I do not post here often but thought you guys may be able to give me some advice.
We are currently at our 3rd duty station and this is our 3rd time renting. We are 1 year into a 2 year lease for our house (we PCS again next summer at the end of the lease).
The house is rented out/maintained by a local rental company. The owner of the house is also military.
The house is a new build (about 3 years old). We have noted a few flaws (tile problems, pipes, yard sprinkler system...) and have contacted the company several times within the last 8 weeks and they continue to blow me off.
So my next action will be to send my concerns in writing to have everything documented. The women at the company tells me she needs to get in touch with the home owner but my suspicion is that they have not even tried. It would be very easy for DH to look the owner up on the global. We know his name and we work in the same field. Are we out of place attempting to contact the owner ourselves.
I'm just trying to put myself in their shoes and would be really upset if the rental company that took 10% rent every month was not looking after my property. I could also go to base legal for advice.
Sorry so long. What do ya think?
Re: Need advice with rental company!
You said the owner is also military. Have you considered that he/she may be deployed and the rental company is having a hard time reaching him. If the owner is deployed, I doubt a flaw in the tile or a wonky sprinkler system is on his high priority list.
Contact the rental company in writing. If a week goes by with out hearing from them, take a copy of your lease and the letter to the housing office on base. Let them know the issues you are having. They will either contact the rental office or tell you which steps to take next.
Thanks for all the advice! I personally know that the owner is not deployed. We do not know each other but share some acquaintances AND the AD member's wife is very proactive (as in I know she would be very easy to get ahold of concerning her house). And as far as the tile, we had a friend for dinner who happens to be a general contractor who really pushed us to get the tile issue worked out with the rental company. He thinks we are looking at alot of $$$ to fix which looks like it was done wrong when the house was built.
However, if I were them, the last thing I would want is to be contacted from the people renting our house (or hearing second hand from someone who knows the people in your house) while living across the country especially if I was paying a rental company to manage the property.
Anyways, called base housing and got some good advice. Proceeded from there and contacted the rental company via phone and written documentation. I think I have everything covered.