RPM Midwest- Real Property Management

[redacted] ,I am sorry for the confusion about the $The lease renewal letters that are sent out clearly state that if you renew for months, there is no $leasing fee, but if you go month to month, there is a $fee for allowing you to do so as it is a risk to the owner to allow a tenant to remain in a home on a month to month basisI have attached a copy of the letter that was sent to you and that you signed agreeing to itI am sorry if you were told any different by anyone in our office, but this is a policy that we have, it was passed along to you when the renewal was sent to you on 8/and was included on the document that you signed to renew your leaseI do see that your rent amount was lowered again to the original rate as you renewed the lease for a longer term in AprilI hope that that means you are satisfied with the current state of your relationship with RPM and the property that you are residing inWe are happy to have you as a tenant with RPMThank you,Heather M [redacted] Office Manager

[redacted] ,To give a little background on the situation, you had asked us to request possession back from the tenants at the end of their lease, 6/30/In February we sent them the notice as you requestedThe tenants did not give notice to vacate the homeThey simply dropped off their keys at the office on 6/There was no way for us to give you advance notice of this as RPM did not have advance noticeYes the vacate email with the description of the move out inspection charges was sent to you after the fact, but that also was due to the fact that the tenant did not give noticeThere is a charge for move out inspections just as there is for any maintenance performed on the home by contractors and this is the responsibility of the homeowner, especially the lock changes as those are required to ensure that the property is secure in the case that the tenant has made copies of the keyTo address the issues that you found in addition to the inspection that we performed, everyone has different standards as far as move out condition requirementsWe charge for items that are allowable by the tenant/landlord lawWe did do as you asked though and added the items you requested to the tenants ledger to be included in their final bill as you askedI am sorry for the difference in opinion though as far as the inspection goesWe do our best to act within the guidelines of the lawThank you,Heather M [redacted] Office Manager

[redacted] , I just received this complaint today, March 19th, We received your voicemail in regard to this issue yesterday at 2:55pm, and I called you within minutes of you leaving the voicemailIt looks as though you submitted the complaint to the Revdex.com at 2:(minutes after the voicemail was left) though so I called you minutes too lateI am sorry for the delay in responseOn the phone with you yesterday I agreed that the leasing fee that was charged, was supposed to be removed when the tenant opted for month to month, and just hadn't happened yet but that we would remove it and refund it with your next drawI believe we covered the customer services issues that you wanted to discuss and I gave you my direct contact information to avoid any issues in the futureI hope that resolved your concernsWe will do our best in the future to respond in a more timely manner

[redacted] I am so sorry that you didn't get a response from the agent right awayWe received applications for that property within just a few days so it went really fastThe leasing agent assigned to the property was on vacation until today so she wouldn't have been able to respond to your request until nowHad you reached out to RPM directly it would have been handled swiftlyI can refund the application fee to you and your roommate but I will need their name as well as, like I said, there are multiple applications on the property so I want to make sure I refund the correct one

Mr [redacted] d, During the move out inspection, damages were found that occurred while you were living in the homeI have attached the move out inspection for your perusalAs well as your final ledgerI know you have already discussed this with our maintenance manager, but there were multiple places throughout the home where drywall was repaired with caulk during the time that you resided thereThe caulk has to be removed and the drywall repaired correctly in order to bring the home back to the condition that it was in when you moved inThe charge for this was the largest item held from your depositThe estimate for repairs was completed by a contractor that regularly does work like this and it was estimated at the cost the contractor would charge to repair the itemsI am sorry if you do not agree with this but it was damages caused during your residence there so it is your responsibility to pay for them to bring the home back to rent readiness

Thanks for your message and your concernI have reviewed our site thoroughly and every property clearly states at the top that there is a $cent registration fee to verify your identityOur vendor, charges that fee and our company does not get ANY of that moneyIt actually costs us several thousands of dollars to pay that vendor for the serviceIt's just a fee the vendor charges to verify your credit card and thereby your identity, so that we know who you are and therby allowing us to allow you to enter the property yourself, and allows us recourse if damage is done or something is stolenPlease verify you can see it clearly marked at the top of every property page such as this one [redacted] I have also attached a screen shot:Please let yourself into any property by verifying your identity through the credit card system just one time and you can see ANY property in our system with that one identity verification

