Old Dominion Realty, Inc.

Review: I currently am leasing an apt/townhome at the [redacted] Apts in harrisonburg, VA. When I moved into the apartment, I made multiple inquiries to the Realtors that I had not been receiving electrical bills and was told that it would be handled by, [redacted], the situation continued and was told that the problem would be handled, this issue has been a problem since I moved into the apartment and received various notices that the situation would be handled accordingly so I could be able to pay my monthly bills. Recently, I received a visit from the property manager, [redacted], who stated that it was just recently that the builder had realized they were paying the bill for 10 months. and I was past due on my electric bill 1500 dollars. If I did not pay this, my electricity would be cut off. We discussed that he would contact the builders, and the electric company to ensure that this situation was handled so I would not lose power in my place. He said he would contact me and email me the billing details on Monday but was very unresponsive and never emailed me the information so I could call the electric company. On Tuesday, after leaving work I come to a house with no power. I realize my electricity was cut. I called [redacted] to figure out what was going on and [redacted] rudely, and very arrogantly expressed that it was my responsibility to contact to the electric company and this is why I my electric had been cut off. [redacted] continually cut me off as I tried to speak to him to get this issue resolved making it seems as if he did everything he could to provide his assistance. We ended our phone conversation and within 1 minute he emailed the details he said would have for me on Monday , after my power was already cut off on Tuesday. The email was a forwarded email from the builder to [redacted] that was sent on Thursday, February 20th at 7:39AM, (the previous week) stating how much my unit owed in electric bills. [redacted], delayed in notifying me of this email until Sunday, February 23rd when he came to visit the property. His direct unresponsive behavior and very unwilling to help attitude has left me in an apartment without electricity. Old Dominion realty has listed on their website the responsibility of the property manger to the tenant stating that they are supposed to be saving me the day to day headaches of being a tenant when it comes to my property and instead have left me in a house without electricity. [redacted] was very unprofessional, irresponsible, and left me with the short end of the stick.Desired Settlement: Electricity be turned on, and my billing for the electricity be fixed to reflect my curren information. Also, I should not be responsible for the 1500 that the property manager says I owe after repeated attempts to get this fixed and no responses from the property manager, builder and electric company. This needs to be waived immediately

Business

Response:

This tenant signed a Virginia Association of Realtors Residential Lease on March 25, 2013. This lease specifically states that utilities are to be in the name of the tenant and that the landlord is not liable for the failure or interruption of these services. Here is the exact language in the residential lease. 7. Utilities a. Tenant shall obtain all utility and other services to be paid directly by Tenant under this Lease, and shall pay any deposits associated therewith. The utilities included in the Rent are listed in section 1(h). Tenant shall pay in full all charges for utilities and other services not included in Rent under this Lease. Landlord shall not be liable for the failure to provide these services or for the interruption of such services if such failure or interruption is due to any cause beyond the control of the Landlord. Utility is defined in the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act as: “Utility" means electricity, natural gas, water and sewer provided by a public service corporation or such other person providing utility services as permitted under § 56-1.2 After eleven (11) months of the tenant leasing the property and the electricity not being transferred to the Tenant’s name, Old Dominion Realty’s Property Manager made several attempts the week before the electric company turned off the power. Phone calls were placed and voicemails were left on Wednesday 2/19/14, Thursday 2/20/14, and Friday 2/21/14. No response was received. The property manager then dropped by the property that Friday evening 2/21/14 and spoke with the Tenant. It was clearly discussed that the electric was not in the current Tenant’s name and needed to be transferred to the Tenant on the following Monday 2/24/14. The Tenant acknowledged that the transfer would be taken care of. The email referred to in the complaint was forwarded to the Tenant on Tuesday 2/23/14, contained the information regarding the amount owed and past bills and did reflect the urgency to transfer the electric. The electric company contact information was given to the Tenant at move-in last March. A phone conversation also took place after move in, which described the transfer of utility process. Old Dominion Realty Property Management did not call the electric company to have the electricity turned off as it was never under the company’s name. Old Dominion Realty is not responsible for transferring the utility service to the residing tenant’s name. [redacted] Electric Company does not allow any management company to put the electric in a tenant’s name for that tenant. It has to be completed by the tenant in which a deposit is collected from said tenant. Furthermore, [redacted] has 38 units and counting. With over 40 tenants moving in since the start of the development in November of 2012, not one has experienced an issue with transferring the electricity put in their name. To correctly quote from the Old Dominion Realty Property Management website: Old Dominion Realty’s corporate structure coupled with our professional service and profit minded solutions will provide you with the professional management supervision your investment requires while saving you the day-to-day headaches of investment ownership. Lastly, the electricity has since been transferred to the Tenant’s name, by the tenant. We are happy to provide the Revdex.com with a copy of the Tenant’s signed Residential Lease Agreement with permission from the Tenant.