512 Realty

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

Mr& Mrs*** contacted our office to sublet their son’s unitTheir son is on a lease with three other individuals in a multiple room unitOur policy is that residents can either sublet or relet their unit if they need to leave before the end of their leaseSince this unit is occupied by
four individuals all on the same lease, a relet was not an option since only one resident was wanting to leaveThe ***s wanted to then sublet their apartmentIn a sublet situation, we leave all marketing of the unit up to the residents since other residents will still be staying in the unit and must agree to the sublet applicantThe *** are correct that we have roommate match units on our website as this property offers full unit leases or roommate match unitsIn a roommate match unit, all residents are on an individual lease broken down by bed or bedroomIf the *** son was in one of these roommate match units we would have been able to assist him in finding a replacement using the relet methodWe did explain to the *** the situation with the other roommates being on the lease and that we could not do a relet on a unit where some residents will be staying and that we could not assist in the marketing of the unit for the same reasonThe four lease holders have a lease on the entire unit so we could not market and sign a lease on an individual room or bed in the unit that is already leasedI explained to the *** that our management office has a sister company that is a full real estate office and I gave them ***’s contact information as he was the manager for the real estate agentsAll real estate agents work for themselves and are contracted to the company that holds their licenseAgents are not required to sign listing agreements to assist with sublets*** asked the agents that he managed and none were interested in taking on the listing due to the difficulty in leasing a unit with other residents already in the unit*** referred the *** to another agency under our umbrella that works mostly with students and has had success in this type of sublet situationThe *** did not want to take the listing to this agency because they insisted that it be on our websiteThe same day that the *** filed this complaint with the Revdex.com, they found a replacement for the unit and we are in the process of approving the new applicant and making the lease changesI believe that our staff professionally handled this situation and that the *** were upset because they did not fully understand the policies that we must follow when dealing with leases and occupied units

Mr***,
After receiving your initial complaint, we did inquire with the city of Austin on the water bill totalThey had someone come out and check our meter which they determined was not reading accuratelyThe city issued us a credit and we have since issued a credit to everyone on property, for the differenceYour particular credit is on your ledger and you can view it through the tenant portalWe did send out a notice to everyone on property as well, explaining why the bill was higher than normal
I do apologize if my response seemed condescending as it certainly wasn't meant to beI was instead trying the give you the pertinent information pertaining to this complaintPlease let me know if you have any further questionsI apologize for any inconvenience this meter error might have causedPlease let me know if you have any further questions
Thank you,
*** ***
*** ***
***

Tell us why heTo whom it may concern;I am writing in regards to complaint #[redacted].  I would like to relay that our staff hascontinued to stay in contact with [redacted] regarding a water leak inher apartment in both email, and visits to her apartment to determine thesource of the...

problem.  At this timeplumbing repairs have been made, and a certified plumber and a member of ourmaintenance staff have both confirmed that her shower is working properly.  Below I have provided a list of communicationand maintenance regarding [redacted]’s apartment.- 02/23[redacted], received an email from [redacted] regarding atoilet drip.  That day our [redacted] person, [redacted],replaced her toilet and wax ring.   - 02/26 [redacted], scheduled flooring replacement, and flooring wasreplaced the following week on March 3rd.  This scheduling date was based on theresident’s request.  The floor needed tobe completely dry before flooring could be installed, so management gave [redacted]the option of flooring installation on that Monday the 2nd orTuesday the 3rd.  There wasalso a professional cleaning completed.  - 02/27 [redacted] emailed[redacted] regarding her mailbox, a car alarm that she heard going off on theproperty, and to advise management that a mess was left after her repairs weremade.  In this email she advised [redacted] that she felt there was some conflictof interest and would not be communicating with the [redacted], or[redacted] person, [redacted]. Management can only assume this is due to the fact that [redacted]and [redacted] were previously employed by the same property managementcompany where [redacted] currently works. However, this was not specified in her email to [redacted]. - 03/04 Late in theevening [redacted] advised me that there was still water coming up from her floor. After [redacted] went out for inspection in the morning on 03/05, aprofessional plumber completed an assessment late in the afternoon.  - 03/06 Both plumbingrepairs and tiling repairs were completed. - 03/06 Late in theevening, [redacted] advised [redacted] in an email that she had more water in her showerand the knobs were inoperable.  - 03/07 Professionalplumber was unable to come check on his work until Monday 03/09.  [redacted] scheduled an extraction.  [redacted] advised that she is only in an outof her apartment and for us to complete any repairs at our convenience. [redacted]was offered our show unit for showering over the weekend. - 03/08 [redacted]called [redacted] at District 53 for an update regarding the maintenanceissues in apartment [redacted].  The professionalplumber confirmed [redacted]’s apartment was dry, and shower was completelyoperable.   - 03/09 In the eveningon 03/09, [redacted] advised [redacted] that she was ready to schedule carpetreplacement.  - 03/10 Representativefrom flooring company took measurements of [redacted]’s closet and confirmed wehad carpet that would match the rest of her apartment. -3/11 [redacted]received waiver for occupied carpet installation and asked that [redacted]contact [redacted] about scheduling since the resident had made clear she didnot want contact with the [redacted]. -3/12 [redacted]contacted [redacted] about scheduling carpet replacement in the closet. We appreciate thepatience of our resident while we diagnosed and addressed this issue.  At this time we are only waiting to hear fromthe resident regarding flooring installation. If there are any additional maintenance issues our team will be happy toaddress them in a timely manner as usual. Best regards, 512 Management

