Real Property Management - Phoenix Metro

Ms [redacted] has broken her second lease so per the lease signed has forfeited her deposit (See attached, paragraph 7). Deposit will be applied to any damages and unpaid rent until the lease expires or the property re-rents. We have to abide by the lease. Since she signed this lease directly with RPM as our policy when notice to vacate is received we send tenant move out information. We have documentation of previous condition of the property and expectations of move out condition are know.

The homeowner of [redacted] has said to not refund for cleaning, that is the only thing that has been withheld from the deposit outside of the outstanding charges on her tenant ledger (please review previous response with documentation). We did not know that she did not have the services of Mr [redacted] as previous contact had come from him and response made to him.

No additional money will be refunded to Ms [redacted] in regards to any disputes for the property at Irwin.

We have remarketed the property on [redacted] and have an approved application. We will only charge Ms [redacted] the rent until the day a new lease begins. Any additional deposit after the unpaid rent is covered and any damages repaired will be refunded to her.

We have provided extensive documentation regarding both matters.

Mr [redacted] rented a property located at [redacted] Ln starting January 9th, 2015. Attached please find a copy of the lease signed. Per paragraph 7 of the lease it clearly states that the "If the Lessee vacates unit prior to the end of this leases, Lessee will be responsible for rents and...

other fees per this agreement through the end of the lease period, or until the unit is re-rented to a qualified lessee, whichever comes first. If Lessor re-markets the property for rent on behalf of Lessee Lessee agrees to pay a re-advertising fee of $149." Paying the $149 does not release the Lessee from the lease it only covers the cost to re-advertise the property for rent. There is a form that we ask tenants to sign if they do want the property re-advertised for rent that Mr [redacted] failed to sign and return so the property was not advertised prior to him vacating and returning keys on 9/24/15. Unfortunately upon completing the move out inspection the house was not in a condition that we could advertises the property (see attached inspection completed 9/29/15 1252pm). As far as notifying the owner of Mr [redacted] breaking the lease. When Mr [redacted] gave his notice on 8/21/15 the owner was notified that the tenant had given notice to vacate. Then when Mr [redacted] returned keys the owner was notified that keys had been returned by the tenant. Finally an estimate for repairs was mailed to the owner of the property on October 5th. The owner has failed to get the property ready or respond to my office regarding the estimate. Unfortunately, without the owner getting the property ready or releasing Mr [redacted] from the lease our hands are tied in regards to the property. The security deposit was applied to outstanding rents and that money is owed to the owner since the tenant was still in a lease and responsible for the rents until the lease expires or the property re-rents. Because of the condition the property was in at the time of move in we did not penalize Mr [redacted] for any damages from his security deposit.

We have a fiduciary responsibility to the owner client of the property.  Within our contract with the owner of this particular property, we have the obligation to forward all repair requests to the owner.  If the owner can not complete the repair, they are to notify us and we have...

authorization to complete the repair.  In this particular instance, the work order repair request was sent to the owner and they in turn sent out an individual to complete the repair.  The tenant did not let the repair person in to complete the repair.  It appears the tenants did not know the repair person was coming on this particular weekend day.  On Monday RPM notified the owner that we would assign an internal tech to complete the repair to expedite a solution.  The owner of the property granted RPM approval to do so.  On Wednesday, November 19 2014, the garbage disposal was replaced for the tenant.

Mr [redacted] was the first tenant we had placed in the property. While it was marketed "as is" the owner assured us that certain repairs would be completed. However, the owner failed to take action on those items once the tenant was in place. Now knowing that nothing will be repaired once a tenant is in place we can not risk renting the property again until the needed repairs are done.That being said I agree 100% that the tenant left the property in better condition than he received it in. RPM is not going to pursue any future rents that might be due by Mr [redacted] for breaking the lease. We feel the owner has failed to meet the obligations on the care of the property while Mr [redacted] lived in the property and now after Mr [redacted] has vacated the property. The owner has failed to respond to us despite multiple attempts through a variety of mediums (phone, text, and regular mail). We have even tried contacting known family members of the home owner to try and elicit a response. While we can't refund the security deposit because it is technically owed to the owner we are not willing to pursue any collection attempts against any future rents owed.

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 will wait for the business to perform this action and will consider this complaint resolved, IF any and all future maintenance issues are acknowledged and addressed in a timely manner.

Regards,

We have reviewed the move out charges.  We have attached the charges from the tenant ledger.  The charges are noted on the tenant ledger and below:

$200 non refundable pet fee

$175 cleaning

$25 light bulbs

$52.49 repair master door

We have...

attached the detailed move out report as well.  This particular property owner has their own contracting crews and require RPM to send funds to the them so they may schedule the work.  The owner has the right to do none of the work or do more work as compared to what is notated on the move out report.  Based on this information, we would not refund any of the charges.

Hello,

On January 3rd, 2014, [redacted], gave Real Property Management Phoenix Metro written notice that should would be breaking her lease due to her

purchasing a house. Our office informed her, as we do anyone who is breaking their lease, of the forthcoming...

consequences of doing so and that we will

inform the owner. Anytime a tenant breaks their lease that is an automatic forfeiture of the entire security deposit. At that point, the tenant is still

fully responsible for the rent until the property is re-rented or until the end of the lease, which in this case, is March 31st, 2014. Only at that

point is the tenant free from further rental obligations. However, this does not remove any liabilities of the tenant for damages to the property,

outstanding late fees, or any past shortages of rent.  The tenant did pay February’s rent as she agreed to do so. The owner did not give RPM the approval to immediately re-market the property for rent, because they were contemplating putting the property up for sale.

 

 The owner was attempting to create a fair plan to allow the tenant to just pay an additional $250 to cover some of the damages to the property along with forfeiting her deposit of $1,000. The owners, however, brought to my attention that they were charged for bed bug treatments totaling $430.00 that they saw on

their owner statement in January, 2014. After investigating this further, and discussing the situation with our legal counsel, it was determined that the

tenants were completely responsible for the 4 bed bug treatments for the following reasons:

1. This is a Single Family Home. No other units are attached, nor does it share a common wall with any other units. Only the tenants could have brought the bed bugs inside.

2. The house was partially remodeled prior to the tenants taking possession of the property and this included all new interior paint, carpeting and padding.

3. The tenants moved into this property on March 15th, 2013 and on October 22nd, 2013 they called in a work order stating that they thought they had bed bugs in two

bedrooms. This was seven months after they moved in, so how could this be an owner responsibility on a single family home? Our attorney confirmed this.

4. It states in the tenant’s lease that they are responsible for pest control (Item 30, page 3 of their lease).

 

The owner then asked me to complete an inspection of the property and we attempted to schedule this with the tenant, but I was told that she couldn’t make it during the day and that “it probably doesn’t matter at this point”. After completing the inspection I had flagged the following issues: 

1. Weed growth in the front and backyards. Weeds and exterior landscaping are the tenant’s responsibility and is stated in their lease (Item 29, page 2 of their lease).

2. There were several areas of the walls where some damage occurred. It also appears as though someone attempted to patch these areas, but the end result was poor. There was also a large hole patched in a door that was also not acceptable. As stated above, this property was fully repainted just prior to the tenants taking possession.

3. I also noticed that the microwave air filters (2 Underside of microwave) were very dirty, as they get when cooking, and needed to be replaced.

 

Full move-out instructions are given to each tenant that is vacating one of our properties. These instructions talk about charges they will incur if these items are not taken care of. These instructions are in addition to the normal items they were responsible for on the lease that they signed. If a specific item is not stated on the move-out

instructions, the tenant would still be responsible for the items listed in the lease. That is the legal document that they originally signed and doesn’t devoid them from any of those responsibilities.  The tenant wanted to turn the keys in because she didn’t want the responsibility of the house sitting vacant and could get vandalized and, also, so we could try to re-rent the property.

 

In closing, I have reconfirmed with our attorney that the tenant is responsible for March’s rent, loses all of her security deposit, and is fully responsible for the cost of repairs and the bed beg treatment.  We have full and complete documentation of the inspection depicting these repairs as well as the tenant’s fully executed lease stating her responsibilities.  With that in mind, RPM shall seek full restitution for the following amounts from the tenant:

 

$1,035.00 = March Rent (Lease ends 3-31-14)

$    430.00 = 4 Bed Bug Treatments

$    199.00 = Front and Rear Landscaping

$    120.00 = Drywall repairs and paint touch-ups

$      20.00 = Replace microwave air filters and clean underside

$1,804.00 = Actual Corrected Amount

($1,000.97) = Less Security Deposit of $1,000 plus a $.97 overpayment

$    803.03 = Total Owed By Tenant

 

Overall, [redacted] and [redacted] were good tenants and we are always happy when a tenant can purchase their own home. It’s unfortunate when things turn out this way, though.

 

Regards,

 

Mr [redacted] submitted notice of move out on April 1, 2014 through email. [redacted] responded to his email with move out instructions (see attached “Email – Move Out Instructions”). On 4/22/14 a move out inspection was with our maintenance manager [redacted] (see attached “Inspection – [redacted]...

[redacted]”). The security deposit was dispensed on 4/25/14, Mr [redacted] sent an email on 5/5/14 disputing the charges against his deposit. After researching the disputes we found that the charges against the deposit where correct except for Light Bulbs $5 and we adjusted cleaning charge to $150 to account for the oven being dirty as noted on his move in inspection (see attached “[redacted], [redacted]-Mailed Response”). All documentation (move in inspection, move out inspection, revised disposition of deposit and letter with explanation) was sent to Mr [redacted] on 5/14/14. We have tried to explain the charges but he has not been willing to accept any responsibility. There was a lot of dog poop in the backyard, junk left in cabinets and drawers,trash on the side of the house, landscaping was not maintained, interior of the home required additional cleaning in order to make it rent ready. On the move out instructions it clearly states expectations, it is also on his lease addendum (see attached “[redacted] Lease”pg.6). He did not leave the house in rent ready condition and is responsible for the charges to have the work done.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10032894, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

First of all I am no longer being represented by [redacted] Attorney at Law. If necessary, I will refer to alternate counsel regarding this matter.

Regarding the matter of [redacted] W. [redacted] Ave, I did not receive direct notification of the offer to reimburse landscape fees of $199. I was forwarded the response at a much later date, and it was not acceptable as there was still the matter of the balance of $100 owed on my pet deposit, reimbursement of the professional carpet cleaning service of $108.10, and I was in disagreement with the property inspection. The documentation from the inspection was quite extensive and could have only been adequately performed by a hired cleaning service, not an everyday clean tenant such as myself. It identified things like dust on windowsills, and juice stain on walls which was clearly false based on my own photos. I feel the funds indicated are still owed to me, since I was charged a full cleaning fee of $240. If the intent was to charge the cleaning fee regardless of tenant effort, then it should have been clearly outlined. It was a waste of time and money to try to meet a requirement that was not going to be accepted regardless. I was accused of damaging property (i.e. blinds) which I did not do. Most of the blinds and windows downstairs were damaged upon move-in. When I realized this, I documented everything and reported it to the property managers at that time ([redacted]). The windows were repaired downstairs and most of the blinds; however, there were a few that were not and I switched them with others upstairs, so they were less visible (one had broken strings due to sun damage and the other due to animal bites).

The issues that were indicated related to the property at [redacted] S. [redacted] Dr. were not isolated matters from the issues mentioned at [redacted] W. Irwin, they were compounded. As a result of how I was treated and the botchery of the contract issue and invalid fees or withheld deposits, I had to address the matters of concern. I invested a great

deal of money to ensure my transition from both of the properties managed by RPM. I had no reason to expect that the situation would turn out in the matter that it had. Initially, nearly every dollar of my deposit on the first property was accounted for in fees, and the only reimbursement was for a few days of early move-out which was also documented incorrectly. It should not have taken several emails, follow-up calls, and photos to prove was the truth. To date this is still a matter of debate.

The issue regarding the security deposit did not occur until weeks after the move. On the day I went to their office to pay the rent for the month of March, I received the first check from them. The only reason I came to the office was because I learned that the rent check automatically sent from my bank was lost in the mail. From that point on I paid rent via cashier's check and delivered it myself to their office. I wanted to avoid any issues with unnecessary late fees, as they had been assessed previously unknowing to me. 

I feel that all of my complaints were valid, however the business chose to address them independently only after verbal/written complaints from myself and separate ounsel. Their legal counsel was hired only in response to the issues at [redacted] S. [redacted] Dr which by themselves are not taken very seriously. The matters of cleaning and repair were not ongoing, and were resolved by myself the day that I moved in. The issue with overflowing trash, and recycling was addressed with the City of Phoenix to have the debris removed. The fact is that I was not offered a Move-In Inspection at all, and did not know they expected me to request one. The cleaning and other maintenance needs that were required should have taken place as a matter of regular business for a property management company to perform in preparation of renting any property to a new

tenant.  This did NOT take place for me. The only action they have been consistent on is accepting my money (Earnest Deposit paid in January, full rent for month of February on prior property, balance of deposit paid recent property in mid-February, and the rent payments to date), and clarifying their rights. All the issues that were addressed in the response from their counsel placed blame solely upon me, and the company claims no obligation or responsibility in the issues. The problem here is that

the company seems to have all the power and the tenant has none. They are perfectly within their right to penalize me for what they determined was an unclean property at the [redacted] address, and any other fee for either property, as well as threats of escalation on any matter as they deem fit.

  

I was told that it was my responsibility to contact RPM with my issue, but it was irrelevant to do so since I had to taken care of the matters myself in order to place my furniture and utilize the bathrooms in a sanitary condition. I did send an email to [redacted] with pictures of the garbage and recycling, but I had no expectancy for

anything to be done. The maintenance support call line have not been very consistent in the past. When you call in, they provide a work order# which is their only reference to a tenant issue, but often they have no record of the report. There have been some responses with a service call and other times there has not. I recently called to report issues with scorpions and roaches. After a few weeks, there was still no service call. I had already purchased insecticide to help with this matter, but it was ineffective.

After receiving their counsel response on May 1st, I submitted my 30 day notice the next day. Given the entirety of the circumstances, and the rashness of their legal counsel

response, I determined to not do business with RPM any further, as I feel there would be no justice. I received an almost immediate response that my notice had been received and attachments were provided with Move Out Instructions, Checklist, and reference to schedule Move-Out inspection. The instructions did not indicate anything related to landscaping, however it did indicate that the property should be clean and trash/recycling emptied. I did not receive any Move-Out instructions from the [redacted] property. My only reference was the email from the property manager telling me that the property needed to be in rent-ready condition, carpets professionally cleaned

and receipt provided for reimbursement, as well as turn in keys/remote. I performed the duties to the best of my ability, and met with an inspector on May 12th. He simply took the keys, remote, asked if I had any questions, and if everything was functional. He said that I should be receiving my deposit in about 14 days and that was all.

This entire matter has put me in a severe financial situation and has been a very expensive lesson which I hope in time to recuperate from. At this time, I have no idea or

assurance as to whether or not my deposits of any amount will be returned to me related to these properties. I lived at this last address for almost 3 months, and 18 months at the prior property. I did not anticipate these circumstances at all. This has been a severely distressing situation, as I have had no property issues in the past, and have rented homes of immense value compared to the ones addressed here, and I have never been treated so poorly. As a tenant, clearly there is no respect or value. I just want to live in peace, and be treated fairly.

Regards,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

In order to review this complaint further I would need additional information such as the property address interested in. All of our properties are individually owned and in some cases owners decide to raise the rent after advertising has begun. [redacted] works on a commission and it is in his...

best interest to find a qualified applicant as soon as possible. Our fiduciary duty is to the owner and any one interested in applying for the property is able to do so either in our office, online, or with paper applications received. There are also multiple agents working in the office and our inventory is open to all agents so an individual agent is not able to control who gets a property, further agents do not control approval of applications rather it is given to a manager for approval so that there can be no cause for discrimination or favoritism as it is an unbiased person reviewing applications and making approvals based on set criteria. With the current market we are seeing 2-3 applications being received on each property and it can be frustrating for prospects, in many cases we see prospects applying for a homes that they have never seen just because inventory is so limited which is why the property owners have decided to start raising rents.

Upon review of the move out walk through, we transmit the inspection document with photos to the ownership group of the property.  The ownership group has their own general contractor that organizes any and all work for the complex.  Once the funds are witheld from the deposit and itemized, we send the funds to the ownership group.  It is their discretion of what to do with the funds.  They are not required to complete the repairs upon move out or they can use the funds and make improvements to the property, it is their discretion.  The charges were itemized for 1/2 the pet deposit, bulbs, cleaning and door damage repair. Thus the charges stand.

This is our final response.  We do not own the property.  The funds are not ours.  We are hired by the property owner and work with them on move out conditions and once the final checklist is completed and submitted, we forward funds to the property owner as they use their own contractors to perform the work and they determine what scope of work they want to perform.  They have the right to leave the property "as-is" or they can spend more money and make major improvements.  As the owner, they have these choices.

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.

I am not satisfied with this response because the original work order was put in on the 24th of JULY and it wasn't until the 19th of November that the repair was made.  As you stated in your response, you have an obligation to inform the owner of any repairs needed, but you never followed up.  I scheduled a repair for 11/17 and no one showed up.  But someone DID show up, unannounced and inconveniently on Saturday, November 15th, which is against the Arizona Revised Statutes.  The owner, (or it's representative - YOU), need to contact the tenant before dropping in.  The e-mail correspondence between myself and [redacted] on the 17th, after no one showed up to make the repair was fruitless.  I wanted to know WHEN we could get someone out to make the repair and WHY it hadn't happened, and she did not offer any type of help whatsoever.  It wasn't until I received a quote for repair of the disposal the next day, and then threatened to deduct it from December's rent, after I filed this complaint, and then made contact with the owner myself, did I get a suitable response from your office that you'd send your repair man. In this particular instance, and ALL other instances with many of the tenants that rent homes with RPM (as indicated by the MANY unsatisfactory reviews left on yelp.com, your [redacted] page, and elsewhere) your company dropped the ball.  A 3 month wait to get things repaired is outrageous!!  The personal comments made by your staff is horrendous.  The customer service, or lack there of, is embarrassing all together.  Big changes need to happen at RPM, and a lame "we made the repair" doesn't fix the aggravation and annoyance you have caused us, and many others.   You need to make changes to your procedures and have your employees follow up, not just with the tenant, but in this case the OWNER, to make sure the repairs are done in a timely manner, because it ultimately is your company in hot water if you neglect bigger, more important things, as you have done in the past.

Regards,

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,

 

 

1.   

 I will

address the bed bud issue, I reviewed the bed bug paper from RPM which states

to call the company and do not try to treat them yourself, so I did as

instructed and notified RPM.  The next

day I received a phone from a pest control service letting me know they were

coming out to spray for bed bugs, I asked them how much is this and I was

informed that the company would be paying for it.  And yes I am aware that it is the tenets responsibility

to cover pest control services, but when the tenant is told the company is

paying for it by the pest control company, and we were never notified to pay

for these services, at this point RPM assumed responsibility for this bill not

the tenant.  RPM attempting to charge me

for services that you agreed to pay for is a great example of unethical and

unscrupulous business practices.

The owner then asked me to

complete an inspection of the property and we attempted to schedule this with

the tenant, but I was told that she couldn’t make it during the day and that

“it probably doesn’t matter at this point”. After completing the inspection I

had flagged the following issues:  

I will

address the statement of the owner asking the company to complete an inspection

and me ([redacted] reporting that I will not be there):  I received these email from [redacted] the maintenance

staff, the first email was to inform me of the inspection time and date, the

second email was to inform me that the owner was not doing a move out

inspection.  RPM needs to keep in mind

before the attempt to slander me with and accuse me of false accusations; I

have these emails to present at any time.

(This

is the first email sent to me by [redacted] the maintenance staff):

[redacted],

An inspection at the property located at ** W. [redacted] has

been scheduled for tomorrow  February 6th @ 2pm. You have the right to be

present at the inspection. 

Please note that we do have 14 business day to send a deposition

statement. In regards to the owners decision to re-rent it or not, it is up to

the owner to decide on what they would like to do with their property. 

Regards, 

 

 

(This

is the email sent to me on the day of the inspection)

Hi

[redacted],

I am not sure if you were going to be at the property for the

inspection. Unfortunately, per the owners request. We will not be doing the

move out inspection until further notice. 

Regards,  

 

I

was told I have the right to be there for the inspection however RPM never

notified me when the inspection was to take place.

 

2.   

I will address the landscaping:  Upon moving to the property the landscaping was

horrible and I was told that I had to pay to have the landscaping completed,

however in spite of this I still agreed to pay the initial money that was asked

of me when I was asked to forfeit my deposit and pay the 250.00 for landscaping

and drywall repair.  Again this is

another example of unethical and unscrupulous business practices.

3.   

I will address the damage to the drywall; I was

forthcoming that there was a hole in the bathroom door that had been patched

up, that is the only damage that was done to the property, the bathroom door

retails for 35.00 at home depot if you chose to paint the whole house then that

was your choice but not my responsibility, had I been there for the inspection

that I was never informed about, I could have addressed this issue then.  Line 35, Tenant may be present at move out

inspection, I was not able to present because I was never notified out move out

inspection.  Again another example of unethical

and unscrupulous business practices.   

 

4.   

 I will

address the statement about me not paying the rent in February:  This is the capture from my bank for February

rent, again this documentation is readily available that shows rent was paid

for February.  Again another example of unethical

and unscrupulous business practices and attempt RPM making to slander me name.

  02/04/2014  

[redacted] Debit

RPM Phoenix Metr WEB PMTS CM5D WEB

ID: [redacted]

$1,038.50  

 

5.   

 I will

address the condition of the home when I move in and how RPM maintained the

home while was living there.  Upon out

move we noted a whole in the master bedroom that had been poorly patch and

painted over.  The blinds had missing

planks, the kitchen drawers had been attempted to be crazy glues and were

falling off again, the toilet leaked and this leaked never got fixed, the tub

drains had corrosion on them, the socket in the kitchen was cracked, there were

burn marks on the kitchen counter, the garage floor had paint and tar on it,

and the paint was damaged, the refrigerator door was broken.  The refrigerator was not in working order, and

I placed several maintenance orders for it to be repaired.   The temperature in the refrigerator was

usually at 50 degrees which meant I have lost hundreds of dollars as a result

of having to throw away food, and I was never provided with a working refrigerator

during the time I rent a home with RPM.   When I addresses the issues of me having to

throw away food constantly RPM told me to file an insurance claim with renters insurance.  Ironically this house is now listed on a few

websites for sale and it reported that appliances in this home are less than 6

months old, as the former tenant I can honestly say these appliances are not

less than 6 months old.    Also I never mentioned anything about not

wanting to house sit a vacant house, and from my house searching I learned that

empty houses have issues with becoming vandalized, and I would never wish for

such a thing to happen to any house. 

 

RPM continues to charge me unjustifiable fee’s,

they failed to provide us with working appliances, they have attempted to

provide false statements about me not paying my rent, and the only unfortunately

thing is that we were great tenets who made the mistake of dealing with a

dishonest, unethical and unscrupulous business.

There was no dispute as to if February rent was paid, we stated that rent was paid. What was unpaid was March 2013 rent. Attached please find a copy of the Ms [redacted]’s lease which states that tenant is responsible for the rent until the property re-rents or lease expires and that if they vacate prior to the end of the lease they forfeit deposit (paragraph 7). This documentation is validation of the charge of $1020 on her disposition of deposit (see attached). Upon move in tenants are instructed to return a move ininspection form within 10 days to accurately document the condition of the property and any damages. Many items were documented showing their thoroughness in completing the form. It does not make mention of any issues with the landscaping, pests, or hood filter on the microwave being dirty. If items had been noted then they would not have been responsible for the charges at move out ($20 for hood filter, $199 for landscaping, and $120 for fixing the door and replacing it). While a door might cost $35 at home depot Ms [redacted] needs to be aware that in order for us to make a repair we have to hire someone to fix the item(s) in question. It is always cheaper for a tenant to take care of the item(s) themselves and is preferred so as to avoid issues such as this. Although the inspection scheduled for 2/6/14 was cancelled per the owner another inspection was scheduled for 2/7/14 and Ms [redacted] informed but she was not able to make it. Due to limited constraints with meeting the homeowners demands we did not have the ability to reschedule an inspection at a time convenient to the tenant. We can not refuse the tenant be present at the move out inspection which is their legal right however the tenants responsibility is to be available if they desire to be there. We try to work with tenants moving out to make it as convenient as possible for tenants to attend but where unable to accommodate the tenants requests at the time. Outside of the March 2013 rent of $1020 and the damages in the amount of $339 the only other charges assessed was $430 for bed bug treatment. If a tenant reports a bed bug problem we have a legally duty to have it treated. In determining who is responsible for the cost of treatment (always after a treatment is done) we refer to how long a tenant has lived at the property, if there has been any past reports of bedbugs and if the property could have been infested by an adjoining unit. The pest control company contracted to treat the bedbugs would not have that information to make a determination as to who is financially responsible for the cost of treatment. Instead, they bill us, so from that standpoint what they told Ms [redacted] is correct. However, their billing us does not absolve the tenant from responsibility for the cost of treatment. In many of these cases the cost does not get reimbursed to the owner or us until a tenant vacates and it is withheld from their security deposit. Even though we are justified in the charges assessed again Ms [redacted] and Mr [redacted] we would like to offer a resolution to put this matter to rest. According to the disposition of deposit (attached) once charges have been assessed again the tenants security deposit they have a current outstanding balance of $788.03. We are willing to waive $788.03 in charges. This will bring the tenants account to a zero balance with nothing owed. If this resolution is acceptable to Ms [redacted] then we will send a revised disposition of depositshowing a zero balance and update her tenant account.

After leasing with this Property Management for 2 years I positioned myself to buy a home. I was given a standard form to renew my lease and selected 6 months at first of which I signed and submitted that form. 2 week later I found out I was able to purchase a home so I submitted another form asking them to retract my 6 month renewal and to please allow me to continue month to month. They said the owner had the right of refusal and did not permit to accept my request. I disputed this with them and told them it was not fair to make me live here against my will. So please beware when dealing with this property company as the Lease specifically does not indicate anything on this matter and forced it on the tenant. To the point of which is illegal since no language on the lease indicates such a power of the tenant. So I am now stuck at this rental for another 6 months which force me to be financially strained as I work on acquiring my own home at the same time.

This property was a good to work with up until this point which caused a major issue and concern as a form of representation.

Review: RPM Phoenix Metro is withholding $300 of my security deposit on a property I rented from April 2011 thru April 2015. They are claiming there was a smoke smell left behind. The receipt for air cleaning they sent me via email I opened on May 28th at 5:00 PM. It was dated May 28th at 6:00 PM. I was also assured multiple times that I would receive a copy of their inspectors report. It is now 1 1/2 months later and after repeated inquiries, I have received nothing. I left this property in spotless condition. I also scrubbed the walls, laundered the drapes and had the carpets professionally cleaned. I have full photographic documentation to that effect.Desired Settlement: I just want the rest of my security deposit refunded. As it should be.

Business

Response:

Mr [redacted] rented a property at [redacted] from May 1st, 2011 through May 1, 2015. The property was inspection on May 1st where it is noted that there was a strong smoke smell in the property. Attached please find a copy of the move out inspection noting the smoke smell along with a copy of the lease. Per line 28 of the lease smoking is not permitted in the unit. The owner informed RPM on May 5 that they were going to have a treatment done for the smoke smell by Pure Air Treatment for $300 and wanted to cost deducted from the tenant deposit since smoking was not permitted in the unit. On May 12th we dispensed the deposit from the tenants account and provided a disposition of deposit (attached) that shows what was received in deposit and what items are being deducted for damages (in this case $300 for smoke smell). On May 24th Mr [redacted] wrote a letter disputing the damages and asked for a receipt (see Attached along with receipt for smoke smell). We requested one from the home owner since they contracted the work themselves. On May 28th the owner forwarded a receipt from [redacted] in the amount of $300. This receipt does have invoice as [redacted] This email was forwarded to the tenant on May 28th at 4:12pm. While Mr [redacted] might not like the receipt it was what was provided by the homeowner. It also lists the business name and phone number so if he has questions as to what was done he could contact them directly.Had the property not smelt like smoke Mr [redacted] would have received a full refund of his deposit. However, the owners did have to get the treatment done in order to remove the smell.

Consumer

Response:

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.

The 4 added documents "additional" do not display.I have attached an email sent to me by one [redacted] the same day RPM-Phoenix Metro responded to this complaint. Please note, they did not send the inspection report until after a complaint was filed with the Revdex.com.I never questioned the address on the receipt pasted into an email sent to me. What I did question is why the date was the same date it was sent to me (5/28) and why the time was AFTER it was sent to me. Ms. [redacted] did not address that at all.Ms. [redacted] is certain there was smoking in the unit. I can assure you, Ms. [redacted] never came to that property while I lived there. The only RPM representative that did was their quarterly inspector. On every occasion the quarterly inspector came out, I was present. At no time did that inspector say it smelled like smoke at all. He even showed me his notes on all occasions. Nothing. In fact, he brought one of the owners of this property with him on one occasion. Yet, I am to believe that after all my smoke saturated belongings have been removed and the place was cleaned floor to ceiling and the carpets were professionally cleaned, the stench was so prominent (the very next day), it warrented large capital letters from their final inspector: STRONG SMOKE ODOR PRESENT RECOMMEND ODOR BOMB.RPM has always claimed it was the owners that complained and say the "receipt" came from the owners own doing and they will not supply the actual receipt provided on the day of service, yet there it was right on MAY 1 in big capital letters. Let's keep in mind it took them a Revdex.com complaint to actually send out the inspection report. I'd love to see the modified date on that file. Ms. [redacted] assures me in her email that it came right out of the system. I guess that means it couldn't possibly be modified to fit the narrative.

Regards,

Business

Response:

We do complete periodic inspections on the property. Attached are copies of the inspections. Starting July 24, 2014 it is noted that it smelt like tenant might be smoking in the property. Again, smoking is not permitted in the unit which is in the lease. The owner had every right to charge for the ozone treatment at move out to get rid of the smoke smell. The tenant was in violation of the lease when he smoked in the unit. Had the tenant not smoked in the unit this would not have been an issue. Both the property inspection, field manager and owner noted the smoke smell. No refund will be given as the owner paid for the treatment and the money withheld from the deposit was given to the owner to cover that cost.

Review: I don't know where to start...

I am out of carrots and I am out of sticks with this "management" company....

I previously submitted a complaint here regarding the move in condition and lack of service and support from this company, (i.e., Broken windows, no door locks, no heat for 3 days in February) - that was only 7 months ago, and here I am making another complaint with regard to their customer service yet again.

On 7/24/14 - A work order was submitted including many different items - but in particular the garbage disposal.

on 9/12/14 - A Second work order was submitted with regard to the garbage disposal as we STILL had not heard back from anyone.

on 10/2/14 - We followed up with the repair of the garbage disposal as we had not heard back from anyone and we were told they would look into it.

on 11/5/14 - I followed up on the SEVERAL OPEN work orders as we STILL had not heard back from anyone.

on 11/6/14 - After a few rude emails from [redacted] containing her personal thoughts and assumptions with regard to everything from complaints made in work orders, to my personal relationships, I was told to submit yet ANOTHER work order to get the garbage disposal repaired. I then requested to be provided with the owner's contact information in order to contact them directly regarding the repairs and I was ignored.

on 11/11/14 - I submitted a THIRD work order to get the garbage disposal fixed and received a confirmation that the work order was received and to contact [redacted] if I had not heard from anyone within 48 hours.

on 11/13/14 - I contacted [redacted] to inform her that we had not heard from anyone regarding the disposal. [redacted] replied and said the owner had tried 3 times to come out and fix the garbage disposal with no response, however no one contacted either lessee, or even came by the house as no note was left. She also asked when would be a good time to schedule their handyman in. I asked [redacted] what their method of contact was, as I suspect they never actually contacted the owner, and I received no answer. I then let her know that we would be available on Monday, November 17th, at 11 am for repair. [redacted] responded saying that she would contact me if this date and time would not work for the handyman.

on 11/17/14 - Unsurprisingly, no handyman came to fix the garbage disposal. I contacted [redacted], [redacted], and the owner, [redacted] ([redacted] had been copied on several prior emails regarding this issue and has made no attempt to reach out), to inform them that no one had come out, and again, no one had contacted us regarding the repair that was supposed to be made. [redacted] apologized, however, she could have taken steps to avoid the situation. She stated she had not heard back from the owners regarding the date and time of the proposed repair, but she never contacted me to inform me that the repair would not happen.

We are fed up with the lack of accountability, the lack of communication, the audacity and sheer laziness of the customer service employees. It feels that when work orders are submitted, the employees simply email them to the owner, and then never follow up again, unless pressured by a tenant, however, RPM's duty is to be a liaison between owners and tenants, and they absolutely are not doing that.

The whole rental experience with this company has been a nightmare even described by [redacted] himself as "the move-in from hell". We're at our wits end with it.

There are other complaints I could make, specifically with regard to the rental contract - why is only 1/2 my pet deposit refundable if the pets haven't damaged anything? ARS states the reason must be stated in the lease, and there isn't one to be found.Desired Settlement: [redacted] needs to make big changes. I am not the only tenant in their thousands of rental properties having issues with slow response times and lack of service. He stated to me previously, in a separate incident unnoted, that the wait time for repair is 3 months because he does not have the help. Staff change is a possible outcome, but he obviously needs to hire more employees to keep up with the work. He also, again, as I stated in my last complaint, needs to make sure his employees are following up with open work orders. They keep saying it is not the "procedure" to follow up, but it should be. I shouldn't need to send a bunch of emails checking on the status of a 4 month old work order.

Business

Response:

We have a fiduciary responsibility to the owner client of the property. Within our contract with the owner of this particular property, we have the obligation to forward all repair requests to the owner. If the owner can not complete the repair, they are to notify us and we have authorization to complete the repair. In this particular instance, the work order repair request was sent to the owner and they in turn sent out an individual to complete the repair. The tenant did not let the repair person in to complete the repair. It appears the tenants did not know the repair person was coming on this particular weekend day. On Monday RPM notified the owner that we would assign an internal tech to complete the repair to expedite a solution. The owner of the property granted RPM approval to do so. On Wednesday, November 19 2014, the garbage disposal was replaced for the tenant.

Consumer

Response:

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.

I am not satisfied with this response because the original work order was put in on the 24th of JULY and it wasn't until the 19th of November that the repair was made. As you stated in your response, you have an obligation to inform the owner of any repairs needed, but you never followed up. I scheduled a repair for 11/17 and no one showed up. But someone DID show up, unannounced and inconveniently on Saturday, November 15th, which is against the Arizona Revised Statutes. The owner, (or it's representative - YOU), need to contact the tenant before dropping in. The e-mail correspondence between myself and [redacted] on the 17th, after no one showed up to make the repair was fruitless. I wanted to know WHEN we could get someone out to make the repair and WHY it hadn't happened, and she did not offer any type of help whatsoever. It wasn't until I received a quote for repair of the disposal the next day, and then threatened to deduct it from December's rent, after I filed this complaint, and then made contact with the owner myself, did I get a suitable response from your office that you'd send your repair man. In this particular instance, and ALL other instances with many of the tenants that rent homes with RPM (as indicated by the MANY unsatisfactory reviews left on yelp.com, your [redacted] page, and elsewhere) your company dropped the ball. A 3 month wait to get things repaired is outrageous!! The personal comments made by your staff is horrendous. The customer service, or lack there of, is embarrassing all together. Big changes need to happen at RPM, and a lame "we made the repair" doesn't fix the aggravation and annoyance you have caused us, and many others. You need to make changes to your procedures and have your employees follow up, not just with the tenant, but in this case the OWNER, to make sure the repairs are done in a timely manner, because it ultimately is your company in hot water if you neglect bigger, more important things, as you have done in the past.

Regards,

Business

Response:

We did receive approval from the owner to complete the repair ourselves in lieu of the owner sending his contractors to the property in an attempt to avoid further delays. We replaced the disposal with a new unit on November 19th. Indeed, an open work order submitted to our owner/client three months ago is not the expectation we have. As a company, we process 10,000 work orders annually and have over 3,000 occupants living in the 1000+ homes we manage. We will always strive to improve performance from a systems, procedures and employee performance standpoint. If we see a negative pattern developing we will always look to make changes to improve the performance. The tenants comments have been noted in the past and we have modified some of the procedures and staff she has mentioned and will always look to be better.

RPM Mangangement has been so far a very positive experience for me and my family. When I put in a repair request it was tended to in a timely manner. The real agent that showed us the house was wonderful. I have been a tenant for almost 4 months and they communicate through email and through their tenant portal which I like very much. So far so good and I really don't forsee any future problems (but they are only human).