Infinity Financial Highlander, LLC

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.I am not fighting this anymore; this is too stressful and I need to move on and concentrate on my schoolI moved my bed and mattress directly from my parents home to Evergreen Ridge ApartmentsThere were no bed bugs at home up north and there still are no bed bugs at my home up northI still maintain I have no idea where the bud bugs came from since I had not been any where but friends apartments in Willmar, home, and my boyfriend's home which also did not and still does not have any bed bugsBoth the exterminator Kristen provided and the one my mom contacted, [redacted] , said the bed bugs could have been carried in by anyoneI am the unlucky sole that one ended up on and carried to my roomThankfully, the bugs were found before the bugs were spread throughout the apartmentThe bites I were getting I thought were spider bites.I can not prove what Kristen said to me about having a waiting list, but she did; however, it is her word against mineAs far as Home Depot goes, I was just trying to give an example that the bug could have come from anywhereJust because other apartments had carpeting installed at the same time does not mean anythingIT ONLY TAKES ONE BUG! I do not now how I can get this message across any betterIt is what an exterminator will say as wellFurthermore, it is what Home Line had said as well, "no one intentionally brings in bed bugs" and that is why I was advised not to pay for extermination and that my deposit could not be withheld for exterminationI could understand being responsible if I neglected to not clean my room/apartment to the point it attracted bugs, but that is not the case hereMy room was clean, along with my pet cages, and I reported the bed bugs as soon as possibleIf anything, I have learned to get everything in writing and not to trust anyone[redacted] ***

See Attached

The purpose of this letter is to respond to Ms. [redacted]’s complaint to the Revdex.com regarding Billing or Collections Issues with the Evergreen Apartments in Willmar, MN.  After much consideration on how to best respond to the claim, I have decided a timeline of events, along with description would be...

