Complaint Review: Real Property Management Results - Evansville Indiana

In February 2018, my family and I moved into one of the rental homes managed by Real Property Management in Evansville, Indiana. We have had nothing but problems with this home. Chad Sander, the property manager, to be as nice as possible, is a pompous jerk. He is rude, condescending, and barely helpful when it comes to repairing problems. When it comes to gaslighting, he is the king!

Our problems with our rental home all started a little after a month renting the property. We were about to put away some stuff in our garage and quickly noticed that some furniture, storage bins containing books, clothing, shoes, and handbags; and other stuff was covered with BLACK MOLD. Not only was I astonished, but I was devastated since we were planning on using the furniture (recliner and dining chairs) once we got completely settled in our home. 

We addressed our concerns with Chad, but his advice was to air out the garage off and clean it with bleach. This was bad advice, considering that this method only makes black mold worse. Bleach only kills surface mold. Airing out the garage doesn’t have much impact either since this should be done after the mold has been REMOVED.  The best way to have black mold treated is by a professional, not a tenant.

Essentially, he was asking us to put our health at risk instead of hiring a professional. Black mold exposure is known to cause different maladies, including cancer. I started experiencing issues with my health after being exposed to it. I have been to the ER at least once or twice, urgent care a few times, and to the doctor countless of times. I have had everything from frequent headaches and sore throat to feeling like my throat is trying to close about and severe vertigo. While I didn’t get tested for mold at the time, I went to an allergist and it showed that I had a lot of environmental allergies. 

We believe that a roof leak in the garage led to this, considering that the ceiling tiles were puckered with water damage along with black mold spots scattered all over the ceiling. It had been snowing the month that we moved in, so I believe that once the snow had melted that this is what may have caused the water damage in the ceilings. However, no telling how long the roof had been damaged! 

There have also been other issues with the garage, such as the circuit breaker. For a while, we weren’t able to open the garage door since this wasn’t working. We heard plenty of excuses from the landlord concerning this! One maintenance man tried changing the fuse(s) and nearly electrocuted himself! This could have been one of us since the landlord wanted us to do this ourselves. Not only we’re not licensed or skilled at removing black mold, but we’re not an electrician!  It wasn't until maybe months later that another maintenance man came in to change the fuse(s) to find out that it was the wrong one(s).

It wasn’t before long we had an issue with the water heater leaking inside the house, causing dampness in the carpet in front of the water heater/furnace closet as well as inside and outside the guest closet next to it. He was nice enough to lend a fan to dry out the carpet. While he didn’t have any concerns for mold, he cut away some carpet out of the utility closet. This is after I asked him to since I noticed a strong mildew scent in there and greenish mold in the corner of the closet.

Don’t quote me on this, but I believe that he had said what I was seeing were stains from dirty water.  To this day, there is still a mildew smell and now a large dark spot in front of the guest closet that is located in a corner. I’ve addressed my concerns with Chad Sander about this, but it falls on deaf ears anytime I mention mold. It’s like mold doesn’t exist in his world or that it can easily be removed. This is disheartening, especially since it shows that he doesn’t have any regard when it comes to a tenant’s health or safety.

I have never met a property manager like this and I never want to again. Not only have I experienced health issues, but my husband and three of my children as well. My oldest son has been having frequent nose bleeds for awhile. Meanwhile, my toddler has frequent ear/sinus infections. Earlier this year, he had to stay at the hospital a few days because his temperature kept skyrocketing. He also had trouble breathing.   He has recently been to an ENT about this and he’s under watch if this keeps recurring. 

At this point, I don’t believe that mold is just affecting around the area of the guest closet, but I believe it’s affecting the master bedroom as well. In fact, we experienced dampness in there as well, especially after recent heavy rainfall. It was causing a strong smell of mildew throughout the house. It was so strong that I got severely nauseated. My oldest son threw up twice because of the smell! The landlord didn’t believe that something like this could happen since he said that nothing can cause water to leak into the bedrooms. He is such an expert, right?

