Complaint Review: Julie Winn Aelous Real Estate and Property Management

Debbie Gary came to our office first in June 2016 inquiring about renting an apartment at the newly renovated City Hall Lofts in Downtown Rogers.  We negotiated a price of $1265 for the Brighton unit. She dropped off a deposit check # 1171 for $1265 and I gave her an application to fill out. We chatted for a while as she appeared to be depressed and when I asked why she was upset, she responded that her last child was off to college and she was all alone and it made her sad. I tried to cheer her up by letting her know that several single women lived in the building and often had wine get-togethers and she might be able to make new friends and get involved in downtown activities and that it could be a new start for her. She seemed to feel better; I thanked her and said we were looking forward to her moving in and she left. When she did not return the application, I made attempts to contact her to let her know we had someone else interested and if she was planning on taking it, we needed the completed application turned in. She never responded back to us and by October 7, 2016 I wrote VOID on the check filed away the paperwork.

Debbie came to our offices in February 2017  to inquire if the apartment was still available. It was not, but I let her know that a couple that had a one bedroom on the top floor in the Lancaster unit that was moving at the end of the month, it was cheaper than the 1st unit she inquired about and she express interest in that and filled out an application. On her application, she noted one dog a “little dauschound”, one car, a job at Walmart for 7 years, but she did not furnish us with a phone number to her current landlord. Because she worked at Walmart for so long, the owner was ok with not calling on the reference.

After the couple moved from Lancaster, we contacted Debbie to view the unit, she did; she liked it and wanted to move forward. I put her application in the Lancaster file with the signing documents and made an appointment for her to come back on the 29th of March to sign the lease to begin for April 1. I did not run the application at that time because in past she didn’t come back and I really didn’t expect her to this time either, she seemed unsure whether she really wanted it or not. The intent was to Void the app fee check and file her away a second time if we didn’t hear from her.

When she did show up on March 29, 2017 to sign the lease to move in, I didn’t realize at that time, that I had still not ran the application, but the owner was ok to rent to her because she had long term employment. During the lease signing period, we went over the Arkansas Landlord Tenant Handbook, which I circled the 2014 Edition for her and told her this was the last known printed edition; that I was not aware of any changes to the publication but that she was more than welcomed to view it online and the website address is on the back of the publication. 

We moved on to the Move in/out Sheet, explained how to fill it out and important to return it with any pre-existing damages noted so she would not be blamed for them when she vacated. She never returned it to us as directed. We then went over the lease terms and when we got to the paragraph for the pets, I had the pet agreement to fill out and it was at the signing table when Debbie mentioned that she had another dog, a poodle mix named Annie, and asked if that would be ok? I told her we were trying to keep it to one pet per apartment. She made a pouty face, said, “She is a good dog, I promise she won’t be any trouble”, so I agreed to let the other dog in and even struck out the $250 for each pet and let her have both dogs for no deposit. We completed the lease process, gave her copies of all of the documents and keys to the apartment, told her she could move in anytime, she didn’t need to wait for April 1. I intended on running her application when I entered her into the system but I missed doing it at that time. When Debbie commented that I took the fee and didn’t run the app, I then ran it right away on June 30.

Everything seemed to be ok at first but quickly became an issue when the noise Debbie was making overhead in her apartment was disturbing the tenant Rhoda below in Apt. 201 the Trenton. Rhoda contacted me saying there was a lot of noise above her and the dog was barking all the time. I contacted Debbie via phone and she explained that Barney the dachshund was blind, and would bark at noises, she had a shock collar for him and would put it on so he would stop barking. As time went on, Debbie forgot on multiple occasions to put the shock collar on and had to be called by me to remind her and even Melissa in Apt. 302 called her to tell her. She would come home and put the collar on.

A few times, Rhoda complained that Debbie was letting her dogs do their business right outside the front steps in the flower beds and a couple times the poop was on the sidewalk. She told Debbie she could use the alleyway for the dogs business and to please refrain from letting the dogs use the flowerbeds. She took pictures on her phone and texted them to me. I contacted Debbie and confirmed that she could use the back yard behind our building next to the alley. Sometimes I noticed Debbie back there so I know by then she was doing as instructed. Other times, I would get a notice from Rhoda about the dog poop on the concrete again, but each time I asked Debbie, she would get defensive and say it wasn’t her dog. That is when Rhoda starting to video tape her as proof and provided me with those tapings as proof.

