ComplaintsforRealty Management Associates, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Reality Management and Associates refused to pay for biohazard cleaning in my unit after 2 sewage backups. The first incident occurred on January 9th and sewage flowed from under the toilet through the bathroom, hallway, laundry closet and into the kitchen. Their emergency plumber service would not come out until the next day.After the plumbing was worked on, they left the sewage to soak down into the floor boards for three weeks. RMA told me they weren't interested in filing a claim with their insurance for the damages or cleanup. They insisted that I was responsible to pay for the cleanup and that I would be liable for any damages to property. They only sent a biohazard restoration company after I presented them with a three-day repair notice. I paid out of pocket for Bio-One ***** to disinfect the unit to try to save our things in the meantime. I also paid for the entire hotel stay of 20 days to keep me and my kids safe. The second incident of sewage backup happened less than a week after we moved back and was also refused to be cleaned by a biohazard company. RMA only paid for a sanitation of the bathroom after I paid for another week of hotel stays.My lease with RMA only required renters insurance that covered $100,000 of the owners property if it were damaged by us. Neither of the sewage backups were caused by my unit. Both incidents were the result of clogs in other units on the other side of the property.RMA requests that I file a claim with my insurance instead of paying me back for the expenses.At the time of these incidents, I didn't have sewage backup coverage on my renters insurance. The sewer is a responsibility of landlords as well as maintaining a safe and healthy environment in *****. RMA lied to me about their responsibilities as a property management company and had zero regard for our health or safety.In total I paid $6,510 for hotels, biohazard cleaning, food, replacement of household goods & protective mats for my disabled son.

  Business response

  07/20/2023

  Hello and thank you for the information.
  
  The tenants report is unfortunate and inaccurate. Here is the documented timeline of the events that the tenant is referring to.
  
  January 9th 2023: The tenant reported a plumbing back up in their unit. Our office same day made a request for a certified plumber to investigate and review. Less than 24 hours later, the plumber had reviewed and completed an immediate correction of the issue. (copy of invoice delivered)
  January 17th 2023: The tenant makes a request for additional remediation of the bathroom based on her conversation with a 3rd party vendor. Our office then took procedural steps to involve the property owner with the decision process of if they wanted to involved their property insurance with the tenants request. In addition, the property owner initiated steps to seek review of the overall plumbing issues with the property. These steps will include multiple professional vendors, to review and bid the work. Additional time was needed to schedule the demolition of the parking lot to access affected plumbing to complete the repair. The continued plumbing issue would be completed in the next few weeks as this large planning and demolition process took place costing tens of thousands of dollars to complete. Until the overall issue was corrected any reports of immediate plumbing issues were followed up on in an emergency status to be completed in less than 24 hours. Usually with-in 8 hours.
  January 23rd 2023: After continued discussion with the property owner and the tenant a restoration company accessed the property to review and complete follow up restoration to the restroom. This restroom was 1 of 2 restrooms in the unit. The 2nd restroom had not received any immediate plumbing issues. Per the rental agreement (Page 4 section 23 of the rental agreement), non-emergency maintenance issues are to be followed up with-in 6 days. The restoration company was at the property completing work with in 5 days (4 business days). The restoration company reviewed the issue and found that no hazardous reason for the tenant to be displaced. Even if the tenant wished to not use the bathroom in question, there was a 2nd fully functional bathroom in the unit while corrections were in process.
  January 26th 2023: The restoration company completes restoration work in the bathroom (copy of invoice provided). The restoration company informed our office from their professional opinion, there had been no reason for displacement of the tenant prior to and during the work that was being completed. The work that was completed was to renovated the flooring (and walls as needed) to install a new watertight flooring and to ensure no further repairs were needed.
  February 5th 2023: The tenant reports another issue with the plumbing. The plumber was at the property less than 4 hours later and completed another repair of the plumbing (underlying cause of the continued plumbing issues would be completed on 3/3/2023. No restoration work is needed due to the new watertight flooring installed by the restoration company. Our office schedules a professional cleaning company to clean any effected areas from the most recent plumbing issue (copy of invoice provided). The tenant initially refused the professional services of the cleaners, but once the tenant accepted the offered cleaning the affected areas less than 24 hours later.
  March 3rd 2023: The underlying plumbing issue has been corrected after extensive scheduling with vendors/tenants and exterior demolition of parking areas to access underground piping. These repairs would correct the underlying issues with plumbing moving forward.  
  
