RUN! PUBLIC WARNING -- DO NOT RENT FROM INNOVATIVE REALTY I was a tenant in Aloma Trails, Winter Park, FL, for over two years until July 1, 2025. I took exceptional care of my home, paid rent early every month, followed every lease term, and even received a reference letter from Innovative Realty calling me a "great tenant." Yet this same company is now ignoring certified letters, calls, and emails while unlawfully withholding my deposit in violation of Florida Statute 83.49. What they're doing is dishonest, unethical, and illegal. I'm sure they'll be quick to reply here--but don't worry, I'll respond again with another 1-star review. A month after move-out, I received a letter claiming deductions from my deposit. I sent my first certified dispute with receipts, photos, and cleaning invoices. After weeks, they changed the total withheld. I sent a second certified follow-up--ignored. Florida law gives landlords 30 days to provide written certified notice or they forfeit the right to keep any portion. Their silence alone violates 83.49(3)(a). On Sept 5, 2025, I sent a third and final certified letter after receiving two partial checks totaling $1,252.80. I disputed the remaining $691.18: $468.73 for paint, $105.81 for the hallway, $81.64 for the garage, $35.00 for a "missing" shower-rod--all false or invalid. I repainted using Sherwin-Williams paint that exactly matched the builder's color (Batch ID "Aloma Trails") and provided receipts. Charging me for repainting is a clear attempt to make a tenant pay for routine refresh--expressly forbidden under 83.49(3)(a). Normal wear is the landlord's duty. Their own lease quotes that statute word-for-word. The "missing" shower rod? Time-stamped photos prove it was already gone when I moved in, and their own Realtor.com listing shows the same. Still, they charged $35. That's deceptive. Worse, neighbors' photos showed the carpet replaced immediately after I left, even though no carpet issue was listed in the inspection. The withheld deposit nearly equals the cost of that replacement--evidence my funds paid for an upgrade, not damage. Those costs never appeared on the maintenance report or vendor invoices--clear concealment. I also agreed to pay $445.61 in utilities once given an itemized statement. They never provided one. No proof, no receipts, just a number. That's bad faith under Florida law. I gave this company three chances--July 26, Aug 5, and Sept 5--to fix this amicably. They ignored every one. 83.49(3)(c) allows tenants to recover triple the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney's fees for bad-faith claims. Their silence and conflicting explanations meet that definition. Innovative Realty refuses to answer calls, emails, or certified letters--despite USPS signatures confirming delivery. Their behavior is unprofessional and outrageous. A company that boasts "customer service" shouldn't vanish when a tenant asks for their own money. I've spoken to neighbors and other former tenants with identical experiences--this isn't isolated. I am currently filing complaints with the Florida Attorney General, DACS, DBPR, and the Better Business Bureau, and will pursue Small Claims Court in Orange County for $691.18 plus all legal costs and potential statutory damages. They still owe me this money, and until they pay, I'll continue warning others. If you're considering renting through Innovative Realty LLC--DON'T. Document everything, photograph every wall, and send all mail certified. I was a model tenant, yet treated like I don't matter. Their silence speaks volumes. I have every receipt, photo, and certified letter to prove the truth. Innovative Realty: you owe me $691.18. Do the right thing or I will keep using the outlets I have available to me until you do. read more

Had to seek legal counsel. They tried to justify exorbitant fees against my security deposit.

Worst property management company that you can rent an apartment from. They are not attentive and if you call them for maintenance, they want you to pay for the services. read more

Absolutely love how easy they made the process. I was helped by Layla who was amazing and made everything run so smooth for me. I will definitely be working with her for some of my other new properties. read more

Avoid this company. There is a reason they have 1 star. They had a tenant destroy our property and then returned the property to us in horrible condition then returned tenants entire deposit. read more

I was a tenant of a property they managed. They marked up repair cost shamelessly and tried to charge me about $500 for a 5 minute electrician visit. In fact, the electrician simply turned the switch back on. I knew how much it costs as I talked to the repair company myself. I knew their billing rate. When asked to provide evidence, it took this property management company forever and still couldn't provide the evidence. Shame on such shady business conduct. read more

Avoid this property management company if you possibly can. Any repair, unless triggered by the owner (of course)! Is totally neglected. I asked for a screen in a window for almost a year - they've only now installed an ill fitting screen with no eta on a screen that fits. Florida law requires screens that fit and are repaired. The duplex we're renting is less than a year old and the air conditioner is already out. We've contacted innovative reality repeatedly and the soonest they can even get a vendor out is a week. Who knows what the vendor will discover in a week and then how long to order a part. I guess we could be without air conditioning in our brand new $3300 per month rental for some time. Innovative realty also just increased our monthly fees from $30 to $50, which for us, provides absolutely nothing useful. I'm sure that's also some kind of scam - having us pay our utilities to some company that aggregates all of them. Unheard of where I come from. Like I said - another scam. Now they've increased that to provide air filters (for our non functional heater/air conditioner). We are perfect renters. The house is immaculately maintained. Never late on rent or their ridiculous utility aggregation bill. Eye roll. Air filters changed every few weeks. Not a spec of dust in the house. Good luck finding that next time. We actually got a card from our last landlord thanking us for being excellent renters going above and beyond on her first rental home. We foolishly signed another year lease (by the way they do not go month to month after your year lease runs up, and if you leave earlier, you're responsible to pay any rent until they can find new renters - good luck timing that exactly) - we won't be staying after this lease is up. I'm going to take a kind of perverse joy watching the property sit vacant for months while they lose thousands - all because they're too cheap or incompetent to soundly manage. They won't get $3300 next time in this economy. Opportunistic parasites. The cheapskate owner, too. We have the $ to live anywhere we like. We cannot wait to say goodbye to "innovative realty" next December 2023!!! read more

