Rent Problems Are Frustrating; but you're not alone: Thousands of tenants rely on RPA to solve problems
Deposit Problems | Case#**-*011
Edinburg,
Texas -
78539
I paid $500 security deposit for the apartment and was given a receipt on January 12, 2013. Told Mrs. Cheverria that she did not have to stop showing the apartment but she decided to. Two business days later on the 15th, I told her I wouldn't be able to move in because my roommate had backed out. I never signed a lease or moved in and she is yet to return the money like she said she would. We originally agreed to a refund of $400 but as she is not returning my attempts to contact her, I want her to return it all. She advertised the ad on craigslist and never took it down after paying the security deposit. Therefore she didn't invest any money in advertising since craigslist is free, and she didn't lose any potential tenants because the ad was still on the website. On the 15th she deleted the ad and re posted it to make it more current.
Fraudulent Moveout Debt Demanded And Placed Fro Collection | Case#**-*917
Atlanta,
Georgia -
30342
My moveout date was 6/10/2017. On 6/7/2017, I was locked out of my apartment without explanation and notice. Thankfully, all my belongings were already moved out. A week later, I received a move out statement demanding $426.35 for carpet stains, items left in the apartment and utilities reimbursement. I disputed $350.00 for carpet stains, $15.00 for items left in the apartment. Management ignored my calls and when I finally personally reached the property manager Tamika Harris, she told me that the charges were irreversible, she didn\'t care that I was locked out of my unit and no walk-through was done. She informed me that the bill was send to collection and would appear on my credit report if not paid. I offered to provide photographs of the carpet in the unit which I took on 6/6/2017 before being locked out. She asked me to leave the property. On July 5, 2017 I sent a certified letter to Scott Gilpatrick, vice president of property management at Carroll Organization asking him to please explain to me why I was being asked to pay obviously fraudulent charges and why the management broke their contract by denying me enter my apartment before the lease end. To date, I have not received a response. I also sent a certified letter to the collection agency that until I receive a proof from the management company that the changes are valid to stop collecting on these charges and return the account to the original creditor. Yesterday, the collection was reflected on my credit files. If the original creditor cannot prove the validity of the debt, how can a collection agency do so and try to collect on these?
Eviction Accusation | Case#**-*968
Pennsville ,
New Jersey -
08070
Lived in Laura’s Glenn Apartment from 7/2015 to 3/2016 broke lease early because of personal issues but went about it the right way. Wrote a letter, cleaned apartment, paid break lease fee. 7/2016 I get a phone call from Lisa about unpaid rent and I notified her that she knows that moved out months prior. She got very unprofessional with me hung up and wouldn’t accept my calls so I went through their Attorneys (Dinicola&Dinicola of Carney’s Point Nj). They resolved everything. There was never an eviction, I was never given any court notice or any type of notice that I owed any money. No warrant for eviction or anything in that nature was ever issued. I also contacted the Salem county courthouse (New Jersey) and they notified me that I was never evicted either. It was all a misunderstanding and there was never a court date. That’s why I was never notified. It was a mistake and was dismissed before it even made it to court. Now because I have this eviction on my name I can’t find anywhere that Will rent an apartment to me. You can contact the civil court staff at the courthouse and the Dinicola law office and no one has any records of me ever being evicted.
Deposit Problems. | Case#**-*152
ORANGE,
CA -
92867 6706
I did not receive all of my deposit back. I lived in the apartments for 10 months. There was no damage to the paint and I left it clean. The apartment charged me $ 503.06 for paint and cleaning. The apartment did not need paint. I left it clean. I contacted them, but I got no response back.
Repair Issue | Case#**-*537
Hillsboro,
Texas -
76645
To whom it may concern:
On March 13th of 2016 we moved into Ronald Orr\\\'s house during the inspection we mentioned to him that the carpet was smelling funny and he said that the carpets still need to be steam cleaned. Shortly after moving in my children and I started to get these flee bites and I brought this to our landlords attention and he had the carpet treated. He said that it would take up to 30 days and daily vacuuming to get rid of those flea bites.