the best method. My husband, Aaron and I purchased the Evergreen Apartments in Willmar, MN, March 15, 2002.  We have been owner managers since purchase.  During this time, we have never had to exterminate or use an exterminator until last fall when [redacted]’s bedroom was infested with bed bugs. Apartment 202 had been vacated by the previous tenants May 13, 2016.  One of the tenants still resides at another Evergreen Apartment.  I verified that none of the previous tenants had any issues with bed bug infestations. Apartment 202 was scheduled for new carpeting.  The carpet was purchased from Home Depot May 19, 2016 and installed during the month of June.  [redacted] signed her lease August 1, 2016 and moved in on that date.  Her 2 other roommates signed leases later in August and moved in before Ridgewater started on August 22nd. [redacted] did report to the office that her apartment had cockroaches, to which I stated we had never had cockroaches at the Evergreen Apartments and requested that she bring in a bug in a container.  She did bring in a bug that was confirmed to be a cricket. In October [redacted] reported to the office that she has bedbugs.  Again, I stated that we had never had bed bugs at the Evergreen Apartments and requested that she bring in a bug in a container.  She did bring in a bug that was confirmed to be a bed bug.  Once confirmed, I immediately contacted [redacted]’s Exterminating to schedule the extermination. October 20, 2016, [redacted]’s Exterminating Inc. exterminated Evergreen Apartment 202, using heat.  Upon inspection, by the exterminator, no bed bugs were found in either of the roommates rooms.  Bed bugs were only found in [redacted]’s bedroom.  The entire apartment was treated.  We received an invoice for the extermination for the total of $1,175.63.   I provided Ms. [redacted] with a copy of the invoice and requested that she pay half, or $587.82.  November 9, 2016 she provided me with a written response to invoice for Bed Bug Treatment.  She referenced Minnesota Statutes 504B.161, subdivision1, which makes the landlord responsible for maintenance unless the problem was caused by the “willful, malicious, or irresponsible conduct of the tenant.”  The response stated that my invoice appeared to violate Minnesota law and she did not plan to pay and demanded I rescind the invoice within 14 days. November 9, 2016 she also provided me with a written notice that she would be moving out of her apartment by January 1st.  In this notice she stated that the room would be rented out by someone else per [redacted].  That is not what I had told her.  The lease that [redacted] signed is a 12 month lease from August 1, 2016 through July 31, 2017.  Lease provision #32 provides 4 way for early lease termination: 1.     Find another person to fulfill your lease.  2.     Military duty (call up for Active duty).  3.     Lease out buy-out fee of 4 months.  4.     Upon resident’s death These early lease termination options were discussed with [redacted].  I clearly tell the tenant wanting to terminate their lease early, that it is not my responsibility to find the replacement tenant. To make sure I was not violating the law by requesting 50% payment of the extermination invoice, I contacted an attorney to research the law.  Griffin [redacted] from [redacted] from Willmar conducted the requested research and provided me with the response.  The following is the response from Griffin [redacted] via email November 15, 2016.  As far as the letter is concerned, Ms. [redacted] is correct in that Minnesota statue does hold the landlord responsible for maintenance unless the problem was caused by the “willful, malicious, or irresponsible conduct of the tenant”.  If you were to respond using this statute, your argument would be that clearly she did engage in irresponsible behavior by allowing bed bugs into the apartment.  They did not just show up.  Unfortunately, you would only have circumstantial evidence to prove your case.  However, you also have the Willmar City Ordinance on your side which clearly states:  “Every occupant of a dwelling containing a single dwelling unit shall be responsible for the extermination of insects and/or rats, on the premises; and every occupant of a dwelling unit in a dwelling containing more than one dwelling unit shall be responsible for such extermination whenever his dwelling unit is the only one infested.  Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, whenever infestation is caused by failure of the owner to maintain a dwelling in a rat proof or reasonable insect proof condition, extermination shall be the responsibility of the owner.  Whenever infestation exists in 2 of more of the dwelling units in any dwelling or in the shared or public parts of any dwelling containing 2 or more dwelling units, extermination thereof shall be the responsibility of the owner.”  The Minnesota statute referred to by Ms. [redacted] is very broad.  The Willmar ordinance is right on point and controls this issue.  November 21, 2016, I responded in writing to Ms. [redacted] to her “notice in response to invoice for bed bugs”.  I quoted much of what Mr. [redacted] provided me in his legal opinion emphasizing that Willmar City Ordinance controlled this issue and that since the bed bugs were only found in her bedroom and 2 or more units were not affected, she was required to pay for the extermination.  The letter stated that we were still only requesting 50% of the invoice.  She came to the office claiming she did not receive my response so I gave her another copy.  November 15, 2016 she moved out of her apartment and passed her move out inspection and turned in her keys.  December 5, 2016 Ms. [redacted] paid December 2016 rent.  She stated that she was paying against legal advice.  January 21, 2017, I processed her security deposit showing that the $305 security deposit was applied to the outstanding extermination invoice and there was still a balance due of $282.82.  This statement was mailed to the forwarding address she provided. I have recently talked to other management companies in the Willmar area regarding charging tenants for extermination fee.  Dominium properties had a tenant sue them in Kandiyohi Court regarding this issue.  Dominium won and the court relied on the issue of whether there had been no other extermination in that building within the past 12 months.  Ms. [redacted]’s signed lease has a clause #7 that specifically states no pets of any kind are allowed unless there is a signed Pet Addendum.  It was discovered that Ms. [redacted] had in her bedroom a cage with a rabbit, a cage with pet rats, 2 bird cages and 3 fish tanks.  She did not receive written approval for these animals.  According to her roommates she allowed the rats and bunny to run freely in her room on the carpet.  According to the signed lease she should have forfeited her deposit. I hold all my tenants to their early lease termination clauses.  In Ms. [redacted]’s situation, I did make a rare exception.  Her conduct and attitude towards myself and her roommates created an intolerable situation.  For example, after she moved out and turned in her keys, a package was delivered for her to apartment 202.  Her roommates immediately brought it to me because they did not want to have any contact with her.  Ms. [redacted] harassed her previous roommates via text and even called the police on them for holding her package “unlawfully”.  This persisted even after they communicated to her that the package was in my office.  As of today I have not filled her roommate opening in Apartment 202, nor did she bring me a qualified tenant to take over her lease.  Financially, if I had held Ms. [redacted] to the terms of her lease she would owe the Evergreen Apartments $2,090.63, not $282.82, as detailed in the following: ·         She would have forfeited her security deposit for having pets in her room. ·         She would have been required to pay 3 additional months of rent under my lease buy-out option. ($305 x 3 = $915). ·         She would have been responsible for the full invoice. ($1,175.63) If you would like copies of any of the information that I referenced in this response, please do not hesitate to ask.  I am requesting she pay the remaining 50% of the extermination invoice that her security deposit did not cover, $282.82. Sincerely, [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.I am not fighting this anymore; this is too stressful and I need to move on and concentrate on my school. I moved my bed and mattress directly from my parents home to Evergreen Ridge Apartments. There were no bed bugs at home up north and there still are no bed bugs at my home up north. I still maintain I have no idea where the bud bugs came from since I had not been any where but friends apartments in Willmar, home, and my boyfriend's home which also did not and still does not have any bed bugs. Both the exterminator Kristen provided and the one my mom contacted, [redacted], said the bed bugs could have been carried in by anyone. I am the unlucky sole that one ended up on and carried to my room. Thankfully, the bugs were found before the bugs were spread throughout the apartment. The bites I were getting I thought were spider bites.I can not prove what Kristen said to me about having a waiting list, but she did; however, it is her word against mine. As far as Home Depot goes, I was just trying to give an example that the bug could have come from anywhere. Just because other apartments had carpeting installed at the same time does not mean anything. IT ONLY TAKES ONE BUG! I do not now how I can get this message across any better. It is what an exterminator will say as well. Furthermore, it is what Home Line had said as well, "no one intentionally brings in bed bugs" and that is why I was advised not to pay for extermination and that my deposit could not be withheld for extermination. I could understand being responsible if I neglected to not clean my room/apartment to the point it attracted bugs, but that is not the case here. My room was clean, along with my pet cages, and I reported the bed bugs as soon as possible. If anything, I have learned to get everything in writing and not to trust anyone.[redacted]