Then I started getting complaints from tenants that Debbie was making a lot of banging noises and was rehabbing furniture in her apartment, the banging was her hammering away. Since Rhoda was directly under her and heard the noise more than anyone, she said she wrote Debbie a note asking for her to please be quiet and that maybe she could do that furniture in the basement where she would not bother anyone.

Debbie contacted me about the note, said Rhoda was rude, the note was nasty and she wanted Rhoda to leave her alone. I tried to explain to her no complaints were against Rhoda, more than one tenant mentioned to me that she was rehabbing furniture and we would not be able to allow it if the city said it violates the business code for downtown. She kept saying she wasn’t doing anything wrong and that she had to right to rehab furniture. I explained to her it may cause a problem with the owner’s insurance should it considering a business venture and not just merely occupying the space for residential purposes only as stated in the lease. Then we noticed the basement getting full of furniture and it all belonged to Debbie. A pair of dark blue upholstered chairs showed up about June 10 that were not present at Debbie’s move in. A tenant told us Debbie said she was going to re-upholster them and sell them for extra money. On June 16, 2017, Jamie Woods came to our office to fill out an application for a unit. Said she had met one of our tenants at her yard sale, said the lady was talking about the new apts in downtown Rogers that she had just moved into, rehabs furniture and then purchased 2 dark blue chairs to redo. Jamie was interested in the City Hall Lofts as they were selling their house and would be in need of temporary housing while the new house was being built. Debbie gave her our information. I asked if her name was Debbie and she replied yes. So now I knew where the chairs came from and why they were now in the basement. I now had evidence that Debbie was using the basement to store items so she could rehab them. We contacted Debbie to let her know that was not the intention of the space and she got upset and insisted that we said she could use whatever space down there she wanted and didn’t understand why she now had to remove the items. The owner expressed the desire to rehab that space and wanted us to notify all tenant to remove any items in the basement. We sent a notice to everyone, including Debbie. Everyone except Debbie moved their stuff with no complaints, only Debbie complained and then started saying that was the main reason she moved there was for the storage. We never discussed the storage with Debbie at sign in. It was later when she was moving in the building that she notice a few things in an almost empty space down there and asked if she could put some things there and we informed it would be ok but the space was not protected so don’t put anything of value there, the doors do not lock and anyone can go in there. Later things came up missing or damaged and she wanted to hold me accountable, but the lease clearly states paragraph 22 that the manager/owner is not responsible for personal property for any reason. Debbie then accused Rhoda of damaging it, then she accused the cleaning people, and finally shifted the blame to me. I do not know when or how the table became damaged but again reminded Debbie that we were not responsible and she needed to put in her apartment anything she considered to be valuable. She continued to leave her belongings in the basement until she was evicted.

By the end of June, after Debbie had only been there for 3 months, it was evident to me this would be an ongoing problem. I had a meeting with the owner on July 6 to discuss. Debbie indicated that she would not mind moving to the back apartment for a reduced rate so others would not be bothered by her. So the decision was made to move her to the back apartment hoping that the situation would calm down. There were occasions when Rhoda would visit a couple of the ladies that still lived there and there were times she encountered Debbie. Apparently they had words between them. Debbie would complain to me that Rhoda was threatening her and that she was scared. I expressed to Debbie that I didn’t believe Rhoda meant to harm her; she just had an attitude about Debbie because Debbie appeared to be disrespectful to the property and the landscaping that Rhoda spent so much time making pretty. It became a nearly weekly issue trying to deal with Debbie over this and other issues to the point I just wanted to terminate her lease and ask her to move out.

Then Debbie decided to withhold rent for damages she felt were the result of management. We informed her via written notice that the funds are owners’ funds and you cannot withhold owner funds. Lease paragraph 31 addresses situations such as these: Tenant is not allowed to withhold the rent for any reason. Debbie continued to be non-compliant which resulted in the owner being in agreement to file a 3-day pay or vacate against Debbie. Debbie attempted to pay just the unpaid rent, but the attorney advised us a partial payment would stop any legal action. Upon consulting the owner, they did not wish to stop the legal action.

