Richter & Associates Inc.

WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER RENTED FROM IN MY LIFE! EVER! I've been renting for years, about 10 years now, and I've had my share of really bad experiences, but this place takes the cake. We rented a house out in Ypsilanti and our 'manager' was Lana. Like another reviewer said, I looked past how rude she kind of came off because we needed a house to rent - we didn't want to have to get another apartment with pets and such (I hate having to go up and down the stairs to let the dog out in an apartment building!) The house itself wasn't exactly great, pretty old and extremely out dated. I'm not afraid to get down and dirty to clean up a house so I looked past how dirty it was in the first place (so what the hell was my 'cleaning fee' for when we paid our security deposit?) We moved in, the house was mostly fenced in - we built a gate to finish off the yard for them, built a really nice firepit in the backyard, and took weeks trimming all of the overgrown bushes and trees that were out back. Not only this, we built a room divider for them (the washer and dryer was off the living room and such an eye sore), painted the house really nice (and was approved to do so and was told that we didn't have to re-paint when we moved out since the owner approved the colors) So, my now husband and I were at the time engaged, and knew that we were going to be buying a house next. We though weren't quite there yet and needed to re-sign our lease. We asked if we could go month to month - they said no (my husband is in the military and we kind of don't know where we are going to be all the time) We asked "well if we have to break our lease, what will need to happen?" We had explained that likely we will be breaking the least halfway through since we will be looking for a house. (They ALSO wouldn't let us sign a 6 month lease) Lana told us (and again emailed us to tell us again when we asked later) "All you need to pay is a re-leasing fee, which is 1 month of rent, and 30 days notice" SO THIS WHOLE TIME we were searching for a house to buy, we knew in our heads that we basically had to save an additional month of rent to pay off the re-leasing fee when we moved. In the meantime, this giant ass shelf that was upstairs falls over, BRINGING DOWN AN ENTIRE WALL of drywall with it. We called maintenance and they told us we aren't allowed to touch it. (They put the shelf in the drywall, not the studs, idiots) the hose breaks outside, and the driveway is literally sinking (every time it rained, our cars would sink further and further into the ground) Long story short here - they NEVER come out to fix anything on this house pretty much the entire time we lived there. We caught over 20 mice in this house, (we are clean people) and had to do so much to keep this house running and nice. So the time comes, we are blessed and find this perfect house because my husband gets a great job on base (over an hour away from the house, so we HAD to move due to HIS WORK) We contact Lana - who has been fired or something, (great) and so we have to deal with the direct company now. The woman, Denise, who owns the company tells me that we not only have to pay a re-leasing fee, but that we ALSO have to pay for our rent until our lease is up or until someone else moves into the house. SO why am I paying a re-leasing fee AAAAAAAAAAAND rent? Seems like a redundant fee in my opinion. I argue this with her, and she literally SCREAMS at me on the phone and tells me I better 'lawyer up' Unfortunately, this writing IS somewhere in my lease, so I decide not to argue it so much as much as I'd like to ask for them to do something for us due to the fact that we are moving is because of my husband's military job (someone who could get deployed at any time and fight for our country? Richter and Associates is clearly un-American, as they dont feel that's a viable excuse for us to move. Nice) AND because we had IN WRITING from our landlord Lana that we only had to pay our re-leasing fee. SO Denise finally agrees to just hold onto my security deposit ($1800) until the house re-rents and then give me 'the change' if it re-leases before March 2016. They PROMISED me that they would do everything in their power to get this house re-rented asap. SO here we are, over a month after we have moved out. I asked for an update on the property, if has been re-rented, if it's been showed, etc. They respond with "There's an overwhelming amount of inquiries about the property, but due to the fact that we have to re-paint and fix that wall upstairs, it's been put off showing the property, as we need to fix it all first" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? YOU HAVENT EVEN STARTED TO WORK ON THE HOUSE YET AND ITS BEEN OVER A MONTH!?!?!? SO here we are, paying a house payment and paying RENT on this crappy house because they haven't gotten their act together yet. They aren't even trying to re-rent the property! HOW IS THIS FAIR!? Don't rent from them. They are awful people.