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below First and foremost, from the time my wife first reached out to you, thirteen days have passed before receiving a response Seven days then lapsed from when I reached out to you concerning this matter This is unacceptable We should have been informed within a reasonable time frame about the results of the walk through Second, we attempted to pay rent on June 1st, but upon attempting to log on to the tenant portal, we received notice that we do not have an active lease with the management company anymore This left us unable to pay rent I am happy to provide a screenshot of the image to show that we were unable to pay rent, if the company desires this Third, we requested information regarding inquiries into the property and any information regarding showings, to ensure that a reasonable effort was made to rent the property This is in accordance with the Ohio Landlord-Tenant laws that state a reasonable effort must be made to rent the property if a tenant breaks their lease This information has not been provided to us In addition, we drove by the property on Saturday and noticed there is no for rent sign in front of the property It would seemingly be considered a fair, reasonable effort to rent the property by placing a for rent sign in front of the property Forth, we still do not have any access to a property that we will now be paying for, because the company requested we return the keys This is the email text:"I understand your concern about returning the key since you have paid rent until the end of May however we cannot do the official move out inspection until the key is returnedI would think it would be better for you to turn the key in so that we can perform the inspection so the condition is documented by RPM as wellShould the tenant that was evicted from the other unit decide to come in and destroy your unit (which I wouldn’t put past her at this point) prior to you turning in the keys, you would be held responsible for the damage since possession has not been turned overPlease let me know your thoughts on this."We were told that in order to clear us of any responsibility of potential damage, we had to relinquish our keys Again, we spoke to a lawyer, who informed us that this is not the case Criminal damage that is done to the property cannot be held against tenants, if that damage is done by a third party, regardless of whether or not we have vacated the premises If we are paying rent, it seems reasonable that we should have access to the property, and we would have looked into the property frequently to ensure that nothing had occurred We now, however, have relinquished the keys to the property because of RPM's requests.I would also like to point out that though you could not expect all that occurred between the former tenant, there were reasonable steps that could have been taken to avoid confusion When she was informed that her dog was not allowed on the property, it was not stated that we were not the ones who complained The owner of the property admitted that this was not handled properly and is something that should have been clarified to avoid any potential confusion or frustration from the other party She held us responsible for the matter, even though we had nothing to do with it Further, when we discussed the noise complaint, we requested that nothing be brought to her attention before clearing it with us This was not the case, as she was informed about the complaint and confronted us.Perhaps a compromise can be reached with RPM, if they are willing to discuss it with us Regards, [redacted] ***

We settled your Security Deposit Disposition 12/28/and you owed us moneyYou disputed a couple items which the owner graciously agreed to allow you to get money back ($72)You accepted those terms, and I am sorry that it took longer for the Owner of the property to get the money back to you than they promised they would get it to usThey told us on 1/they were sending it so we told you approximately days which would have been 2/We communicated with you on 3/and told you the check had been sent and you said you agreed to the terms (again) and everything was settledI'm not sure what else to do hereYou brought fleas into the property, you told us you brought fleas, you agreed to pay for themIf it's just an invoice that you want to see, then please see the attached invoice(s) for the work.Regarding as to why it took a little longer longer for the Owner (not us) of the property to send the money to us to forward to you, we sent it to them and they had to send it back to us so they could forward it to youPlease note that we are a 3rd party and we cannot control the mail, nor can we control other parties (the Owner of the property) and we are not legally allowed to forward money that we don't have (as that is against state law)I'm not sure what else we could do, or could have done here

***, Once a tenant is deactivated in our system, you are unable to pay onlineYou will need to pay rent as required per your lease via mail to RPM Midwest Gest StCincinnati OH I am sorry for the inconvenienceWe have had the property listed on our site and all of the syndicated sites since 5/3/I am not sure what happened to the sign, but I will make sure that another one is placed in the yard as soon as possibleWe are actively trying to find a tenantI will ask Kacy to update you on any interest/applications we have had for the propertyIn regard to the complaint with the other tenant, we are sorry if she assumed the complaints came from youWe never implied that anything came from you, but rather sent out our lease violation notices from RPM directlyWe hope to find a tenant very soon so this situation can be behind all of us

