Management Pro LLC

We responded to an ad on craiglist.org for a nice house for rent in Eagle Idaho, on or about September 5, 2013. Two gals from this property management firm met us at the property location in Eagle and we viewed the house. We agreed to fill out an application to rent this property during this showing for a fee of $20 each for my wife and I. I specifically told the two gals that we did not want to rent unless the furnace and AC unit was inspected by a professional within 2 weeks of move in. I shared with them the problem we had with faulty ac and furnace in current place we were renting and how that cost us hundreds of unnecessary dollars in extra gas and electric bills. So, I was very clear that this is what we expected. I also asked if we could offer a lower monthly rent of about 10% lower and they agreed that we could. They also told us at that meeting that the lease term would be 12 months. We were contacted the very next day, Friday, Spetember 6, 2013, and informed that we were approved and we decided on a move in date the very next Friday, September 13, 2013. Nothing was mentioned about whether the owner agreed to the lower rent offer. Also, nothing was said about our request to have the furnace and ac inspected. I called them back later in the day and asked about the lower rent and was told that owner would not go down on the rent. I forgot to ask about the furnace inspection and later just assumed that it would probably be contained in the lease agreement. We gave our current property management firm 30 days notice and then proceeded to arrange for all the utility’s to be transferred. Tranferring the utilities was an arduous process having to wait on hold at many of the utilities for long periods of time. This took me almost a full day to complete all of this. This was done on Monday, Sept 9, 2013. Later on Monday, Sept 9, 2013, the lease agreement was emailed to us. The layout of the lease was very unprofessional and contained incorrect information. Specifically, the lease was only in 9pt font and almost impossible to read when printed out. I should note that the property management firm had not signed the copy of the lease agreement that was sent to us. I closely read the lease agreement and found that (1) there was no mention of the furnace and ac being inspected as we had requested. Also, they had put the wrong date in for the lease period. They had put the lease to begin on Sept 13, 2013(our move in date) and would run through October 31, 2014. This was not 12 months as we were told but 13 ½ months. They were rushing us to get the lease back so I did my best to make corrections to the lease agreement which were duly noted in the left hand column of the lease agreement. and we took the lease over and dropped it off at their offices in Meridian in their night drop box. The changes I made to the lease, like I said, were duly noted in the left hand margin in the lease agreement. The lease is a contract between two parties and before it is signed(which it had not been), it is completely acceptable to write changes into the lease. I have done this in all types of contracts throughout my lifetime and never had a problem with this. If the other party does not agree to the changes, usually what happens is further negotiation to come to an agreement that both parties can live with. The exact changes to the lease was changing the end date of the lease from Oct 31, 2014, to a period closer to 12 months(giving the property management firm the benefit of the doubt) which was September 30, 2014. I also added the following clause as the last paragraph in the lease so that we had it in writing that we would get the furnace inspected as we had stated prior to submitting an application was a requirement of ours but was never addressed by them. Here is the clause exactly as I added it: 22. Agent shall keep all major utilities and applicances in good working condition and bear expenses for normal repair. This shall include the gas furnace, air condtiioning, stove, refrigerator, microwave oven, garage door opener, eletrical outlets, automatic lawn sprinklers, and all plumbing and plumbing fixtures. Gas Furnace shall be inspected by professional heating and a/c firm within 2 weeks from move in date and then annually thereafter. The central air compressor shall be inspected every spring and recharged with freon as necessary. I spent a couple hours on Tuesday, Sept 10, 2013 reviewing the lease agreement and making corrections and a trip to their office to deliver that evening as they were in a big rush for us to get them the lease signed by us. Keep in mind that they had not signed the lease at this point so it is totally ethical and normal business practice to make changes and/or corrections and submit back to them. I also spent about 6 hours on Tuesday making the transfer of all of our utilites which included, Electric, Gas, Water, Sewer, Trash, and TV. We then waited for two days and finally we get a call back from them on late Thursday afternoon, the day prior to move in. I was told by one of the gals that there was a problem and I asked her “What is the problem?”. She was very rude and obviously upset. She further stated that “They could not rent to us!”. And of course, being dumbfounded, I asked “Why not?”. She stated and I quote, “That I had changed her contract and this was totally unethical and criminal and that I was not to be trusted and that they could not rent to someone they could not trust!”. Needless to say, I spent another 6 hours Friday morning(as they called late Thursday) reversing the utility transfer requests and cancelling the moving company. I consider this move on their part to be totally an unethical business, discrimination for being intelligent, and feel we were truly wronged and hurt in the process. If they were not able to have the furnace or a/c inspected , a perfectly normal request, then they should have told us this up front at the showing. We would never have submitted the app and paid them the $40 cash! As a result, of their dishonesty and unethical business practices, I spent $40 of my hard earned money and at least 14 hours of my time at a cost of $50/hr(this is my current salary) unnecessarily. I sent them two emails to simply request a refund of our $40 in application fees and they never responded to either email. I will also be following up with this by filing a complaint with both the better business bureau and the Idaho State Attorney General. We will probably be filing a claim in small claims court also. Beware of this dishonest property management firm! I would never do business with these people again and advise no one else does either. These people are very unethical and dishonest. Once again, Beware.