Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This property management company used the absurd benefit of doubt guaranteed to landlords by state laws to extort from me my entire deposit, plus several thousand dollars for damages that were either nonexistent, existed before I rented there, or were done by other tenants in the building. My neighbors spitefully blamed their drunken damage on me, and the management company was eager to believe this as they could charge my father the balance, because he was out of the country and unable and unwilling to fight the charge. Lastly, when I moved out, having cleaned the place quite thoroughly, I was charged for the removal of a couch, which I had never owned. This company very creatively accounted for thousands of dollars of damage that my dad ended up paying to them because neither he nor I could prove that these charges were fraudulent. They mercilessly extorted every last ***** they could, because they could. Slumlords.

  

  Business response

  02/24/2023

  To whom it may concern,
  
  
  When ************ move in on January 13th, 2018, here was the condition. date/time/geo location stamped video walkthrough.  You can hear ************ talking with our agent as they documented the move in condition. ************************************************; As you can see, the unit was clean, paint was fresh, lights and blinds were all intact, and there was no sofa or mattress or any other debris in the unit when he moved in.
  
  
  When he finally vacated, I went and inspected the unit on May 9th, 2019 - Again, see photos/videos with date/time and geo location.  ************************************************; Clearly present in the video, you'll see an abandoned couch, mattress, desk and other debris.  Additionally, the place was not left clean, he even left a trail of debris out the door into the hallway upon his exit.  You'll also hear me state on the video how bad the smoke smell was inside the unit, a clear violation of our no smoking policy, which required a full prime and paint to remove the odor.
  
  
  I have the attached correspondence from ************, from May 5th, 2019, clearly showing he had overstayed his scheduled move out date and was still there at that time.  Also attached is his ledger, showing that he did not pay for any time in the month of May. 
  
  
  
  ************ would have never been approved to move in without his ****** co-signing.  Apparently despite repeated conversations I had with **************** ****** about his son's disruptive behavior, he also doesn't understand how it works when you guarantee the lease terms will be adhered to.  I sent the statement of deposit, see attached evidence that it was received, I then gave them plenty of time to work it out with me directly before turning it over to collections.  They never did...  
  
  
  Almost a year later, I received a very nasty message from the tenant's ******/cosigner.  ** that point it had been sent to collections.  Still, just to reconfirm things after getting that nasty call, I reached out to another resident in the building, A gentleman named ****** lived in unit 6 upstairs for over six years - a very good tenant.  He confirmed what we had been told by numerous other residents over the course of **************** time as a resident - see below:
  
  
  
  
  On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 2:56 PM ********************* <**************************************************************************; **************** ******,
  
  
  Could I ask you a favor please?  Our maintenance team mentioned that when our prior tenant *********;Bird from unit 4 moved out last year that you may have witnessed some of his bad behavior?  We were told he was responsible for much of the smoke smells and butts everywhere, his unit smelled like an ashtray causing us to have to repaint entirely - and additionally I was told he was responsible for other disturbances, such as setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night, then pulling the fire extinguisher and blasting it all over the place.
  
  
  Anything you could confirm or add would be very appreciated.
  
  
  Thanks,
  
  
  *********************
  Managing Broker - ER1327880
  ******************
  
  ER1327880
  
  
  Response - 
  
  
  Yea definitely that guy was a psycho. He would always act real squirrelly and leave the back door open. There would be people that would park in the back and sleep in their cars. He would never say hello or anything. I would see sketchy looking folks always coming and going. The whole bottom floor constantly stunk and like I said the back door would always be propped open. Bottom line, that guy sucked and if I ca. Be any more assistance please let me know. I respect and appreciate living at **** ********** and find it the best and most understanding place to live and would like to keep it that way. Thank you for everything ******* 
  

  
  As you can see from **************** neighbor's statements, we have very good relationships with the majority of our residents.  If people pay their rent, take care of the property, follow the rules and don't disrupt their neighbors, we're really easy to work with.  I hope with this in mind, this complaint will be dismissed and not posted to my business info page.  If it must be, I hope readers of this response will see how easy we are to work with if you are a good tenant, but also know that we have a fiduciary duty to our property owner clients to see that people that damage their buildings are held responsible.

  
  Please let me know if you have any further questions.  Again, it is still a collections account, and with my evidence, I am absolutely willing to let a judge hear the merits of the case should it be necessary.  I hope not, they should just take responsibility and clear the balance, ************ absolutely knows he violated the policy on smoking and left the apartment smelling horrible.  My videos prove he left a disgusting couch and mattress etc. for us to have to have hauled away.  I have a fiduciary duty to the owner of the building to see that damage caused by residents is paid by residents.  It is indisputable that his deposit did not cover the time he over-stayed, the cost to haul his junk, the cost to clean and remove smoke smells.  Those are all 100% legitimate charges he is responsible for under the terms of his lease.  But if it needs to go to court for resolution, the evidence is clear and I will absolutely defend my reputation, seek to have this collection turned into a judgment and will then have to ask the court to have my attorney fees covered as well, another provision of the lease.
   
  Regards,
  
  
  *********************
  Managing Broker 
  ******************
  
  ER1327880

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