Real Property Management Hampton Roads

please see attached, without the resident providing more concrete facts, eg: move in pictures, move in sheet management is forced to work with what management can see and was documented and what the owner is communicating.

Respectfully, with further facts from the resident that contradicts the current findings management will do everything in its power to make it right, however without these facts of evidence our findings stand.

We sincerely apologize for any frustration the tenant has felt regarding the charges related to the security deposit claim. We are committed to fair, and legal dealings for our services and clear communication so that there are no surprises or hidden costs. Moreover, we never want our tenants surprised by a charge and we regret any frustrations caused by insufficient communication.

Real Property Management Hampton Roads took over management of *** Drive on February 1, 2018, which is one year later than when the tenant had stated. We believe many of the maintenance issues she is describing during her tenancy may have occurred during the period of previous management. Unfortunately another management company's policies and procedures for handling maintenance is outside of our company's control.

Regarding the security deposit claim, our accounting system reflects a total security deposit of *** This information can also be seen on the security deposit disposition letter that was mailed to the tenant's forwarding address on July 15th, 2019. The total amount of *** can be seen as the total amount of charges owed by the tenant, which is listed on the letter mailed to the tenant after she had contacted our office to dispute the charges on the security deposit claim.

Our Support Team received an email from the tenant on June 7th, 2019 at 7:47 a.m. requesting to be present at the move out review; however, our property reviewer is obligated to complete the move out review within 72 hours of a move out taking place per The Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act Code #55.1-1226.G. The move out review was completed on June 4th to satisfy that requirement. Furthermore, our tenants are provided move out instructions via email which were sent to this tenant on March 15th, 2019 at 1:44 p.m.. The beginning of the email informs our tenants, "Want to be present during your move out review? Contact our Support Team 2 weeks prior to your move out date at ***@rpmhamptonroads.com or XXX-XXX-XXXX in order to obtain your move out review scheduled date and time." We try to reduce any confusion during the move out process which is why we have created the move out instructions for our tenants to follow.

Our records show our Support Team did overlooked the tenant's move in inspection sheet which was submitted by the tenant at the beginning of the lease. This sheet does indeed show where the tenant listed numerous rooms which needed to be repainted at the time of move in. This is an unfortunate error made by our office and we wish to ensure the tenant receives those funds back in the amount of ***

We have also discovered the charges for the car port light cover *** closet door hole *** and the closet bracket *** should not have been charged as these charges were listed on the tenant's move in inspection sheet as well. The total for the car port fixture, closet door hole, and the closet bracket repairs was *** which will be provided back to the tenant as well.

Upon review, the owner was not able to provide a receipt for the repair to the tub trim so the total of *** will be refunded to the tenant for that repair.
With regards to the second carport light cover repair charge on the claim which totaled *** we have discovered this was a duplicate charge which needs to be refunded to the tenant.

The charges that remain on the security deposit claim are removing the washing machine from the back yard *** removing the satellite dish *** and removing and disposing of all blinds *** which total ***

With regards to the washing machine removal, the tenant's lease covers the washing machine being provided in "As Is" condition on the first page. This means the appliance is the tenant's responsibility to repair and maintain throughout the tenancy. Since the tenant chose to purchase a new washing machine, it would have been her responsibility to place the old appliance back into its' original position once she vacated the premises since this is how the property was provided to her at the beginning of the lease.

Regarding the satellite dish, the tenant's lease agreement states on page one, "No satellite dishes are to be attached to the building." During the June 4, 2019 review of the property the Dish satellite is seen still attached to the column of the property. A still frame picture of this was provided to the tenant from our office when we first reviewed her deposit dispute. This charge would be at the tenant's expense since the lease specifically prohibits satellite dishes from being installed on the property.

The tenant's lease also states that the tenant is responsible for returning the property to the state it was initially turned over to him or her. The owner does reserve the right to have the tenant remove all blinds which were installed at the property since the property initially did not come with blinds installed when the tenant first took possession of the unit.

At this time, the tenant will be refunded *** for security deposit charges related to the premise. We continually work to be accessible and provide sufficient communication. We sincerely apologize for any frustrations and assure our clients that we are committed to addressing their concerns.

We sincerely regret that the residents experience did not reflect the high standards we work hard to meet for our residents. We assure you that we are committed to provide a positive tenancy for every property we manage and wish you only the best in all future endeavors.

Sincerely,
Real Property Management

We sincerely apologize for any frustration our past client has experienced during our period of management. During the termination period of a contract, our team works diligently to close an account quickly and accurately due to time sensitivities for our clients. There are multiple moving parts during this stage and our team regrets allowing this issue to fall through the cracks.

