Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Rental house was infected with high does black mold 2 times in less than a year. We have lost personal effects, the use of the total 3 bedrooms upstairs, we had elevated electric bills due to accommodating the work being done 2 times to fix. The rental company did not offer any assistance to our situation other than that we needed to pay rent as expected. We had to incur a full moveout fee to get house professionally cleaned even while construction on the house upstairs they tore out the ceiling in the upstairs closet and bedroom. We could not use the upstairs or this rental house appx 8 weeks during our rental contract. We received NO reimbursement for lost items that were covered in mold, lost sentimental items covered in mold and the exposure to mold. Even though we did not suffer significant health issues we could feel a change in our health. Secondly a contractor they had come look at the property stated that there would most likely be mold growing in the air duct from the ventilation. We have been respectful and 100% on time tenants with no issue to them. We feel we have been taken advantage of and we are our of pocket for these issues not REAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT TEAM. They have been terrible to get this resolved. Email correspondence will show several attempts to contact and after repeated phone calls we were able to vacate property ******** ***********

  Business response

  08/31/2023

  We are so sorry that you had to deal with these issues, we wish that houses always worked perfectly, all the time. It would make everyone’s life much easier. We want our tenants to be healthy and feel safe in their home. There is no way without a test with lab results to determine the species of any bio-growth evident in a home.  Nevertheless, we did offer the tenant the opportunity for a lab test, which they declined. The tenants claim that they were without use of the total 3 bedrooms upstairs appears inaccurate, the only information the tenants reported is that the bio-growth was in one bedroom closet and then spread to a linen closet. On July 21st the tenants were offered to vacate their lease early and without consequence because of the visible bio-growth in the house, as is our normal policy. They were also informed of the schedule for remediation and chose to vacate the home early, which they did 14 days later. The tenants did not ask for compensation. It is our policy that if a tenant needs to find alternate accommodations due to issues in the property, they provide a paid in full receipt and we will provide the receipt to the owner and suggest that they waive the daily rent for the days tenant had to pay to stay elsewhere. As to compensation, it is the owner’s discretion and is not required by property code, if the tenants had asked us to seek compensation from the owner we absolutely would have, but they did not. Renter’s insurance is always encouraged, and tenant marked on their application they would maintain renter’s insurance throughout the lease, we suggest that the tenants seek compensation from their renter’s insurance provider for any personal items lost during this unfortunate event.

  Customer response

  09/01/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  

   

  We did in fact ask VICKY ****** about reimbursement. We did in fact ask our renters insurance about reimbursement however since it was not something caused by us renting the house and a defect with the landlord's house they would not reimburse. Your company sent a "Mold Technician" to verify. He specifically said that there needed to be a remediation plan which would result in the area upstairs to be vacated during the process as to not potentially be exposed any longer. We did not seek a mold expert since your team stated that the tech that was coming to the house for the repairs was "certified". The fact that this happened 2 times in less than a year and your company still seems to dismiss the issue is completely unprofessional. I reached out to almost everyone at that office for some sort of resolution. Yet we were still made to do a full professional clean out even with the ongoing construction of the upstairs. Furthermore, your team did not touch the second area in the hall linen closet that was reported after the initial mold was discovered. We have all the emails pics etc...from the first case of mold and all the issues and now less than a year a repeat. We had a perfect rental profile while we were there. Many times we had to practically beg your team either by emails or wait on extended phone calls to even speak with anyone regarding the matters. My son who is autistic who was affected by the mold in his closet had the most issues with being displaced as he likes structure. He lost his clothes, his linens, several sentimental items that cannot be replaced due to the mold "excuse me BIO-GROWTH" not once but 2 times. This truly shows the lack of compassion for your renters as we are just money coming into your company. I bet if the shoe was on the other foot and you or your team had to deal with this you would be on the same page as to wanting some sort of resolution. We never asked for anything above and beyond reasonable but yet was 100% denied from your Operations Manager VICKY ******.
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  
  Regards,
  