After 30 days of no improvement, I spoke to him again and he treated the carpets a second time. In the mean time my kids went to Florida over the summer for about 9 weeks and their bite wounds healed. When they came back at the end of august these bites and itches from the flea bites reappeared again. Therefore I tried to talk to Mr. Orr again and he was constantly trying to change the subject and blame it on these bites stemming from bugs from the outside and that i should use \\\"spray off\\\" on my children, which i have been every time they go outside to play with no sign of improvement.
On 10/16/16 I thought enough is enough, since my children\\\'s health is here at stake and these bites have caused some bad scars as well. Therefore I send him a letter to let me know what he would like to do about this problem and his response was to call me and tell me that I would need to move out.
Thank you for your assistance in advance,
Christina Warniment
254-221-5851
He Will Not Remove Snow From Property Safty Issue With Ice | Case#**-*646
Enfield,
Connecticut -
06082
the town said it can not do anything to get him to remove snow driveway is sheet of ice and dangerous and for me and other tenates we can slip and fall i have a 10 year old daughter that can get hurt he will not pay for the removal of snow are we to get stuck on property or slide out driveway leads out onto busy road can be dangerous why should i or anyone rish getting hurt and the mail delevery wont come because of the snow not be removed or ice one day and counting of no mail delivery i get important mail
ac unit-apt above is leaking(over a mo.)/7ft of sitting water in apt | Case#**-*809
silver spring ,
Maryland -
20906
this issue started on 7/12/11. I noticed a patch of mold on the wall. I open a maint tkt with rental off on wednesday 7/13/11. Five days later(7/18/11) I got a response from redgewood(via email)adving issue was resulved. I still had mold on my wall and had to call them back to fix mold(apparently they we telling me that the leak was fix-no one was coming to fix mold issue). Their fix to mold issue was to paint over mold. A few days later i began to see mold comming back and also noticed a puddle forming on my floor. I called rental office again. A couple of days later I was adv the they cleared issue with leaking ac unit and they used a shop vac to suck the water out of carpet, they also left behind a air blower to treat carpet. I went back to rental office a couple of days later and spoke to ms. johnson and adv her that issue was not repaired and my puddle is back and it is about 3ft long. ms. johnson adv me that carpet would be replaced. The carpet has still not been replaced, my puddle is over 7ft long and about 5ft wide now. I adv the mangement office that i am reporting issue to rpa. This mold is hazardus to mine and my pets health. I have lost all confidence in managment and their ability to correct issue. I want out of my lease and to be held harmless to any issue with carpet.I have walked and my pet has walked on puddle since it is infront of my sliding glass door leading out to my padio and into court yard, as i use this entrance to take my dog out for walks, so I have been tracking puddle into the appt.
Unsafe living conditions, ceilings caving in, plumbing leaks, Mold, mice | Case#**-*498
Blue Bell,
Pennsylvania -
19422
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am renting a townhouse on 171 Canterbury Lane, Blue Bell, PA, Montgomery County, from a woman named, Angela Lukin who has lived in Switzerland for the past several years. She has no property manager for the property and has not been to the townhouse since she left the country.
I feel this house is not safe for me to live in a and would like to know if there are any laws that forbid unsafe rentals. Is it possible to have an inspector from the state come out to the property to see it.
I contacted Whitpain Township, healt however they can only inspect the outside, not inside.
The garage and Family Room/Den ceilings caving in make it unsafe for me to live at this property. I have notified the owner but she does not have a property manager and does not want to spend the money to fix problems that have obviously been going on for years.
When I first moved in I immediately complained about the filthy condition the house was left in and made her aware of all the problems. She complained saying she just had spent approximately $2,100 to clean, paint and make some repairs. I sent her photos of the filthy, unsanitary condition the place was left in and she agreed to have it cleaned, but not painted or carpets cleaned as agreed to when I signed the lease.