Payment was mailed from our office to our past client as our team terminated management of her property. When she contacted our office regarding her payment, which was not received, our support staff investigated the matter and was able to determine someone had physically signed for the certified mail and accepted the payment. The payment, however, was not cashed. Our office commonly encounters situations when a family member of our client's will sign and accept packages but the client is unaware. Our office explained to the past client that someone did indeed receive the certified mail on her behalf.

After further discussions with our past client and additional research, we issued a stop payment on the old checks and reissued a new check for her to receive payment. We have been in contact with her via phone and have confirmed her mailing address to re-send the new payments for her.

Our team is committed to fair and legal dealings and clear communication so that there are no surprises. We apologize for any miscommunication or misunderstanding between our past client and our team. We truly appreciated her patience as our team worked to remedy the issue and wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Sincerely,
Real Property Management Hampton Roads

Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to submit your feedback on our company. I would like to extend our sincere apologies in any point of time we were unable to provide you with anything other than satisfactory service. We here are RPM Hampton Roads hold high standards in how we operate, and I do see where we did fall short on some instances. For that we greatly appreciate you bringing those to our attention so that we may address and fix those processes.
I can see where the inspection was not scheduled during the month it should have taken place. It would appear that inspection did not take place in June due to the tenant rescheduling. We do understand that it is requested to have inspections done on the property, and we did fall short on getting this scheduled within a timely manner. Inspections are only charged at the time they are conducted and completed. An inspection was scheduled and completed in October 2017 where the *** charge was placed. There were no other inspections on the property or additional charges on the account to be part of the Preventative Care Program. We sincerely apologize that the inspection was not able to take place in the summer months as they should have and addressed this issue with our maintenance coordinator.
It is very difficult to know what a person's character is when approving and declining applications for properties that RPM manages. Due to fair housing laws we are restricted on screening applicants any more than what we are legally allowed to use for determining the status of applicants. The criteria RPM reviews are credit reports, background checks, and rental history. Reviewing the applicants there did not appear to have been any red flags on any of these reports that would lead to declining the application. Grounds for an automatic decline include eviction filings within the last 2 years, drug or felony charges within the last 7 years, sex offenders, unpaid utility bills in collections, bankruptcy within the last 12 months. The tenants did not fall under any one these categories. After researching communication the tenants had lost their job after a few months of living in the property making it difficult for them to make the regular monthly rental payments. This is very unfortunate and not something RPM would be able to know would happen at the time of approving the application. We have to remain subjective in the selection to avoid any complaints such as discrimination.
Going through all the work requests that were placed on the property, there have been a total of 12 work orders since February 2017. Out of those 3 were reviews the move in, move out and PCP. 1 Estimate from the items listed on the tenants move in inspections sheet, repairs were not completed on these items since approval was not received to complete, and 2 estimates fore move out repairs. There are not charges for these estimate requests. The only actual items that received a charge were a dryer vent cleaning, and professional interior cleaning which approval was received and these were completed. The tenant requested to have these items done since they are required to have this done at the time of moving out. There is a smoke detector certification order that was completed and is required by law to have done on a rental property 1 time per year and prior to each new tenancy. The last remaining work order on the account was the lock change for the eviction. This would be charged against the security deposit as tenant responsibility and reimbursed to the owner once the claim has been processed.
We are unable to see where amounts were charged for repairs at the property, as they are correct the repairs did not take place; however since the repairs did not take place invoices were not sent in to be processed. Approval was to be received for the requested repairs and was not given so the repairs were not scheduled to be completed. Since RPM only manages the property, repairs so long as they are not caused by the tenant would be the homeowner's responsibility for submitting payment since this is still their property. When renting out a property is should be expected that repairs are going to be needed from time to time. The amount of work orders placed on this particular property are very minimal for the amount of time RPM managed the property. There were a total of 4 work orders in which the owner was charged for, all of which are a requirement to have done prior to new tenants moving into a property. RPM would like to apologize as it would appear these proper expectations were not set when it comes to repairs being done at the property.
The court process does take some time to complete an eviction. When filing an Unlawful Detainer which is the first step, court dates are not provided until 21 days from the time the UD if filed. Once the judge had granted us possession, we will file the writ in which the Sheriff's office has up to 30 days to schedule an eviction. Please note that RPM has no control on the amount of days listed above, these are court processes that RPM has to follow. Based on this timeline it does not show that RPM failed in getting dates scheduled.
According to the lease agreement the tenant has until the 5th at 5pm to submit their rent payment. If payment is not received late fees are applied and the 5 day notice is emailed and mailed to the tenant informing they have 5 days to pay the balance in full if not then court proceedings will be filed. This is all in accordance with the VRLTA and what is required to be done in order to prevent accusation of a wrongful eviction. An email is sent to the owner notifying them that the rent has not been received.
o September 1, 2017 rent applied to the account
o September 5, 2017 rent still not received
o September 6, 2017 late fees applied and notice sent to the tenant
o September 13, 2017 rent and fees not paid, RPM filed the Unlawful Detainer, and court date received for October 12, 2017
o October 12, 2017 court grants possession on the property
o October 14, XXXXX Writ of Eviction filed on the tenant
o October 30, 2017 Sheriff contacts RPM scheduled eviction for November 9, 2017

In between this time RPM is attempting to contact all residing in the property to collect the balance owed. Owners are typically notified of when the rent is not received, when court is filed, a date when court is set, and then if the tenants pay are notified at that time. If they have not paid by the court date once we receive an update from the court liaison you will be notified of the court's decision.