  
   

  
  

  Business response

  09/18/2023

  It is our job to manage the property for the owner, in accordance with the ***** *** ** ******** ***** This is what we did during the entirety of the original lease term as well as the extension, signed after the original issue with bio-growth was reported. We do not have authority to reimburse a tenant for alternate accommodations OR for personal items. After reviewing the email communications, we have not received a request for compensation or received paid in full receipts for additional accommodations. That would be our standard request for any tenant seeking compensation. ******* **** of the lease specifies that the “Landlord’s insurance does not cover Tenant from loss of personal property. Landlord highly recommends that Tenant obtain liability insurance and insurance for casualties such as fire, flood, water damage, and theft.” We do have authority to let a tenant out of their lease, which is what we did, once the second issue with bio-growth was reported.
   We did not, at any point send a “mold technician” to verify anything at the property, we did offer to have this done but the tenant declined.

  Customer response

  09/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  

  
  1) On July 18th a phone conversation was had with Vicky ****** regarding possible reimburesment for items lost.

  2) There was an email sent on July 19th to the same person with pictures with some of the items that we took pictures of with the actual mold "bio-growth" as it keeps getting named. Follow up call to Vicky we were informed that there would be no compensation or reimbursement. No receipts were kept as this was items pirchased the year before (Sept 2022) after the initial "bio-growth" issue that was repaired in the same fashion as the incident in July 2023.

  3) Renters insurance was kept on the rental property during the full rental occupancy. We did in fact seek to get compensation however since it was not caused/created by us we could make no claim. 

  4) Lastly our full deposit was kept due to "issue" found with the moveout. We did as instructed to protect our health as instructed by your manager. We provided the appropriate move out receipt for both carpet cleaning and full move out cleaning. From my understanding there was still ongoing work being done to the property after we had vacated. We feel this is a direct retaliation against us for bringing these issues to light. 

  5) The technicians from **** *********** (sent by REAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT) who performed the work stated that he was in fact a mold remediation technician and that the required correct remediation would be to use an ozone machine, let the affected area be undisturbed for at least a week and then repair steps coould begin. We did not DENY or DECLINE to have the mold technician. It was understood that the technician coming to do the work had the clear understanding that it was in fact "mold" growth.

  This will never get resolved. This is a large company who could care less about a tenant who was not a fault. We were the victims of an unfortunate incident of the same occurance not once but 2 times. Right is right and wrong is wrong.

   

   

  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  
  Regards,
  
  
   

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  05/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 7, 2023, I submitted my Notice to Vacate to Real Property Management. I spoke to someone from the office and they told me that they would process my Request for Rental History Verification on Monday, April 10. On April 30, I logged on to the Residential Portal to find a fee for $25.  I emailed Vicky and asked her why I was charged a fee for a rental verification. She informed me that she was permitted to charged the fee via the lease. I reviewed the lease and found that lease says the landlord / agent MAY charge a fee, (at office discretion) but the cost of said fee is not disclosed on the lease. I explained to Vicky that I would still  need to know in advance that your office charges a fee for a rental verification so I can make a decision to proceed with the service.  There are no fee schedules listed on their website that states a $25 fee for rental verification. Informing someone about a fee is a principle that is in line with informing a perspective tenant about an application fee, informing a tenant about a rent increase while on a "month to month" lease, and informing the tenant in advance  about any fees not listed on the lease. She refused to remove the fee. During the course of these events, I've asked several times to speak to upper management, in which she declined to provide contacts. I contacted Neighborly (the corporate parent company) and they told me that they would try to find a solution. The only thing they did was to escalate the emails back to Vicky. I was told in  one of the emails that "informing a caller about fees is an unsustainable business practice." I feel this fee is unfair because I was not given any notice that I would be charged a $25 fee. If I would have known that there was fee for this service, I would have had the opportunity to decline the service to avoid the fee in the first place.