Thanks for your inquiry.I apologize that Victoria didnt' get back to youI talked with her and she missed your emailIt seems you are due a refund of the "cleaning" portion of your depositHowever, the toilet seat for which you broke and the drip pans which were missed on initial inspection and need to be added (which were $45.) You are owed a refund of the cleaning fee less the drip pan expense of $45.Please contact Victoria to arrange payment

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.] Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] Regards, [redacted]

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.] Revdex.com: 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 do feel the fees and amounts are not adequately described in their contract but will accept to end the dispute.Just to clarify the complaints were not submitted on the same dateI believe they were received by RPM on the same date Regards, [redacted]

I uploaded the documents to the Revdex.com yesterday and you should have access to those documentsCan you not see the documents I uploaded yesterday? Also, we sent you a check a week ago Friday to the forwarding address you gave usI can't imagine it's not there yetThat's concerningIf you want to come get a check, come get itIt's your moneyPlease come to our office and get the check and we will put a stop payment on the check and we can cancel the check we sent out if you don't get it in the meantimeBut also check the uploaded documents because they were uploaded yesterday to the Revdex.com's website

[redacted] ,I am sorry for the confusion with the lease renewal processI am sure you are aware that we had a software change in JanuaryBecause of that we had to revamp the lease renewal processBecause your renewal date happened in the midst of the change, your renewal was sent with both the old and new processThis only happened because of the change in processes but I do apologize for the situationYou can submit day notice by emailing [email protected] or by mailing to the Gest Staddress below though I do believe it is irrelevant at this point as you no longer rent from RPMI am sorry if that was not clear in the leaseWe wish you the best in the future.Thank you,Heather M [redacted] Office Manager

There was a sign, and we placed another signAs we already mentioned.We apologize that the sign went missingWe cannnot control every factor such as theft of signageThank you again for bringing this to our attentionFeel free to check with whomever you like on the fact that we placed oneOur agent has confirmed with us that one was placed immediately and it is advertised everywhere online we normally place ads.I think it would be helpful to mention that there is no statute requiring us to update you on a certain schedule on how the unit letting us goingBut I will say it has been slowWe are doing our best.We are fulfilling our obligations under the ORC and doing our best to relet the property.Once we have a viable prospect we will notify you.Thanks,

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it If you and the business have reached an agreement and compliance is set for a future date, we trust the business will comply Please contact us after that time if the matter is not resolved as agreed and we will review the complaint and proceed accordingly.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

*** I am so sorry for the trouble that you encounteredI am the office manager and I was notified of the situation with the lockbox but I never received direct communication from youI was under the understanding that the leasing agent resolved the situation with you directlyWhen you
enrolled for the management of your property one of the services you were placed in was our electronic lockbox systemBecause our agents work to hours in an effort to allow prospective tenants who also work during the day to see the property we have an electronic lockbox that allows them to get the code so they can view the property outside our hoursIt is through a reputable company whose focus is showing properties and is a great way to get properties rented fasterWith you still living in the home the electronic lockbox feature should not have been active on your account and for that I apologizeI am not sure why it was active with the property still occupied but I agree with you that it is a dangerous situation and should never have happenedI understand your concern and the need to try a different option for managementIt sounds as though our controller did resolve the situation with you, but he did not pass along the agreement to waive your cancelation charges to the accounting departmentAgain I am sorry that things did not go as they should haveYou should have received a letter from RPM when your account was closed out showing the $was due and to contact us within days or the balance would be sent to collectionsI am not sure if you did not receive this letter or if you disregarded it, but had you noticed the statement and contacted us we could have avoided the current situationI am contacting our attorneys office today to have them remove the balanceNo further action will be taken and it will not go on your creditPlease let us know if you need anything else

