ComplaintsforBecky Hancock Realty

• Initial Complaint

  02/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In July of 2020, I rented a townhouse from ***** ******* realty property managers. I had an opportunity to move to a different location, to advance my career. So, I broke the lease by one month. They claim that they couldn't find anybody to rent it for 2 months;even though, my area has a waiting list for people who want to rent places. Also, they claimed that I caused almost $1,000 in damages. I have to see the pictures and it was literally smudges on the wall and from scrapes due to moving, and they said that was almost $1,000. Now they are threatening me to hurt my credit score, for I have a nearly perfect credit score. They are threatening to send my debt to a collection agency. I want this resolved; I don't think I owe that much money to them. If anything maybe $200 the most, not including my deposit.

  

  Business response

  03/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/02/16) */ Contact Name and Title: ******* *********, Manage Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX Contact Email: *******@beckyhancockrealty.com Thank you for the opportunity to reply. We regret that this complaint has been brought to you but we understand that people want to tell someone when they are unhappy. This tenant signed a one-year lease in mid-September of 2020. The lease was due to expire mid-September 2021. The property was vacated mid-July which was 2 months prior to the expiration of his lease. The lease clearly states that if the tenant doesn't fulfill the obligation of the lease, there is a penalty equal to one full month's rent and that fee does not alleviate the responsibility to fulfill the lease, in other words, any rents that are due on the remainder of the lease. Additionally, the lease requires that the tenant be responsible for a pest inspection (bed bugs) that takes place after their belongings have been removed. The moveout inspection revealed that 3 walls needed to be repaired and or painted. These charges are deducted from their deposit and if there isn't enough money in the deposit to cover the charges, they are responsible for any deficit. Upon learning that the tenant wanted to leave early and understanding it was not a significant amount of time, the property management team went to the owner and asked that they consider alleviating the tenant of some of the responsibility in the lease. The owner refused to make any monetary adjustments in the lease obligation. If the property were to re-rent during the time frame the tenant had paid, he would receive a refund for the rent collected on the new lease. Unfortunately, the property did not re-rent during the time he was responsible for rents. The requirement for the balance of the tenant's account is sent in writing with a complete breakdown of the charges. In that letter they are notified that they have 30 days to make arrangements with us to pay on the account or it will be sent to collections. This letter was mailed to them mid-September of 2021. In this case we reached out via phone call 120 days later to let them know the file was going to collections. That is when we received the BBB complaint. We are happy to provide copies of all documentation in the file if the tenant will provide a notice to me in writing. Thanks again, ***** *******, Owner RE/MAX Premier XXX-XXX-XXXX Cell XXX-XXX-XXXX Office *****@BeckyHancock.com Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/02/17) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) First off, there's no way that it took them 2 months for somebody to rent that property. People looking for places to live in that area is very high. There's always a waiting list for people looking to rent. Also, those damages that they were talking about. Was very minor the details. It was just a mark left when I was putting furniture against the wall as I was moving out. There were a couple of very minor dents on the wall leading up to the 2nd floor. Those minor dents could easily be fixed with light speckle. In short, they are inflating the damages 10 times of how much it cost to repair it and also they need to show proof that that property was not rented until September. If they have a reputation of exploiting service members. If you do not believe me, please look up their reviews. I don't feel that I should pay the amount if anything the property management in question. I also left that property completely spotless. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/02/28) */ Respond to the BBB: Here is documentation regarding why this complainant. The lease clearly states his responsibility in the event he leaves the property before the lease expires. The property did not re-rent for 228 days . We've also checked w other property management companies in the area and they have the same lease breaking penalties. When this lease was settled, tenants were notified of the balance due via US Mail and email. They ignored the charges until they were notified recently that the debt was going to collections. After they were notified they chose to make a complaint to BBB. It would seem that if they had a justified complaint it would have been filed at the time rather than shortly after they were notified of the collections action.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