Equity Real Estate Services

Review: As tenants of an Equity Realty property, we received a "past due" bill for $1000.01 on 7-12-14 (a Saturday). The bill was not itemized, we had not previously received a bill for this amount, and all payments to the company had been made and cashed during our 3 year tenure on the property.After "sweating it out" all weekend, we approached the company in person and were told we had been accumulating late fees for 14 months. Arguing we had never been alerted, the property manager "generously" removed most of the fees. I firmly believe the only reason this bill was sent at this time was because the property needed about $1000 in emergency electrical repair about 2 weeks ago due to a water-filled, rusted out breaker box. I have no other explanation as to why we would be charged at this particular juncture.Desired Settlement: Please note this is the second time we have been suddenly charged with something. The only difference is that this charge was $1000 and the last was about $150.I want a more consistently transparent communication with this realty company. Sudden bills without notification of their purpose that simultaneously threaten eviction, received on a Saturday no less, is unacceptable.

Business

Response:

We received a complaint registered with the Revdex.com for the name and ID number above by Amy [redacted] of [redacted], [redacted].

The idea that she was charged due to emergency repairs is absurd. The property has no cash flow issues; the tenant, Ms. [redacted] was late in her payments beginning in April of 2013. The underpayment she made created a monthly $50.00 late fee that continued from that time. We send delinquent notices once the tenant is 1 month delinquent, but at a rental of $895 per month it would take many months to ‘notice’ the tenant. Her 'tenant ledger’ clearly shows her 2013 underpayment that created the problem.

Regardless of the fact that she was at fault, we did give credits to Ms. [redacted] for late charges. She has a responsibility to make payments as agreed, not as she would like. Equity Real Estate is not at fault, Ms. [redacted] is.

We will ask our property management agent handling the property to review her tenant ledger more often and to alert the tenant as to any outstanding balances as soon as possible.

Review: I have been receiving a bill in the mail for month. I have called for months without any return call. I was finally reached by a representative from the company who said that he was not in charge of this issue, but would look into it. Since then I have continued to receive a bill in the mail added a $50 late fee each month. I have not paid this because I do not know what the charges are for nor should I have to pay the late fees as I have been trying to get ahold of the company since the start of the bill. I leave messages on the voicemail system as well as with operator to return the call.Desired Settlement: I would like a detailed bill with what I am being charged. If I missed a bill I will pay that 100% within 5 days. I would like all of the late fees taken out of the total amount due.

Review: We moved out of our apartment earlier than we had to, leaving Equity time to repaint between tenants. The building was fully cleaned out, every floor was mopped, all appliances and counter tops were cleaned,the bathroom was scrubbed down, both the kitchen and bathroom sinks were spotless. When I made my final visit to the apartment on July 27, while painting was in progress, I found the floors and steps very dirty, the counter tops and sinks were no longer clean, the toilet had urine and cigarette butts in it, and the porch and the rest of the house had trash strewn about. I contacted [redacted] about these issues and I was told that the painters would clean up after themselves. When I received the deposit refund, they had billed us for $652 worth of damage citing that nothing in the house was clean, the keys had not been turned in, and that "bulk item removal" had to be performed. This inspection was done on August 1 which means it occurred after the painters had come in. This should be enough to fully exonerate us for charges of uncleaned floors and surfaces as it was clean before it was painted. Additionally the only items left in the apartment were heating units which were provided to us by Equity Real Estate when our furnace broke. And the keys were turned in on the 31st of July with clear markings as to what apartment they belonged. When I contacted Equity about these mistakes I was met with apathy at the beginning and by the end threats and rudeness. I was told that I would have the $100 removed for the floors not being mopped and he seemed to think I should count myself lucky for this. He said that there was broken glass in the back yard (a shared space) as well as an empty gas tank found in the apartment and that it was a miracle a fire hadn't started and I wasn't charged for any of these items intimating that he could add them on. He also said I was supposed to have turned the keys in by noon on the 31st though that isn't mentioned in our lease. He could not speak to the bulk item removalDesired Settlement: I can understand (even if I don't agree) with some of the charges, it is my opinion that, as the inspection was conducted after painter had been in the place, all of the charges regarding cleanliness should be removed. And a plastic, empty gas can hardly counts as a "bulk item" and we cannot be fined for damages that did not occur as a result of its existence. Finally, the keys were turned in on the 31st so they have no right to charge us to re-key the place. These charges should be dropped.

Review: Equity rented me and two roommates an apartment in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The place was filthy when I was supposed to move in, but since I had no other place to go I moved in. Window screens were missing, the bathroom was totally filthy (the previous tenants toiletries and shower curtain were left behind) a window was broken, and nothing had been painted as was promised. When I went to use the kitchen sink for the first time the kitchen floor became soaking wet, and I noticed that a pipe under the sink was being held together with duct tape. Drawers in the kitchen were broken and the fridge was filthy. it took weeks for any issue to be resolved. During a rain storm in the fall, the ceiling in the front hallway began leaking in three different places and it took two days to get it fixed. In the middle of December, our furnace broke and we were without heat. it took four days for them to drop off space heaters, and another ten days after that for the furnace to be fixed. after the initial repair, it broke again and took another length of time for it to be fixed. Upon leaving, we were charged for damages that had existed and been reported when we moved in. We were charged for cleaning (even though we spent an extended amount of time cleaning the unit before we left) and were charged for "bulk item removal" of the space heaters that belonged to them in the first place. When contacted, the property manager of the unit would not compromise about the amount of the deposit released, and made implications that we had received more then we deserved. Not being our original property manager at the start of the lease, he had absolutely no records of our unit (also no records of exactly which "bulk items" were removed which is curious). When pressed, he said "How am I supposed to know what happened in the unit before I took over?" I assume reputable companies would keep records of that sort of thing.Desired Settlement: We would like a reasonable amount of our security deposit returned. it is reasonable to expect that some money would go towards cleaning or novel repairs, but to charge us almost $800 for things such as "mopping" and "dusting blinds" is a little extravagant. We simply do not want to be charged for damages that were there when we moved in, and for the cleaning of an apartment that was left in much better condition then what it was received in.