During the week of August 18, 2008, my girlfriend and I contacted Marc Roos Realty in search of a one bedroom apartment in Boston, Massachusetts. We ended up dealing with a realtor by the name of Brett Star. He told us that he had a few listings for us to view and we scheduled to meet him at one of those listings. We were scheduled to meet at __Rd at 10:00 am to view Unit # 7. After waiting in the area until about 1:00 pm, Brett finally arrived with the keys to the apartment. We viewed the Unit # 7 and decided that we were interested. However, we informed Brett that some things in the apartment would have to be fixed, such as a broken window, a broken air conditioner, and sagging shelves in the kitchen, before we would finalize the deal. Brett called the landlord to inquire about our concerns. After Brett spoke with the landlord on the phone, he gave us the impression that the landlord was irate with him and that anything wrong with the apartment "is covered in the condition statement". Brett then led us to believe that all apartment deficiencies would be resolved.
After leaving the apartment we went back to the Marc Roos Realty office and filled out rental applications and discussed rent and fees. Brett told us that in order to hold the apartment we needed to wire $1400 (1 month rent) to the Marc Roos Realty bank account. We did this on August 20th. The entire process was unorganized and Brett had to constantly ask other people what to do next. At this point, we began to have concerns about the professionalism of Marc Roos Realty.
Once the lease was drawn up, my girlfriend and I wanted some time to read it over and discuss it. Upon finding that there was nothing stated in the lease to insure that the landlord would fix the things that we were concerned about, we called Brett to arrange a meeting with the landlord. The purpose of this meeting was to get an agreement in writing that our concerns about deficiencies in the apartment would be addressed. Brett notified us that the landlord did not want to meet with us. Upon the landlord refusal to meet with us, we decided to end our pursuit of this apartment and requested that Brett return the $1400 deposit. Brett told me that he would work on it and call me back.
Brett called me the next day and told me that Marc Roos no longer had my money and we would have to retrieve it ourselves from the landlord. Brett claimed that he was only a middleman and had no responsibility to get my money back. Upon contacting the landlord I was told he would give me a check for my money, but he had to be sure the check from Marc Roos cleared into his account. He told me this would take a couple days. We waited about a week and went to the landlord's office, which was another realty agency in itself, to retrieve the check on September 5, 2008. Once there, he told us that Marc Roos had refused to tell him whether or not he stopped payment on the check. As a result he would have to wait to see if the money appeared in his account.
On Monday September 8, 2008, I received a phone call from the Marc Roos Realty employee, Brett Star, claiming that my name and my girlfriend's name were posted on the mailbox for unit # 7 at __ Rd, the apartment that he had showed to us. He accused me of closing a deal with the landlord without the involvement of Marc Roos Agency, and that my girlfriend and I were living in the apartment. After trying to talk some sense into Brett that it was not true, he said "you're a liar". Upon hearing this accusation, my girlfriend and I went to unit # 7 at __ Rd to determine if our names were indeed on the mailbox. While walking up __ Rd. towards the address, I spotted Brett Star kneeling next to a car, taking a picture of us. He then proceeded to get into his car shouting "I've got the picture". After entering his vehicle, Brett sped off almost running over my girlfriend.
After our visit to __Rd, we went to the landlord's office. I notified him of the events that had just occurred with Brett Star and learned that Marc Roos Reality had also accused him of leasing the apartment to me behind their back. I was also informed that Marc Roos Realty was going to take me to court for the $1400. The fact is that when we broke ties with Marc Roos Realty, we engaged another realty company to help us find an apartment. We have since leased an apartment through another, more reliable, company, but not the one on __ Rd.
I spent nearly the entire month of September attempting to get my money back from the landlord. He continued to claim that he was unsure if the money had cleared into his account. Finally, during the last week in September I had to threaten to sue for double damages in order to get my money back.
For anyone on the apartment hunt, it is good to know that under Massachusetts law you can sue up to triple damages for certain landlord/tenant issues. All information on this can be found on the Massachusetts state website. read more