  Business response

  05/09/2023

  Mr. ****** did reach out on April 30th, demanding the fee be removed immediately. I explained to him section 34.E of the Texas Association of Realtors lease which Mr. ****** signed, allows RPM Houston to charge a reasonable fee (the same fee we charge all our tenants) for rental verification. I attached a screen shot of his signed lease, detailing the charge. Our staff took the time to fill out the request and send it to the party who requested it, the next business day. There were late fees on Mr. ******** account which I offered to waive if the fee was paid that day. It is our job to facilitate the lease as it is written, and we do so accurately for all our customers and clients.  
  Mr. ****** misquoted my email. I have copied what I said here: “Our staff doesn’t remind each caller of each item of their lease during each phone call, this would be an unsustainable business practice. The lease is the notification of fees/possible fess and if you were unsure of the fee according to section34.E, you are always welcome to ask.” Our staff prides ourselves on being available to answer questions for our clients and customers by phone, email, and text nearly 24/7. In fact, when the request for rental history was originally made, a member of our team answered the phone after the office closed on a Friday night.
  Mr. ****** reached out to our corporate office, and we communicated to them satisfactorily the reasons why the fee was charged.
  
  Mr. ****** has paid the fee and the late fees have been waived, as promised.  

  Customer response

  05/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  
  
  This response from the business is a prime example of poor professional communication I've had with this office. The only thing Vicky kept referencing was the lease agreement giving her office the ability to charge a fee for the rental history verification. She did NOT detail the fee amount from the lease, because there isn't a fee amount listed for the rental history verification on the lease in the first place. After excessive digging on  RPM's website on today, 5/11/23, I found that the rental history verification fee is $20, which in this case, I was overcharged for this service by $5 and the $5 needs to be credited to my account immediately. If Vicky would have simply referenced this information on my second email asking for a notice for this fee, I would not have needed to take this time to continuously escalate this. Maybe she knew she was overcharging for this service and just assumed I wouldn't speak up about it. Yes I originally wanted the fee removed because there was no notice that gave the amount of the fee (stating that a lease gives you the ability to charge a fee IS NOT the same as notifying someone of the fee amount.) I've also sent emails to Vicky telling her about the fact that there is no fee amount outlined on the lease, and referencing the website would have cleared everything up.
  
  This incident is the reflection of the lackluster professionalism I've had to deal with regarding this office. I've had to send emails because they misrepresented my security deposit (originally they sent a notice that the deposit was $700; I had sent an email letting them know my deposit was $1400). In addition, Vicky lied and stated that she sent a follow up email to my Notice to Vacate on 4/10( she stated that I marked that email as spam when in fact, I checked my spam folder and not only there was no email from her that day, I even checked my regular inbox and didn't find an email from her TO mark as spam in the first place.)
  
  Once the $5 is credited to my account, I will go ahead and close this matter. Otherwise, I will continue to escalate. 
  
  Regards,
  
  Kevin ******
   
  

  Business response

  05/17/2023

  First, If you request an additional service to be provided, from any service provider, you should also expect an additional service fee to be charged. The lease signed by Mr. ****** simply specifies that the fee for providing the additional service of a “rental history verification” should be “reasonable”. A charge of $25 in today’s environment for a “rental history verification” is a reasonable fee and will not be amended..
  
  The move out instructions Mr. ****** found and quoted, on our website, are also provided to all tenants (including Mr. ****** on 4/7/23), as a convenience, several times during their tenancy, but most specifically when notice is given. The potential charges listed in the move out instructions are approximate, which is why the statement in bold print on those move out instructions states “These minimum charges are subject to change at any time, and without notice”
  
  When we take over management from another manager as we did in this case, we are often times presented with incomplete information from the previous manager or owner. We work quickly to correct and verify any discrepancies in the records as soon as possible. In Mr. ******** case, the information regarding the amount of security deposit was received and corrected and communicated to Mr. ****** on the same day. (See attached).
  
