Hi r/RealEstate!
I have a seriously crazy situation with my previous landlord and wanted to hear what you guys think is going on. I'm currently using a throwaway account for the sake of anonymity.
About two and a half years ago, I moved into a 500 sq ft apartment with my then-boyfriend (now-fiancé) and my two well-trained cats. We signed a one-year lease and paid just shy of $3,500 in deposit fees: $1,600 deposit + $800 first month + $800 last month + $250 pet fee.
Fast forward to this year. The apartment complex had seen around 3 different management companies since 2014. The last one we encountered is a bit shady because while all the other management companies had physical addresses, websites, offices, and personnel, this one exists pretty much in name only. I have only ever seen this one lady whom I will refer to as my "previous landlord." As soon as her company bought the building last December, she gave us a notice stating that starting in March 2016, rent would be increased from $875/month to $1,100. Other unpopular changes to the building included the removal of one of the laundry rooms, a proposed removal of all parking spaces, an expansion of a lower unit that was rumored to have been conducted without permits, and two surprise tree removals that left the majority of the complex suffering from severe allergic reactions (myself included) that ranged from hives to allergy-induced asthma. One of my former neighbors told me that the new management company talked about removing the laundry room and the parking to add more units and that the building was now on section 8. Plus, this management company also seemed to be ignoring our requests for an exterminator. The building had a very widespread and long term roach infestation. My fiancé and I recognized that this place wasn't worth it and we made the decision to move out. The majority of our neighbors came to the same conclusion and many of the units were left empty and in the process of being upgraded around the time I began the move-out process.
On February 9th of this year, I delivered my 30-days notice to my previous landlord in person at the complex in one of the units that was being renovated. She told me to not worry about cleaning my unit upon move out because she had a deal with a local cleaning company that would do the whole thing for $75. When I asked her about how my last month's rent was to be applied in this situation, we discussed how my fiancé and I paid $3,450 to move in. She explained that the previous owners only transferred $800 of the amount to her company because over the years, all the different management companies lost track of how much my fiancé and I paid. She reassured me that she would sort it out with escrow and get as much of the return back to me as possible, including the pet fee because it is no longer required at the building.
Between the time that I delivered my notice and the day of my official move-out, my previous landlord stopped by my unit to discuss my deposit and ended up barging without my consent because she wanted to know if she had to update the kitchen or not. She noticed that our appliances were older and made a comment about having to replace the appliances and the kitchen counter. I was calling her frequently around this time because she wanted to see my documents regarding my deposit and each time I called, she forgot my name and had to ask for my move out date. It really felt like she didn't care at this point.
The day before my final move-out walk through, she told me again to not worry about cleaning and if there was any heavy furniture that I couldn't handle, she would apply a $95 dump fee in addition to the $75 cleaning charge. I figured that since I was supposed to be getting about $2,500 back, I was willing to pay $170 out of that sum to not have to deal with it any more. The apartment was heavily infested at this point and while my fiancé and I had worked very hard with our good friend/current roommate to move everything out, we ultimately had to leave a table and one pile of trash in the living room. We were both suffering from exhaustion and I was having asthma attacks, fevers, and I was breaking out in hives because of all the roach debris that the move had kicked up.
The next day, I met with her alone. My fiancé had to work and I was the only one available. During our final walk through, my previous landlord told me that she would have to charge me for extra cleaning around the stove and refrigerator, but it wouldn't be very costly. She commented on how dirty the place was, but I thought it was a little weird because she was the one who said not to clean and to just focus on moving everything I wanted to keep. She also made comments on the infestation such as "Wow, I can't believe you guys chose to live this way." That pissed me off considering that she and the last management company had been blowing us off on our maintenance requests. She made me sign a move-out form and write that everything left in the unit was trash and that I desired for it to be removed. She didn't fill out a form, she just wrote a bunch of things down on a piece of paper that she told me I couldn't look at because it was just for her to hand to her third-party contractors. However, she said that she would still be able to give me back about $2,400. We factored in deposit + a refund of last month's rent that I paid when I moved in (I paid rent for February and the 9 days in March, so this money was technically rent that I overpaid) + a refund of the pet fee.
