Business ProfileforEC Leases LLC

My daughter and her 2 friends looked for a house to rent through EC Leases in the Fall of 2019 for the following year. They found *** * ******* ** and submitted all paperwork. EC Leases then tried to start a bidding war between them and another group of girls, asking them for their "best offer" to rent the house. They told the girls that places were renting fast, so they panicked and signed the 43 page lease agreement in October 2019 under duress and without fully comprehending all of the legal language contained within the document. The original lease was 8/5/20-7/20/21, but the girls renewed the lease, despite EC Leases not fulfilling its promises to maintain the landscaping and pest maintenance and raising the rent for the 2nd year the day they moved in. After almost 2 years of living in the house, the girls moved out. A large majority of the nail holes were filled in and sanded. Much to our surprise, the girls were presented a bill for $2,084. A large portion of the bill is for normal wear and tear, such as cleaning and painting. The NC Department of Justice specifically states the landlords cannot charge for this, as it is the responsibility of the landlord. I've since learned that EC Leases is not licensed with the NC realtor commission because they are considered owner leased, so there is no oversight over their practices. They are trying to bully the girls into paying for their expenses and have threatened a 3rd party bill collector despite having no judgement against the girls. The girls dispute the charges. I have been in contact with others that experienced the same treatment with EC Leases and can share this as well.