Hurst Realty

The unprofessional nature of Hurst Realty employees turned us away from signing a lease. We have now been denied the return of our security deposit.1. My husband and I recently sought to rent the home located at [redacted] Swansboro, North Carolina 28562, and paid the security deposit of One Thousand and Ninety Dollars ($1,090.00) and the Thirty Dollar ($30.00)application fee prior to signing the lease. The receipt for payment states, "Security Deposit [redacted]." This amount is also the amount of rent per month for the aforementioned property.2. After approximately thirteen days of attempting to meet with Hurst Realty to sign the lease, we grew tired of working with [redacted] and [redacted] of Hurst Realty, who berated and cursed at my husband over the telephone. Theunprofessional nature of Hurst Realty employees turned us away from signing the lease. We chose to sign a lease for a differentproperty.3. After choosing to go with a different property, we have been denied the return of our security deposit. Under the North Carolina Tenant Security Deposit Act, the deposit may only be used for unpaid rent, unpaid bills, damage to the property, costs of removal of tenant's property, costs for summary ejectment, and for costs associated with locating another renter. This last permitted use is at issue here. The current lease did not expire until the end of June, and the aforementioned property was still occupied at the time of this matter. As such, there were no costs for locating another renter and having the home be unoccupied. Additionally, the claim that the fee is a "holding fee" is untrue, given statements by Hurst Realty employees and the receipt for the payment of the security deposit.4. We have been willing to work with Hurst Realty, and would prefer that this matter be settled by payment in full of $1,090.00. We informed Hurst Realty that if they refuse to return the security deposit, per the laws of the State of North Carolina, we will be forced to file a complaint with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, Cherry Point Base Housing Office, Armed Services Disciplinary Control Board (which bans businesses for Marines aboard Cherry Point and Lejeune), and any other consumer protection agencies as permitted. Additionally, we are not opposed to filing a claim instate court for the return of the security deposit. Unfortunately, Hurst has continued to be uncooperative and rude. Desired SettlementWe would simply like to have our security deposit returned in order to avoid a drawn out process in court for both ourselves and Hurst Reality. After that we would like to never have contact with them again. Business Response An appointment was set for the [redacted] to sign the lease after 5:00 on 7-5-16. Mr. [redacted] wanted to sign the lease on the morning of 7-4-16 but our office was not open on that day. They then refused to sign the lease and demanded their deposit back. The rental application clearly states that the deposit will not be refunded if the tenant decides not to rent the property. The deposit will be kept as liquidated damages.

A charge was subtracted from our security deposit that we should not have been responsible for upon moving out.In April (4-18-13) of 2013, a week after moving into our rental, we noticed that our toilet water was backing up into our bath tub. We called the rental company (Hurst) and informed them of the problem, and they promptly sent a plumber out to assess the issue. Upon investigation the plumber informed us that our city sewer had not been turned on. The sewer company ([redacted]) had told us that they had sent someone out to turn the sewer on several days prior so we had no reason to think that the sewer was the issue. We called the sewer company, and they sent someone out to turn on our sewer. We moved out of the rental house on November 20, 2014, and were told that the only charges that would come out of our security deposit would be for two light bulbs outside of the garage that we forgot to replace before we left. Today, December 29, 2014 we finally received our security deposit back (more than 30 days after we moved out) to find that $125.00 was taken out of our deposit from when they called the plumber out to the house in April of 2013, $12 was taken out for light bulbs (it says they replaced six, not two), and $20 was taken out as a labor charge for "installing" the light bulbs. We feel as if we shouldn't be responsible for the $125.00 plumber charge, because we had no idea that the sewer had not been turned on since we were told that someone would be out to do it when we moved in, and a $20 labor charge for screwing in a light bulb seems a little ridiculous.Desired SettlementWe would like the $125.00 plumber fee back that was taken out of our security deposit.Business Response Dear Sirs,The [redacted] contacted our office shortly after moving in reference a problem with the plumbing. We sent out plumber and he discovered that [redacted] and [redacted] had not removed the block from the sewer line, thereby causing the sewer to back up. It is the tenants responsibility for the sewer service and per the lease agreement the plumber's bill was sent to them for payment. It was never paid so we deducted the amount from the security deposit. The [redacted] should have paid the bill and contacted [redacted] and [redacted] for reimbursement.Per the Residential Rental Contract the tenant is responsible for ensuring all light bulbs are working when they vacate the property. There were several light bulbs that were not working after they moved out, so a repairman was hired to purchase and install new light bulbs. The bill he submitted included his time, gas and the purchase of the light bulbs.Respectfully,[redacted]Hurst Realty, LLC