River Valley Property Management

Review: [redacted], Owner of River Valley Property Management Company hired a fraudulent company to clean a house that we were renting from her company. On July 15, 2014 [redacted] sent me an email with an attachment with instructions on how to clean the house before move out. The attachment was a multiple page document that stated everything in the home that needed to be cleaned. I spent 5 hours cleaning the house and completing every last item on the list before moving out. On 7/21/14 during a walk through with [redacted]'s associate, [redacted], I was told that the house was cleaned to the appropriate standard and nothing more needed to be done. After moving out of the home we received an invoice from a cleaning company charging us $350 for cleaning. The company that was hired by [redacted] had the police called on them twice due to not having a key and attempting to break into the house. The company claims that they cleaned the house for over 15 hours. The house is only 1650 square feet and was thoroughly cleaned before the tenants moved out. [redacted] knew or should have known that these charges are fraudulent and there is no way that it could take a company 15 hours to clean such a small house that was already cleaned to the appropriate standard. I have pictures of what the house looked like when I completed cleaning. [redacted] is also trying to charge me for garbage and sewage bills that our lease plainly states we cannot be charged for. [redacted] charged us for late fees on a water bill that she was in charge of paying on time, not the tenant. [redacted] has taken $745 from our deposit that is not right. She attempted to charge us for paint when we lived in the home for 2 years and 3 months when the law plainly states she cannot charge us for paint. She claims to not have known the law so how many more people has she falsely charged for things she is not supposed to? [redacted] stole $745 from me and my family. We would like our money back and an investigation completed.Desired Settlement: We would like our $745 dollars back and an investigation into how many other people have been taken for hundreds or thousands of dollars by [redacted].

Business

Response:

To Whom It May Concern;

Regarding the above matter, I will note my perspective on this. Let it be known that myself [redacted]) or River Valley do NOT profit from any of these charges. At move out, we determine charges by the original move in walk through PLUS anything the tenant notes up to 7 days after occupancy. I have the emails, original walk through paperwork, lease and copy of the cleaning bill showing it was cleaned professionally prior to them moving in. I can and will happily forward these documents if provided with a fax or address to send them to.

1. Regarding the w/s/g. The lease CLEARLY states on line "9" and again on line "42" that "Owner pays for the FIRST $100 of monthly w/s/g and tenant will be responsible for any overage. I meticulously went through these bills and sent them to the [redacted]. The charges used were the "current" charges and late fees if any were not passed along to the tenants. There were a few bills we did not have copies of so in all fairness, I used the LOWEST bill for the corresponding year when calculating these charges.

2. Regarding the paint, this was not charged to the tenant. This is a grey area depending on who you speak to whether it is 2 or 3 years so these charges were removed

3. Regarding the cleaning and the cleaning company. Yes, we do send our tenants a cleaning check list. The agent who did the walk through ([redacted], not [redacted]) said at a glace, the property looked good but did bring to Mrs. [redacted]'s attention that the ceiling fans and light fixtures needed to be cleaned so she knew we would be sending a cleaning crew to touch those up. According to the cleaning company, the blinds were also very dirty and the baseboards needed to be wiped down. We have used these cleaners for years and never had a complaint. They are VERY thorough. Regarding the police being called; they called me from the property letting me know that the real estate agent did not put the key back in the contractors box like they were suppose to. I told them to see if maybe a side door or window was open so they did not have to drive all the way back out which obviously prompted the neighbors to call the police (which was a good thing as we now know the property is being looked after while vacant). Police came out, they explained, the police laughed and it was over so we knew about this in advance.

When calculating the charges, we go an look at the original walk through as well as any addendums (which I have and can provide) and the only thing noted was that the carpets had dog hair on them and we did not charge them for cleaning them AND 1 smear on 1 of the windows. We deducted $30 from the cleaning bill for cleaning the one window.

We regret that this has come to this and in speaking with the cleaning company, I think they would be willing to accept $200 versus the original $350. If there is a fax number or address, I will happily send a copy of all supporting documentation with hopes for a quick resolution.

We try to be as fair as possible and in the 30 years I have been in this business and after 100's of deposit dispositions, I think this is our first complaint.

Thank you!

Leisa was amazing. I have been looking for a place for a month and no companies would call me back. If they did call they would switch the house I wanted for something else. Leisa was honest, available, and kept her word. I highly recommend this company to renters.