have a full transcript of this meeting should it be needed.

   

  RentItFurnsihed has back-tracked on these promises to us. We are asking you provide us with advice on how to proceed in order for us to hold this company accountable. We do not want this company to get away with such poor practices and continue such unethical service with other customers.

  
  

  RentItFurnished still owes us $307.78 that should never have been deducted from our bank account.

   

  Thank you for your assistance.

   

  ******* *** ***** ********.

  
  

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