Absolutely unacceptable experience -- Tricon canceled our signed lease 3 days before move-in"…read more
I would give 0 stars if Yelp allowed it.
Our experience with Tricon was absolutely unacceptable and completely disrupted our family's life.
We had a signed lease with Tricon, had already paid our required deposits and prorated rent, and had our move-in and key pickup scheduled. We had already begun preparing for the home as our permanent residence. Utilities had been transferred into our name at the property, correspondence had been forwarded there, and we had made our moving arrangements based on the signed agreement.
Then, three days before our scheduled move-in date, Tricon canceled the lease.
The explanation we were eventually given was that the property was supposedly going to be sold and placed on the market. The problem is that this was never disclosed to us while we were signing the lease and making all of these preparations. Had we known the property was potentially going to be sold, we would have chosen a completely different home.
By the time they canceled, we had already left our previous residence because we reasonably believed we were moving into the Tricon property.
We were then left temporarily staying with family, with my husband, myself, and our young child sharing one room, without access to our belongings and without the ability to live normally. My husband had to begin a new job while we were simultaneously trying to find another home. We had to deal with utilities, mail, moving arrangements, storage, transportation, applications, and everything else that comes with suddenly losing the home you were already scheduled to move into.
We documented approximately $1,400 in expenses directly resulting from this situation, including storage, U-Haul, gas, and rental application fees.
And we didn't simply demand random expenses. We actually tried to work with Tricon.
We contacted them, provided documentation, and attempted to find another Tricon property. The alternatives they offered were significantly more expensive -- including properties around $3,400 -- and they refused to match the rent of the home we had originally contracted for. We also asked whether they would cover the application fees we incurred while desperately trying to secure another home, and they refused.
Ultimately, we had to find another property outside of Tricon. The only reason we ended up paying more for our replacement home was because we had to find housing quickly after Tricon canceled on us.
What makes this even more frustrating is that Tricon's own communications discuss circumstances in which a home may be marketed for sale and a lease may be terminated. Yet we were not informed that this was an issue before we signed and began relying on our lease.
We made every preparation a reasonable tenant would make after signing a lease. Tricon accepted our payments and allowed us to proceed with our move-in preparations. Then, at the last minute, they canceled.
Customer service throughout the situation was also extremely frustrating. We repeatedly attempted to contact them, including by phone, and have documentation of unanswered calls and voicemails. Even getting our money returned was unnecessarily difficult and delayed.
Tricon eventually offered only $200 toward the situation, despite the documented expenses we provided. We did not consider that an adequate resolution.
This wasn't a minor inconvenience. This was our family's housing. We had already vacated our previous home based on the agreement we had with Tricon.
If you're considering renting from Tricon, my advice is to get everything in writing, read every provision extremely carefully, and do not assume that a signed lease means your move-in is actually secure. I would also strongly recommend keeping records of every payment, email, phone call, utility transfer, and expense.
For us, this experience destroyed our trust in the company.
If a company is willing to cancel a family's signed housing arrangement three days before move-in after they've already made substantial preparations, that's not a company I can recommend!