Some of the problems with this rental property are:
Garage ceiling is caving in. Plaster from the ceiling hole is all over the floor.
Mold on the walls and ceiling.
Toilets broken and leaking,
Mice in the basement
Kitchen cabinets cracked and broken
Kitchen cabinet shelves not study and will not hold my dishes or glasses. They already fell in once.
Kitchen cabinet molding is loose.
Kitchen oven is full of rust.
Den ceiling is caving in from water leaks from past years.
Den ceiling has a hole in it. It is caving in more and more every day.
Carpenter bees are on the rear deck area.
Kitchen oven is so corroded with rust that I don't even think I can use it.
The paint is chipping off all the woodwork and the walls are marked everywhere and desperately need to be painted.
Carpets are lifting up, stained, dirty and were not cleaned as promised.
The wood floors are cracked, chipped and stained.
There are holes in two of the window screens.
There is a huge hole on the exterior siding.
Hole in the wood deck floor.
The blinds have spaghetti stains all over them in the kitchen that can't be cleaned off.
Verticle Blinds are broken and fall off.
The master
Rental complaint Lionel proctor,Fairfax Realtor & Landlord | Case#**-*816
washington,
District of Columbia -
20032
unethical Landlord practices,tenant disputes,theft of security deposit,unfair rent increase,high cost & ripoff fees,wrongful wage garnishment on tenants,leasing bad apartments(cheap walls and floors)
Endangerment, Fraud, Lying & Refusal To Complete Fixing Bad Ait | Case#**-*618
Levittown,
Pennsylvania -
19057
I just filled out this form, but it wouldn\'t let me put the text in, This apt. lies, blames the tenant & now we can add fraud & endangerment. My microwave stopped working, then my water turned cloudy, the air quality was bad & I was choking. All this at the same time. I just had a heart attack, this past Friday & they don\'t care. They are causing so much stress, I\'m going back to the hospital & this wouldn\'t be the first time. I have high blood pressure & they know it. The stove was burning the food & the pans, not acting right. I had a mouse that was going under the stove dragging whatever it could find under the stove. The stove finally caught fire. They are lying saying I fell a sleep. How can they say that, they didn\'t see it. I was up & fighting the fire & got it out. Something was feeding the fire. It was maybe two burners worth. This fire was causing things to fly everywhere. Soot marks far from the stove everywhere & it got on the burner. Who cooks with plastic & paper on a burner & there was nothing on the stove. The broom that I got it out with they took out. They were all over my apt & should have only been in the kitchen. Touching my belongings & putting it all over the place. I was broken into 7 times & my place was trashed repeatedly. They refused the change the lock. The last time, I was broken into, my medications were stolen & almost my computer. I\'m an abuse victim & a fraud & abuse advocate & offer them free help. So this is how they pay me back. She had a protective investigator come out who had six police records, who caused all kinds of problems. Their maintance man is on my side. He believes me, my apt was trashed 6 times & he doesn\'t feel the air it fully cleaned. They expect you to clean, when you should be in bed. Cleaning & money is all they care about. They tried to take out a whole rent from a close acct, which they were told. I stay to myself & bother nobody. Three of their tenants are starting with me & one smeared my name & they refuse to do anything. In the summer of 2013 AC problem, which was causing squealing & grinding. All they did was walk around & looked & said nothing wrong. A year later, we had 3 apts. with outside floods & a sink hole re opened up. They already had a man in my apt. with no noticed forcing my door open & taking my electricity. I came out & saw him & was scared to death. He told me, there should have been a notice to tell me. They can not force electricity
Complaint Process in 3 Simple Steps:
File Apartment Complaint: Fill out complaint form with your proposed resolution. Instantly recieve your case number.
Check Status: See the current status, respond, upload files or images, accept fair solution or purpose alternative solutions.
Landlord Public Record: Positive or Negative record is attached to landlord based upon their responses. Your (tenant) information is not made public.
