I don't even know where to start…read more
I've rented 5 different commercial spaces in my life, and nothing even came close to the horrid experience I had with RPM.
First of all, the building I was in (219 Westchester Ave, Port Chester NY) was severely neglected. Things would break every other week, the elevator was a deathtrap, the heat only worked when it felt like it, the intercom was barely functional, and the list goes on & on.
One time one of my neighbors' clients got trapped in the elevator for 30 minutes. She was screaming & panicking & everything. Super crazy situation.
The company knew these things and dragged their feet as much as possible with solutions, which was very aggravating.
Secondly when I moved into the space, much like the building itself, the space was in terrible condition. The walls had chipped paint everywhere, there were stains on the ceiling tiles & many more things were wrong with it.
I reached out to the landlord about redoing these things and asked if he'd cover it (mainly the painting).
His response was he'd give me a $500 concession to do the work, which for an 900 sqft space is very, very low.
I denied and asked for more, in which he said "Instead of a concession you can just paint it now and then leave it that way when you leave, so that saves you from painting again."
I agreed to this, painted the walls and later replaced the ceiling tiles (my tiles were a modern, sleek looking black ones).
When the lease expired, he attempted to charge me to replace my tiles with white ones again, taking the money from my security deposit.
I refused this, stating that I had permission to do the swap and there was no damage to the panels, it was just his personal preference.
In response, RPM came up with an absolutely insane list of deductions for the space, somehow magically totaling $4,000, the entirety of my security deposit.
Photos are attached showing this exchange.
The funniest part is they charged me $2,806 for repainting, but would only offer me a $500 concession to do the work myself. That in my opinion speaks volumes on the ethics of RPM.
Maybe even funnier than that is they still have the photos from my paint job and ceiling listed in their official renting photos on loopnet, despite ALL THIS MONEY they spent refurbishing the space.
My advice: if you see anything represented by RPM Westchester, run for the hills.
Also if you're already doing business with them, document everything. EVERYTHING. Paperwork & photos are necessary against a company like this.
Lastly, if you find yourself in a similar situation as me, there are steps you can take to fight back. Do your research. There are several organizations that assist tenants in fighting back against companies like this. Some of these organizations include:
- Westchester Courts where you can file claims (different monetary values need to be filed in different courts, do your research)
- The NYS Attorney General's office (you can file complaints on their website)
- The town / city building department (in my case, the Port Chester Code Enforcement Department)
- The Westchester Consumer Protection Department
- The Better Business Bureau
- The Real Estate Licensing Board (NYS Dept. of State Division of Licensing)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, file under the Fair Housing Act if this applies to you)
- Everything listed above, along with leaving reviews on platforms like google, yelp, zillow, apartments.com and anywhere else applicable.
Do not do business with Real Property Management Westchester, or any company that behaves in this way.
I filed my city court case against them a few days ago. I will update this review with the results.
Last last thing, I left this same review on google, to which the owner replied threatening to charge with legal fees if I pursue this case against them. This is an intimidation tactic, as neither side is responsible for compensating legal fees in small claims. It's just another example of how this company attempted to retaliate against me and bully me into silence.