  In review, our office has kept consistent communication with the tenant and have ether met or exceeded the obligated terms with-in the rental agreement. Despite the question of cost of the displacement, professional 3rd party vendors and restoration companies had reported to our office that displacement was not necessary and a decision solely made by the tenant. Outside of emergency situations that were corrected in less than ******************************************************************************************************** addition, the tenant had active renters insurance in place that should have assisted with displacement costs if the insurance felt they were reasonable. In addition, the tenant has had an ability to seek reimbursement by filing a claim against the owners property insurance despite if the owner opened a claim for reimbursement of repairs. Even though direct information to us by professional vendors noted that displacement by the tenant was not necessary,the tenant has had additional avenues to seek reimbursement if they chose. The tenant continues to demand a cash reimbursement for charges of cost. Costs where no receipts or line item deductions have been provided to our office, our attorney. We have provided our response to the tenant multiple different times,through different communications, including the use of attorney representation.The tenant still demands cash despite the response and information that has been provided to her multiple times. 

  Customer response

  07/21/2023

   
  Complaint: 20349909
  
  I am rejecting this response because it is false. Biohazard waste saturated the unit and left it unhabitable. RMA refused biohazard cleaning and repairs to the flooring from the date of the first incident until being served a repair demand letter. If they were never obligated by law to make the repairs demanded, then they would not have done them. Those repairs were also not complete. By the time they sent the restoration company in, most of the sewage had dried under the flooring & caused it to bow up. Bio-One Boise sprayed disinfectant, but the flooring under the washer & dryer was not removed or cleaned by their restoration company, in fact all of the flooring should have been removed and cleaned. I have recordings of RMA management stating neither they nor the owner were interested in cleaning the unit, filing a claim with their insurances or paying for repairs. I was never offered to file a claim with the owners' insurance. My signed lease is with RMA, I am not in contact with the owners of the property and their insurance company has not contacted me to file a claim.

  My renters insurance did not cover sewer backup. Sewer, plumbing and repairs are the responsibility of a landlord - never the tenant.

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

• Initial Complaint

  04/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I moved out of a rented condo on Dec. 15th, 2022. Realty Management provided a move-out cleaning checklist. I hired a professional cleaner, *******************, who works for ************ a professional cleaning company for short-term rentals. They clean for 6 different property management companies in the valley. She is one of their top cleaners with a 5 rating. She used to clean for the company RMA hired to 'clean' my place but has moved up to a more prestigious and rigorous cleaning company who provides 5-star cleans ALWAYS. I provided her a copy of RMA's move-out cleaning check-list a week prior to the clean so she could prepare. She cleaned for 8 hours on Dec. 14th, 2023. Her and I went through the check-list together. She used my ladder to get the ceiling fan blades, and clear back on the nooks high up on the walls in the living room and bedroom (both of which were dusty when I moved in). I removed the screens from the windows so she could go out in the snow and cold to clean the outside of the windows (per their checklist), while she did that, I shoved the little patio and pulled any tiny blade of grass in the cracks of the fence, per their checklist. She removed every drawer in the refrigerator, deep cleaned the oven. She KNOWS how to deep clean from her company. There was NOT one single tiny dot of dust or anything anywhere left in that entire place. RMA said it was an option to submit a cleaning receipt and I didn't bother. Clearly no need as it was beyond spotless. YET, RMA charged me $300 for a clean!!! It is ***** percent obvious they did NOT go into the property, but only assumed it needed cleaning since I didn't submit the receipt. I disputed this charge & they gave me "$100 in good faith". NO, They still owe me $200 more of my security deposit and it was left perfectly clean, not one spec anywhere INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. In the attached document, you will find the details on how I was wrongly and unethically charged an additional $806. I am seeking $1110.00.

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  Our office is in receipt of the notice of the filed complaint.
  
  In summary of our office policies, at the time of move out by a tenant, our office completes a move out survey including notes and pictures. Once that survey is completed any make ready maintenance or cleaning is scheduled with 3rd party professional vendors. These vendors are licensed and insured.
  
  At the time the property manager completed the move out survey regarding *********************, the property manager found that although some of the property had been cleaned there were additional areas of cleaning that were still required. The cleaning was then scheduled with the 3rd party company who then completed the additional cleaning. As a company policy, a property owner is responsible for approximately 2-4 hours of cleaning in adherence to normal wear and tear depending on the size of the rental. In total, the vendor completed 8 hours of cleaning to return the property to a clean rent ready condition. The owner of the property originally covered for 2 hours of that invoice and the remaining 6 were deducted from the tenants security deposit. A detailed disposition of the security deposit including cost break down and copies of the 3rd party invoices were delivered to the tenant in addition to the remainder of the security deposit.
  
  After receiving the security deposit break down, the previous tenant then disputed charges against her deposit with our office directly. Our office reviewed the dispute by committee and had determined that the charges against the security deposit were accurate and equal to market rates. Despite that conclusion, in the spirit of compromise, an additional $200 in security deposits were returned to the previous tenant in that dispute response including an additional $100 in cleaning. Leaving the property owner with covering 4 hours (50% of the cleaning invoice).
  
  The final sentence of the previous tenant complaints states additional unreasonable charges. No further explanation of those charges are provided. To make such claims of fraud without providing any supporting statements and facts is unethical. Our office takes issue with the previous tenants attempt make unfounded accusations against our office.  
  
  At this time, our office would confirm again that the charges against the previous tenant were accurate and equal to market rates. In addition, with the additional amounts that have already been returned to the tenant, it is our position that the conclusion of the tenant security deposits have been more than reasonable. It appears the previous tenant has lack of understanding general practice regarding rentals and the terms of their rental agreement. Our office can only operate by the terms of the rental agreement and what is reasonable. Our expectation would be that the previous tenant operate in the same reasonability.
  
  In addition to this response you will see copies of the move out survey completed by our office (including thumbnail examples of all pictures taken during the survey (hundreds of photos). Our office has pulled approximately 20 examples of locations of the rental found to be unclean requiring additional cleaning. These examples prove the dishonesty of the previous tenants statement There was NOT one single tiny dot of dust or anything anywhere left in that entire place. We are unsure if this additional dispute response will conclude this issue with the previous tenant or if they will continue to be unreasonable in their assertions.
  
  If you require any further information,please do not hesitate to reach out to our office.   

  Customer response

  04/10/2023

   
  Complaint: 19884293
  
  I am rejecting this response because they lie and name call. It did NOT take an additional 8 hours to clean my place. I did provide details of everything but they want to throw around words like "Fraud, and untheical" - which is projecting onto others what they know they are. A fraudulant, enthical, uncaring terrrible business and horeible people to have to deal with. They screwed me over and hide behind it. They want to state "I lack understanding of general practices regarding rentals"...yet, I own my own property management company and manage over 50 rental properties in the Valley. They are so unprofessional and alwsays use words to place blame. I will never, ever, treat any of my tenents as unjustly as they have treated me. I will never ever hide behind emails and locked doors and never met my tenents. I meet all of them face to face. I also work closely with 3 other local property management companies and their leases and general business practices are nothing like this.  Each one I have shared with this has let me know of the bad reputation RMA has in town. The ones we work do business with are ethical, fair and personable and most of all professional. Every one and every experiene in life is an example of how to be either good or bad and renting from RMA showed me everything I will NEVER be nor do as a property manager myself. They rightly owe me a lot of money. 

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

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