Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Real Property Management First Choice Fort Smith's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Real Property Management First Choice Fort Smith

  1401 S Waldron Rd Suite 200 Fort Smith, AR 72903

• 

  Real Property Management First Choice Fort Smith

  5311 S 28th St Ste C Fort Smith, AR 72901-8772

• 

  Real Property Management First Choice Fort Smith

  5401 Rogers Ave STE 227 Fort Smith, AR 72903-3763

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/07/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  RPM First Choice was my property manager on my rental property. In February, they placed a new tenant in my property. I received a call about this tenant and they told me they were wonderful and would be great. Fast forward a few months, the family divorces, husband goes into rehab, and wife cannot afford the rent. Tenant leaves end of July and they’ve left all of their things in the house. I rent a dumpster to clean everything up myself. RPM decided without my consent to put all fees from breaking the lease straight into collections in the ballpark of $10,000. I was willing to accept a few grand to help the tenant in a bad situation even though they trashed the house. I will never see this money due to RPM deciding to put it into collections. During this time, they were in the process of listing another rental of mine. They spent over a week and never listed the property and I terminated my contract with them. They tried to charge me for the second rental. I reminded them of their 60 day no penalty policy. They then uploaded terrible photos of the first rental, input incorrect information on the listing, did not give me a clear understanding of the ex tenant situation for over two weeks. I provided my own photos and they didn’t change their setup fee They wouldn’t allow me to increase my per rent and their reasoning was due to fair housing laws, which is a misinterpretation of the law. I have my final statement to pay, and they are charging $99 for the second property. Additionally, they tried to charge me for multiple inspections that were dated after my termination of property management agreement. They have threatened to place a lien on my property if I don’t pay these made up fees. I have requested more information on these fees and it has been two full days with zero response. I have called and texted. I have been told my owner coordinator is too busy to speak with me. I tried to speak with a supervisor today and she was too busy for me as well.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2023

  The past tenant was sent to collections, because they refused to pay any balance due. They stated they were not financially able. The only way to ever guarantee any payment would be received was by sending them to the collection agency, so they can try to collect from the tenant or garnish any wages necessary. We are not a collection company and we do not handle legal collection matters in house. This owner signed a contract that broke down all fees for him including the inspection fee that he opted into and the sign on fee. However, both fees were waived in a negotiation for him to pay money owed to RPM on another property he had with us. He still has not paid that blance which is owed for his past utility bills. The owner has received several statements with a breakdown of his charges, and he has spoken to me, the supervisor and I have the email conversations to prove this.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/07/2023

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

  Email correspondence has occurred. As stated in our email conversation, I have agreed to pay what is fair, which you agreed upon. The check for this payment was put in the mail yesterday as stated in our emails. 
  

  Per your response, you state you do not handle legal matters. Therefore, why did you decide an execute a legal decision without consulting me, the owner of the property? 
  

  I have received two statements, both of which had unjustified fees on them. 

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

  Business Response

  Date: 11/08/2023

  The fees were justified, and both the fees were listed in your management agreement. I would encourage you to read the agreement that you signed. However, like I stated before, I have waived those for you. As for the collection of the tenant. I stated that we do not handle legal matter as far as garnishing wages. However, the collection company does. The lease is between RPM and the tenant, Not RPM and the owner. Therefore, RPM can make the decision to turn the tenant over to collections, because it is RPM's lease. However, if any money is collected, then RPM will send those funds to you. Thank you, 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/10/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Breach of Lease on Behalf of Property Management Company. Inhabitable Due to Radon Levels in Rental Home. Timeline & Chain of Events: 07/25/2022 - Initial contact. Put in application for ***** ********* ****, Rogers, AR 72756 07/27/2022 - Application approved, holding fee / security deposit placed on ***** ********* ****, was assured that the air quality of the homes represented by RPM had been thoroughly tested and met all standards. 08/22/2022 - Upon arrival at initial property contacted RPM to request our deposit and application be shifted to ** ******* Dr., Bella Vista, AR 72714 as the property at ********* was not in move in ready condition. Reiterated our concerns about the air quality of the home and explained that our daughter is very sensitive to that. 8/26/2022 - The application was moved to the ** ******* Dr. location, the security deposit was not returned. Another security deposit was placed. 09/01/2022 - My father dies of lung cancer. 09/06/2022 - Officially moved into ** ******* Dr. 01/22/2023 through 01/30/2023 - Set up and calibrated Airthings air monitoring device. 01/30/2023 - Noticed 5 year old daughter, who has non-allergic rhinitis, coughing often and decided to check the humidity readings. Upon going through all of the readings discovered that Radon levels were and had been very high. Was forced to vacate my home in the middle of the night. 02/10/2023 through 02/12/2023 - Independent Radon Testing through Hometech Inspection Cost: $225 2/16/2022 - Independent Radon Testing through Alpha and Omega Inspections. Cost: $300 All tests prove per CDC / EPA guidelines radon reduction action be taken.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2023

