FirstKey Homes
Reviews and Complaints

I was also denied after placing an application. I never received a letter or notification. I had to call them several times and leave several messages before I finally received a response back. My credit score is over 700, w know evictions, and I make more than the required amount They said, I was denied They cannot tell me why but to call Safe Rent Solutions the reporting agency. Wait you cannot explain why? Ok. I then called ( Safe Rent) they informed me they did not see anything that would hinder my denial but a $90 hospital bill that's due. Wait what! She explained, that the Rental company sets their standards to who they accept or not, their the ones who report to them. Feeling that I'm getting pushed and pulled. I called First key and they said wait for the letter from safe rent if anything is wrong, I can dispute within 30 days. I did. I got an approval but f house I want was off the market. I'm An Ex Ex Cilivian Contractor for Gov. Something is fishy here. I'm so curious to know what's going on with this company after seeing all of these negative reviews..

I rented a home in Florida from first key for 2 years. When they raised my rent again, I needed to look for something comparable to what I was paying. First Key has a property that was in my price range. They accepted my application and I moved. I had the house and carpet professionally cleaned and did a walk through. There were no issues. Out of my $2200 deposit they sent me $25. They charged me a $650 transfer fee (not in any contract) because I moved into another one of THEIR properties! The rest was made up BS for painting. I was told it was ware and tear at the walk through. I’m filing a complaint with the BBB! I would give negative starts if I could

TL;DR: Save yourself the time, headache, and money by renting from literally anybody else. More details below.

Positives:

Easy to pay rent (of course).

Negatives:

Maintenance was often slow to respond to issues.

The Post Move Out process is by far the WORST I've ever encountered. They're claiming that we moved out on the 16th. I have photographic proof that the 3 keys we were given were left at the home that was rented before moving out on May 8th. Additionally, they will charge you unnecessary expenses. For example, they're claiming the entire house needed the carpet replaced, when only a couple of closets had carpet. The rest of the house has wood flooring, so why are we being charged for "whole house carpet cleaning"? Additionally, they're claiming we were sent a bill. I never received a bill from them since moving out at all. It almost feels like a genuine scam.

I would like to add that I had the misfortune of dealing with Brandy Williams of their Post Move Out team. The Post Move Out team would greatly benefit from entering Brandy into some courses around Customer Service. I was interrupted several times, along with Brandy raising her voice over the phone with me. I ended our phone call early because of the aforementioned behavior, and because it was abundantly evident by that point she wasn't going to try and hear anything out that I had to say.

Worst serve and customer care I have ever delt with any company. I will never ever deal with this company again. The lack of communication, response and serve is embarrassing to say the least. We had multiple issues while living at our rental most of which were never fixed and if they were it was not done by license professionals. Once we moved out we had professional cleaners to ensure we get our refund of our deposit it's now been in 3 months and we have yet to receive our deposit even though they are claimed to have sent it. I have not provided the forwarding address five separate times to which I can never get the same person to talk to nor do I ever receive a call back. I'm surprised the company even has the two stars it does.

Changed locks on my home illegally while my family was back in our home town for a family members funeral. Came back after a 5.5 hour drive to find all our valuables, electronics, tools, everything stolen but this bogus rental company! They will not answer my calls, emails, or social media. This is my second review tonight but I will not stop till everyone know what this company has done!

In March of this year I signed a one year rental contract with a room mate. In May of this year that room mate and I separated and I was no longer at the residence. Firstkey was informed of this as I requested to be removed from the lease and was told that was not possible. While this was unfortunate I knew this was a possibility.

In June I was contacted by Firstkey and was informed that the rent had not been paid in June. I again reiterated that I was not living at the residence but I reached out to former room mate and was able to get the account taken care of.

