In the summer of I rented a house from S. Group Investments LLC at 257 NE 26th st., Boca Raton, Fl, 33431. Everything was pretty good at the beginning. I am a Ph. D student and I rented the house with 3 others including 2 more Ph. D. Students. We are all extremely busy and just needed a place where we could pretty much sleep and not be bothered. Since we are at school 7 days a week and for most hours of the day we were intrigued by their promise of a stress free household where we would not have to worry about anything.
To be honest, there was not too many problems. A landscaper was promised but with no one showing up for 3 months (approximately) we ended up having to live with a disgusting yard, with brown grass and dead hedges. This isn't too big of a deal but we did live on a very well kept street so it was pretty embarrassing.
Throughout the course of the lease we were nothing but the best of tenants. We never complained. We got along great with the neighbors. We always paid the rent (Being completely honest, we were a couple days late once in a while but time flies in graduate school!) As you will read later, us being the best tenants possible ultimately backfired with S. Group Investments LLC.
So, after living there for about 7 months (out of an 8 month lease), we informed S. Group investments LLC that we would like to renew the lease. They said this was great news and said they would only raise the rent by 10 dollars if we agreed to let the landscaper come less. Another option was for us to start paying an additional $70 a month. Now, with property values declining by record setting amounts the 7 months we were there, it didn't make sense that we should pay more. It seemed a little sketchy to me. Additionally, why would a property company want less maintenance of their lawns if they really did care about the property? I researched more properties in the area and found a much nicer house, on the water for $200 less. I informed S. Group Investments LLC that we would be vacating the property at the end of the lease. This news did not sit well with them because it is becoming harder and harder to find good tenants.
Here are some sample emails from S. Group Investments LLC to show that we really were great tenants.
Hi All —
Thanks for the note. We are sorry to hear this. You have been great tenants. If you change your minds, just let us know!
(Name Omitted)
Hi Arnie —
Good morning. Thanks for your quick reply.
Yes, as soon as you let us know that you are vacating the house, we will do the inspection with you.
Let everyone know that in the future, if anyone ever needs a reference from a previous landlord, we will gladly give good reviews for each of you.
(Name Omitted)
So we moved out of the house on January 3rd. The lease ran until January 15th. Full Disclosure: Two of my roommates elected to not pay the final 15 days under the premise that the security deposit would cover the final 15 and since there was no damage it should be fine. Our rent would have been 1000 for the 15 days and the security deposit was 1000. Additionally, since we moved out on the 3rd they figured the security would be given back on the 4th. I did not agree with this myself and I and another roommate gladly paid our portion of the rent so that S. Group Investments LLC would not feel like we were just going to move out and run away without cleaning. I always conduct every business transaction in the most ethical way possible. I did apologize to S. Group Investments LLC that they did not pay and S. Group Investments LLC said it was no problem. If it was a problem I would have gladly fronted the rest of the rent to make everyone happy.
Upon moving out I cleaned the house above and beyond what any other tenant would ever do. I soaked the stove in oven cleaner and scrubbed it until it was perfect. I removed all the burners and cleaned all around them. I took every possible drawer out of the refrigerator and scrubbed each one individually. I sprayed and washed out all the drawers in the kitchen and the whole house. The other roommates swept and mopped every floor in the house. The house was in great condition.
I did a final walk-through with S. Group Investments LLC a couple days later. An elderly lady representing S. Group Investments LLC walked around and first told me that a soap holder was broken in the bathroom. I saw that and concurred that it should be taken out of the security. She then said a support for a burner was missing from the stove. This "missing part" was absolutely never there to begin with. I was the first one in the house, I cook every night and I noticed it right away. I told her there never was a support but she insisted. I am too easy going so, not wanting to argue I said it was fine knowing it was a part that costs less than 5 dollars. She then said that the drawer in the kitchen was broken. I informed her that the track was never installed and I showed her where the track was located in the adjacent drawer. She said that was fine, and the rest of the house was fine and that they would mail our security deposit to our new address. We all shook hands and I left thinking this was the end of a decent business relationship.
A week later I received a certified letter from S. Group Investments LLC. I opened it to get my check for what I figured would be about $500. There was only a check for 25.00. I assumed this was an extra $25 because of what great tenants we were but upon further inspection of the envelope I noticed that there was no other check. I read the enclosed letter and that is when I discovered the true face of the company I had been dealing with.in my opinion, they deducted anything they could so that they could keep my security deposit. If they could make something up, it was on there. I am going to display their letter in its entirety below so you can make up your opinion about whether this is a company you want to deal with. I will also publish my response which I truly enjoyed writing.
Please take the time to form your own opinion about this company and ask yourself if you would ever want to engage in a business relationship with them.
You could not pay me a million dollars to deal with a company that conducts business the way S. Group Investments LLC does.
0 comments