Britt Management Group

Our interactions with this company turned sour before we actually signed the lease. We had just arrived in Reno (moving from Jacksonville, FL) and upon first hand inspection of the property we were worried. Having just traveled cross country and now having all our furniture with no place to move into we made our first mistake of signing the lease anyway. The carpets of the rental were an absolute disaster, the landscaping and grass were all burnt and dead as if they had shut off the water for a few weeks after the last renter moved out. It only takes a few days here in Reno heat. The rental was listed as having a refrigerator so we didn't bring ours from Jacksonville - you can imagine our surprise when it did not include one. To compensate us for the poor conditions of the rental property they offered us $50 off each months rent. Being that we were stuck without a plan B and needed a place to move into, we accepted the offer and signed the lease. Granted, this didn't cover the cost of us buying a refrigerator for the unit and the crazy water bills required to bring the landscaping back up to par (you're responsible for maintaining it as the renter per their lease). You should pray that nothing breaks while living there or else you'll be forced to pay the first $45 for the repair (even if it's due to items aging or normal wear/tear). They spell this out in the lease as your renter 'deductible'. Fast forward 11 months and we were ready to give them notice and move into a different rental (under different management). We gave them 6 weeks notice that we were moving out (above/beyond the required time). We were then forced to act as their sales agents, giving walkthroughs to prospective new renters without any agent from Britt Management present. This was frustrating because they often had questions that we were unable to answer. Many of these 'pre-screened renters' would fail to show, but no harm to Britt -- they didn't have to show the house, it falls on the renter's back. We requested a final walk through with John Britt (owner/manager for the property) and he declined. He stated that he would look at the property while giving some tours to potential new renters and if he saw anything that needed to be addressed before our lease terminated that he would let us know. This was important to us because we had actually vacated the premise two weeks prior to our lease terminating. While we paid rent through the full lease agreement, this gave us two weeks to make certain the property was top notch and ready to hand over. We wanted to ensure we received our full deposit back. After our lease officially terminated we began the waiting game for our deposit to be returned. We had read nightmare reviews from other websites about the horror stories (boy do we wish we had looked prior to signing our lease). We called a two weeks after our lease ended asking if they had an estimate for what we would be getting back. They replied that they were still tallying the repairs and would get back to us within the 30 days required by law. This past week we received our deposit back. They had decided to charge us $50 for a repair to an irrigation drip line that had broken (flooding the neighbors yard for 2 days) and they also decided to charge us $260 for trimming bushes around the yard. We were furious with this and called/emailed asking for an explanation and to be credited the amounts. The broken irrigation line in no way was our fault, but rather a repair due to normal wear/tear (there was no negligence on our behalf). As for the trimming of shrubs, I had specifically asked for a walk through with the property manager so that any items he noticed could be addressed. He had declined that walk through, but over the phone stated there were no issues that he saw with the property. This behavior is reflected in numerous reviews from others out on other websites. The company is known for coming up with bogus claims about repairs or cleaning/carpet issues, etc. and then withholding your deposit. This is the first time I've been an Angie's list subscriber, but I felt the need to warn others about the dealings of this company. Beware! You've been warned! I urge you to find a different house to rent, even if the rental property looks to be a great deal!

Just Brilliant

I have used them for about 13 years. They have been exceptional and really do a great job managing property. If something breaks they have a repair guy that works for them is very prompt and reasonably priced. They really look out for me as the owner.