I received my deposit back on Wednesday. I got $395. She sent me an itemized list of all the damages, most of which were things that she could not deduct for according to our state law because they are considered normal wear and tear. Other things she charged for included damages that were listed in our move-in conditions. Plus, she charged me $625 for cleaning, $400 to replace all the flooring (she said that it was all severely damaged by animal waste, which is untrue), and $200 to resurface the shower, which wasn't necessary since we hadn't damaged the shower and it wasn't addressed in the final walk through. The itemized list she provided me says "invoice" on the top corner, but looks as though it was created in 5 minutes using Microsoft word. The total damages at the bottom of this "invoice" amount to $1,650. On our security deposit return paperwork, she didn't list the correct address for us, the paper itself lists a company that neither my fiancé nor I have ever heard of, and it lists our deposit at $2,400 with $2,004 worth of charges without any explanation as to where the missing $330-ish went.
This is where things started to get even shadier. I made the decision to go to her office to talk to someone about it directly. I was expecting to see an office building where I could speak to her boss and hopefully get this whole thing settled without dragging an attorney into the mix. My roommate went with me to back me up since I didn't know how I would handle something like this on my own and he was a witness to the state of the apartment after we finished moving out. I had a week off from work and my fiancé works a 9-5 job, so he unfortunately couldn't go with me. We looked up the address on the security deposit return form and drove down there. When we arrived, we found ourselves in a very sketchy part of town. A drug deal may or may not have been taking place outside of the beyond-shitty apartment building whose address matched that of what was supposed to be my previous landlord's company office. Again, I was surprised because I was expecting an office building since that's what my former landlord led me to believe existed. We found a residential unit jam-packed with home improvement supplies and no furniture. My previous landlord greeted us after we knocked on the screen door. I very calmly and politely brought up the wrongful charges and was treated to the ripest bullshit I've ever encountered. She immediately became confrontational and escalated to a full shout. She doesn't know anything, she's just the manager. She just takes money, she doesn't write the checks. We need to take it up with her boss. All those charges are just what the third-party company she uses billed her for and the money had to come from somewhere. We left the place a mess, so it doesn't matter that she illegally used our rent money to renovate the place. Also we weren't allowed to come in or see her office because it's all being renovated right now... Without any construction workers or actual evidence of concrete renovations. I ultimately left and let her know that she would be receiving a letter from my attorney and she could either choose to comply or we would be forced to take legal action. She handed me her business card that had yet another company whose name I don't recognize.
When my roommate and I returned home, we decided to research the ever loving fuck out of this woman. Her name appears with four different "property management" companies, all of which don't have physical addresses, phone numbers, websites, or employees. The company on the check appears to exist, but dialing their number just forwards me over to some lady who doesn't know why I'm calling or how I got her number. The company who bought our former apartment building doesn't exist either. And the third-party contractor she hired? It also exists in name only. Plus, the only known physical address is the same as the unit that I visited when I confronted her AND their only known phone number is her own personal cell phone number.
I spoke to my dad, who has been a real estate agent for the past 40 years and he was super pissed. This entire situation reeks of illegal activity on her part and we're going to meet with an attorney on Friday. He told me that in our state, she and her company are required by law to be licensed and he urged me to look her up in the database. Unsurprisingly, she is operating without a license. I'm really hoping that I do end up taking her to small claims court because holy shit I think she's up to something shady as hell and I would love to see her string of scams and ripoff a come to a screeching halt.
My theory is that she is the only person in her company and her business model is to raise the rent so high that it forces people to move out so that she can rip them off on their way out the door. Then after collecting enough money in wrongful charges, she builds as many units as possible in the complex and gets the building on section 8 housing so she can be a slumlord and prey on the less fortunate.
Either that or she really does belong a to a real company with a real boss and she saw my high deposit as an opportunity. She could be circumventing her boss, not notifying anyone of the extra money that my fiancé and I paid for the deposit, and using her bogus companies to pocket the difference.
I'm not seeking legal advice as I have a meeting with my attorney. I have a good idea of the laws that she's breaking and the action that I'm going to take.
Whatever is happening, I know that she took advantage of the fact that I am young (24) and that was my first rental unit. I'm fortunate enough to be currently renting a much cheaper apartment from a very good property management company in a much nicer area. Have you guys ever seen anything like this before? Is it common to encounter scam artists posing as landlords?
Thanks for reading. This is probably some of the weirdest drama that I've dealt with in my adult life and I can't wait to read your responses.
Submitted April 02, 2016 at 03:49PM by OpalRikugame http://ift.tt/1UKF1jl RealEstate
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