Leanna W.
3/5
My husband and I lived at a property managed by Responsive Property Management (RPM) for around a year and a half, and moved due to an unexpected job change that required a relocation. Generally, our experience had been positive overall until we moved out. The property was quiet and the few things that broke while we were there were fixed quickly. While we were there, we also fixed a couple minor things ourselves, such as replacing the sink strainers (the ones provided didn't fit well), adding a handle to the garage's side door (so you could close it without pulling your key to close the door), and adding a pull to the yard gate to make it usable.
The one thing that was less than perfect while we were there was the gardener, who frequently didn't do about half the gardening work. I ended up buying some hand tools so I could clip the plants along the back walkway to the garage because the gardener did not do this even though it was part of his job. Until I became pregnant and the weather hit over 100 degrees, I would go out and clip the plants so we (and our neighbors) could use the pathway to get to our garages. We didn't report this because we didn't feel it would be worth the hassle and inevitable animosity from the gardener. My husband did ask the gardener to address the pathway once I was no longer able to, and thankfully he started clipping is a week or two later. It should have been done the entire time and without us asking though, since it was part of the common area of the complex.
The biggest issue we had, and the reason I decided to write this review, was the poor experience we had around our move out. First off, shortly after we gave notice, we were being pressured to be available to show the unit to prospective people. This was a small unit that was already cramped, and adding boxes being packed made it very hard to move around, so we had to decline. During our pre-move out inspection (before things were fully packed), we went over the space with Frank and were told as long as we cleaned and patched the holes (from hanging photos and such), we would only be charged for a prorated painting and basic cleaning.
In the past 10 years I have moved multiple times and have cleaned and patched holes every time, each time getting the full deposit back (minus any standard stuff in the contract like the pro-rated painting). We had requested the final inspection on our last day in the afternoon, but they would not do one unless we agreed to do it first thing in the morning and allow painters in at that time. Our move was difficult, we needed the time for cleaning, and we were coming from 2 hours away, so we needed that final day to complete cleaning and moving the last of our stuff. Because of this they moved our inspection to after we were out of the apartment.
I spent two days cleaning and patching, (again, while pregnant), to make sure everything was in order so we could get our deposit back as usual. Imagine our surprise when we are get our deposit back missing $1000, including a charge for "excessive holes in walls." I had literally patched every hole and the charges seemed like they were really trying to get the most they could from the deposit. When we asked about the "excessive holes" charge, we were given a vague answer about the patching "wasn't done right" (which is false) and provided "proof" in a cell phone video too grainy to see any details, with a worker walking around in the dimly lit apartment mumbling in Spanish and filming the walls after he had apparently done this "repatching."
It's a shame that our move out experience was so poor and the company chose to abuse the deposit charges this way, because I would have otherwise recommended them. However, after this, I can not recommend them unless you want to be excessively charged at move out.