Innovative Realty - Property Management Near Me - Maitland, Florida

We lived in the house rented through this management company for 2 years and had several challenges considering the age of the property and irresponsive management for the service calls. suffered a lot, yet we managed to live with no value add the rent and service charges we paid. Charges on the utilities were added to the rental, irregularly with no breakup of what are the charges for. We kept the property spot free with maid services every week and cleaned to the dot when we vacated the property. To our surprise after a month, pretty much a month deposit is withhold for deep cleaning and damages. Try to avoid or be careful while working with this property management company. read more

Rented home no issues at all first lease. Two storms hit tearing down cinder block walls. Trees died. Pool fence destroyed. 2 years with promises of fixes. Nothing done. Rent increased until value of property has decreased considerably. Stay away.​ read more

I would not even give it 1 star. 2 different agents that never return calls or texts. One showed up almost 3 hours after our scheduled appointment and I drove a distance to see property. Which by the way was not as great as they try to make it appear. After the appointment she sent application. This one never has returned my calls or texts. This was going on for almost 2 weeks. The 2 agents cost me a place to possibly reside due to their lack of business ethics, and so forth. I will never use this company to look for a place again. It's disgraceful treatment towards potential renters. read more

They make up charges to higher your rent. Been at the same address a few years before they took over managing the property. We are never late on rent & we even pay 2 weeks early. We have had rental insurance for years & just this past renewal they decided because my name wasn't in the policy they were going to charge us extra. My name was never in the policy. This is year 2 with them & now they want to add this charge? In 3 years the rent was never raised & all of a sudden when they take over it's raised for the past 2 years. We never had issues with the previous brokerage, we are quiet, clean & pay rent early. Now innovations seems to want to bleed us dry. Our paychecks haven't gone up as much as our rent has. This company is horrible to try to get on the phone & forget trying to get repairs done. We have a shower we haven't been able to use for 2 years because the water shoots out with a heavy flow out of the on/off handle & lands in the bathroom floor (glad we have 2 showers). There is a ceiling light that doesn't work, a cracked window from a hurricane a couple of years ago(window won't open either) & outlets that don't work. The handyman says he will be out to look & take measurements, then never shows. read more

Poor service and response time to maintenance requests. Management never follows up and makes excuses.

I worked with Hannah securing a new property to move into. She did an excellent job communicating with me, letting me know where I stood on every step of the process. Even if I had a simple question it was answered in minutes. I recommend Innovative Realty and Hannah. read more

As a multiple property owner, my previous realtor joined (in my opinion) this band of thieves. They are charging my tenants ridiculous fees in addition to deducting duplicate charges from rent payments to me, some of which appear to be a bit shady. I have asked for reimbursement of overcharges and for them to stop charging tenants for "insurance" which I am certain comes from or through a company called Latchel. They now appear to be ignoring me. I am seriously thinking of meeting with not only the board of realtors but the Florida insurance office. This business was not of my choosing and I am taking my business elsewhere or handling myself ASAP. read more

Well so let's see. Well, my experience was a little different. I wanted to take over a lease from my mother. She aggreged to sign over as well as cosign. I completed the application. It took less than 30 minutes to come back with a NO. Heres the thing. No one bothered to check any references. I now know that it was not all of them and the individual that aggreged to sign in the first place, but no one checked. Not only that I was never given a chance to answer for things that were mroe than 10+ years old. It actually really hurt my feelings but. Hey, i'm nobody that they would be concerned about. I havent heard anything bad read more

Good Afternoon All, I am a Military Veteran that has served proud during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. I believe in values and treating people justly. Whether your an investor, landlord, or renter PLEASE AVOID this company. This is the worst property managent company that I have ever dealt with. I resided at 1175 Lake Shadow Circle #4301. It is a 4-bdrm condo in Maitland, Fl. We put a $2300 deposit down, which at the time was equivalent to 2 months rent. There was no move in inspection done by the previous property management company, and no initial inspection done when Innovative Realty, LLC took over. Since then, they did a few BS inspections which they told us that the property looked good. Normal wear and tear that you would expect in 3 yrs. During the 3+ years that we were there, we had no late payments. There were a few maintenance issues for normal wear and tear, however, they sent out cheap BS contractors to do bandaid repairs. Now that we moved out, they all of a sudden want to replace everything. They tried to give us back $400 of our security deposit back. A TOTAL SLAP IN THE FACE! I thought we were the only victims, but based on their reviews, I see we are just one of many! If anyone is interested in a class action lawsuit please contact Morgan & Morgan (Orlando Office) and reference this post. read more

