| rev:text
| - KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!! STAY AWAY!! CHECK YELP, GOOGLE REVIEW AND THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU FIRST!!! Please, always do your research so you can avoid having to go through these headaches.
I made the costly & unfortunate mistake of thinking my tenant rights would be protected & upheld here like they were in my home state. Boy was I wrong. My rude awakening began that fateful day I placed a call to Janine at AZ Rental Homes and scheduled an appointment to look at a unit in Papago Park Village. The rental ad I responded to was not the unit I was shown (bait & switch). The unit I was shown was a pit. It was filthy; the pungent stench of cat and cat urine was disgusting & there was visible damage. I was assured that the unit would be sanitized & in move in condition if I was interested. Let the mistakes begin: mistake #2- believing Janine; mistake #3- signing the lease.
I signed the lease, handed her the deposit & Janine went MIA with my money in hand. I proactively contacted Janine via phone and email to inspect the unit prior to my move in date. No response until the actual move in date. Let's just say, I don't know what her definition of sanitize, clean and move in ready are, but what I saw was far from that. It still reeked of cat & cat urine, there was mold, hair clippings in the sink, rust in the shower, the air conditioning unit was broken & the washing machine looked like it was used for kickboxing practice.
I started making calls that day to find out what my rights were as a tenant. I was advised to contact Arizona Tenants Advocates. I was also strongly advised not to move into the unit & that if I did things would only get worse.
Arizona Tenants Advocates found out there was a "Quit Claim Deed" on the property & that the unit was owned by someone else. I was told that the lease was not valid since the rental contract did not have the unit owner on the lease. A request for my deposit was made.
I contacted the Arizona Department of Real Estate; I thought they would be able to help me. This was their response: "the Department has no authority over landlord / tenant disputes.... you may wish to seek legal advice and pursue the matter through the appropriate court....In addition, the Department has no authority to determine the validity of the Lease Agreement since we do not employ licensed attorneys. Your best course of action may be to consult with private legal counsel."
I also contact the Office of the Arizona Attorney General - Consumer Complaints Department. Here was there response: COMPLAINT #: CIC 15-11046 AZ RENTAL HOMES. "Thank you for taking the time to submit your complaint ... we have reviewed your complaint but unfortunately are unable to take further action to resolve your dispute.... We are simply prohibited by law from representing individual consumers." "The Attorney General's office however, does bring cases against businesses that violate Arizona consumer protection statutes.... The information in your complaint ...assists this office in identifying and tracking a possible pattern of illegal conduct that can warrant future action." And lastly they gave me a similar response to the one the ADRE gave me: "You may also consider filing an action on your own in Justice Court."
Lastly, I filed an Ethics Complaint with the Arizona Association of Realtors. Case # EC-150158. I provided evidence & attended the hearing. The panel found that Janine "was not honest... "; "she misrepresented the transaction...unenforceable agreement." She was given the following disciplinary action: pay $500 fine, a letter of reprimand in her personal file & she had to complete two courses: Disclosure with Emphasis on Property Management and Legal Issues with emphasis on Arizona Landlord Tenant Act.
And even with this decision from the Arizona Association of Realtors, basically a jury of her own peers, no deposit was refunded; they too advised me to pursue legal action in the courts.
After exhausting every possible avenue, I've had no choice but to finally take all their advice & legally pursue this matter.
Now my #1 mistake - I didn't do the research. And when I did, after the fact, I learned the truth and it was too late. Please learn from my mistake and avoid AZ Rental Homes. Unless you enjoy writing to all these agencies only to be told to go to court for your justice & if you want to be forced to retain an attorney & file suit which is where I'm at then by all means, place that call and schedule your appointment.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)