Bart & Brown Realty

I rented from Bart and brown beginning in January 2010 at this point they seemed really nice and I felt I was paying a good price for the duplex I was renting compared to other places in Branson, when it was time for my lease to be up I asked if I could sign only a 6 month or a 3 month lease or even pay month to month since I had already completed a full year because I was looking to buy a house, they allowed me to sign a 6 month lease. About 2 months into my re signed lease I found a house I wanted to buy, so I called them immediately because I knew the process was going to take about 2 months. I figured a 60 day notice of me moving out would be better than a 30 day or less notice and it would give them plenty of time to find someone else to move in. I know people go in there every day asking about apartments for rent so they could at least say ours would be available soon. The lady I talked to was VERY VERY RUDE and told me it didn’t matter how many days notice I gave I will be responsible for rent until the day my signed lease is up or I will be sent to collections. I asked her if there was anything I could do about that she said NO!!!! Finally I called back and talked to someone else and she was pretty nice she said if I found someone to sign a new one year lease on my own I would get charged nothing and everything would be fine as long as everything was cleaned including carpets when I moved out. So I found someone and they were ready to move in the day after I moved in but Bart and brown didn’t allow them to move in until mid may and now they are charging me for prorated rent for may and a 275 dollar fee for re leasing the apartment as well as some other things I believe I was unfairly charged for. To say the least they kept my whole 550 dollar deposit and now I owe them money.

As a landlord, I have always freely offered them honest and accurate information when they call about a reference on a tenant that is applying to them for a rental. When I contacted them to check on a potential tenant, they would provide NO information and said I would have to fax a request to them in order for them to provide any information. Once the said tenant moved into our property, they complained that although they paid their last month's rent to this company without living there, gave 30 days written notice and left the apartment in immaculate condition, they were still charged $265 for advertising fees for the company to advertise to get another tenant in the apartment. When they researched their lease, this charge was hidden in fine print, and they unfortunately had signed it, unaware that a company would stoop to this kind of unscrupulous behavior. As a landlord, I know of no other landlords that would take advantage of a tenant this way, especially when the ads they run are blind ads for many rentals. Any potential tenant or landlord should be careful in dealing with this company. In the future I will require this company to remit requests for references in writing only. And I will warn tenants who are moving to be sure to read the fine print in dealing with this company.