AR Building

I have been living in Hampton Knoll Apartments since 12/2020. I really love the apartment. I signed an 18 month lease which expires 6/2022. I called the rental office to verify the percentage of rent increase on renewal and was told 4%. When the renewal paperwork was received, the increase was approximately 20%. The information I received stating 4% was within the last month or so. The reasoning I was given for the drastic difference was Corporate decided to go with market value. This drastic difference is unacceptable, bad business, and borderline criminal. Although I enjoy the apartment, I will not be able to remain under these circumstances. I just want to make everyone within ear’s reach aware of how A. R. Building Company does business, unethical.

I find it very odd & strange that tenants can’t find or get directly to corporate. I also find it strange, there’s almost not any good things being said about A.R Building Company. I said almost. Most reviews are Bad. I honestly feel like AR Building is a Scamming company. How are we paying about 1400-1500, Monthly, plus ANY Fees AR Building Company comes up with; yes. I said come up with. Because, it’s ALWAYS something with AR Building Company. I feel like
The lease contracts are sets up, and you really don’t realize what you’ve gotten yourself into, until you move in. Lbvs! The fees are not reasonable. How were we still get charged for Ancillary services, we weren’t even using, when the Pandemic started? All those things were closed. Where I live, it’s mostly Military. So, really, in some kind of form, A.R Building Company should be catering to them, and not just wanting to take take take. It’s some fishy stuff going on with AR Building Company. I’m telling you……
If I seen someone step a foot in the leasing office, I’d definitely turn them away & not to even think about it.

One of my neighbors are constantly turning ppl away from A.R Building company, anytime a Soilder wants to Inquire about it.

And I do the same. Anytime I hear, “this so nice” it’s cheap, first of all. Not worth 1,500. Needed a smoke alarm changed, they didn’t even have the batteries. Everything built, is cheap; easily breaks, over so little time. And this is the first apartment complex, I’ve lived under where if something breaks, needs fixed, whatever the case may be, you’ll be the one charged for it; even when it’s not your fault. *Things get Dingy, overtime. Duh* Maintenance should be complimentary. Stop doing all this Take, take, take because our Money is all A.R Building Co cares about. That’s it, And nothing else.

As Per Leasing Laws, charging anything over 2 months rent for a Cancellation fee is considered excessive and should be disputed. We were willing to pay it as we had signed it in the lease agreement and hadn't realized it had changed. But when we noticed it, it was explained to us that it would only be rent for the 3 months cancellation fee. The current office staff is trying to charge us HOA fees as well. That's almost $700. I am not willing to pay an HOA fee that was for Armstrong Cable, Pool Access, Gym Access and property maintenance, as I did not have access to any of those. Leasing Laws advice that Assessorials / Fees for extras are not owed for cancellation unless the tenants will have access to the extras provided in the contract. I was unable to access the Pool the day I handed in my keys, as I went to drop something off to a neighbor and had to have them let me in. So if I had no access 5 minutes after I handed in keys, I am not paying 3 months HOA fees for no access.
Staff refuses to provide corporate information even though they supposedly sent a response that they stated came from corporate. If corporate is making the final decision, I deserve to have direct contact to speak to them. A few other locations advised that this location doesn't actually forward info to corporate, they answer it themselves.

Review: As of December 2012 this apartment complex implemented a new water service to take place of our built in water and sewage fee to our rent payment monthly. The fee was &20.00 per month. Since December 2012 AR Bldg decision to use [redacted] Sub metering Inc. which is located in another state, who monitors our water consumption and sends out a bill according to use. Since this implementation my initial water bill was $112.00, then $92.00 per month Etc. I have complaint several times about the exceptionally high bill, and had the maintenance people come to the apartment to fix a leaking toilet. Once it was fixed my bill continue to be high $80.00- 64.00 per month. I called the local water municipal office and they informed me there is one meter per apartment unit, and one for each townhouse. If this is the case it is unfair for the owner of this complex to have this sub metering company to divide up the usage among each resident. There are 3 known large families living in this complex. Not to mention each complex has a community washer and dryer in the complex-- who is paying for the community washer's water. I also spoke to the [redacted] company representative inquiring about the location of my specific meter in the complex, and she states, "you will have to speak to the technician about the location, and he is busy now" I really feel this whole situation is unfair and unlawful. Can you please check into this.Desired Settlement: Find out if each tenant has a water meter. Being able to read my meter. Compensated for over charge since December 2012.