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

The water bills are allocated per unit, square footage and per person. The property absorbs a portion of the bills for common uses, the pool and the sprinkler system on property. This system is outlined in the lease contract in several addendums so there is no confusion. As for Septembers utility...

bill, it was a prorated amount from move in (7/30/14-8/13/14) and includes gas, pest control, a $3 admin fee and trash. Octobers bill is a full bill from 8/13-9/13/14 which is higher since it is a full 30 day cycle. It is not our intention to give an inaccurate or misleading amount on the average monthly utilities. This is why we send out the lease contract immediately so this information can be reviewed prior to moving in.
Please let me know if you have any further questions regarding this matter.
Thank you,
[redacted]

The following response will address each of the concerns outlined with by the resident as well as explain our policy. Renewal – The TAA lease gives each party the right to terminate the lease at the end of the term with a 30 day notice. A renewal is not required and is voluntary for all parties of...

the lease. With this said, it is always our first priority to keep our current residents in their homes for as long as possible. Preleasing is very common at this property and others since it is located so close to a major university. Preleasing is when we have a lease signed for a unit before the current lease ends. Since preleasing is so common, we send out renewal letters very early on to give our residents the opportunity to renew if they already know their plans. The renewal letter states that preleasing is common at the property and that we will give the current resident a 48 hour first right to the unit should an application be received during a set period of time. Again, the renewal is not required by either party. If an application is received on a unit we will call the current resident and give them 48 hours to decide if they want to renew before we lease their unit. The letter does not state that residents must renew immediately if they are planning to renew, it just states if you already know your plans. If the resident did not renew her lease early she would have been given the opportunity if a set of applications were received. Renewal Rate – The preleasing season in 2017 was a little slower and this unit was vacant in September when leasing is a bit more difficult. For this reason the unit was leased at a heavily discounted rate. The renewal rate that was offered to this resident was a $115 increase in monthly rent but was still $135 below the market rent that other units are leasing at. Building Construction – The building was built in 1961 making it 57 years old. The construction requirements in 1961 were a lot different from what they are now. The building was recently purchased by the current owners and was completely inspected before closing. We have not been made aware of any structural issues by any inspectors or by any of our residents. The noises that the resident is hearing is common for properties of this age. Renewal Termination – The lease renewal contract is a completely separate lease contract from the current lease contract. The lease states that if you do not want to fulfill your obligations to the lease that you have a few options to be released. The first option is to sublet your apartment in which you find someone to take over your apartment. The second option is to relet your unit and pay a fee equal to 85% of one months rent. This relet fee covers the marketing of the unit and the commissions to the leasing agent when a new resident is found. This relet fee does not release the lease holder from the terms of the lease until a new resident is found. The current resident must continue to pay rent as usual while the unit is being advertised. When an applicant is found the resident is released from the lease just as if the lease were ending at the end of a lease term. The current resident has such a low rate on her unit that if she had taken the relet option the unit would have likely leased before the current lease term ended. After discussing this situation with the owner of the property, they decided to release her from the renewal obligations and end her lease at the end of her current term. Relocating – Relocating was an option that we visited. Since the resident was on the first floor the relocation had to be on the second floor to address the noise concerns. This property only has 14 units with 7 up and 7 down. Out of the 14 units, only 10 are one bedrooms with only 5 being on the second floor. The 5 one bedroom units on the second floor were all either preleased or in the process of renewing. The vacant unit that was on the second floor that the resident mentioned had already been leased and someone was moving in so it was not an option. No Heat – The heating and cooling is supplied to the units in this property by a boiler/chiller system. This type of system only allows either heat or air conditioning to be on in all units but not both. To switch the system from one to the other requires 8 hours for the system to completely shut down and restart. For this reason, we cannot switch the unit every time the temperature changes. During the late winter months, we have cool nights and warm days. For this reason, we watch the weather and determine if hot or cold air would be best for the entire property. We do tell all residents that if they want additional heat in their unit that we can get them a portable heating system that they can control during the months that the weather fluctuates daily.

