Complaint Review: River City Management - Spokane Washington

My husband and I have lived in Spokane wa since 2005 when we moved here from Seattle area. We had rented 3 PROPERTIES in Spokane from 2005-2010. We first lived in an apartment and left the place in great condition. Then moved into a house in Spokane valley where a property management was involved and the owner also lived right next door 10 feet from the house we were renting. He loved having us as renters because we are hard working, with kids, and kept the place in excellent condition. Whatever he said, did, or needed we always provided. No questions asked. We were expecting our second daughter and needed to find a more affordable place for a while. Our landlord really wanted us to stay and said he would lower the rent if he could afford to do so, just so we would stay. He told the property management we were the best renters he had ever had. So we moved into a duplex also in Spokane valley. Our landlord there lived above us and we rented the downstairs. He gave us an excellent price, because we were willing to do vast improvements to his place. In the 2 Years we lived there we built him a fence, repainted, shampooed the carpets regularly, small repairs, and everything he needed to fix his place up even more.

      We needed more room again since now we had 2 girls, so we decided to rent a nice home in the country outside of town. Once again our landlord was devastated and begged us not to leave. His place look way better than it ever had before and was able to rent it out for much more from all the improvements we made. We are still great friends with him today. So I found this little house outside of Spokane on craigslist. Plenty of room for our family to start out in and be safe. Just like the other rentals we started immediately doing improvements on the place. Our property manager KATHY NICHOLS told us we could fix the place up all we wanted too. So we did! Just like every other place we had lived in..About a year into renting the place we got some very rude, and mean phone calls from KATHY NICHOLS. Just about the sprinkler guy's, snow plow guy, and whatever else she could come up with. It caught us off guard, because we really weren't sure why she was being so mean, and rude about random things. We felt a little on edge about it, but loved our place in the woods, and the neighbors. So we decided to rent for another year. In the mean time we had saved up a down payment for our first home. We asked Kathy if we could buy it from her and the owner and she immediately started yelling and cussing about how inappropriate it was of us to even ask. In the mean time one of my neighbors, being a real estate agent decided to call her and see what she could do for us so we could try to buy it. She also got immediately got yelled and screamed at. KATHY NICHOLS also told her many lies about being a registered real estate agent herself. When my neighbor looked it up she found no evidence in being an active registered real estate agent. My neighbor was also furious about how rude, and disrepectful she was to her. She warned my husband and I... After doing some research on her, she had found alot of troubling stories and news about KATHY NICHOLS  in the real estate and property management community. So we decided to not pursue the house anymore what so ever and dropped the whole idea of buying the rental. We allowed KATHY to talk down to us and cuss at us all the time after that. All we knew is that we desperately had to get out of there because of her. There were many times I was afraid she would come over and actually get physical towards us. So we did the best we could, shut our mouths and took the verbal abuse. When it came time for our lease to be up, I had found and purchased our first brand new home about 45mins away from our rental. We bought our home 2 months before our rental agreement was done. So we paid our rent for the 2 months we were not living there. We spent the whole 2 months working very hard on cleaning, repairing, and any little thing we could think of to make it perfect. Because we knew Kathy would be very crude about the whole situation. -On a side note I have experience as a professional cleaner for another property management when I was younger. So I know what it takes to make a place in tip top shape. Not to mention I'm a compulsive cleaner by nature. So after completing our rental she went there a few times and everytime complained about how horrible it looked and how we had to repaint most of all the rooms in the house. So we spent tons of money, time, and many late nights doing every little thing she requested. Hired a professional carpet cleaner, repainted everything, fixed things that had been there before we even moved in. By the 3rd and final inspection, her claims we more outlandish and rude than they had ever been before. She AGAIN requested us to paint the whole place over again, as we had done a horrible job. Not only that the worst of it all was, she claimed to have smelled the strong stench of weed(marijuana) in the whole house!!! She began telling me how we are nothing but stoners and the house was filled with weed smoke everywhere!!! It was a complete and outrageous lie!!! I work in the pharmacy field and my husband is an union electrician. We are constantly being randomly tested for weed and all other drugs because of the field of work we are in. I don't even drink alcohol more than a few times a year!! and my husband does not drink period. So to be accused of something so far from the truth was the last straw. She has some sprinkle guy who claims to have seen pot at our house. This is the moment when I knew she was going to do and say whatever it took to keep our whole $1200.00 dollar deposit. We had already dumped hundreds into the house in cleaning and fixing it up. Not to mention the 2 years we were there all the neighbors came by and couldn't believe how great the place looked since we moved in. We took out all the noxious weeds, dead tree stumps, and planted grass and some flowers. She is one of the most destructive, and rudest person I have ever meet, and she is going to take all my money and move onto her next victim with her lies and verbal abuse to take them for every cent she can. Kathy has messed with the wrong people. The truth is not slander and unless she returns our deposit, I will let the whole world what a thief she really is.