Review: I've just completed payments on a lease termination fee that originated as $3986. I received a letter from A.R. Building Co's Legal Action Department stating that I owe $1286. When I called the apartment complex (the only way to contact them is through the apartment office) they said the last one I sent bounced and they added on $30. Its impossible for the way Wells Fargo does bill pay for that to happen. Emailed the proof of payment of all six payments showing that they had been cashed. Will not contact me directly. My credit will be reported on Monday... I also overpaid the account by $94. The last three checks (the ones with the issue) show a change on the back where it is supposed to be signed. It went from a deposit only to a Hampton Knoll stamp. I was told that is handled by one person.Desired Settlement: I want the documents I sent to be reviewed and compared to what is on my file for inaccuracies by someone other than the one person who has been taking care of my account since December. I want my account to be credited and the refund for my over payment to be sent to me immediately following the account corrections. I also want the company to contact me directly to resolve this issue.

Review: I was evicted out of the apartment building and told that I owed a certain about of money...I received a bill stating the money owed is different than agreed.Desired Settlement: Would be investigate by the Revdex.com and that the original money owed would be what they receive.

Review: Upon receiving a copy of a past due bill from "A.R. Building Company" in regards to my water/sewage bill from "Minol", I began to question why there was any association between the two. I also noticed that the bill was higher than any amount I have ever paid, even when renting a full house with multiple roommates. When I contacted Minol about the bill, and questioned why the monthly bill was so high at $60+ a month when I live alone in a tiny apartment, and am only here about half of the month, if that. Minol explained to me that the only usage that is metered for me is my hot water usage ($9 a month). Why this is monitored separate is beyond me, since I pay for the 'electric' water heater. All other water used has only one meter that is for the whole building, divided by all residents (including the community washing machines to which I might add, "I don't use."). I don't recall this ever being brought to my attention during the move in process, and is not detailed in my copy of the lease. With a bill of $183.67 due in the next few days and a threatening letter from the rental office to charge an additional 25 dollars for a late payment of the water bill and revoking my $50 discount a month for signing a yr and a half lease, I am at my wits end with this place.Desired Settlement: Business practices to be resolved/refunded. Early termination of lease fees to be waived.

Business

Response:

