Scummy, scammy, dishonest property managers.
I lived in a small but nice townhouse in Alexandria for 18 months and there should have been a few red flags during our time there (taking forever to replace the electrical box on the dishwasher because they assumed it was broken due to a clog even though I explained that was not the problem; not telling me that they were removing a dead tree in the back yard - the tree definitely needed to go, but I shouldn't find this out by a call from the landscaper the evening before), but the move-out process with McEnearney was a nightmare.
We scheduled our check-out with Cyndy Hooper for 9:30am, the earliest she allows. Their paperwork claims that if there are minor problems (e.g. just needs another wipe down), you can fix those at the check-out. My husband arrived at 9:00am only to find out that Cyndy has already completed the check-out. She orders him to sign her paperwork without allowing him to read it. He fortunately refuses, despite her insistence that "she is not a scammer" (why would someone think to say this if they are not scamming you?). My husband was not given the opportunity to fix small items at the check-out and instead we were sent a list of things to fix. This list included false problems, such as a "dirty" furnace filter that was changed days before the inspection (and we checked after Cyndy's claim - the filter was spotless, and we have photos to prove it). Clearly a very dishonest attempt to charge us for something they assumed we would not replace before check-out. Too bad they were wrong.
The list also included a requirement to landscape the yard, and this is where things get very messy. We moved into the house in December, when most of the plants were dead. There were dormant vines, honeysuckle, and several woody weeds growing throughout the edges of the yard. I admit that we did not thoroughly list these on the walk-through sheet during move-in (and also because it was December, and the plants were in their winter state). The walk-through sheet listed that "vines should be cut back to the level of the fence" and McEnearney did not think we did a sufficient job of this prior to move-out. We weren't sure we'd have time to work on the yard after the first check-out, so we asked for a quote. They said we would be charged $950(!!!) for professional landscaping if we did not do work on the yard. OK, fine, we went back and spent hours working on that yard, cutting back years of vine growth from before our move-in. Neighbors on both sides of our house told us the yard was cleaner than it had been in years (and remember, we only lived there 18 months) and provided us with old photos of their yards where you could see the growth. At the second check-out, Cyndy Hooper said (and we recorded her, thanks one-party consent) that the yard looked "much better" and while she couldn't give final approval (what's the point of a check-out then?) she though things were very good and perhaps if they brought in a professional, they would split the charge with us.
One month later, we get our deposit back, less $950 for a professional landscaper.
We went back to the house to look at what they had done. The landscaper removed all vines from the fences, the whole honeysuckle bush, and an entire tree, and we were sent the bill. We acknowledge that surely $950 worth of work was done, but to foot tenants with a bill to remove a tree and years of growth?! We took photos of the one remaining tree which had remnants of the vines, again clearly years of growth, which we were charged for. Security deposits are for damage, not renovations.
After threatening to sue them, they returned an additional portion of the deposit, enough that bringing them to court was no longer worth our time. However, the entire process showed us how dishonest and greedy McEnearney is. I would never recommend them as a property manager. read more
