AIDS Research & Treatment Center of the Palm

I am in receipt of the Complaint Identified as *** which involves a contract dispute with a past property owner that used our servicesBelow you will find my disagreements with the filingPlease note, that per the Property Management Agreement, our services with the property owner terminated
at the time that the tenant's lease endedAlso, per the lease between the property owner and the tenant, the property owner holds the deposit and is responsible for the deductions and its return.I met with the owner of the property on August 1, at 12:p.mto inspect the property and to provide keys back to the ownerThe tenant's lease ended July 31, and the owner was moving back into the propertyThe tenant vacated on July and was aware of her move out responsibilitiesThe move out responsibilities are identified in detail in lease clause #on pages and Also, a reminder email that included her move out requirements was sent to her a few weeks before the lease ended.Our Property Management Agreement states that the owner of the property holds the security deposit, and the owner was provided a copy of the Maryland law pertaining to security deposits when the agreement was executedThe security deposit was transferred to the owner at the time of lease commencement in In the spring of 2016, the property owner notified us that we were not to renew the lease with the tenant, because she was going to move back into the property The property owner was reminded at that time that she would have to return the depositAlso, during the month of July when the final move out inspection was scheduled between our company and the property owner , I provided a reminder to the owner that she was going to return the deposit and I would assist with identifying deductions at the inspection but not contacting contractors for any needed repairs.During the inspection, I took pictures of the properly as supporting documentation of allowable security deposit deductions per the leaseThe owner of the property stated that she would also follow up with pictures at a later timel explained that she should obtain estimates from contractors on certain deductions and I also told her approximate fees that contractors might charge for some of those deductions Since she was moving back into the property and would be handling the repairs herself, I told her we to obtain estimatesIt was explained to the owner that we would send her a security deposit form that detailed the deposit and interest owed and that she would have to fill in the deductions that we discussedAt that time, the owner understood the processDuring the month of August, several phone calls were exchanged between me and the property owner as she was inquiring about new deductions she was findingOn each of those occasions, I told her to document and that would be a line item deduction on the security deposit worksheet.On September 9, at 4:p.m., the property owner called me to discuss how to complete the security deposit worksheet that she received from our officeEverything except the deductions had been filled out on the form by us and there was a note with instructions that she was to list out her various deductions that she wanted to useDuring that phone call, I again explained that she needed to separately list the deductions on the lines identified as deductions since she was the one deciding the deductionsShe told me what she was deducting and I agreed with those deductions at that timeI also told her to include copies of invoices or quotes that pertained to those invoices if she had any.From my understanding, I believe the property owner did not itemize the deductions as our office instructed her on several occasions, but simply listed a total for deductionsThe tenant called our office to obtain explanation for the deductions On September 20, 2016, I obtained a breakdown of deductions from the owner and forwarded those to the tenantOn September 26, 2016, the owner of the property inquired via email if I had sent the list of deductions to the tenant and I responded that I had done so and have not heard anything else from the tenant.The owner states that no phone calls or emails were returned to her during this process Every phone call and email was in fact returnedThe first time of any mention of a court proceeding was through this complaintEven though the lease is between the property owner and the renter and our agreement terminated on the day that the renter moved out, I could have been given a phone call to discuss any court proceeding I would have gladly attendedMy role would only be as a witness as our company is not responsible for security deposit deductions as stated in the lease.I will be glad to assist in a court proceeding as a witness to the property owner but will not pay the tenant a reimbursement for any security deposit deductionsOur office did not handle any repairs nor hold the security depositDeductions were discussed during the inspection and I provided my input and measures of proper documentationAlso, when further deductions were identified and asked of their validity, I provided feedbackI agreed with all of the deductions besides the pest control as I did not notice any pest issues at the time of inspection. During all of our conversations with the property owner, she always understood what was required of her.I hope this explains our position on this matter, and if additional information is required, please feel free to contact our office.Sincerely,Scott H***Scott H*** Huseman Property Management LLC