He did send a plumber out to look at the pipes in the kitchen since we were experiencing issues with leaking around the dishwasher and washing machine during that time as well. Turns out there were FIBROUS ROOTS in the pipes. After these were cleared out, ironically, the dampness went away within a few days in the master bedroom.

To help get rid of the strong mildew smell, I had to open up the windows frequently, burn candles, and I also shampooed the carpet. Who knows what else is going on with the master bedroom since the ceiling is also cracking and sagging. We experienced a similar issue with leakage in the kitchen last summer and fibrous roots were a most likely issue since this is known to be a recurring issue. 

Am I done? Not yet!

Last fall, the lights in the bathroom started blinking. We changed the bulbs, but it continued to happen. It started happening more and more frequently. A wiring issue was suspected. We mentioned this to Chad, but we might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Fast forward to February 2019, it got to a point where the lights would completely shut off in the bathroom and come back for a certain period of time.

One day the lights wouldn’t go off when we tried turning the light switch off. It started to feel hotter and hotter to the touch. We quickly dialed the fire department since we were afraid this was going to start a fire since this definitely indicates faulty wiring. To our relief, the firemen were able to eventually turn it off somehow. However, we could no longer use that switch until the problem was fixed.

We reminded Chad that we were still having issues with it and that we had to even call the fire department because of it. Not seemingly believing that we had faulty wiring, he reluctantly sent a maintenance guy to check it. I don’t exactly remember what the maintenance guy said, but I believe that he mentioned that the wire(s) was wrapped around a screw, causing the issue?  Eh? Maybe it wasn’t until the next day, we started having the same issue, so Chad sent an electrician. A few days later, the same issue. Chad didn’t believe it, because he claimed that this guy was a MASTER electrician.

Whether or not that the electrician was a MASTER electrician, this didn’t dispute the fact that we were still having electrical issues. Chad was extremely peeved at this point, because he’s the kind of guy that can’t be wrong and he’ll gaslight you to death. So he reluctantly and eventually has someone to replace the light fixture. It was a total hack job! The light fixture that they installed revealed ugly, unremovable wallpaper that the other light fixture was covering up. To add insult to injury, they added these ugly, tubular-shaped light bulbs.  It’s an eyesore! The next tenants/owners are in for a treat. Whatever at this point, right? 

While he’s there, we mention about the bathroom door not wanting to fully close because of the bottom hinge. There is also a bit of splitting on the bottom. Maybe it’s not the original door (the house was built in 1955), but this one is old and worn, to begin with. It has probably been here for decades. He has a maintenance man to “fix” it (actually made it worse and it was in a poorer condition the next day) and do you know what? Chad sends a text that he was going to charge us $25! He actually attempted to charge us $30 when I went to make our monthly rent payment online. He claims that someone must have kicked the door for this to happen.

We shouldn’t have been shocked by anything that comes out of his mouth, but we were shocked since that wasn’t the case at all! He also mentioned about the toilet not being cleaned when he was here. I was appalled since I’m practically cleaning everyday. He was referring to a spot on the lid where the white paint is worn off, which was there before we moved in. He also mentioned about the area around the sink not being cleaned.  As for the sink, my kids had used charcoal toothpaste that evening and I didn't have a chance to clean it up yet. With the concerns we were having with the electrical issues at that time, all he could think about was the sink and the toilet! This was just a way of him trying to deflect a serious issue. The door wasn’t a major issue with us, but the faulty wiring was! This is what he should have been concerned about instead. 

Chad will try to find any excuse to cover his own behind. When it comes to serious repairs, he wants to be frugal as possible. Example: Putting his tenant’s health at risk instead of hiring a professional for mold removal. To this day, he is still wanting $30 for the door and texted us to make payment the other day to avoid further action. $30 is probably drop in a bucket for him, but remember,  he is a cheapskate. If he insists on having $30 for a door that was never truly fixed and wasn’t our fault, he can take it out of our deposit. I’m pretty sure that is what any other landlord would do. He’s not any other landlord, though. Chad Sander is what you call a slumlord! Honestly, this property should have been inspected better before renting it out.

Real Property Management = Really Poor Management