Whatever you do, DO NOT RENT FROM PAUL BENNETT or any of his Bennett Rental Properties. We had the WORST renting experience to date with him and his property. His properties are old, neglected, and infested with insects. The meager appliances included in most of his rental properties (ie stove, fridge, microwave) are so old that they barely cook food or keep food cold and are perpetually noisy. The main problem is the landlord himself; he is mean, old, aggressive, intimidating, and impossible to deal with. He does not care about you or your needs.
All he wants is his money. We were forced to pay a $1,500 fine to forfeit our lease, instead of being allowed to sublet our apartment to substitute tenants (whom we had already secured), when most apartments only charge a maximum of $250 to end a lease early. He then stole our security deposit, without even providing an itemized list of deductions, after insisting we could have it so long as we left the apartment in mint condition (which I assure you, it was in excellent condition - we spent an entire day deep cleaning it just to make sure it was up to his lengthy and comprehensive list of standards).
He comes off initially as a harmless old southern man, but as soon as you run into any sort of an issue with him (which is almost inevitable in any renting arrangement), he suddenly becomes the most unreasonable and impossible person I have ever had the displeasure of interacting with. He dodges phone calls and does not respond to voicemails, and refuses to correspond via email or fax.instead of listening to our complaints over the phone when we were finally able to reach him, he reverted to screaming over our concerns as we voiced them, and then abruptly hung up in the middle of our conversation. Needless to say, I could not be more disappointed in such childish and unprofessional behavior of a landlord who so clearly does not have any concern for the needs and rights of the tenants he serves.
His dilapidated properties are NOT WORTH THE HASSLE when the landlord is so inhuman and incompetent. I would never wish our experience upon anyone else, so please, DO NOT RENT FROM HIM. As tenants with little rights and at the complete mercy of the well-protected South Carolinian landlords, it is our responsibility to take a stand and deny the services of unethical and undeserving landlords such as Paul Bennett, so that we can prevent such unacceptable behavior from happening in the future.
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