Three days ago (Aug 8) I was informed by former room mate that rent had not been paid for two months (July and August) and the account was being sent for evictions. At this point Firstkey had never contacted me to inform me that the account was delinquent at all. I called the call center (Tuesday morning) to try and get some answers as to why I had not been immediately contacted upon the account being delinquent so I could take care of it in July. 45 minutes later, 7 transfers and several hang ups later and I still had not been able to get anyone to answer my questions. I informed them the account would be paid in full (missed rent, utilities and late fees totaling $5500) by Friday morning and I immediately began gathering the funds.

This morning (Thursday) I called to pay the account and I was informed evictions had been filed that morning. I questioned why I had still not been contacted and the answer I got was "You're not primary on the lease so we do not have to inform you." So you can send me to evictions and ruin my perfect rent history without contacting me or giving me the chance to bring the account current?

When calling the call center every representative you get will have a thick accent and will have difficulty understanding you. They will hang up when they do not know how to answer your question or they will transfer you to another department who will also not be able to answer your question.

It is incredibly frustrating to do everything I can in my power to bring this account current and to get the answers needed to ensure this does not happen again, yet I still have an eviction filing under my name. This company has zero customer service. They do not care if you are satisfied. They will ignore maintenance requests, and when they do come out for maintenance requests they will not fix the issue.

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! Horrible customer service, maintenance requests are never completed even in the heat of the summer when the house is over 85 degrees. Then they will have the audacity to charge you for someone to come out that never even fixed the issue. I was promised it would be credited back to our account & after months it still hasn't been. They rent out old homes, as is, for an insane price, then don't want to fix any issues with the house. I can't even begin to describe all the issues we've had with this house in the 2 years we've lived here. AC not working in the summer, heater not working in the winter, plumbing from sinks leaking into cabinets below, hot water heater needing to be replaced. It's been a nightmare & on top of that it's impossible to get ahold of anyone who works for the company that can help. It's a shame I even just resigned my lease because I can't imagine living here now another miserable year. Take my word & go elsewhere!

First Key Homes has a huge problem in their maintenance department. I have requested numerous times for them to fix the gate and have only had them come out and half patch it up. We're going into hurricane season and the wind recently blew the gate open from the back corner. This isn't the first time this has happened yet they come out and do a half job or report to the main office that nothing is wrong with the fence. The maintenance request process is asinine! You have to call, give them the issue, and be booked for a tentative appointment. Only for someone else to call later to actually schedule! I have missed so much work it's not funny. Then, if they come out and look at the issue and there's more work to be done. They mark the work order as COMPLETE and then you have to call again to request another work order for the follow up. I recently requested the sliding glass door be fixed. The worker came out and said this is a two man job, so submit another work order requesting two people come out! Over a month of time will have been spent before the issue will be fixed! There's so much more I could say, but I'll end with DO NOT RENT from them. They're not going to listen to your concerns and a property manager doesn't even call or respond to emails! Now I have to figure out what to do with my dogs because they keep escaping out of this raggedy gate! AND I PAY PET RENT!

If i could give them zero stars i would. I have rented from multiple apartment rental companies as a student freshly out of college. This company has the WORST communication with their customers. I was renting a house with 3 other roommates in Jacksonville, FL. Our "property manager" Jessica Sierra never responded to emails, calls, or voicemails. Calling the corporate help number you only have workers that can fix minor issues but can not give you much information. They have to ask property managers for more information but that is an issue if your so -called property manager never responds to you. Let me clarify by saying I went to her with only 2 issues during the year we lived there and she never once helped or pointed me in the right direction. Before move-out they sent a pre-move out inspector (who never entered the home) he told us to spackle and paint over the spackle marks and gave us the exact paint color. We did as instructed and they still somehow charged us for painting all 3 rooms "corner to corner". I emailed multiple people that were attached to our pre-move in email and surprise surprise.. none of them answered to clarify or show EVIDENCE of why the "paint corner to corner bedroom 1,2,3" was required. It seems as though they want to TAKE ADVANTAGE of their customers and somehow "solve" the issue by not responding. I have never experienced a rental company act this way. DO NOT give them your business especially in the Jacksonville, FL area. They may be better in other places of the country but I definitely wouldn't count on it if I was you.

