PRIVATE LODGINGS

The worst experience we ever have had dealing with an owner's agent. We saw an ad for a nice house in Cleveland Heights for $2,500 per month and inquired. Dorothy from Private Lodgings showed us the house and repeatedly told us the rent was "the same as the last tenant, $1,500 per month". She said the owner wanted more than a 12 month lease, but would check if he would accept a year. We thought "great deal for a nice place." When we went to sign the lease the rent turned out to be $2,500. We figured Dorothy is a little more than just flaky, so she just made a mistake. Any, the lease would be for 9 months, not 12. We should have taken notice we were dealing with incompetence and fled at that point. We signed anyway, got the keys and moved in. We called Dorothy to ask about the time frame for completion of work on the master bath shower stall and to see whether anything could be done about the standing water on the patio (it does not drain properly). She went crazy, calling us aggressive, complainers, etc. Two hours later we got an email from the owner of house stating that he would not rent to us. Later in a phone call he said repeatedly that Private Lodgings screwed up badly and he would have to deal with them. The end result is we relied on Private Lodgings authority as agent for the owner, signed a lease, paid the first month's rent, made a considerable security deposit payment and moved all our possessions in to the house. A day later we had to rent a moving truck, find a hotel to stay in and storage place to hold our possessions. We are out thousands of dollars because of their absolute incompetence. Run, don't walk, away from these losers.