We hired Oak Trust in Aug of 2012. We had just had the house painted and had the backyard professionally graded and new sod installed with an in ground irrigation system. In our agreement the new tenant management fee was waived because we were an active duty client. In Aug of 2016 the acting Property Manager Courtney Elliot signed a lease to herself. In the lease she failed to remit the security deposit, did not disclose her two dogs, and did not enter her husband. At the time of the lease Courtney had us modify her backyard for the new "tenants." She negotiated on her behalf for a lower monthly rent of $1,450 and did not disclose that the lease was already signed for the $1,600. We also were charged the new tenant Management fee of $362.50. She had some walls painted that included gaping holes and unfinished walls. Courtney Elliot in July of 2017 again, Courtney and Oak Trust actively deceived us, acting as if they were renting the property to an unrelated third property, and advising us, as our agent, that we should agree to disadvantageous terms. During her time as the acting Property Manager and tenant any issued that came up she used language to disguise that she was the tenant. In March of 2017 we asked for a the lease Terms and Danielle Miner provided the dates and once again used language to hid the fact that a Property Manager was leasing the property to herself. As tenant/ Property Manager Courtney Elliot would report a problem and we would ok the repairs. There was a faucet repair that was reported in March 2017, AC leak and garage side door rot in Sept, 2017.
In October Oak Trust merged with Lowcountry Property Management and adopted the Name Oak Trust Properties. We were assured that it was in fact the same company with the same team, with additional personnel and resources. Courtney continued to be a representative Property Manager.
In December of 2017 Courtney Elliot Leaves Oak Trust. Later that month Danielle Miner who we understand was conducting an audit called us to ask us if we had known that Courtney Elliot was our tenant and if we knew she had dogs at the property. This set off some investigation on our part. We asked for an independent home inspection that wasn't performed until Feb 5, 2018 and the results weren't forwarded to us for a week. Initially when we asked what our options were, Danielle Miner stated that eviction was a possibility. Later when we asked Danielle Miner said that eviction was off the table because Courtney Elliot was not in breach of Contract, which was untrue. Danielle Miner suggested we keep them as tenants. Danielle Miner did not properly advise us as to what the house would rent at the market.
The home inspection revealed that the garage side door, the AC drywall repair were not performed and the faucet repair first reported 10 months prior was left with a huge hole in the wall. And the backyard was a mudpitt. This was disheartening to say the least.
In Feb we asked for copies of Courtney Elliot's leases. We were not provided copies that were not provided to us until late Feb, despite multiple requests for them. This is when we discovered that Courtney had signed the lease for $1,600 and actually paid $1,450 and never paid a security deposit. Oak Trust only identified that Courtney Elliot had not disclosed her dogs and one other adult occupant.
Danielle Miner tried to persuade us into signed a "good" lease with Courtney still at a lower rent than what we had the house originally. Whenever we called Oak Trust we were pigeonholed into only talking to Danielle Miner. Danielle Miner was a friend of Courtney Elliot and also failed to negotiate on our behalf.
Against Danielle Miner's recommendation of allowing Courtney to stay under a new lease, we had Courtney sign a month to month lease and gave her a notice to vacate. We authorized Oak Trust to install new sod in the back yard.
The Close out inspection by Oak Trust only revealed a botched paint job that had unfinished walls and incomplete walls via pictures. There was no formal written report or checklist. According to Stephanie Mount pictures spoke louder than words. We had an independent inspection reveal that the sod that they had just installed was dying and some parts dead because the wires were disconnected from the irrigation box. So the company hired and monitored by Oak Trust that installed it did not mention that no times was set to protect our investment. The house had two torn screens and the pine straw the tenant was responsible for was not there. We had to inform Oak Trust about these. Oak Trust did not make sure to return our house to a state similar to what we left it to them.
Stephanie Mount also denied that the exiting tenant was responsible for a professional cleaning of the house upon vacating, which is not true. A professional cleaning of the house was to be done in accordance with the signed lease. She did an about face when the receipt was provided a week after we had asked. read more