Rest assured that anything in between this RPM is contacting the tenants by email, text message, and phone call daily to collect the payment. We are not able to guarantee rent to be paid or received but will notify when a next step has been taken place such as court etc. to get the balance paid by the tenants. We do apologize that we did not set your expectations correctly on when you would receive notifications on rent collected as this is not done daily only in the occurrences as listed above.
We were able to see where you were sent the notice that the tenant had not paid rent, they were also given notification on when court was filed and an attempt to set the right expectations on how the court process works this was done on September 13, 2017. The day of court October 12, 2017 our Support team notified the owner on the status of court once received that information from our court liaison. The owner was then notified on October 14, 2017 when the writ was filed. The owner was notified of the eviction scheduled for November 9, 2017. It appears they were getting frustrated with the process and how this has to take place. There was notification actually received from the tenant they were vacating from the property prior to the eviction. The owner requested that we remove them from the property because they were moving. Our Support Team explained the only thing we could do is post an abandonment notice on the front door, but still advised to have the eviction scheduled to ensure possession can be received no later than the 9th of November.
Abandonment notice was posted and possession was able to be received by November 1, 2017. In which the turn process began.
All vendors that RPM would recommend set their own pricing, and it not regulated by our office. You always have the option of hiring your own vendors not a preferred vendor from RPM. The quotes that were sent to you were for the tenant turn repairs, and if they were deemed as Tenant Damage you would receive the reimbursement back from the security deposit. Of course if you were not pleased with the pricing that given from the vendors we gathered estimates from, that other option of utilizing your own contractor was still available.
You are also able to decide if you would like to complete the repairs on your own. By law though you would not be able to charge the security deposit with time and labor only the cost of the materials to make the repairs. Again, RPM is not able to judge on the character of the tenant, it is unfortunate they were not able to work out for you, and RPM was working hard to get the review and repair estimates sent over as quickly as possible so that we may be able to get the property back on the market for rent and generating income for you.
The security deposit is held in escrow until the conclusion of the leased term. It was advised that the security deposit would be able to be charged for damages done on the property from the tenants, and not that any repairs caused by the tenants would be the responsibility of the homeowners. The funds for the repairs are not able to be taken out of the security deposit until the claim has been processed. This means that the repairs have been completed and invoiced. Ultimately, this does result in the homeowner having to submit funds upfront to have repairs completed at the property, and then they would get reimbursed from the deposit once the claim has been processed. Repairs that were completed by yourself you would be able to submit receipts for the cost of the materials so that this could be added as charges on the claim in which would get reimbursed back to you once the claim had been completed which is done within 45 days as per the VRLTA.
Per the management agreement when prematurely terminating the agreement there is a fee of 3 months management fees for terminating the contract. In this instance due to the improper expectations set on the operation of RPM and how other items have to be handled in dealing with the courts. RPM will agree to waive this termination fee, so that we may close out the management as smoothly as possible.
Regarding the pet at the property. The tenant signed an addendum stating that if there was evidence of the pet still existing in the property they would be responsible for remitting the funds equal to remainder of the pet rent that would be owed had they still had the pet residing in the property. Having sufficient evidence that pet still existed in the property would be physical evidence of the pet being there, or other items. Dog hair can be argued that it was never fully removed when the pet still resided in the property or was removed. It would be highly recommended from RPM not to make a charge on regarding the pet still existed in the property since there is not clear evidence that it had still remained there.
RPM sent notices to the tenant informing them the violation on having the bushes trimmed, and not parking their vehicles on the property along with cutting the grass on September 25, 2017 when RPM received notification from you. The tenant did view the notice and stated they were going to make sure these were taken care of. If there are damages requiring repair on these items they can be charged against the security deposit.
Thank you again for bringing these items to our attention. We wish nothing but the best in your future real estate endeavors.
Sincerely,
Real Property Management Hampton Roads

Cris ***
Property Manager
Real Property Management Hampton Roads
5394 Kemps River Dr. Ste:103
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
P: XXX-XXX-XXXX
F: XXX-XXX-XXXX