College Students BEWARE: Rinehart Realty Corporation of Rock Hill, South Carolina is taking advantage of Winthrop University students.
Myself and two roommates, all college students, signed a lease with Rinehart Realty for a 3 bedroom house located on Scoggins St.in Rock Hill, SC.
The property had many problems when we signed the lease (mold damage, cheap & improperly installed carpet, broken windows, broken light fixtures, etc.) but this was ok with us... We did not want to rent a new house because we did not want to worry about causing additional damage.
Basically, # Scoggins was such a damaged property that we knew we could not damage it any further. Also, because the house was so filthy and in such a bad neighborhood, it was, at the time, the only house my roommates and I could afford.
Presently, my roommates and I are attempting to sublease the property and have done every reasonable & a few unreasonable improvements Rinehart Realty has asked us to complete before the property can be subleased. We have painted the livingroom, the hallway, and one back bedroom. We have mowed and raked the lawn. We have bought and replaced all light bulbs in the house, though there were no lightbulbs when we moved in. We have cleaned all the mold that covered virtually every spot of the house when we moved in. And now the house is in better condition than when we first moved in.
But Rinehart wants more free work done. They want us to pay to replace the cheap carpeting with new, expensive ($350) carpeting. They want us to clean the entire kitchen, top to bottom, which was absolutely filthy when we moved in. They want us to fix water damage in the bathroom that was present when we moved in. The outrageous list goes on and on.
Rinehart Realty has presented us, the tenants, with three different lists and on each list they have added new responsiblities and upgrades that they want us to perform on the property for them. This makes it virtually impossible for us to appease them.
Rinehart Realty wants us to pay to upgrade a property for THEM. A property that was unkept when we signed the lease.
Rinehart Realty believes that they can take advantage of college students.
So far, Rinehart Realty is getting away with it and we, the tenants of an unkept house in a bad neighborhood with a monthly rent of $510 may have to pay upwards of $700 in upgrades.
Interestingly enough, on Rinehart's new list of available properties, the rent on # Scoggins has increased from $510 to $525 per month. This is just a wild guess, but maybe the rent has increased because WE have expended much time, energy, and money upgrading a house for this corporation for free.
We are being taken advantage of and it seems there is nothing we can do.
Please Help Us.
Don't let the Rinehart Realty Corporation take advantage of more unsuspecting college students.
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