FirstKey Homes ain't no good, y'all. Them properties is all run down and ain't nobody taking care of 'em. And let me tell you, them German roaches is everywhere! It's like they own the place. And don't even get me started on the move in experience. It's a nightmare, I tell ya. And if you think the properties are bad, wait 'til you deal with the customer service. It's downright terrible. Ain't nobody helpful and they don't care about your problems. Stay away from FirstKey Homes, folks. You'll regret it.

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I recently had the pleasure of working with the folks at FirstKey Homes and I must say, I was thoroughly impressed with their level of customer service. I reached out to their Kansas City office in search of a new place to call home and was greeted by two lovely ladies who were more than happy to assist me.

From the moment I spoke with them, I could tell that they were genuinely interested in helping me find the perfect house. They took the time to listen to my needs and preferences, and were patient with me as I turned down a few options that didn't quite meet my standards.

What really stood out to me was how respectful and polite these ladies were. They treated me like a valued customer and made me feel like my satisfaction was their top priority. It's not often that you come across such exceptional customer service these days, so I was truly grateful for their kindness and professionalism.

In the end, they were able to find me a wonderful house that I am absolutely in love with. I couldn't be happier with my experience with FirstKey Homes and would highly recommend them to anyone in search of a new place to call home. Thank you for everything, FirstKey Homes!

I moved into a FirstKey Homes property at the end of February and have been experiencing plumbing issues ever since. The water coming out of the faucets is black, and the pipes have burst multiple times, causing flooding and mold growth in the floors and walls. Recently, the roof started leaking, and rainwater entered the home, causing the ceiling to cave in and saturate the floors, which then leaked into the downstairs dining area. The installation in the damaged house caused respiratory issues, and I had to go to the doctor.

I requested to vacate the property on or around May 25th due to the safety and health issues caused by the damage to their property. However, my requests initially went unanswered, and I was only informed that their legal team would agree to let me vacate on May 3rd after a long wait. Even then, I was given a lease release only on May 17th, which stated that I had to vacate by May 3rd, two weeks prior to receiving the document.

I immediately requested a vacate date that would allow me time to find movers, but my requests were ignored, and I was given the runaround. Now, my rent is showing two months past due, and I am still waiting for a realistic vacate date. Yesterday, on June 28th, I requested an updated lease release, but I was denied and told to sign the document as is. I was then told that I had to vacate by June 30th, but I won't be provided with a written statement until June 29th. It's frustrating that they could update the document overnight, but they chose not to.

Overall, my experience with FirstKey Homes has been disappointing. The constant plumbing issues, mold growth, and roof leaks have caused health problems, and their lack of response to my requests has been frustrating. I hope they can improve their communication and property maintenance in the future.

If you're thinking about renting a home from First Key, I would strongly advise against it. My boyfriend and I moved into one of their properties in August of last year, and it has been nothing but a nightmare ever since.

To start, we had our electricity shut off in September because First Key failed to pay their bill from June and July, before we even moved in. We tried calling them multiple times, but never got an answer. We were left in the dark, literally, with no way to charge our phones or make food. I ended up having to pay almost $200 to get the electricity turned back on, and First Key refused to reimburse us for their mistake.

On top of that, they never set up a garbage account for us, so our trash was never collected. We had to deal with overflowing garbage cans for weeks until we finally got in touch with someone who could help.

But the worst part of our experience has been the mold in our kitchen. We've had it since September, and despite multiple inspections and requests for repairs, First Key has done nothing to fix it. I'm allergic to mold, so it's been a constant source of discomfort and health issues for me.

And don't even get me started on trying to get in touch with our property manager. We've been given multiple phone numbers, but none of them ever answer or return our calls. When we call the main office, they're no help either. It's been incredibly frustrating and stressful.

Overall, I would not recommend renting from First Key. Their lack of communication and responsibility has caused us nothing but problems.

