WILLOW PROPERTIES

Worst Rental Company I have ever dealt with. I have been a renter for their rental for two years (2016-2018) and left their home spotless. I paid rent over a week in advance ever month and left the property 9 days before the end of the lease. I hired cleaners, moved out all of my personal property and what do I get in return? Having to owe an additional 17 dollars on top of the $700 security deposit. It is ridiculous! Please steer clear of them! They charged us for stupid mats and Christmas lights (high in the garage) that were left from the previous tenants. Their excuse? We didn't mark it on the move in sheet! Are you ******* kidding me? One measly room had only 150 sq ft of carpet and was charged 175 dollars for carpet cleaning. Over 300 dollar charge on yard work even though we mowed and left it the way it was when we moved in. Please rethink if you find the property you want to move in, worth it when it is through Willow Properties. They know how to hose you. Pictures prove justice (of how I left it). Mark every little detail down to the things that were left from previous tenants! I'm very disappointed in this company, they don't care about the great renters they have encountered.

BEWARE OF RENTING FROM THIS PROPERTY MANAGER. After the first walk-through, we put on the list that one of the vertical blinds that covered the sliding glass doors was missing. As the house was empty, we mistakenly listed the vertical blinds in the dining room rather than in the den/family room. Dorothy responded that there were no vertical blinds in the dining room and did not correct the paperwork. She obviously knew the rooms of the house, though. And we made the mistake of not filming every inch of the house (we only took photos of damaged places). This was a mistake because we were charged for putting items up in the house that were there when we moved in. Finally they sent someone out to replace the missing vertical blind vane, but that person noted that the track that the missing vane was supposed to be on was twisted, which meant that any vane put on that tracker would not work with the other vanes. He suggested that we just leave it off - and also replaced some other vanes that were broken in places from being mashed up against that vane that was twisted. About 6 months after we moved in, a water stain appeared in the carpet in the doorway leading from the den to the dining room. We called Willow to report it when we realized it wasn't something we had spilled, and Dorothy yelled at us for not calling sooner. They sent over someone who said our dog must have urinated there. #1, our dog is thoroughly house-trained and #2, the stain did not smell like urine, just like water. But they just left. The area grew larger and we called again. This time it took them a week to respond. Again they blamed our dog, and the "fix" was to put a bucket over the area. After a couple of weeks they came back and scratched their heads because the stain was even larger, even going into the dining room. So their answer was to send the carpet cleaner. He walked in and immediately realized that the refrigerator was leaking from the ice line in the back and the water was pooling in a low place in the floor in the next room. He pulled out the refrigerator and taped up the line and put dryers on the carpet. By this time, the problem had existed for at least six weeks. When the refrigerator repairman came, he told us to be sure not to cram the refrigerator back against the wall. Our refrigerator was in the middle of the kitchen for about two weeks while everything dried out. We called Willow to put it back into place and told them what the repairman had said. When we got back home, the refrigerator was crammed back against the wall. Sure enough, a week later we had another water spot in the same place. Again through the carpet drying process and the repairman process. We left to go on vacation with the understanding that when we got back home all would be in order. But it wasn't, because Willow had not called the carpet cleaner to come back and finish the job. In all, the water issues took up almost 3 months. During our time in the house, we invested money in replacing gravel in the walkways and in mulching the entire area of the flowerbeds, neither of which our lease required us to do. Neighbors on the block commented to us several times that we were the best tenants the house had ever had. When my husband was transferred to Korea, we gave over three months' notice. We took down all the mini-blinds in the house and washed them in the tub, as instructed by Willow Properties to do. We took down all the light fixtures and cleaned them. Batteries had been changed as required by our lease in the detectors, and almost every light bulb in the house had been replaced. We had lived there just 17 months. We called to cancel our utilities and Two when we contacted the garbage pickup, we were told to leave all three of our bins on the curb for pickup, and they would do a final garbage pickup when they got the bins. We paid carpet cleaners over $400 to clean the carpets, and pest control about $150 to get the nonexistent fleas out of the carpet (required when you have a pet, even if there are no fleas). We also contracted with cleaners who spent 7 hours - along with both of us - scrubbing the house from top to bottom. They even cleaned the ceilings. We swept and scrubbed the garage, and left about $150 worth of extra mulch and cleaning supplies that we could not transport to Georgia, as there had been a little extra stuff in the garage when we moved in (a few light bulbs). Imagine our surprise when we did not receive our full deposit back. The first check they sent us which was labeled "tentative refund" was short $339.52 from our deposit. This included being charged $100 because they said the microwave was dirty (it wasn't) and the mini-blinds were dusty (they weren't). I am convinced that if we had not disputed the charges we would have heard nothing further from them, but we did dispute the charges. This is what eventually cost us almost $200: 1. They said that we could not prove that one slat on one mini-blind in the bedroom had dust on it. ("It is entirely possible that you may have missed one blind.") That cost us $15. 2. They charged us parts and labor for the missing vane in the vertical blinds. 3. They charged us to move the garbage bins OFF of the curb - this resulted in the garbage company charging us $350 for not returning the bins, but Willow's response was "I realize you were told to leave the cans in the street but we can't have full cans sitting at an empty house." Fortunately the garbage company is more reasonable than Willow and now that there are new tenants in the house, they are refunding our money. 4. They charged us parts and labor for replacing a door hinge that they later admitted their handyman said was normal wear and tear, and which we had noted was loose because it had been repaired so many times the screw just pushed into the hole. 5. They charged us to remove a towel bar that was built into a bathroom cabinet - I don't see how any reasonable person could think that someone could have added it after the fact. It is a very nice towel bar and if anything was an enhancement extra to the cabinet but we didn't add it - however, we are evidently paying to have it removed. 6. They charged us because they said we did not change the "low" battery in the thermostat. First of all, we didn't even know that there WAS a battery in the thermostat, and certainly never saw an indication that there was a low battery. This is like charging someone to replace a light bulb that blows out two weeks after they move out. 7. The total charge for "repairs" was $104.46. 8. We were charged $50 for TWO HOURS of "Service Co-ordination" - this means that Willow Properties just flat out charged us $50 for calling the repairman to make repairs on damages we did not cause. It is my opinion that Willow Properties, knowing that by the time they contacted us about our refund I would be on the east coast and my husband would be in Korea, and therefore we would not be able to refute their assertions, just charged us whatever they could get away with. They said in a letter that we had probably forgotten to do things because of the stress of moving, but I believe they COUNT on that, and the only reason we are not taking them to court is because of the stress we are under right now. There are numerous comments on other websites about issues exactly like this. BEWARE.