   ****** ****, applied for ***** ********* **** on 7/25/2022. She then placed a deposit on the home on our online portal on 7/27/22. She signed a nonrefundable holding fee form at that time that states "This holding fee shall be credited to the tenant's security deposit upon move in. However, if the tenant does not move in for any reason, this holding fee shall be forever forfeited and shall not be refunded".  On 8/22/22 we received a text from ****** stating that she would like to move her deposit to ** *******. Our Resident Coordinator then replied that she would have to get with the manager and get back to her. On 8/23/22, ****** then texted again asking for an update in which she was then informed that her deposit could not be moved and would be forfeited. Later that day a male claiming to be ****** ****'s husband entered our office stating that ******'s dad was dying of lung cancer, and she was out of town due to this emergency. He stated that he decided that ***** ********* was too far out of town and that he didn't like the location. He said that he did not feel comfortable leaving his wife and child that far out. He then asked to be refunded the deposit that she had placed on the property. He was informed that he was not on the account and that we had already informed ****** of the information she had requested. He proceeded to beg and plead and then left our office. On 8/26/22, ****** was sent another deposit link via portal for ** ******* as she had requested. She then placed a deposit via online portal and signed an electronic lease agreement on 8/27/22 for the term 8/2/2022- 5/31/2023. 
  On February 21, 2023, the same male listed above entered our office and provided us with a radon inspection report. We once again informed him that he is not listed on the lease agreement, and we have no record of him living in the home. He then stated that he lives in Colorado, and he was only in town to help his girlfriend take care of this issue. We were a little skeptical given that he told us before that he was her husband and we informed him once again that we could not discuss the matter with him and that we would need to speak to the tenant to discuss the matter. We asked to make copies of the radon report in which he allowed. We let him know that we would have to reach out to the lease holder and inform her of the steps that we needed to take. We tried several attempts to reach the leaseholder, ****** ****. After failing to reach her. We went ahead and sent a work order to a radon testing company later that day on 2/21/2023.  We then sent a message via text to ****** on 2/23/2023 to inform her that the Radon testing company would be coming to start testing on 2/27/23. We received the radon test results back on 3/08/23, at this time we attempted to reach the lease holder ****** **** to inform her that we would be returning her deposit for ** ******* and letting her out of the remainder of her lease agreement. However, we were unable to reach her. We later received a text from ****** **** via portal asking us to change her email to *********@gmail.com. We then asked her to please call our office in which she failed to do so. On 3/09/2023 our Account Owner drove over to the property and noticed that the home was vacant. She then moved the tenant out of the property in our system and sent the lease holder the deposit disposition form showing that her deposit had been refunded and a credit was available for her at that time. Our Resident Coordinator sent ****** another text asking her to contact our office in which ****** replied asking for all contact to go through her lawyer, ***** @***************.com and informed us that we would be receiving a letter in 24-48 hours. At this time Real Property Management First Choice has already informed ****** **** of her deposit refund credit for ** ******* that was completed for her on 3/9/2023 in which she has failed to provide us with the information necessary to return her money. She was also informed on 3/9/2023 with the deposit deposition that she was moved out of our system and let out of the remainder of her lease agreement. Real Property Management First Choice will not be returning the deposit forfeited by ****** in August of 2022 for ***** ********* **** and we have documentation to support that decision. 3.4 (2) of the lease agreement states, 
  RPM RESPONSIBILITIES: Respond to TENANT maintenance or repair requests timely. If RPM does not comply with TENANT’s maintenance or repair request within fourteen (14) days of written notice, and the condition makes the PREMISES uninhabitable, then RPM will have materially breached this AGREEMENT and the TENANT will not be required to pay RENT until the PREMISES is habitable.  Real Property Management never received any maintenance request from ****** ****. Rpm placed a maintenance request ourselves on 2/21/23 after failure to reach the tenant, ****** ****. This request was placed by RPM and sent to a Radon testing company after we had received the documents from "******'s Boyfriend", and we couldn't reach her to confirm the documentation he had provided. We then acted proactively to take care of the necessary steps to complete the maintenance request that we had entered. The results were received and attempts to reach ****** to provide her with the information were all completed within 14 days therefore Real Property Management will not be paying any relocation fees. We have tried to reach out to multiple times to refund her deposit for ** ******* with no response. We have sent letter to her lawyer as well and we will be turning her deposit over to the state to be claimed through them.

   

  Thank you, Real Property Management.