ComplaintsforCandlewood Property Management, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  02/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a grad student at the ******************************************** and I was trying to find student housing. I found a property through Candlewood and I was told to apply for an apartment I was interested in leasing. I had to pay $25 to apply and my mom had to pay an additional $25 as a guarantor to apply separately. I also had to pay a pet fee. After viewing the apartment, I declined due to the poor condition of the apartment and building. The apartment smelled of smoked and marijuana. I explained this to the manager of Candlewood and requested *********** back. I was denied return of the deposits as it was not their fault the apartment smelled of smoke and marijuana and in poor condition. I was further told that I could not receive my pet deposit back either and had to work with a 3rd party to get that back. I realize the laws have changed and the landlord can do basically whatever they want without recourse. I have a good rental history and rented the same apartment in ********** ** during undergrad. I have very limited funds working part-time and going to grad school full-time. I feel their policy is detrimental to lower income families. Collecting fees prior to signing leases. Affordable housing is very hard to find. I felt pressured into completing the application because of the lack of affordable housing. I appreciate any help you can provide to get my deposit back. I have found alternate housing but have to pay much more and take out more student loans to afford rent. Thank you.

  Business response

  02/14/2023

  Hello ******!
  
  Thanks for reaching out with your concerns and I am happy to address them and explain further.  First, its important to note that the property you applied for was NOT listed by Candlewood and was listed by the actual tenant who was looking to sublet the property.  We had no involvement during the process of advertising, showings, or answering questions as this is all a duty of the current tenant.  Likewise, we also have done no repair or prep-work to the apartment that we always do to make it ready for a new tenant.  We are unaware of how the current tenant keeps their place unless they request us to enter for maintenance repairs.

  From our end, when a tenant tells us they plan to sublet their apartment, our role is strictly to screen the applicant and prep the legal documents to add the new person to the lease.  In this case, it sounds like you chose to apply for the apartment before you ever went and saw it, which is never something we recommend doing, but we would not have know that in this case unless you told us this in advance.  Once you applied, we are required to process those applications and in turn we pulled credit reports, court records, *** offender records, and nationwide criminal searches.  Additionally we verify income and previous rental history in some cases.  This all costs us money and staff time to do this work on your behalf so that you can get the apartment you want.  The fact that you later opted not to sublet the unit doesn't mean that these costs didn't happen, which is why those are non-refundable once the application has been processed.  
  
  After speaking with the staff regarding your situation, I know they referenced the same information I have listed, but also did give you the option to transfer that application to any of our other available apartments so you didn't lose the money.  It sounds like you opted not to go that route though and located a different rental that was a better fit.  Ultimately, we are always looking for creating a great customer experience for our residents.  You requested we process and approve your application for an apartment and we did that.  Knowing this information, what do you think is a fair resolution?
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ************************;

• Initial Complaint

  11/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We bought a house and had to break our lease. Candlewood says they will not comply and will charge $735 on top of a $250 fee they already charged to re-rent thr property. All ww ask is they comply with state law and re-rent the unit using our security deposit to cover any fees. Also, the lease provided to us does not outline a $735 marketing fee and only states $150 to re-rent.

  Business response

  11/06/2022

  Hello ******* -
  
  Thank you for reaching out regarding termination of the lease agreement prior to the end of the contract.  Reading your complaint it looks as though you may not be understanding the process that must be followed under ********* law.  Please allow me a moment to better detail this process in hopes that you may better understand how things have to be handled.
  
  As with all leases, one party cannot unilaterally end the agreement during the term of the lease.  This applies to both tenant and landlord.  Under ********* law, if you as a tenant breach the lease and vacate, you have two options in which this is handled:
  
  Option 1:  You attempt to find a replacement tenant to fulfill the remainder of the lease obligation.  In this case, we charge a fee to rescreen applicants, prepare the legal paperwork to alter the lease and have the new tenants added and to update the systems, accounting, tenant portals, etc.  This is the option you chose from my understanding.
  
  Option 2:  You can hire our office, just as the landlord did, to locate a new tenant to replace you.  This includes the above work in option 1, plus advertising, fielding calls and messages from potential applicants, and scheduling & conducting tours.  For this we charge a fee of $735.  Again, that is the same fee that the landlord pays for the exact same service.  You opted to not go this route initially.
  
  In either case, you as a tenant are still responsible for rent and utilities until a qualified replacement can be found, which as you experienced is often not an easy task.  The criteria we have for acceptance is not ****** strict and is the same criteria that you met when you were approved.  The criteria is set where it is as it gives us a better tenant who is not likely to cause issues or default on rent. 
  
  Your mention of wanting us to "follow state law" is factually inaccurate because we have since day-one.  From your comments it appears as though you feel it is our duty to locate a replacement for you after you chose to breach the lease.  Again, we offered that to you as an option from the start, but you chose not to have us handle that.  Under ********* law, a landlord has a 'Duty To Mitigate', which is what I assume you are referring to.  If you look to the actual statute though (** Stat 704.29(1)), you will see that the 'Duty to Mitigate' only applies AFTER a tenant has vacated the property AND after they have defaulted on rent.  From the sounds of it, you just recently moved, and you are still current on rent so the 'Duty To Mitigate' does not yet apply per State Statute.
  
  I think there are two important points to note.  First is that even with the duty to mitigate clause of the law, it states that you as a tenant are responsible for all costs to re-rent the property and for any rent and utilities until a replacement tenant can be found.  Secondly, we would prefer to not have rent or utilities go behind, which is why we offered you the solution to just having us do all the work initially, which again, you opted not to do.
  
  Fortunately, the solution to this is the same as it has always been.  Knowing that you have vacated and that you have made it clear that you want us to locate a replacement tenant, I can have our office get a start on advertising and hopefully locating someone.  We can apply the fee you already paid towards the $735 fee to locate a replacement tenant as that is already built into that cost, so you wouldn't pay that twice.  Just as a note, rent and utilities are still your responsibility until a new tenant takes occupancy of the property.  Regarding removing the new tenant placement fee from the security deposit, that is not allowed by default under ** Stat 704.28(1).  That being said, if after checking out the property and finding no damages or outstanding balances, all parties can agree in writing to do this if that helps out.   
  
  Again, our staff will start with the leasing of the property for you and we will get the property checked out as soon as we can get on the vendors schedules.  If any of this is not agreeable to you, please let us know asap.
  
  Thank you - 
  
  *************************

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