  Lastly, I can not address Mr. ******** email issues, or what he has, or has not received or found. I can only address my email and what, and when, it was sent. Please find the attached screenshot from his account in our system showing “recipient (Mr. ******) marked as spam”.

  Customer response

  06/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  
  
  If the lease agreement has the word "may" in it, you have to notify the person that a charge and the amount of the charge will be on their account. That's simple business ethics. Furthermore, when you sent the excerpt from the lease stating the  ability to charge a fee, you should have resent the move out instructions stating that charging a fee is part of your policy and procedures (something I didn't receive when RPM began servicing the property), especially since RPM were notified by their email system that there was a problem sending the email with the move out instructions. In addition, you can't state on your website that you charge $20 for the fee, then charge $25. That's clearly misrepresenting the prices for your service. The "minimum price language" comes AFTER the stated $20 fee for rental history, and the aforementioned language refers to the charges if something is damaged upon move out.  That is clearly indicated in the screenshot I provided.
  
  With that said, I've been a resident at this property for 4 years, but RPM only provided rental history for 4 MONTHS (see document). Clearly that's not the FULL SERVICE. I'm sure it's not that difficult to gather information from the landlord to determine the FULL history in the first place. Again, business ethics is key. 
  
  The misrepresentation of the deposit would  have never happened in the first place if the ORIGINAL LEASE was reviewed thoroughly prior to onboarding. Again, if the lease says "already paid", it's shouldn't be that difficult to contact the landlord to get the original amount of the deposit.
  
  
  In conclusion, I should be reimbursed the $5 not only because of the price listed on the website doesn't match what I charged, but because I didn't the the FULL SERVICE (the complete 4 year history)  in the first place. 

  
  Regards,
  
  Kevin ******
   

  
  

  Business response

  06/23/2023

  The lease specifies that the fee charged for providing “rental history verification” be reasonable. We deem $25 to be a reasonable fee. (see previous response)
  
  Rental History was requested and completed on 4/7/23. We can only provide rental history based on our direct experience with Mr. ******, which we did.
  
  Mr. ****** was notified and provided move out instructions which included potential fees and charges on 4/7/2023 the same day he provided notice. The “problem” with his email as Mr. ****** puts it, is that he marked the email as spam which means he also did not receive the emails of 4/10 and 4/11/23. (see previous response).
  
  Mr. ****** requested that an additional service be provided, as outlined in his lease. That service was delivered for a reasonable fee of $25.
  
  

  Customer response

  06/29/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  
  

  The fee for the rental verification does not match what you have on the website. The lease agreement allows for the fee, which means it would have to either be disclosed at time of request or refer to source that discloses the actual fee. It would be reasonable at this point to honor the amount you have on the website.
  
  I've already stated that I never received the email with the move out instructions. I've stated that I've checked my inbox and spam folder and could not find the move out instructions that she allegedly sent. It is also possible to receive other messages without receiving the original message.  I have no control over whether Vicki believes my statement regarding not receiving the move out instructions via email.  A good business practice would be to resend the move out instructions, which she has not done. 
  
  With that said, the only thing that would close this case would be to honor the fee stated on the website.
  
  Regards,
  
  
   Kevin ******

  
  

  Business response

  08/11/2023

  We provide information regarding fees several times during the term of a lease- at lease signing, when notice to vacate is provided and at least 1 additional time before move out (as a reminder). All fees are subject to change without notice as we have tenants who have been with us for several years and the prices have increased from when they first moved in. The information on the website states: These minimum charges are subject to change at any time and without notice so the published information is intended to be a guideline but not a specific price list.
  
  Regarding the move out instructions, I understand that Mr. ****** has told us he didn’t receive them however he marked the email as spam. He received 5 emails, 3 of which he opened, prior to marking the Move Out Instruction email (and all emails after that) as spam. Mr. ****** found our website and the published move out instructions in mid-may (when he reached out to the BBB and included a screenshot) which indicated that he had access to the move out instructions, despite marking the original copy sent to him as spam.

*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. ↩