The Short:
Lived at the Starling for 18 months without issues. Two months before moving out, RPMLiving took over management and immediately imposed a service charge on residents paying rent directly--despite assurances our lease terms would remain unchanged. Upon moving out, the final bill was emailed to us, we attempted to contact the staff to discuss the charges listed in this bill and was led to a corporate number that doesn't connect to a live person or answering service. **To be ABSOLUTLEY CLEAR** This review has nothing to do with the old management they were great to us. This review is for the current management RPMLiving.
The Long:
For the first 16 months of living at the Starling, our experience was highly positive. We never encountered issues with rent payments, and the staff was consistently responsive/Helpful. Whenever we submitted a work order, it was addressed right away, usually within a day or two and the maintenance staff was consistently nice about how and when they would enter the space. The small yard we had was well-maintained by the grounds staff, except during the dead of winter. The on-site team was always pleasant and transparent, they kept us well-informed about ongoing processes and events so, it was a complete surprise to come home one day to find that the management had been replaced by RPMLiving. Despite the change, we weren't initially concerned as we had already planned our move to a new house and were assured by RPMLiving that our lease terms and rent would remain unchanged. However, the first rent payment under the new management revealed an OUTRAGEOUS new charge for direct payments-- I visited the office to ask why these fees were necessary and was told I could either set up a payment arrangement that might take over a week to process in that method or send a money order to Florida. The overall attitude that this was an acceptable solution was frankly vile, suggesting that not only could they not manage to cover payment processing fees, but they also couldn't maintain basic communication about it. Many technicalities were thrown at us here but simply our rent agreement was a different amount after they took over management than it was after. I'm not sure why this is such a complex concept, but it clearly was in our final months living at the Starling.
The move-out process at Starling has become equally worrying about issues with RPMLiving. Prior to the final move out day, I communicated with the office staff about not having time for a thorough cleaning due to delays in our move to our new house. They provided a reasonable quote for a heavy cleaning fee, which I accepted and returned our keys a few days later. However, the final move-out notice included a list of charges FAR exceeding what we spoke about. I have repeatedly attempted to contact someone at or associated with Starling simply to review--not dispute yet, just review--the reasoning behind these charges. I haven't even stated an intention to dispute the charges (yet); I just have questions about them before I got that route.
Asking to see or at least understand these charges, such as photographs or descriptions, the office staff informed me that as I was no longer a resident, and that I needed to contact RPMLiving directly. A contact number was provided with the move-out notice, but it only leads to an endless loop of unanswered rings-- not options to leave a message. Attempting again to reach out, the office staff directed me to reply to an email which ended up being their own, not providing any direct contact for RPMLiving. Throughout my attempts to clarify these charges, the term "dispute" has been repeatedly dropped by the office staff--yet as I will clarify once again here, I have not initiated any dispute yet; I am just to review the charges with someone that can tell me more than just the number that's on this bill.
This ongoing avoidance and lack of transparency from the management similarly practices the same attitude we had seen during their takeover and the slimy change in rent payment agreements we had with the company before. It's concerning that I'm hitting this kind of misdirection when I haven't even disputed the final bill yet?????????????? This level of evasion is the same disgusting attitude they had when they increased rent payment fee changes under false pretenses. read more