To whom it may concern,
 
This email is to address the following complain:
Faulty wiring in furnace closet was sitting in water on top of the air filter. Sparking from the wiring was burning into the filter and filling the apartment with smoke and a bad odor of electrical burning. The fire...

department was called as well as the emergency maintenance personnel. The fire department told the emergency maintenance contact about the problem. I was told by the maintenance contact that someone would be out first thing in the morning to rewire everything. Meanwhile, the AC must remain off because of the wiring issue. Nobody showed up the following morning to address the issue, so I called the management office to see what the status was of the service call. The management office had no knowledge of the service request or of what had happened the night before. Since I have moved in here, I have experienced inappropriate behavior by an employee, and I have had several maintenance issues, including a water leak in the ceiling of my bathroom, multiple electricity problems/breaker issues, and air conditioning issues. The number of issues and severity thereof I feel have been excessive, hence the present complaint. This is the first time I have placed a formal complaint against a business.
 
Mr. [redacted] first brought it to our attention that he was experiencing issues with his power going out on 8/4/14, shortly after he moved in. Maintenance went by the apartment, tested the breakers and found no immediate issues. On 8/8/14, Mr. [redacted] notified us of a water leak in his bathroom and that his electric was out again. Maintenance discovered that the upstairs bathtub was leaking into his apartment. The water leak was corrected on 8/8/14 (Friday). It was explained that we would need to dry out the ceiling, install new drywall and then paint. The drywall was scheduled for 8/11/14 (Monday) and the painting was scheduled for 8/12/14 (Tuesday). The electrical issue was thought to be resolved as maintenance tightened the breakers thinking one might be loose and tested all of the outlets to try and recreate this interruption. No interruption to the electric occurred so they concluded the issue was resolved. This work was performed on 8/8/14. On 8/18/14, the power was reported to be off again. We replaced a 40 amp breaker and called an electrician, to come take a look to ensure the issue had been corrected. On 8/20/14, after hours, a maintenance request was submitted regarding the AC not cooling. The following morning, 8/21/14, we had an AC company out and they replaced the exterior condenser. Also on 8/21/14, the electrician came out and determined that the AC was over amping due the exterior AC unit going out, causing the electric interruption. On 9/10/14 an afterhours call was made to our emergency service company stating that the AC unit was turned on when Mr. [redacted] arrived home and shortly after he smelled smoke. Mr. [redacted] called the fire department and when they arrived, they spoke to our emergency service company and explained that a piece of insulation was touching a capacitor which caused the smoke. Mr. [redacted] was not displaced during this incident and the fire department cleared the apartment as there was no damage. The AC company came out on 9/11/14, installed a new capacitor and adjusted the AC filter so it was not touching the capacitor and corrected the issue.
 
Unfortunately there were several issues that arose after Mr. [redacted] moved in, all of which could not be anticipated. Each issue was addressed immediately and after it was apparent that our maintenance personal was unable to correct the electric interruption, we contacted an electrician. During the entire process, we stayed in contact with Mr. [redacted] and informed him of our actions every step of the way. It understandable that he was frustrated through this process but we attempted to correct each issue as swiftly as possible while keeping him informed.
 
Work order number’s 8675, 9501, 9778, 9960, 11208 were created and closed within 48 hours of being submitted. Please let me know if you would like copies of work orders, the electricians information or the AC companies information (who is also our emergency service company). I would be glad to provide any of this information to Mr. Bjornstal. I can be contacted at [redacted].
 
Thank you,
[redacted]
Property Manager
[redacted]

Revdex.com:My issue was escalated to the [redacted] and as of March 16th all repairs have been made in my apartment; leak fixed several times and moldy carpet removed.With this update, an agreement with 512 has been made to repay me for the damaged goods at my valuation of $470 and they will credit my account for some of the days I was unable to stay in my apartment.Regards, [redacted]