Walk to State

I am currently renting from this company and the way they do business with their tenants is appalling. In August when I moved in to my room the house was filthy. My parents and I went to the leasing office and we were told that because the house was rented through the summer it was not cleaned. We were also told that the cleaning crew "quit". There were five people in the house (five separate leases). The leases are for one year. We had driven four hours and needed to move in. We spoke to the owner of Walk To State about the situation and he indicated that he couldn't do anything until later that week because of "all the properties he managed". We asked if he would refund part of our deposit if we cleaned the house and he agreed. To date he has not refunded any monies to us. The condition of the house was deplorable. There was black mold in the fridge. The basement was full of debris and trash. There were gnats in the home. My room and the common areas of the house were full of dust and grime on the floors. We spent nearly four hours cleaning in order to be able to move in. We purchased our own cleaning products. We hauled all of the trash from the house (enough to fill up the back deck). I know the people who rented the house last year and they indicated that "Walk TO State" did not return their security deposits because of the condition of the house. So in essence, this guy pocketed all of the deposit money from the previous tenants and did not have to spend any money to have the house cleaned before the new tenants moved in. We asked that the bushes around the windows be cut back and the owner of "Walk To State" told us to do it ourselves. We had a broken window and put in a work request to have it repaired. The "repair" was to board up the window. Our house has been "shown" without giving the tenants proper notice, which is a huge safety and privacy concern. "Walk To State" preys on students. When they arrive on "move in" day if the house is not cleaned what choice do they have but to clean it themselves so they can get moved in? My family needed to get back home and I had no other options for housing. This company should be thoroughly investigated. Desired SettlementI am seeking full security deposit back along with a portion of my rent and utilities bills spent because their poor repair rates, the unhealthy conditions the house has that has been pointed out and asked to be fixed but they will not. These conditions require us to pay more in utilities which was not known about when the lease was signed. We have asked multiple times to fix these problems and address them and they do not do so or wait a long time to respond. Business Response Immediately following this complaint, Walk to State responded to and corrected all of the tenant's concerns. It was noted that the previous tenant/friend, contributed to the miscommunication regarding what was expected at the time of move in.Walk to State follows all NC laws regarding tenant security deposits and in fact return the previous tenant their full deposit.After a follow up meeting with all five (5) of the tenants, everyone agreed that all issues had been resolved.