"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" "The Great and Powerful Oz has spoken!". This is the shrouded implication of what the financial operations are about with Property Management Company, RPM Living, since on-boarding last year, October 2025. The Oz also implies RG Hillsborough Owner since that entity dictates to RPM Living, and to the on-site Property Managers, who have proven to be left in the dark about their boss's financial decisions. You will get no answer to serious questions like your accelerated water bills due to overall water pressure problems and why the HVAC closets are locked so you cannot monitor your water meter. I know, I lived it and reported to North Carolina Agencies. My claims are on file and taken seriously. It is illegal to over-charge for water when the Owner knows about the property's plumbing problems. I did not write a review about my fight to get credit for water overcharges. It is complicated and involves my claims with those agencies. Today I am writing about what is fully legal in the State of North Carolina. What is in my lease, except for the omitted original flat rate Trash Fee, still being charged through Conservice Billing, is the new 'distributed among occupied apartments fees and taxes.' The verbiage is: 'Trash and Stormwater billed by Method 8. Method 8: Equally divided amongst occupied units.' The flat rate fee is now 'Trash 10' which is defined as 'Valet Trash', and not what you think of as Valet Trash pickup. Again, only on my Conservice Billing, not my lease as was the case last year. New 'Trash', 'Storm Water Drainage', and 'Trash Admin Fee', which comprise Orange County Annual Tax Fees for Trash and Storm Water Drainage, plus GFL Environmental Monthly Trash and Trash Admin, all charged to the Owner, are divided monthly among the occupied apartments. Conservice has no say in the allocation. The Owner and RPM Living decide. The monetary process is called, Ratio Utility Billing System allocated by RPM Living. Again, fully legal under North Carolina Utilities Commission and Orange County Taxes. Did I see this in my Lease Renewal, yes, but I forgot about it. No average $ per month is stated as I pointed out above. In addition, and new to my lease, is the Amenity Fee too. I won't state the exact dollar amounts, but last month, September 2026, the community at large was "up in arms" about the steep fees added to their monthly charges. When figured over a year, or a tenant's anticipated length of stay, in my humble opinion, is a lot of money. My point to all this is that while you as a renewal tenant or potentially new tenant think you are paying a reasonable amount for rent, the added fees are going to jack up your anticipated monthly expense. The double-billing of the Property defined Flat Rate Trash Fee added to the RUBS formula for Tax Fees and Trash Hauling Fees is a problem for me which I plan to deal with. We all know in our rent payment we pay the Owner's Property Taxes, Operating Expenses, and On-site Employee Salaries, but now the added fees funneled through Conservice Billing is yet another hit on the monthly rental pocket book of all tenants in the Pinewood Station Apartment community. I plan to rethink apartment living in the next year. All of this information is AI searchable and shows up under Descriptions on Page 2 of the Conservice Bills. read more