Hannah Jordan is a joke. I was going to write how she hung up the phone with me because she couldn't prove how I was correct and tried to put blame on me for a faucet that wasn't working and I just moved to my unit. Supposedly I broke it and now owe 400.00 for a new faucet... how the fuck am I supposed to pay 400 dollars for a faucet that is 1/4 the price online lol they are a joke don't rent with them if possible. read more

Awful rude staff. These people are scamming for application fees and then trying to refund you. Rental process is supposed to be first come first serve but several people are applying for the same property. AVOID THIS COMPANY!!! read more

This company took over from my previous rental company and they are horrible! If i could I would give a 0 star rating. In my updated contract I failed to notice there was no grace period. And a $75 late fee. So when I forgot that rent was due, I got an eviction notice on the third of the month. So I called told them payment was in the mail, I have never been late they said we will waive the fee. I had already mailed the check though. So i called back about the following month about having the $75 deducted and they tell me that I intentionally paid late. The nerve. I did not intend to pay late. I quite simply forgot and if they had emailed me on the 2nd like our contract specifies, it would have been paid then. I received no email. So they did not hold up their end of the contract. Do not bother renting from them. ----- --------- So let me tell you what happened upon moving out! Do NOT rent from this company! Horrible experience. I am letting everyone I know about them. We had been renting for about a year when Innovative took over management of our apartment. We left the unit after 2 years of their management. It was in pristine condition, all lightbulbs were new, A/C filter brand new, everything clean. According to FL law statute 83.49 if "the landlord fails to give the required notice within the 30-day period, he or she forfeits the right to impose a claim upon the security deposit". We did not get a notification until 34 days after turning in our keys that they were keeping $467. Their reasons were for cleaning ( which I was told when I called their office "as long as you leave it as clean as when you moved in it will be fine"). When we moved in there was grease all over the kitchen cabinets. I cleaned it myself. We definitely left it much more clean when we left then when we moved in. Also they are going to install doorstops which had never been there and charge us for it. They also are installing new mini blinds which were in fine working order when we left. The carpet was never replaced or cleaned when we moved in, but we are being charged $140 for it to be cleaned. I have had my carpets cleaned in my new house and it was $50 for the equivalent amount of carpet. They are misinterpreting FL law statutes and twisting it to fit their agenda. I have rented before and always received my full deposit back. I would like to know why my rent had to be received by the 1st of the month or else I would be charged a late fee of $75, but if Innovative decides to inform me 4 days late of their withholding of my security deposit it is ok?? It is not okay per FL law and I can not fathom how they are getting away with stealing. Do yourself and your blood pressure a favor, rent from someone else! read more

Such a horrible experience!!! Within the first year of the lease our AC broke multiple times (during the summer in Florida) and at one point the lady from innovative told my husband that he could always sleep in his car... and that according to the lease they are not required to provide us with a working AC.. that was the first of MANY issues we had with them. After our first year was up we decided to resign because we loved our house but they were ruthless when it came to discussing prices and terms/conditions. By the time it came to sign our lease again we move purely based on poor customer service. Also we had the opportunity to meet the renters who are in the home now... essentially they lied about our lease to the new renters. They said they offered to allow us to buy them home when that is not true. In fact, at one point we offered to purchase the home and they told us no. read more

This company discriminates against college students and requires double the standard deposit! They made it clear that it was non negotiable! So if your UCF student is looking for a place to rent, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! read more

This realty company really made our first experience renting through a realtor quite poor. They never communicated with us, we always had to reach out to them. Sometimes we did not receive responses at all. We always paid rent on time and were not troublesome tenants however, when we left they charged us for damage that we reported when we moved in. Do not use this company. I wish someone warned us. read more

Not the warm, welcoming feeling that you expect from a property management company. There is little to no customer loyalty/ appreciation. I have been renting in the 32804 area for a long time and I would suggest looking in to lease info with Realty Group Specialists or J Mine Properties before leasing with this company. Very unfriendly staff and better prices can be found elsewhere. read more

Frustrating rental process. Couldn't get any help from the office. I feel bad for the owners that are paying for their services. Complete waste of money!! read more

Communication and follow thru are terrible. No sense of customer service. No appreciation for the commitment we have to take very good care of the home we are renting, I can only hope they give good service to the owners of the home. Seems as if they forget that they serve two different customers, both the owners and the renters. read more

This company is horrible. Do not use their services! no customer service, they charge you for everything. If they could charge you for breathing they would. As stated above they do not appreciate their customers. Don't even bother calling the office for help or maintenance. They are very rude and they'll probably find some way to charge you for calling them that's how bad they are. Run from them if possible. read more

Innovative Realty is reasonable, reliable and responsive. They are the only company I've ever used and would recommend them to my family and friends. read more

We have found them to be very fair and transparent in their dealings.......very surprised at the negative reviews previously left, which leads me to suspect that there are other issues with the posters. Would 100% recommend, (especially if you are prepared to keep your side of the bargain, as you should be, and pay your rent etec on time) 'cause they keep their side of the bargain! Read the contracts it's that simple and all above board. read more