Complaints Tips:
Uploading pictures / files is helpful
Try to request fair solutions
Focus on major issue, not on many
Check your status every 3 days
Avoid accusations or hostile tones
Be willing to accept alternate solution
How Does the RPA Help Resolve Rental Problems?
Once you file a complaint, the RPA will contact your landlord or property manager to mediate a prompt resolution. The RPA online mediation system provides an effective complaint resolution process that helps solve problems quickly. Complaints filed through the RPA are documented and help protect tenants' rights by providing a program that protects against landlord retaliation and unfair practices. Agreements reached through the RPA Apartment Complaint Center are legally binding and enforceable. When required the complaint can be used as evidence in court.
The RPA requires a $35 one-time processing fee to cover the cost associated with contacting the landlord, online mediation, paperwork, and public record filing. Prior to 2006 the RPA complaint program had no fee. However, due to abuse by tenants that were filing bogus complaints; the RPA found it necessary to charge of fee to eliminate fake complaints and to cover costs associated with complaint handling. If you are looking to report the problem only and not seeking a resolution, you can use our free Report Landlord option. (The report landlord option will only document the problem and will not provide any assistance in resolving disputes.)
Tip: On your complaint form you can request that management reimburse you for RPA filing fees.
How long does the process take?
The RPA is able to resolve complaints fairly quickly, unlike court or other legal options. Cases are normally assigned in the order received; however, you can upgrade your case to be rushed if you need your case escalated. (option available immediately after filing)For fastest processing try to submit your complaint before the next processing deadline. (Count down shown next to "File Complaint" button.) Once the mediation process begins, your landlord will have 3 business days to respond to the mailed notice. If a landlord email address is provided the RPA will send out both a written notice and email notice which can provide an immediate resolution. Many times cases are resolved immediately after receiving the RPA® notice, however depending on the complaint, it can take longer if both parties are unable to reach an agreement quickly.
Tip: To speed up the process... On the complaint form request reasonable and fair solutions.
Does the RPA Guarantee to Resolve Every Complaint?
Each complaint is guaranteed to be worked by the RPA complaint system. The RPA mediation system will work to resolve every complaint regardless of how big or small the complaint. However, the RPA can't guarantee the end results of any complaint. While we work to solve each complaint, the guarantee is limited to our processing of your complaint. All fees associated with the complaint are non-refundable dispute the outcome of the complaint. Each complaint is Guaranteed to be worked by our complaint system and will be documented against the landlord should they fail to cooperate.
Tip: To get positive resolutions to your complaint; try providing resolutions that are fair.
What Happens After I file a Complaint?
Upon filing your landlord / property manager complaint you will instantly receive a case number. Your complaint case number can be used to immediately access your complaint status page. The RPA will process your complaint and contact your landlord for an immediate resolution. On your status page you can view case status, upload files or images, respond to the complaint, update/ change resolutions, accept or close complaint. The RPA complaint center updates your case status in real time and provides you with tracking to see exactly what is happening with your complaint. Once the case is closed, the complaint will be attached to your landlords public record which is quickly indexed by all major search engines. (Your information is never made public)
Tip: Check your case status at least every 3 days. (Respond / update your case as required)
Protection Against Landlord Retaliation
Its unlawful for your landlord to retaliate against you because you filed a complaint. Your landlord cannot evict, harass, limit access, raise rent, or treat you unfairly because you filed a complaint. As a tenant, you must still pay rent and comply with rent terms stated within your contract. Filing a complaint does not eliminate your responsibilities.
Tip: Check your case status at least every 3 days. (Respond / update your case as required)
Who Can File a Complaint with the RPA?
Any renter located in the United States of America has the right to file a complaint with the RPA. The RPA does not accept complaints outside of the USA. In general, the RPA will accept every complaint regardless of how big or small the problem may be.
Tip: When possible, try resolving your problem with your landlord before filing a complaint.