When first considering the home, we asked the leasing agent a specific question: "Did any of the previous tenants keep animals in the home?" It was an important question for us, because my wife is highly allergic to pet dander, and I react to it as well. We also have a five-month old baby who would have been crawling on the carpets soon. The leasing agent answered, "not that I know of, uh, no." It was a condition of rent for us, clearly explained to be so. Since AH4R requires a pet deposit for animals, it would be a matter of record as long as the previous tenant (if under AH4R) were honest. Yet, either way, in our view, AH4R is responsible for the stated condition of the home.
The lease was signed at about 6:30 pm on Oct 23. We left the home after the leasing agent and did not move in anything, change the home, or use it (just as is the case to this date). The very next morning, while waiting on the locksmith to arrive to rekey the locks (who never arrived on schedule leaving me to wait 2 hours before giving up), I noticed dog scratches and prints on the back door when it was opened by my son to some rays of light. I went to the bedrooms, where the carpet is, and found dog hair, even though the carpet had been noticeably vacuumed. I immediately left and called AH4R customer service requesting out of the lease on the basis of animals having been kept in the home. All AH4R customer service agents were very nice and understanding, even validating, but, as they admitted, they have no power to do anything, only route my concern to the appropriate management personnel (who cannot be reached directly by tenants). This was at about 10:45 that next morning (Oct 24), just hours after signing the lease. Multiple phone calls to customer service as followup resulted in multiple calls by them to management personnel and multiple messages left, with NO response until I tracked down the district manager using a phone number I acquired and other management using email addresses I figured out based on their names and the AH4R email address format. The district management immediately went to legal, even though I did not want it to be a legal issue. Then he offered a maintenance solution that did not work at all. Then silence for days despite repeated attempts to contact again. Finally, the regional manager, who also resorted to legal, told the district manager to tell me they were not going to budge. I'm out $2,000 with no home. I'm attempting to exhaust all non-legal.