***,I am sorry for the circumstances surrounding the security depositFirst, your account has not yet been sent to collectionsSecond, by law we have days to send a statement of your account to you which we did do, so we are within the lawI did find record of you having paid a security
deposit of $to the previous management companyThat deposit was not given to RPM by the previous management company or the owner of the propertyThis is why it was not credited to your account accordinglyOur process when a deposit is not held by RPM, is to notify the owner that the tenant is vacating and request that the deposit is passed along to RPM so that we can fully process the move outThe owner was notified but they have not sent the deposit to RPMThis is why it was processed the way that it was. In cases like this the tenant would normally have to pursue the owner directly on their own for the deposit as RPM was never the holder of the depositFortunately the owner does currently have funds in his account to cover this, so while he has not responded so that we were able to credit your account accordingly, we are going to pull the funds from his account with us and credit it to your account immediatelyThe $is being processed today and will result in a refund of $to you after the charges of $are paidCleaning is a tenant responsible charge-including drip pans as wellWhile I do understand that $is costly for drip pans you do have to keep in mind that it is not only the cost of the drip pans themselves but also the cost of labor for a technician to install themContractors standard labor charges are $per hour with a one hour minimum in most cases, so with a typical cost of $15-$for the pans themselves and the labor charge, theoretically you could have been charged closer to $for this-$is a much more reasonable chargeAlso, you were given a very specific cleaning list to address prior to move out to avoid cleaning chargesNot all items were cleaned and therefore the general cleaning charge will standHad the list been completed, you would not have been charged for the cleaners to go outThey do have a minimum charge as well for going to the property.A check will be issued to you today for $Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns

I would first like to point out that separate complaints were filed on the same day by the same personOne was for *** *** *** and the other for RPM MidwestI am copying this response in both complaints as it is the same situationThe complaint numbers are *** and ***7.The first
thing that I would like to address is the complaint that we have not responded to their concernsI was not personally dealing with the situation but was copied on some of the correspondence and I have been copied on responses to the concerns and have personally responded onceWe have had an ongoing conversation about the issue but despite offering ways to resolve the situation, a solution has not been reachedThe second thing that I would like to address is the statement that the customer did not agree to the subcontracting of workThis is specifically laid out in the management agreement and *** *** *** is specifically listed as the contractor of choice. The third item that I would like to address is the cost of handyman servicesYes, the rate charged by *** *** *** is $per hourYes, there is a trip fee charge of $Those prices are kept in line with competitorsTo verify that these prices are still in line I googled the cost of handyman services and found the following: Expect to pay about $30-$an hour for an independent handyman in rural or less expensive areas and $40-$an hour in more urban locations or regions with a higher cost of livingThese rates are just average estimates, and will vary considerably by region and by individual workerSome handymen charge a lump sum for a specific project, depending on the complexity.Depending on the skills needed, rates run $60-$an hour for a professional handyman companyThere's often a $150-$minimum charge and there can be a $30-$"trip" charge (if the worker needs to go buy materials)A professional handyman company usually has several employees, providing a wider range of skills, and screens employees for experience and reliability.The hourly charge of $and $fall well within and actually under these price ranges as Blue Bear is not an independent handyman but a handyman company.Specifically in regard to the Window latch work order, the technician logged hours of labor and $for partsA trip charge was applied as wellThe total based on that should have been $The hours included driving to the home to investigate the issue and to see what supplies were needed, driving to the store to get the parts and then driving back to the home and making the repairsThe technician reported getting caught in traffic so in good faith a full hour was removed when billingThat brought the bill to the $amountSpecifically in regard to the blinds work ordersets of blinds were installedThe quoted price of $per blind included the labor and trip chargeThis should have equated to $but the bill did come in at $We offered to refund the $that it went over the estimate byThe owner did not accept this solutionBy the owners admission, he is asking for a $refund from the $charge and thus wants to only be charged $to have sets of blinds installedHis stated cost for the blinds is $At $per blind that would only leave $for laborWe charge a minimum of hour and a trip charge so even at $per blind the cost would be $and it likely took longer than hour to install sets of blindsAll of this being said we are willing to offer another resolution and hope that we can finally put this situation to restThe refund requested by the owner is $for the window latch work order and $for the blindsWe are willing to refund the $for the window latch work orderWe are also willing to refund $for the blind work order based on the lowest possible amount that installing the blinds could have cost, $Total refund offered is $I hope that this is agreeable to all parties