After Debbie was served by the process server, she then attempted to pay a pro-rated amount of rent for October through the 22nd. I contacted the attorney, he advised that we return it and keep our court date for October 18, 2018. At court, we graciously agreed to an additional 7 days for her to move out. We saw the moving van there on the 25th removing her belongings out the rooftop access and lowering them down to the ground. Debbie is mistaken that there is rooftop access from below, the guys moving her had to jump between the storage building and the main building which is about a 3 foot gap.

We found the apartment vacant on the 26th, the unit was not clean. Debbie dumped her potted plants on the membrane roof, took the mat that was outside the door for the maintenance guys, left items/paperwork/mail behind in the kitchen cabinets and drawers, utensils in the dishwasher which also had dog hair in the filter, bathtub had about 4 inches of water in it, she also took the signal boxes and remotes that belong to Cox Cable for the TV and internet services that the owner supplied. The letter she claims I stole from her apartment was left in a kitchen drawer. She did not take everything with her and when we emptied out the contents of the drawer, of course we looked over the items and discovered the letter from a previous attorney telling her they could not represent her in the eviction. We also found her unemploymernt papers, her gym membership card, a coin purse, phone charger, magazines, etc. See attached photo.

The lease clearly says to park in the designated areas only, there are 3 parking spaces on that side near the street and she could have her pick of two as Faye in unit #101 preferred the one closest to the street. The issue with parking by the garage door was that it is not in a designated area and Debbie had to drive between the dumpster and the building within 1 foot of Faye’s door to gain access to the back open area. This put Faye at risk of being hit by Debbie’s car because the entrance does not have window so Faye would not be able to see if Debbie was driving through or not. Debbie’s statement about there not being any outside lights are untruthful, there is a light over the door entrance to her apartment, 2 additional lights on the side doors and a parking lot light right above Faye’s door. The lights all work. I served Debbie a notice of non-compliance by parking past the dumpster in a non-designated area. Despite the notices, occasionally I would see her car parked back there and I took pictures each time I noticed. I did not scratch Debbie's car, first she accused Rhoda but then turned her anger towards me and said I did it after I served her an eviction notice.

Yes, I threw away a cardboard box, in that box was an empty trial size tube of toothpaste, cardboard inserts, plastic wrap, a used yellow sponge applicator and a wadded up red Razorback t-shirt used as a rag. There were no chemicals in the box and it appeared to be trash and was been left abandoned outside the entrance to the back apartments. I had no idea who had left it there or why. I was showing the apt. to someone and when we approached the door, I noticed the box and it appeared to no longer have anything useful in it, so I tossed it in the dumpster. She clams I must have seen her cleaning the lights, but I did not see her there, I saw her car parked in the back again around noon when I drove past the building. It was about an hour later when someone called to see the apts and I met them at the front and showed them unit #201 and then we walked to the back to see Unit 103. By then her car was gone and the box was left outside. I mentioned it to Byron and he told me that he offered to get it for her when she complained to him but she refused his offer stating it was trash anyway but she wanted me to me climb in the dumpster and be the one to retrieve it. Obviously she wanted to cause a problem and was trying to use Byron as a way to get to me. She then asked Byron if he wanted to join her for a beer. He politely declined but thought it strange that she asked him. We surmised it was so she could try to sway him to her side of things.

The lease rules were never changed, they were merely enforced. All tenants in the building signed the exact same lease as Debbie. Just because Debbie didn't agree doesn't mean we changed them. They were clearly identified in the lease and she violated several of the clauses. Apparently she didn't think they applied to her.

There are outside lights over all exterior doors. Several times I would find the switch in thebasement in the off postion and would turn it back on. Only later to find it off again. Someone kept going in the basement and turning off the switch. Since Debbie had stuff stored in the basement, we assumed she kept turning it off and blaming me for no lights being on. Funny how they stay on now that she no longer lives there.

