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  • Report:  #831057

Complaint Review: Sumner Roman

Sumner Roman Sunny Roman, Sumner Rous Landlord taking advantage of servicemembers Pensacola, Florida

  • Reported By:
    Matthew — Pensacola Florida USA
  • Submitted:
    Mon, January 30, 2012
  • Updated:
    Fri, March 22, 2013
  • Sumner Roman
    1668 Rook Dr.
    Pensacola, Florida
    United States of America
  • Phone:
    408-355-4313
  • Category:

Being in the military requires me to move quite a bit.  Being a military physician requires me to move with little notice.  I finished my family medicine internship and had to be in Pensacola, FL to start flight surgeon school less than 2 weeks later.  Due to military travel restrictions and having to work as a resident for 80 hrs/week, I resorted to finding a rental house on craigslist.org site unseen.  I found a furnished house  which fulfilled my requirements for the 6 months I had to be in Pensacola.
 
I was worried about a house smelling like pets so I asked my landlord (Sunny) about previous renters and pets.  She promised pets hadnt been in the house during the past two rentals.  Upon arriving to Pensacola, my parents (who helped me move in) and I were abhorred by the smell of cat urine permeating the house.  Furthermore, we found the house more than furnishedit looked like Sunny had packed a bag and left the house as is.  Things were everywhere with no room for my things.  Sunny said she didnt have more than $50 to pay for carpet cleaning (it would cost around $200 to clean the carpets) and emailed me home remedies for me to do to take care of the stench.  She gave me the option to wait several months when she was back in town and could pull up the carpet with my helpI assured myself that I was only going to be here for 6 months and could handle it; if I could handle living in a makeshift house as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, I could deal with this because moving was too much work while in flight school which is known for its rigorous academics.  
 
However, the issues became more complicated when she deviated from the contract with certain requests.  She wanted me to forward all her mail to her.  Moreover, she wanted me to pay what translated to be a flat rate for utilities.  I refused in accordance with the contract and started paying the utilities myself.  However, had already paid her the requested rate a few times before I figured out the scam.  Because she would not calculate the finances to that point, I had to do it myself and figure out that she owed me hundreds of dollars.  She disagreed despite a JAG calling her and confirming the calculations and gave me a 30 day notice. Because I was on a month-to-month lease, I had to move out for my remaining month in Pensacola. She still claims I owe her money for utilities.  Now she is trying to take some of my deposit claiming I have stolen items from her house. She states she only rents to military members. I wonder how many members she overcharged and they didn't catch onto the scheme.

1 Updates & Rebuttals


Sunny Roman

Los Gatos,
California,

Rebuttal to Matthew Lomeli

#2REBUTTAL Individual responds

Fri, March 22, 2013

I've had 40 rentals and over 200 tenants in the last 30 years and 99% of those tenants have been a good experience.

Matthew Lomeli was a very good tenant except for constant pages of erratic emails until his last month. He was under a lot of stress and did not pay all his last months rent or utilities. I requested he that he vacate the premises. I deducted his unpaid rent and utilities from his deposit and refunded the rest. He wrote me more pages and pages of emails that did not make sense or calculations add up. Every month he changed our agreement without discussion.

Some of his complaints are valid, but are exaggerated. Some of his complaints are fictional.

We tried to resolve this through his Navy Jag office. I received an apology from the Jag Office and I was asked to let it go. Consumer Affairs told me they could not make sense of his complaint and also passed on it.

I never claimed he stole anything. I was going to charge him $8.97 for a missing surge protector until he returned it.

Except for pages of emails that did not make sense and the fact that he did not pay all of his last months rent and utilities he was a good renter.

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