Complaint Review: WRI Property Management

Found a property that we wanted to rent, placed an application and was approved on 4/30, we immediately paid the holding fee of over $2500. Called the "listing agent" Jennifer DiBabbo here in NJ. She stated that she would have to put in for the certificate of occupancy that day. We explained that we needed a move in date of 5/17.

We made an appointment with her to view the home that Friday at 1pm. We get there, no realtor. Called her 5 times, no answer. She finally calls back and states she forgot she had an appointment with us. We view the house the next day, fill out the rent ready form with a few minor repairs and email it to her the next day.

A week and a half later we call her to get a move in date and ask her when the inspection is scheduled for. She asks if we ever sent in the rent ready form. Well, yeah, we sent it to you 8 days ago. Again reminding her that we need to move by the 17th. Asked her when the inspection is scheduled for and she says she'll get back to us.

A few days pass, we try calling her, no response. We call the township to find out that an application was never received. Back to Jennifer who swears she sent it in on the 24th of April. Funny, she told us she was sending it on the 1st of May. So she claims she'll call the township and find out whats going on.

For the next four days this realtor claims she mailed it in, didn't bother to look for a cancelled check, her assistant was going to sent the app again, excuse after excuse while our need to move drew closer. Her incompetence was so bad that we had to go to the township ourselves and fill out the app and pay the fee because she couldn't be bothered to drive the 10 minutes to do it herself.

At that point we found out there were open permits on the house that needed to be closed out. WRI stated that they had no idea that there were open permits. Again, funny because the permits were issued to WRI Property Management. Now our move in date has come and gone, our belongings are in storage, we are living out of a hotel room.

WRI claims they were working to close out the permits. Maybe they should have done that before they listed the property for rent. How can you rent a property that is uninhabitable? Prior to the upcoming inspection we are assured that the house should pass. The realtor, Jennifer, had checked all the smoke detectors, etc. and all were good.

WRI was working on closing the permits. Inspection day comes and the house fails for an open electrical permit and two bad smoke detectors. Way to go Jennifer. Now those items need to be resolved. We were told on Wednesday that there would be a crew there on Thursday to replace the smoke detectors and the awesome electrician that they have that's very responsive will go sign off on the permit and close it out with the township.

Needless to say the smoke detectors were not replaced yesterday as promised and the electrician won't answer his emails. So, we start to deal with a manager at WRI by the name of Stephanie. Needless to say Stephanie is about as good as Jennifer. We explain to Stephanie whats going on and she states that we are lucky because she has people in NJ who have been waiting for their rentals for over 4 months. Lucky?

We contracted with this company to deliver a rental to us because we needed a place to live. We are now and have been officially homeless because of WRI. We are incurring storage and housing expenses by the day while WRI fiddles around telling us lie after lie. Stephanie, the "manager", stated that WRI had no way of knowing there were outstanding permits. Um, Stephanie, the original permits were issued to WRI!

This company has done absolutely nothing to rectify this situation and has no sense of urgency whatsoever. They take your money for properties that can't legally be rented out and leave you hanging until you have no place to live. Please don't do business with this company, you will be sorry that you did.