Off Broadway Apartments

When the prospects camein, they were quoted $590.00 for a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment home, theywere also quoted for 2 2bedroom/2 bathroom homes, which were $623.00 and $633.00. This is the base rent before tax, water, sewer, trash, and service fees. We have a system set up called...

[redacted], which is a rent optimizing software.  It takes into account the location of a unit, the move in date, and also the length of the lease term the prospect chooses. It then gives us a monthly rent amount with a starting base amount and fluctuates from there. On the application it does say on page 2 right above the signature line, as quoted:“1. You have delivered to our representative an application fee in the amount of $40.70 which is non-refundable.2. In addition to any application fee, you have delivered to our representative an application deposit of $152.63(which is crossed off and has $76.32, which was a special price we had for the month of December) This is not a security deposit; however it will be credited toward the total move in costs. If you choose to withdraw your application before or after approval, the application deposit will be retained by us as liquidated damages. “When the leasing agent got the application she told them that it may take 24-48 hours for the application to be approved.  She told the prospects she was going to go to lunch and then come back and process the application. When she came back from lunch and ran it, there was a red flag which means that something appeared on the background check. When [redacted] was talking to the prospect she stated that [redacted] was a common name and that someone else appeared to have the same name, she would need to speak to me on Monday. The prospects then became aggressive toward [redacted] and demanded they see what came up. They then wanted to speak to me. [redacted] called and spoke to me, I told her I was at a family event and talking on the phone for long periods of time was not conducive to what I was doing with my family. She told them that I was off that day, and they would have to come by on Monday December 16, 2013 to speak to me. When [redacted] refused to show them the report, they again became irritated and then threatened to call the police on her, claiming they paid for it so they could see it.  She gave them back the administrative fee and we cancelled them in the system on December 18, 2013. The application fee is nonrefundable as it states in the application, the letter of denial was emailed to them, dueto them not allowing us the appropriate time to do the verifications and disputes for the background check. My leasing agent was creating small talk which is within her job duties as a leasing agent, and she did not state “sorry there are a lot of [redacted]’ out there” She simply stated that it was a common name, so someone else came up. They did a stop payment on the application fee on December 19, 2013 which charged them a fee as well asthe balance on the account.

