My family rented a summer beach house in Malibu for the month of July 2017. We had to prepay the rent and in addition give a security deposit equal to the monthy rent. I ignore early warning signs that the owners Soloman and Donna Levy would be a nightmare to deal with during that month.
They showed up at the house a few times without giving proper notice. They put in writing that they would install a dog gate at the top of the stairs leading out to the beach which they never did during that month. Within the first week the bottom two stairs got washed away during high tide and made it next to impossible to access the beach without these stairs. We were paying top dollar to stay there for the access to the beach. It took them what should have taken one day to repair over two weeks to fix the propblem.
At the end of the month we paid a professional cleaning company to come out and leave the house spotless so that we would not have a problem in getting our full security deposit back from them. We did not need to do this because we are not messy people but I knew these owners were looking for a way to make extra money off us. The house was in better condition at the end of the month as compared to when we took possession of the home.
They ended up sending us a notice that they were keeping $4,000 of our money for three stains. We requested a meeting with the owner at the property so that he can show us these stains. Two of the stains were not there and he claimed he already had cleaned these spots away and one little stain was left in the old worn out carpet upstairs. This stain did not come from us and he had no proof that the stain was not there before we took possession of the property.
We never have conflict with anyone. We have never sued anyone nor has anyone ever sued us. I am the last person to ever take the time to write this report. I was compelled to do so because I don't want any of you to ever have to deal with these people. Stay away from this house at all costs. Rent another home or look from one on VRBO or Air BB. These owners are crooks and so is ther realtor Mike Cunnigham.