Crown Properties Inc

August 14, 2017This letter is in response to the complaint filed by *** *** on July 23, We did not receive the complaint until August 3, Ms *** is asking for a full refund of the security deposit ($1,450) paid for the rental residence located at *** *** *** ***
*** ** ***.Ms *** and her roommates, *** *** and *** *** viewed the home in May of and submitted application to rent the home Once their applications were approved, they paid the security deposit in order to reserve the home Arrangements were made to sign the rental contract June 10,On or about June 7, 2016, Ms *** and her roommates wished to enter the home to take measurements to make sure their furnishings would fit I had a key box on the front door and gave them the code so they could enter the houseUpon arrival, the prospective tenants called me and reported that the front door knob had been cut off and the key box was goneThey also noticed a window screen had been removed in the back of the houseThere were no signs of entry and no sign of any damage inside the homeI hired a handyman to replace the missing knob on the front door. Ms *** and her roommates decided to move forward and signed the rental contract on June 10,I feel that if the tenants had been seriously concerned about the incident, they would not have elected to move in.In her complaint, Ms *** asserts that I failed to disclose "that the house was a hotspot for burglaries" in my advertisementI am not aware that the house or the immediate neighborhood is ''a hotspot" for burglaries I have been managing the home for approximately years and in that time only one resident reported that an item had been stolen and that they suspected a neighbor's minor childIn most cases, if a resident is the victim of a crime, they will report the incident to the policeTenants
do not always notify the property management companyIt is up to the tenants to determine that the property they would like to rent is in an area that they approve ofCrime statistics are available through
law enforcement offices and onlineDue diligence is up to the tenant.We did receive a call from the tenants regarding a break in at the houseTenants are required to purchase and maintain renter's insurance in case of burglary, fire, or other events to cover property loss or darnageWe did contact a handyman and the damage to the back door was repaired in a timely fashionMs *** further asserts that I failed to disclose that "there was a mold problem", We do not have a legal obligation to disclose prior repairs in a home If there is a roof leak, we will have it repairedIf a furnace quits working, we will repair or replace it if there is a plumbing problem, we will have it fixedIn late 2014, the tenants who rented the home before Ms *** moved in, reported that they found mold in the bathroom We sent a contractor out to determine what was causing the moldIn the majority of mold cases, the mold is due to the lifestyle of the occupants, poor air circulation, not using vent or hood fans, house keeping issues, and improper storage of items will often cause mold growthThe contractor discovered a pinhole size leak in a water pipe in the bathroom A tiny stream of water sprayed out of the pipe whenever water was turned on in
the bathroom This may have gone on for weeks or months, we do not know There was a substantial amount of mold growth inside the walls of the bathroom and some surface mold in the cabinets We hired a professional company and they basically tore the bathroom down to the studs, proper mold remediation was performed, the bathroom sheetrock was replaced, the pipe was fixed, and a laboratory test confirmed that the air quality in the home was safe There are rare cases where a home may have a structural defect which causes mold growthThis was not the case in this houseA plumbing leak caused mold and the mold issue was resolved completely several months before they moved in.Ms *** or her roommates did report that they discovered a small amount of mold along the ceiling in one of the bedrooms, We hired a handyman to determine the causeHe found that the gutters were full and that moisture overflowing from the gutters had seeped into the walls He cleaned out the gutters and treated and removed the mold from the bedroomWe did not receive further complaints from the tenants There was no visible mold in the home after the tenants vacated.I am not clear about the complaint about slugs in the homeWashington State law is very clear as far as pest elimination requirements in rental properties Tenants who live in a single family home are liable for pest elimination and/or extermination costs, not the owner, To my knowledge, Ms ***
never reported a slug problem If she had, she would have been informed that it was her responsibility to contact an exterminator and pay for the cost of service.Ms *** is requesting a full refund of the security deposit, The definition of a security deposit is ''a payment required by a landlord from a tenant to cover the expenses of any repairs of damages to the premises greater than "wear and tear." A tenant is not entitled to a security deposit refund because they feel their maintenance requests were not resolved as quickly as they hoped or because their home was broken into.We did process the security deposit refund and mailed the refund check to the forwarding address provided by *** and *** The tenants were charged for prorated July rent, interior cleaning, carpet cleaning, yard work, hauling, and the final electric and water bill The remainder of the security deposit was mailed to the tenants.Sincerely,Renee SJ*** SrProperty Manager

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
1. You never responded in a timely manner, when we contacted you, it would take at least a day or 2 before you would ever respond to us.
2. You state that when you got a handyman to come out and fix the kicked in door in a timely manner, yes he came out and put a cheap chain lock on the door like that was really going to be secure, he didn't come to fix it till a couple days later, in the meantime we had a damaged door with a cheap chain lock on it . When he was working on it, it was definite that the door had been kicked in before, the door jam had been pieced together with pieces of wood and even the handyman stated that something happened before by looking at it. So my question is what do you consider a timely fashion?
3. When we reported the mold in the bedrooms, yes the guy came out and supposedly cleaned out the gutters but he did not come in and treat and remove the mold. We continued to spray with bleach to keep it under control, and the mold was still there when we left but you state it wasn't, I totally disagree with that, it was there and probably painted over again like it was before. Did you even have anyone go up in the attic to see if there was a leak in the roof?
4. You act like we were the worst slobs ever, and you had to totally clean the house and whatever you say you had to haul away?  that grass was mowed the week before and the house was clean and we have videos of the condition of the house when we left. You stated on the cleaning bill that you had to replace blinds in the bedroom, those blinds were old when we moved in, they would crack easily if touched. We had even trimmed back the bushes that were overgrown, and those flower beds were not weeded when we moved in and the grass was not mowed, we looked past that, so why are we being charged for that, we shouldn't have to cleanup something that was already that way.
5. I can accept that we do owe for the July rent and carpet cleaning and the electric bill, but everything else I totally disagree with. I have rented from several places and never ever did I have complaints about the cleaning and the condition of the place when I left and always got my deposit back except for the carpet cleaning.
Sincerely,[redacted]