Stone Gate Apartments

Review: My daughter signed a lease agreement on Jan. 26, 2013, for which I am the guarantor of, for a contract to rent a 2nd floor unit at $464 a month. The first and only contact by Southgate after this date was a letter stating she was assigned a room on the 3rd Floor and now her rent would be $474. That letter was on June 19. My daughter came home on June 26th and showed me the lease and the letter for which I called and left messages for a leasing manager to call me 4 times with no response. I then went to [redacted] at the JMU Housing Office to ask for her assistance. She called and talked to [redacted] on Monday July 1,2013 because Stonegate is supposed to honor their agreement with students and not charge them a higher price. She also stated that that complex and their sister complexes are receiving many complaints. She told [redacted] at Stonegate to call me which she never did. I called her Monday afternoon for which she is telling me that her computer cannot change the price and that they tried calling my daughter on several occasions. My daughter never received a call from them nor did I. I asked for copies of the phone logs they supposedly have however they don't know if they can provide them. We only use cellular phones and I can pull up all of our phone records to prove they never notified me or my daughter of a potential change. The issue I have is that I am a licensed real estate agent in Virginia and I specialize in property management. I am also very familiar with how apartment complexes work and are paid. I feel they are not following the Tenants Rights Act and are dealing in unethical business practices and taking advantage of JMU students. A leasing agent and manager is paid based on the units rented. The managers are also bonuses based on occupancy. They are trying to tell me that they oversold the unit she signed for an now have to move her to a move expensive unit. They also moved her roommate to a more expensive unit. They were not given an option to move into a less expensive unit or receive the more expensive unit at the same price because supposedly they oversold their inventory. In fact" neither of them were given an option. They were only sent a new unit assignment. The lease states that "for purposes of operating efficiency, we have the right to relocate you from one bedroom in the apartment to another or even to another Apartment in another Building within the Apartment Community, upon one day written notice." We never received written notice that the legal contract my daughter signed was going to be amended. Nor does it state in the legal lease document that the price would be changed. So now they are expecting her and my roommate to pay more money because they overbooked the apartments they were supposed to be in, or at least that is the story I am being told. It is very convenient that the 3rd floor units, which are more expensive are still vacant however and not the less expensive 1st floor options. Personally what I believe they are doing and why I feel they are practicing in possibly illegal, unethical business practices is that they couldn't sell the third floor due to price so now they are going to move 2nd floor units to the third floor to make their occupancy quota and open up the second floor units that they know they can rent. If that wasn't the case and they actually did overbook these students then the prices they signed a legally binding contract for should be honored. They should not be penalized due to the negligence of the company.Desired Settlement: I would like to see the business practices of this company changed and that tenants are treated fairly and per their legally binding contract

Business

Response:

I am writing in response to complaint # [redacted]. I am disappointed to hear of Mrs. [redacted]'s dissatisfaction with our establishment. It is correct that our community leased to capacity earlier in the year and that we were unable to accommodate every applicant's first choice regarding unit type. As a matter of company policy and as stated on the application, rooms are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Unfortunately, all second floor units were assigned to those who applied earlier than Mrs. [redacted], therefore making it necessary to transfer her to a different unit type as explained in the lease agreement. Our records indicate that Mrs. [redacted] telephoned our office on June 26 and 27 and received a return call from me personally on June 28. I am confused by Mrs. [redacted]'s statements regarding employee compensation. None of the employees at Stone Gate are paid based on occupancy, there is no bonus for the Manager based upon occupancy and we do not have a "quota" to meet at our establishment. It is correct that the lease agreement does state that we have the right to transfer residents with one day written notice. Although the situation at hand is not technically a transfer, as no room had been previously assigned, Mrs. [redacted] received notification of placement 8 weeks prior to the lease begin date of August 22, 2013. Again, I am disappointed to hear of Mrs. [redacted]'s frustration with Stone Gate; however the matter was handled professionally and as outlined in the signed application and lease agreement. In addition Mrs. [redacted] received a third floor room for $10 less than the market rate as she requested. Please don't hesitate to contact me directly at ###-###-#### or [redacted] if you have questions or require additional information. Thank you, [redacted]General Manager Stone Gate Apartments

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer 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. Thank you for sending the response. Yes they did finally adjust the rent price to the original amount agreed upon. I had a lawyer from the Office of Hoover and Penrod in Harrisonburg Va review the lease and that price increase is in fact in violation of the Tenants Rights Act. He did also state there were a few other violations and questionable charges Stone Gate has in the lease as well. If it wasn't for the fact that my daughter is out of the country for a Study Abroad Program and will not return until right before the start of the semester, I would have her move. I hope we don't have any additional issues with this company this coming year and do not recommend a company that uses business practices that go against the Va Tenants Rights Act. I still believe they are taking advantage of incoming tenants since I do know of others who have been incorrectly charged due to "their inventory errors" and profiting from this.Regards,[redacted]