The outside "balcony" she refers to is an open membrane rooftop over a lower section of the building. There are no steps leading to rooftop, there are no railings and the surface is a permeable membrane roof, not meant to be walked on or used as anything. When I contacted Debbie to let her know the owner was okay to let her move to unit #204, she came to the office on Monday, July 10th to pick up the key. I wrote at the top of her lease agreement, “Move to Bloomington at $1300 monthly starting 8-1-17. Both Debbie and I initialed it and I handed her the key. I told her the rent increase would start Aug 1 and she could have the rest of July to move her furniture over with no increase in rent for that Month, she did not have to pay a rent increase at all until August 1. We did not discuss the rooftop or access to it. She never brought it up and neither did I. I assumed that she knew it could not to be used since it did not have railing or a solid surface. There was no reason why Debbie couldn’t have contacted us to ask about the rooftop and I would have explained to her why it could not be used prior to her putting anything out there. She claims I told her it would look nice with chairs and lights, but that conversation never occurred. Rose Cambron, sales agent in our office, was present when Debbie picked up the key and she knows that subject was never brought up in conversation. It was on August 31, that Rose noticed furniture up on the rooftop and told me about it. We then contacted Debbie about removing the items as the rooftop was not allowed access by city code enforcement. She didn't believe me and when she went there herself to inquire she was told that she would not be allowed to use it. She claims the reason she moved to this unit was to have the rooftop. Of course this is ridiculous because that would have been the first apartment rented because everyone wanted a rooftop balcony and when they found out it didn't come with, they took a different apartment. She also claims it was because she could have storage in the basement. Neither were offered to her at lease sign in so don't understand how she came to that conclusion.

The owner decided to withdraw his lawsuit for damages and unpaid rents, keep her deposit and let Debbie go. Debbie was mailed a statement of security showing the owner retained her deposit for unpaid Sept and Oct 2017 rent. That letter was returned to us as undeliberable as addressed but I got that address off of the complaint she filed with the AREC which the judge deemed as valid notification. Debbie was upset that she did not get her day in court so she refiled with Small Claims, but Small Claims will not hear cases that involve attorney's so the case was transferred to Civil Court. Debbie acted as her own attorney and did not educate herself about what it means to file in Civil Court. She did not seek the advise of legal counel prior to going to court, so of course did not know how to argue her case. She also didn't understand that this case was only about her security deposit and no other matters could be heard. Even though she tried to voice them, the judge had to constantly remind her this was only about the deposit and her argument needed to show just cause why she was entitled to her deposit back. She could not provide a reasonable explanation so the judge dismissed her case. He advised her to seek legal counsel for all other matters.

Yes, there are complaints online about me. Our company tries very hard to accommodate all persons who rent from us. I have rented to over 5,000 people in 16 years. Some people do not understand what their responsibilities are and often complain when move out circumstances do not turn out in their favor. All tenants are advised to fill out the move in/out sheets, turn them in, and make sure to get a copy for reference for when they move out so they can be sure to comply with the move out conditions stated in the lease if they want their deposit back. Many times tenants do not follow instructions and lose their deposit as a result but then want to bad mouth me and my company when it doesn’t turn out in their favor. If a tenant is entitled to receive their deposit back, we are more than happy to return it. For those that do not comply, they are sent an itemized statement within 60 days of vacating, as to what happened to their deposit. All tenants are told if they do not like the results, they may file a claim in court and we will defend our decision and let a judge decide.

Rose never said Debbie came behind the desk and grabbed her. She stated Debbie reached over the desk and grabbed her shoulder when trying to make her point known to Rose. Rose said, please do not attack me and Debbie apologized for being upset. That conversation was recorded in our office.

Debbie's application was not run as a hard inquiry, all applications for credit are ran with another company Courthouse Concepts, we have no control over what it does to a persons credit inquiries but were told by Courthouse that they are soft inquiries.

In conclusion, my opinion is this is an attempt by Debbie to defame me and my company and is retaliating against me because the outcome of her rental experience did not produce a favorable result for her. She stated in an email that her intent was to get my license suspended or terminated. She was a problem from the first month she moved in and the situation did not get better even after several attempts to remedy the problem. I realize I cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time, but I still try to be the best manager and landlord I can be. 

These are actual photos taken at Debbie's move out.