This office represents  Off Broadway Apartments  and its management company, [redacted], (collectively "management")  and I am responding  to the above identified complaint at their request. We appreciate the opportunity to provide additional information in response to Ms [redacted]'s complaint.Our  records  reflect  that  Ms  [redacted]  and  her  husband,   [redacted], visited Off Broadway Apartments on December 14, 2013.  December 14, 2013 was a Saturday  and  the  business  manager,  [redacted],  was  not  working  that  day.  [redacted],  an employee  of [redacted],  an apartment  locator  service,  accompanied Mr. and Ms [redacted] and Ms [redacted] participated in the tour with them.Based on Ms [redacted]'s complaint, we assume that Ms [redacted] had previously contacted management to obtain a rental quote for a two-bedroom apartment at Off Broadway Apartments  and that she was quoted a starting price of $601.00 per month. Such  quotes  are  generany   quick  snapshots  that  indicate  only  the  going  rate  for  a standard  apartment  at  the  moment  when  the  quote  is  provided.   If  Ms  [redacted]  can provide us with more details about when she sought the quote and what information she provided when she asked for it, we would be in a better position to advise you about the assumptions that were made when the quote was generated.As you know, rental rates for apartments within the [redacted] metropolitan area fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including demand, location, and term of lease. In general  it costs  less to rent an apartment  in June than it does  in January,  and as a general rule ground  floor  apartments  (being  more  in demand)  are  pricier  than  upper level units.In order to remove  subjectivity  from the leasing process,  management uses rent optimizing  software,   called  [redacted],  to  determine  rent  for  each  of  its  apartments.
[redacted] takes into account the location of the unit, the projected move-in date, and the length of the lease term that the prospect chooses. Based on those factors it provides a starting  market  rental  rate  for  any  specific  apartment.  Rents  can  also  fluctuate  from there  based  on  different   amenities   that  the  prospect   chooses,   whether   a  rental concession is available, and other considerations. Rental taxes, water, sewer, trash and service  fees  are  also  added . to  the  base  rent  to  determine  the  final  rental amount. [redacted] is similar to software used by the hotel or rental car industry but is not quite as volatile  since  [redacted]  generates  rental quotes  based  on month  of move-in  and  not daily expected vacancies.As noted above Mr. and Ms [redacted] visited the property  on December  14, 2013 and met with a leasing  consultant  who showed them an available  two-bedroom,  two­ bath  apartment.  Vvhiie they  indicated  that  they  liked  the  apartment  very  much  Ms [redacted] also mentioned  that they wanted a ground floor apartment  at a rate of $601.00 per month for a January  2014 move-in  date. The leasing  consultant  explained  to them that  [redacted]   generates   rental  rates  for  the  community   and  that  a  ground   floor apartment  with  a January  move-in  date  showed  a base  rent  of  $633.00  per  month. When   Ms  [redacted]   indicated   that  she  was  unhappy   with  that  quote,   the   leasing consultant  and  Ms  [redacted]  both  told  her  that  this  was  an  excellent  price  for  a two­ bedroom apartment with the square footage provided.The   leasing   consultant   then   provided   Mr.  and   Ms  [redacted]   with   additional information about required application fees and deposits, and they opted to submit an application.  They then left to obtain money  orders  for the application  fee and deposit and returned a short while later, just before the leasing consultant was taking her lunch. As she was the only employee  there at the time she promised  to run their credit report immediately  after her lunch break, but also explained  that the results could take up to24-48 hours to obtain approval, if the report showed any problems. They agreed and theleasing  consultant  ran the background  check  as soon  as she  had  returned  from her lunch break.Shortly after that the [redacted]s returned to the property and the leasing consultant told them that the results had come in showing a crirninal iecord for Mr. [redacted]. As you know,  credit  reports  are  not  always  error-free.  Recognizing   this,  the  [redacted]   requires   landlords   to  provide   applicants   whose   credit   reports   show problems  with  an  [redacted],  advising  the  applicant  of  his/her  right  to dispute information provided by the credit reporting agency and to obtain a free copy of the report from the credit reporting agency within sixty (60) days. See, [redacted]. It does not, however,  require them to provide the applicant  with the actual report and those reports are maintained as confidential documents.Mr. and Ms [redacted] were understandably upset at having their credit report show a criminal  record  and  demanded  to  be  provided  a  copy  of  the  report.  The  leasing consultant correctly explained to them that management  was prohibited from providing it
to them. At that point, the situation escalated as Ms [redacted] accused the leasing consultant of taking their money without actually running the report. The [redacted]s also demanded to speak with the busines:s manager, Shavtn [redacted]. As noted previously, the date the [redacted]s visited was a Saturday and was Mr. [redacted]'s  day off.   When  the leasing consultant contacted hirn to see if he could talk to Mr. and Ms [redacted],  he advised her that he was involved in a farnily event, that he would be happy to speak to them on Monday when he returned to work, but that he could not talk at that time. Mr. and Ms [redacted] then threatened to call the police and to sue management if the leasing consultant  did  not  immediately  return  all  of  their  money.  The  leasing  consultant thereafter refunded the [redacted]s refundable administrative fee of $76.32 and they left the office. Subsequently the [redacted]s put a stop payment on the non-refundable application fee.Management's records show that management subsequently mailed Mr. and Ms [redacted] a letter of denial based upon their refusal to give management sufficient time to do the verification and resolve any disputes on the background check.  This complaint followed.Management deeply regrets that this situation was not able to be fully resolved before Mr. and Ms [redacted] left the property that day and aie delighted that the [redacted]s' subsequent background check confirmed their belief that there was no criminal activity. As different credit reporting agencies sometin1es have different information, however, we encourage them to take this opportunity to obtain full credit reports from all three major  credit  reporting agencies,  as  well  as the background  screening  agency  that management used, and to clear up any discrepancies that may exist between them.We hope this information resolves any further questions that Mr. and/or Ms [redacted] have about this transaction. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you need additional information.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

The statement provided by the business is incorrect. I was quoted $601 for a two bed two bath apartment, [redacted] changed the price several times, this had nothing to do with utilities or fees but base rent for the apartment. The person who responded to the complaint was not present at the time, so I don't know how he/she can say that his employee did not say something that she did, to which I have witnesses. In accordance with the fair reporting act, we had a legal right to view the background check at that time. As far as I was concerned I didn't even know if [redacted] had imputed our information correctly or at all, therefore services were not rendered and a stop payment was issued. If the manager had spoken to me at the time, I would have explained this to the individual with the hope that this could have been avoided. We were not aggressive towards the employee but rather visually upset, because her conduct was not accordance with multiple laws we did discuss calling law enforcement. However, because we do not live in the state and had driven 5 hours to secure an apartment we decided to pursue it through another avenue. There is not one [redacted] with the same social security number, and I could not view the paper work to verify our information was correct. The associate never said that it would take 24-48 hours, in fact when I asked her before she went to lunch her exact words were "just a few minutes to approve you".  Last week we received the results of our background check through our new employers, who do pay attention to the law and the fair reporting act. Surprise, surprise we both have no criminal history.