On 9/23/2010 a tenant Dean C. reported dissatisfaction, saying that he rented a house in Marin County from this property management company and a) Felt the rent was too high, b) That he was required to pay a $8,000 deposit upon taking the house which he believes is not typical for the area c) His requests for repairs during his tenancy were responded to slowly d) That upon leaving the rented house, $400 was deducted from his deposit and says it was without cause and that the two reasons given, namely a fee charged for professional cleaning needed upon his move out was unnecessary as he had the home professionally cleaned, and a fee charged for a repair that was made earlier during his tenancy was illegitmate and undocumented.  Tenant provided The Prime Buyer’s Report with correspondence between himself and the managers regarding these deductions and an invoice he received for the plumbing repair.

A researcher at The Prime Buyer’s Report contacted one of the owners of the management company and the following was their response:  Two deductions were  legally made from the deposit refund upon the tenant’s termination of residency and that these are called for in the lease entered into by the tenant, allowed by law and were documented.

Specifically: 
That the lease entered into by the tenant states that upon the end of tenancy, the tenant must turn over the property in the condition in which it was initially received by the tenant.

That after the tenant gave notice to end residency, tenant was given a printed letter called "Move out guidelines" which reminded the tenant of their obligation to return the property "at the same level of cleanliness" and cited the section of the California Civil Code which addresses this requirement, and reminding tenant that if this condition were not met, that the cost would be deducted from the deposit. It also encouraged the tenant to take advantage of a preliminary walk through with the managers to avoid any deductions from the deposit by having the managers give an assessment as to whether they considered the obligation met, and if not, to be informed of how to correct.  (The owner of the management company provided The Prime Buyer’s Report with a copy of that letter). 

That the house was not left by the tenant in a state as clean as they received it. The owner provided The Prime Buyer’s Report with 6 photos with the desired purpose of documenting this claim, saying that over 100 photos were taken as documentation. Furthermore, the owner expresses doubt of the tenant’s claim that the house was cleaned by professionals as the tenant wrote in an email to managers that he and his wife cleaned it themselves (owner provided The Prime Buyer’s Report with an email from the tenant with the desired purpose of documenting this claim).

The second deduction made from the deposit was from a plumbing service that was required months earlier during the tenancy in order to unclog stopped up plumbing. The owner says that the lease the tenant entered into specifies in writing that although fixing clogged plumbing is the responsibility of the management, that the cost for such is to be borne by the tenant, with the following text in section 11A of the lease agreement: "Tenants shall be charged for repair of drain blockages or stoppages, unless caused by defective plumbing parts or tree roots invading sewer lines". Owner says that despite having been given an invoice for tenant to make reimbursement, said reimbursement was never made and so that amount was deducted from the deposit.