Cheney Real Estate Management, Inc.

MsA*** was on a lease through the end of August, She moved out of her unit on June 26, 2015, prior to the termination of the lease She then received a preliminary deposit report for her apartment that showed a preliminary balance owing of $1649.49, which included rent through
the end of the lease, plus the late fees for unpaid rent A new tenant moved in to MsA*** unit, on July 21, MsA*** was then mailed a final statement that adjusted the final amount of unpaid rent, with a final balance owing of $ MsA*** should have received this final report prior to her submitting this complaint, but I did notice that the address for MsA*** listed on the complaint is different than the forwarding address that the preliminary statement was mailed to, so I assume she did not receive the final statement On MsA*** final statement, the only charges for condition of the unit were for cleaning, replacement of the missing ice cube trays, and replacement of the stove drip pans The rest of the charges were for unpaid rent, late fees, a lease substitution fee, and for utilities that had to be reconnected to turn over the unit I had personally talked to both Mrans MrsA*** on the phone subsequent to them moving from the unit, so I don't understand their claims of un-returned phone calls I will forward the final statement showing the amount due of $to the address of MsA*** that is listed on this complaint I hope that this will address all of her concerns

Review: I have rented several apartments in my life. I always strive to leave the places I rent cleaner than when I moved in. Before moving out, several people told us that Cheney Real Estate Management over-bills for EVERYTHING. I let them know I was aware of this, hoping they wouldn't do the same to us. Well, they did. I've never had to pay money after moving out of an apartment before. I was billed over $1600 after moving out of their run-down apartment. This was after they subtracted the deposit of $700. They also have a tendency of double charging, charging when they know they will be getting reimbursed by another company, and charging you rent even though they've already rented the apartment to another tenant. This is exactly what they did to me. They will not return my phone calls. I've spoken with several people, and they have had the exact same experience. Some worse.Desired Settlement: I feel that this company needs to not only reimburse all the tenants they have done this to, but they also need to have a class action suit filed against them. Their business practices are so unethical and illegal, that they should truly be put out of business.

Business

Response:

Ms. A[redacted] was on a lease through the end of August, 2015. She moved out of her unit on June 26, 2015, prior to the termination of the lease. She then received a preliminary deposit report for her apartment that showed a preliminary balance owing of $1649.49, which included rent through the end of the lease, plus the late fees for unpaid rent. A new tenant moved in to Ms. A[redacted] unit, on July 21, 2015. Ms. A[redacted] was then mailed a final statement that adjusted the final amount of unpaid rent, with a final balance owing of $515.94. Ms. A[redacted] should have received this final report prior to her submitting this complaint, but I did notice that the address for Ms. A[redacted] listed on the complaint is different than the forwarding address that the preliminary statement was mailed to, so I assume she did not receive the final statement. On Ms. A[redacted] final statement, the only charges for condition of the unit were for cleaning, replacement of the missing ice cube trays, and replacement of the stove drip pans. The rest of the charges were for unpaid rent, late fees, a lease substitution fee, and for utilities that had to be reconnected to turn over the unit. I had personally talked to both Mr. ans Mrs. A[redacted] on the phone subsequent to them moving from the unit, so I don't understand their claims of un-returned phone calls.. I will forward the final statement showing the amount due of $515.94 to the address of Ms. A[redacted] that is listed on this complaint. I hope that this will address all of her concerns.

Review: I went to have a friend move in and put on the lease in February of 2013. He was unable to be put on the lease due to lack of a cosigner. On May 8 2013, he went to the main office while my roommate and I were at work and asked to be put on the lease again. They approved him and put his name on the original lease with a typewriter and had him initial it without contacting myself, my roommate, or our cosigner. When confronted about this issue [redacted], Management Specialist, said that my roommate and I were with our friend when he went in to sign the lease on May 8, when in fact we were both at work and our initials were clearly not on the lease where they added his name. She had a very condescending attitude towards us when we brought this and other issues to her attention such as entry into the apartment without any prior notice with the exception of a phone call that morning ten minutes before arriving with a prospective tenant. We have also received several 24 hour notices to enter without specified times and only the general eight hour time frame from 9AM to 5PM. To my knowledge we have the right to refuse entry in such cases under legal code RCW 59.18.150. Regardless of this law, it states in our lease that we will be given a 48 hour written notice to enter. Anything less would be a violation of the lease agreement. Hopefully this can be resolved without legal actions being taken against Cheney Real Estate Management, Inc.Desired Settlement: When we have another place to live I would like to be let out of the rental agreement. No other terms will be satisfactory.

Business

Response:

[redacted] and his roommate, [redacted], brought [redacted] to our office on February 28, 2013 to our office to have him added as a tenant on their lease agreement. [redacted] completed an application which was then sent to our application screening company on the same date. [redacted]'s application wasn't immediately approved, not due to lack of a cosigner, but because our screening company couldn't verify his previous rental history. We contacted [redacted] to let him know that we needed further information to complete his application. Finally, after over a month of contacting [redacted], he provided us with sufficient previous rental history and proof of income to qualify as a tenant. At no time during this time frame did [redacted] or [redacted] contact our office and request that [redacted] not be added to the lease agreement. On May 8, 2013 [redacted] was added to the lease agreement, and the rent on the apartment was increased by $100/month to accommodate the 3rd roommate. On June 1st, tenants requested that we provide them with an estimate to repair the burn holes in the carpet. According to the tenants, one of them was planning on moving out, and they wanted an estimate of the damage to the carpet so they could straighten out the deposit. Again, at no point in time, did [redacted] or [redacted] state that [redacted] should not have been added to the lease agreement. In fact, throughout the remainder of their tenancy (through August 31st, 2013), the tenants paid the 3-person rate for their unit, never once stating that [redacted] was not welcome as a tenant, or had moved from the apartment.

Review: We rented a housing unit from Cheney Real Estate Management during the 2012-2013 school year. We kept the apartment in good condition. First thing, they charged us for 11 hours of cleaning service at $18 an hour totaling $198 without any proof the cleaning happened or took as long as they claim. During their claimed recovery time we were back in Cheney. We stopped by the apartment to visit a neighbor. Low and behold the door was wide open and the unit was left unsecured. We were there for two hours and no one returned to the unit during that period. Second, after numerous harassing phone calls from one of the office workers ([redacted]) we agreed to move out before the final date of our lease to allow the new tenants to move in. I can find no documentation in the final paperwork to annotate any rent is being returned to us even after we moved out four days early on their demand.Desired Settlement: I would like to be refunded the $198 cleaning fee they are charging because I believe we were taken advantage of. They cannot provide proof the cleaning took the amount of time they claim. Because they left the unit unsecured, unattended and wide open who knows how much of the 11 hours of billed cleaning is due to how we left the apartment or how others treated the apartment during that time.

Business

Response:

November 12, 2013

RE: Complaint ID [redacted]

Dear [redacted],

In response to the above-referenced complaint:

I have decided to refund the $198 withheld from the security deposit for cleaning, as a measure of good faith. Although, the check-out inspection report (completed at time of move-out) does indicate that cleaning was required, the unit should have been secured while vacant.

The tenant is responsible to pay rent until the lease agreement ends, or until another party takes occupancy of the unit within the lease period. New tenants did want to move in to [redacted] prior to the end of the lease agreement. However, since [redacted] and [redacted] did not move out until the 28th of August, we didn’t have enough time to turn the unit over, and have new tenants move in before August 31st. Our “harassing” phone calls were simply in an effort to try to save [redacted] and [redacted] some money.

Sincerely,

Cheney Real Estate Management, Inc.