ComplaintsforSterling Property Solutions LLC

• Initial Complaint

  06/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We were going to rent a house from Sterling Property Solutions, LLC beginning June 1, 2023. On May 10, 2023 we gave them a check for first month's rent, last month's rent, and a deposit, for a total of $6,100.00. That check was deposited on 5/12/2023. Prior to June 1, 2023, and prior to signing a lease, our situation changed and we no longer needed the rental. We informed Sterling Property Solutions, LLC immediately and requested that our money be returned to **. They offered to refund the last month's rent and the deposit but said that they would be keeping the first month's rent and would return the amount, if any, pro-rata once they were able to secure new tenants for the month of June. We informed them that we didn't believe that was a fair offer since we had not moved in and had not signed a lease. We then received a letter from them, which we responded to, and now we cannot get them to return our messages or calls to get any of our money back.

  Business response

  07/11/2023

  In a timely and professional manner, the tenant complainant was fully refunded their:

  1) security deposit of $2,100. and

  2) last month's rent of $2,000. and 

  3) a pro-rated first month's rent of $1,500 being 3/4 of the month of June, as the landlord immediately re-advertised the rental home and contacted all previous applicants and was able to secure a new, quality tenant commencing approximately June 7, 2023. This landlord (********) graciously cooperated to accommodate the tenant's choice to vacate the residence, and break their lease.

  In the Tenant's BBB complaint, they deliberately left out key context that is summarized here: 

  Over the Memorial Day Weekend, the tenant was informed by their current landlord who had noticed them to vacate (************) that he changed his mind and they could remain in their rental home of numerous years. The ******** understandably chose to stay, even though they had secured this replacement rental, the subject of their complaint.   As of late May, 2023, the tenant had taken occupancy of this rental home, moved furniture in, made duplicate keys, made agreement to change utility bills into their name, and even had mowed the lawn.

  In early May after the prospective tenant submitted a rental application to ******** (landlord), and SPS and tenant agreed to a 12-month lease period and terms, tenant then made payment of their of First Month Rent, deposit of their Last Month Rent, and their Security & Damage Deposit on approximately May 11, 2023. There was a clear agreement to rent, and a timely settlement made and paid to tenant, $5,600. Per ***** law, verbal lease agreement for real estate is permitted. The emails and other written correspondence memorialized the agreement, along with the noted actions by tenant, and the three payments noted above. 

  If ******** was not able to secure a replacement tenant in such a timely manner, the normal and reasonable standard of practice allows forfeiture of the current month's rent and any additional rents and security deposits until a tenant can be secured, along with any additional damages or impairments when a tenant breaks a lease. Aside from forfeiting a single week's of June rent ($500), none of these remedies were exercised by ********. Further, SPS did not charge the tenant for the couple weeks of May when Tenant first to possession of the rental home. 

  Note: In 15 years of managing a wide variety of residential rentals, SPS has only had to process 1 eviction, and retain 2 security deposits. 

  Best regards, ********

   

*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. ↩