August 8, 2013 As you may know, AR Building Company owns the Villages of Easton where Mr. [redacted] currently resides. AR Building Company has contracted with Minol USA ("Minol"), a third party utility billing company based out of Dallas, TX, to bill all residents for their water and sewer consumption. As the third party billing company, Minol takes the total utility provider bill for the entire building and allocates these charges to each resident based on the following allocation methods. The provider water bill for the building is allocated to residents using a method called Partial Allocation. This method is also referred to as a "hot metered/cold allocated" method. Each resident of Villages of Easton has a hot submeter in his/her unit which measures all the hot water consumed in his/her apartment. The remaining water usage billed by the provider is attributed to cold water consumption and is subsequently allocated back to the residents based upon their occupancy factor (described below). All sewer charges billed by the provider are allocated to each resident equally per unit. In order to calculate the residential water charges, Minol’s billing team first takes the total provider charges and divides this by the provider usage to determine an average rate. The average rate is then applied to the usage recorded on each resident’s unit submeter to determine his/her hot water charges. Mr. [redacted] stated in his complaint that he does not understand why he pays for hot water usage, when he also pays for an electric water heater. It is important to note that the charges billed to Mr. [redacted] by Minol for hot water are in fact only attributed to his consumption of water, and the charge does not include any cost that may be incurred from using electricity to heat the water. Any inquiry over the electric consumption used to heat the water in the unit would need to be directed to the electric provider. In order to determine the portion of the monthly provider bill that is attributed to cold usage, Minol first deducts the amount that will be billed out to all residents for their hot water usage. Minol then allocates the cold water portion to the residents by taking the remaining cold water charges and dividing by the number of occupants and the number of days in the monthly billing cycle. Lastly, Minol allocates the sewer charges billed by the utility provider equally among all units at the property. The sewer charges assessed by the provider, the Borough of Irwin, are very high and average around $40 per unit. The high sewer charges billed by the provider are the main contributing factor to why Mr. [redacted]’ monthly water/sewer bill is higher than he believes it should be. Unfortunately, the sewer rates are set by the provider and are not something AR Building Co. nor Minol has control over. Mr. [redacted] states in his complaint that he was not notified of the water/sewer billing arrangement when he signed his lease. Our records indicate that the document signed by the resident states that the "Landlord shall at any time during the course of this lease be entitled to make a charge to Tenant for Tenant’s proportional share of the cost to Landlord for all water and sewer usage, notwithstanding any other amounts set forth in this lease. Landlord shall also be entitled to sub-meter the apartment and the Tenant shall then pay the actual usage of water and sewer in lieu of other water and/or sewer charges stated in the lease". Based on this language, we believe that full disclosure was given to the resident and mutually agreed upon by both parties in regards to the water/sewer reimbursement charges. Lastly, the resident takes issue with a notice he received stating his water/sewer balance is overdue and he must remit payment to avoid a late payment fee and the removal of the rent discount. Please note that the overdue balance of $183.67 constitutes three months of utility bills that have yet to be paid. All residents of Villages of Easton are given 3 weeks to pay each monthly water/sewer bill from Minol, with a $5.00 late fee assessed if the bill is not paid by the due date. Breach of the Lease TENANT breaches (violates) the LEASE when: a. TENANT does not pay rent when due; b. TENANT does not do something required of TENANT; or, To pay the utility bills is required of Tenant ? c. TENANT does any act that TENANT is not allowed to do under this LEASE. We appreciate the Revdex.com’s impartial approach to dispute resolution, and hope our participation has proved to be helpful and informative. Furthermore, we hope that the above explanation on Minol’s billing calculations helps to clarify exactly how the residential bills are assessed each month. We encourage the resident to contact the Minol customer service team at [redacted] should he have further questions or concerns about the billing methods in place. We look forward to reaching a mutually beneficially solution with the resident.

Consumer

Response:

Obviously little no to regard was taken when trying to understand my complaint. I didn't ask for a copy and paste from the minol website. I understand how the water is monitored, and have no assumption I was being fasly charged for the electric water heater??? The total amount of the bill that I'm paying is the issue, which is way above usual. It is my belief that if utilities are gonna be split between all residences, recalculated for number of occupants per building (not possible) it should be a set rate included into the rent. Again, thank you for your time [redacted].

Review: One of this company's properties is reporting that I owe them over $600 to Experian. I do not owe them anything, because they failed to maintain my rental unit, keeping it livable. They breeched the contract that we had, but they are trying to hold me to it. They also removed any method of payment, since they ONLY accept online payments (which is part of their changing terms DURING my lease) and then revoked my access when I moved out. This is purely malicious, and not at all fair.Desired Settlement: I expect them to immediately zero out my account, and stop trying to extort money from me by damaging my credit report.

Review: I am a resident at [redacted]. Two months ago we found a bed bug in our apartment so we notified AR Building management about it. They took care of the situation by performing three rounds pest control treatment which I highly appreciate. They not only treated our apartment, but as a preventive measure they also took care of the adjacent units, hallway, stairs and other building. I received a notice from the leasing office of Estates at Seven Fields stating that we are suppose to bear the expenses for the bed bug treatment not only for our apartment but for the entire floor and other building. I believe it is not fair enough to pay for such circumstance that is not in our control. We were the one who noticed a bed bug crawling our main door; it could have come from anywhere. Lately, I have seen many tenants moving in and out in our building and it could be the result of that too. We were hoping to keep our apartment neat and free from any insects and hence we brought to their attention. With all respect, I agree to all the conditions stated in the lease agreement. In the lease agreement it is clearly stated that if any such condition arises, the tenant is suppose to bear expenses for their own unit and not the adjacent units and other building. I am ready to pay the expenses of my own unit but A.R. building is charging me for the rest of the units too.Desired Settlement: I kindly request AR Building to take off the charges of the other units and charge me for my unit only i.e. Apt 261.

Business

Response:

To Whom It May Concern: