Rhyne Management Associates, Inc.

On May 2, 2014 we moved into an apartment in a 4 unit building managed by Rhyne Management. Once moved in, it became painfully obvious that the apartment was infested with roaches and was unhealthy to live in. I was not told that this problem existed. While there, Rhyne had the apartment sprayed several times but the roaches still returned. Only the apartment we were in was sprayed which accomplished nothing. I never unpacked our belongings but the roaches managed to get into the boxes. My child and I had to breathe the spray poison for several days. I spoke with Rhyne Management in person on Friday, May 9, 2014 and told them that me and my child could not live in an apartment with a roach infestation. I requested my deposit be returned and stopped payment on the May rent check. The cost of having to move out right after the cost of moving in has been a terrible financial burden. I've had to throw away belongings after finding roaches in the boxes; I've had to unpack and then re-pack to avoid carrying away roaches to infest another living space. There have been health worries, costs and labor associated with moving into this apartment that should not have occurred. Had I been told about the roach problem I would NOT have moved into the apartment.When I spoke with a Rhyne employee on May 9th she acknowledged the roach problem and said she thought it was no longer a problem. Someone needs to tell them that you cant get rid of roaches in a 4 plex by spraying one apartment. The man who sprayed said he suggested to Rhyne that all 4 apartments should be sprayed but they declined to do that. I have pictures and have documented this unhealthy, costly event.Desired SettlementI want my full deposit returned with no pro-rated fees taken out. I stopped payment on the first month's rent. If the total deposit paid is not returned, I will pursue a small claims suit and request full deposit, costs incurred moving out of a roach infested apartment 10 days after moving in, costs of throwing away belongings that roaches got into and costs of mental anguish worrying about my child breathing poison.Business Response /[redacted]/The following letter from one of the most reputable pest control companies in Wake County will detail the extent to which Rhyne Mgmt. went to void pests from the property prior to and following Ms. [redacted]'s report of roaches in the apartment:To: Rhyne ManagementFrom: [redacted] & Pest ControlDate: June 5th, 2014Subject: [redacted] Pest ControlTo whom it may concern,This document is in response to both a grievance that a previous tenant has filed with the Revdex.com against your office regarding pest control for a pre-existing german cockroach problem at the above mentioned address as well as a retort against a false statement this particular tenant has submitted to the Bureau on our behalf.To address the first issue, the Rhyne Management office submitted a work order for a pest control cleanout of recently vacated 2403 Sawmill Rd on February 7th, 2014. Upon arrival for the first treatment on February 11th our technician discovered an advanced case of german cockroach infestation in the unit (which requires multiple visits/treatments to eliminate). Subsequently we put this unit on our schedule for follow up treatments over the next few weeks (which were completed on 2/19, 3/3, and 3/13). Upon visual inspection on our final treatment on March 13th all looked well to our technician and this job was considered finished, upon which we contacted your office to proceed with cleaning/re-renting the unit. The issue seemed resolved over the next few weeks until your office staff contacted us on April 22nd to report that they had seen live roach activity in the unit once again. We responded to this call on April 24th for a final spray before the resident who has filed the complaint moved in over the following weekend. Upon move in this resident immediately began to have roach problems which she reported within the first few days. The Rhyne office provided us with the tenant information for contacting/scheduling a follow up visit. Through contact with the resident over the phone for coordinating her re-service our staff divulged the fact that this unit had suffered a significant infestation from the previous tenant that both ourselves and your office had been trying to remedy before her arrival. This information coupled with her roach situation (though minor at the time) prompted her to immediately terminate her lease and move out over the following weeks. Although the tenant had decided to move out we still proceeded to treat the unit for the problem on May 5th, 13th, and 19th. We also decided along with your office that it would be a good idea to inspect all of the surrounding units in that building to see if any of them had issues that needed attention or that could be contributing to 2403's problems. We completed these insections on May 13th upon which we found live german cockroach activity directly below 2403 in unit 2401. We immediately began treatment in this unit and to date it has been treated twice (on 5/19 and 5/29) and is due up for potentially its' last treatment on June 10th. The issue in 2403 now appears to be resolved and it is my professional opinion that the problem discovered later on in 2401 was a contributing factor to why it took so much time/effort to fix it. To address the second issue, the tenant has volunteered information to the Revdex.com that has incorrectly been taken out of context. Her statement of contention, and I quote, is as follows: "The man who sprayed said he suggested to Rhyne that all 4 units should be sprayed but they declined to do that." This statement is completely inaccurate, rather what was said to her is that our company would talk to your office and suggest inspecting the surrounding units for contributing problems since vacant units are typically easier to resolve than what 2403 was turning out to be. At the time of this conversation neither ourselves nor your office had any knowledge of any other units in that building having pest problems because we had not received any additional complaints. Here within lies the challenge of pest control when treating adjoining units, when they share walls problems can originate in areas we are not aware of and it is an added obstacle to try and correctly identify where the source of these problems come from in order to solve them. This concludes my full report on this issue, I hope it sheds some light on the path that has led us to where we are on the matter today. I like to remind everyone that both our pest control staff and your office staff do everything in our power to correctly identify and fix the problems we are faced with in a professional and timely manner, unfortunately not every case goes as smoothly as we would hope or anticipate. Thank you for your time and attention,[redacted]Pest Control Mgr, [redacted](XXX) XXX-XXXXon May 9th Ms. [redacted] was offered an option to turn in her keys and vacate the property with the understand that she would be released from all lease obligations and her security deposit would be refunded. On May 21st she signed an agreement confirming that she accepted this offer and her security deposit was refunded in full. She was not charged any prorated rent or any fees or penalties for the return and charge-back of her May rent check. To the best of know knowledge this issue is resolved. [redacted], Rhyne Mgmt.