ComplaintsforSmythe Property Advisors, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hi, this is ******, a graduate student at **** in Cleveland, Ohio- have a complaint against ***** ********* **** managed by Smythe Properties. I request your esteem cooperation and help against the business that has been unreasonable and not treated me fairly. On Feb 28, 2022, the apartment was without heat from Feb 28- April 8th for more than 1 month. I got terribly sick and was hospitalized in Boston twice for 1 week. At that time, they told me to cancel the lease by May 10th however, I was in the hospital and couldn't come to Ohio at that period of time. Now that I am asking them to release me from the lease they are denying my request even after explaining my hospitalized situation. How am I supposed to come to Ohio when I am in the hospital? My complaint is based on improper service, unfair treatment, and instead of being responsible they still trying to rip money out of me by showing contract term lease while the reality is I am not happy with their apartment and got badly sick to a point where I had to get hospitalized and cardiac doctor is working on me as I write this. As a resolution- I want them to release me from the lease contract terms and refund me July prorated rent. As well as refund me the rent amount for the 1 month time that heater was not working and I was living in the apartment with no fresh air turnover which had made me badly sick to the point I got hospitalized in Boston.

  Business response

  07/12/2022

  Ms. **** moved into the apartment in August 2021 and her lease expires on August 31, 2022.  This is a newly constructed building -- built from the ground up.  The apartments are all studio apartments -- one large room.  The heat is electric heat.  The heating unit servicing her apartment failed on February 28, 2022.  We immediately provided her with a portable heating unit and also offered to move her to another apartment.  Ms. **** did not want to move even though we advised her we would do the physical moving of her items for her at our cost.  Due to COVID, many items are on back order with long lead times due to supply chain issues.  We were not able to get the heater repaired until April 7th.  We have her a $950 rent credit as well.  We also offered to allow her to break the lease if she did not want to remain in the apartment since she did not want to move to another unit.  The heater we provided was also electric and the we checked on her regularly and she advised the temperature was fine.  The apartment has a sliding glass door to provide access to outside air.  Once the unit was repaired Ms. **** and her father began stating she was sick and was going home for a short time for medical treatment.  We have never received any documentation that her illness was related to anything in the apartment, and she is being treated, she says, for heart related matters.  We continued to stay in contact with Ms. **** and her father (who is the co-signer) and they have continually asked for money saying she is ill -- but without providing any proof that the apartment caused any illness.  Her lease expires at the end of August.  She is still legally in residence as she has possessions in the apartment.  Per the lease, we do not pro-rate when someone moves out -- they pay for the entire month regardless of the move out date.  Rent was paid for July (she is signed up with us for an automatic payment thru her bank) and she will have to pay the August rent.  Once she vacates, we have advised her we can try to re-lease the apartment and if we are successful and someone moves in and begins paying rent before the end of August, we would refund to her any duplication of rent per Ohio Tenant Law.  While we are sorry Ms. **** has some health issues, they do not appear to be related at all to her occupancy of the apartment, and if they are, she has not provided any supporting documentation as such. 

  Customer response

  07/13/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  The heater stopped working on February 28, 2022. Even though I was immediately provided with portable heater, I was NOT given the option to move to another apartment on Feb 29. About a week later - 1st week of march I started to get cough and got ill. I still waited for them for about a month to get the heater repaired and then I informed Roe that I am not feeling good and have bad cough, and she mentioned that there is no way for her to install air turnover- which was 1 month later, she told me I can move to another apartment- and I moved there within the next day and stayed there. The move to another apartment was not given to me immediately- I was given this option on March 31st well after 1 full month. I then transferred apartment the next day. At one point of time, it got very hot and humid- that I did open the sliders, but this was during the wintertime, and we know that the weather was cold for me that I couldn't keep the sliding on for more than a few minutes. So I only had fresh air in the apartment for like 1-2 mins. Is that enough? How do you expect me to keep the slider open during the cold weather time? 

  We rented this place because it was a new place, but as soon as I moved in the apartment- the switches kept tripping every week, the laundry stopped working- I had to keep on sending Maintenace requests since day 1 of the lease. In the beginning I was shifted to 3 different apartments and even though it was new there was always an electrical problem and bathroom water leakage problem. I tolerated this somehow along with paying the total rent even though I lived in a new apartment that was not complete in a way and still payed full rent each month. The apartment had electrical problem which lasted until this spring- approximately 7 months. The switches still keep tripping up.

  Providing portable heater is appreciated for temporary basis but it does not do fresh air turnover. The unit heater was doing air turnover and I became sick right after the heater stopped working and when I went out the apartment and moved to another apartment, I felt my breathing became regular. Either way, I was without proper heat, without proper air turnover for more than 1 month and you just gave me $950 for that. I am liable to pay rent given your apartment has no lingering problems that dragged for many months continuously. Let alone the heater issue, I continuously faced electrical tripping since day 1 and had to keep emailing the maintenance every other week and I was just told to maintain patience. It was an added stress to me on top of my study- I had to keep on emailing the Maintenace to repair it. Your leasing agent Roe has all email chains for you to look at every single maintenance request that I had sent since August 2021.  But the heater issue made me terribly sick with cough as it is common sense that no air turnover can cause problems with breathing due to dehumidification. 

  When you gave me the option to vacate the apartment by May 10- I was hospitalized in the Boston and you gave me the option to break the lease when I was in the hospital now that I can come to Ohio to vacate you are not honoring your words and forcing me to obey the lease policy? 

  I honored and tolerated most of your initial apartment issues and problems and also honored your Maintenace guy timing even though it conflicted with my college times. As I am a student focused on studies, I am not working personnel I spent that extra time going around maintenance asking to keep fixing switches, water leakages etc, laundry not working, electricity going off and tripping every other week.  

  But the last heater issue, and no air turnover has gotten me sick badly and I don't want to continue and break my lease right away with prorated rent and refund as applicable. 

  I am sorry I cannot continue with your unfair terms. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ****

  Business response

  07/21/2022

  The heating/cooling unit in the apartment is a self-contained wall mounted electric unit.  It is not a standard furnace with ducted air -- the apartments are very small (476 square feet - a studio apartment unit) so the temporary heating unit provided the same air flow as the permanent unit.  Ms. **** has never provided any documentation to prove her illness was related to the apartment conditions.  When we offered Ms. **** a transfer she turned it down, and when we offered a one-time buy-out of her lease, she turned that down also. 

  Yes, the property construction finish was delayed and therefore we provided her with two difference rental concessions (monetary concessions) to compensate for any inconvenience these issues caused.  We did the same for all other residents impacted by the construction delays.

  Ms. ****'s lease does not end until August 31, 2022.  Her belongings are still in the apartment and we have no way of knowing when she is there or not.  We cannot re-lease the apartment with her in residence.  She is legally required to honor the lease terms.  As we have told her several times in writing, if she vacates early and we are able to re-lease the apartment, we would refund any duplication of rent per Ohio Tenant Law.  She has chosen not to vacate so we cannot re-lease the apartment. 

  Thank you

  Diana Y****

  Customer response

  07/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  You offered me the transfer and sign out from the lease when I was in the hospital in Boston. Attached for your reference, proves that I was in the hospital. My father spoke to Roe for transfer when I was still in Ohio hard sick, and Roe said she doesn't have any vacant apartment. When I came back to Boston, she emailed me saying there is a vacant apartment and at that time I was in the emergency how do I come to Ohio to vacate the apartment? It should be understandable that how can me or my parents come to Ohio to vacate the apartment when I was in the hospital? I have been trying to explain to you that I was in the hospital and that there was no way for me to cancel the lease and vacate the apartment for the date you had given me. We were in a very dynamic emergency situation and in that you want us to come to Cleveland and vacate the apartment? 

  You should note that the management gave me the option to release from the lease and vacate by MAY 10th while I was in the hospital. Attached is my hospital stay dates at Boston Medical Center. If I hadn't been in the hospital, my parents and I could have come to Ohio and vacated the apartment. Currently I have little room, and I can come to Ohio to vacate the apartment and get released from your lease and the only thing I am asking is you to honor the offer management themselves had provided me earlier for one-time buy-out of my lease and vacate the apartment. 

  Your apartment was never truly complete since the time I moved in and had given me added stress while trying to navigate the new state, and new school that I was in and also simultaneously trying to get hold of management, heating issue taking more than 1 month to get repaired, electrical switches tripping for 7 months. I have had enough of your rental apartment and wish to not continue with your apartment further. Your switches still trip in the kitchen outlet even after changing the switch board more than 3 times. Management needs to make sure that your apartment is truly in a good condition before you rent it out. You shouldn't over utilize person's patience and tolerance and I think your management company has done that quite effectively. you cannot even ask the tenant to pay full when your apartment has continuous problems every other week. I understand the lease contract and all those things- you tell me that if your apartment has no issues than you can claim your full rent. But you collected full rent each month while electrical tripping problem and water leakage problem still EXIST in the apartment let alone the heating issue. 

  Let me clarify, you only provided me one time concession because on the day of my move-in the apartment door was not getting opened. And I was moved to another apartment because your apartment door was not getting opened. At that time, I was moved to 2nd floor unit- even that apartment did not have hot water, so Roe had yet again moved us to another apartment. The one-time concession of $300 was given due to door not opening and me having to move around your property on my move-in day. Another concession was given for the heater issue and the total comfort person who came to repair couldn't identify the problem so that couldn't be termed as Covid related problem. Sure, you can give concession as a means of letting go the troubles I had to face. Even if it is an issue of covid delay, realistically you shouldn't even charge me complete rent and put me in inconvenient stage due to your incomplete apartment from DAY 1. Since we were not able to come in May, June, and yet paid you the full rent which we understand due to contract. And we express that we WANT TO CANCEL THE LEASE (BUY-OUT LEASE) which Roe declined and had to pay one more July month. I wanted to come down in July and asked Roe to stop the payment and cancel the lease which she DECLINED.  

  For your kind information, a portable unit that you had given me needs to be vented out and Roe herself had told me that there is no way for her to install an exhaust hose to let go the inside of the apartment humid air outside. Due to that drawback, she gave me the option to live in unit 305 because she couldn't install a vent hose in the window unit which I DID NOT decline. 

  Below are your apartment drawbacks post covid:

  1.Electrical switch tripping in kitchen outlet and switch board

  2. Hot water problem

  3. water leakage in shower unit

  Irrespective of Covid, any law doesn't give you the right to ask for full payment even though your apartment is incomplete from day 1 and still persists as I write POST COVID. I tolerated because I wanted to make your property as my home for multiple years, but your apartment did not serve me well and don't wish to continue with your incomplete property while paying full rent and getting stressed out every week sending out work order.

  My resolution with you is that you give me one-time buy-out of my lease which you already offered earlier and offering that to me again SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM TO YOU. Please have me get released from your stressful lease agreement along with returning my security deposit. Your apartment had given me enough stressors since August 2021 that I wish to end my lease with you right away. 

  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ***
  

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