(1 star because I cannot leave 0 stars)

I’ve lived in a first key homes location for about 13 months. Take my advice, don’t rent with first key homes. Since move in I have fought to get 2 broken windows replaced, went 2 months with no heat during the coldest parts of the month and have spent my entire tenure here trying to get a garage door replaced that was also broken and poorly repaired upon move in. I have had many experiences with the maintenance staff and customer service. Nothing gets done. I open a ticket, they come out and look at it and take pictures and tell me that first key homes won’t replace it. Then they close out the ticket and I am left with no resolution, or they tell me it'll get fixed and never fix it. This past winter I was told the part to fix my heat was on order. Then they closed the ticket and left my wife and I to deal with the freezing temps for weeks. I continued to call back and another month later got the part replaced. When I moved in, I had 2 broken windows that were not secure and letting heat and air and bugs in and out. It took me over a year to get these replaced after empty promises over and over. The garage I mentioned. Yup, was told 2 weeks ago this was on order. Now it’s completely broken leaving my belongings at risk of theft and it has taken me 8 hours to get someone on the phone. Even then, it'll be 2 more days before they can even get anyone out. When I questioned Anthony Poindexter where my garage door was, he told me that would be delivered 2 weeks ago was, he got defensive and said he doesn't lie and never ordered a garage. I've kept good notes and he indeed told me it was on order and would be replaced. Again, the maint. request was closed out and to never be fixed. Now I am furious and had to take a day off work to try and resolves this and when I asked about the garage door he ordered and where it was, he hung up on me. One last thing, when/if you resign (wish I never did) be careful, they charged me month to month rent that was well over my contracted agreement and I had to pay, or they would consider me late. Took over 2 months to resolve this issue. Very poor business management. I've filed BBB claims and I am warning everyone, don’t expect a single thing from these people. They won’t fix anything in a timely manner or at all. Everyone gives me the "I submitted this and that’s all I can do" answer. Well, no one can get anything done here.

I rented from First Key Homes for…8 years

I rented from First Key Homes for little over eight years was never late with the rent always took care of the property. When I moved, I could not get them to respond to anything prior to the 60 days of moving. All they did was give me the runaround of what to do who do contact and I never heard anything back from them. They are the worst management company I have ever experienced. Do not rent from this company. They tell you that they’re offices in a location and when you go to return things or collect paperwork, you find out that they had moved two years prior. Then you , do not rent from this company. They tell you that their office is in a location and when you go to return things or you collect paperwork you find out that they had moved two years prior. Then you were able to track them down and you can’t get in . Because they have no one working. You cannot get a work order completed. They keep sending the same individuals out to look at an issue and they keep telling you that there’s nothing wrong with it. Really consider other alternatives other than First Key home.

The worst management I've ever had to deal with in my 15 years of renting properties. Rent hikes every year, staff members who do not communicate with one another, house handed over in poor condition, and unprofessional property managers. I regret not reading the other reviews left here. If anyone is thinking of renting from First Key Homes and wants more information about our experiences, I'm more than happy to share details. I honestly just want to spare anyone else from wasting their patience and money with them. We are so much happier where we are now! It's not worth it, I promise. And if you do decide to rent with them, be sure you see the property in person. All of the properties we toured looked much, much worse than what was depicted in the pics online.

EDIT: After reading some reviews left by others, I would like share that we have also had a NIGHTMARE experience with move-out. I am sorry that others are going through this as well, but I am relieved to know that it just isn't us. It has been a surreal experience.

All of the emails we received about lease renewal or submitting a notice to vacate directed us to "contact our local office." Calling the corporate number put me in a queue with 60+ callers ahead of me. When I opted to be called back, I was subjected to an eternal game of phone tag. I tried visiting the local office three times; it has stayed empty with a sign posted that the staff is working from home, but it has no contact information listed or instructions. I finally began emailing with 3 different people who all said they would update my account and submit our notice. We were told we needed to pay through a certain date, so we planned our move accordingly. Surprise! It was never updated. Our move-out inspector contacted us and said it was still listed as the original end-date of the lease. *** contacted me saying that someone else was already trying to start service at our address. Once we got that sorted, I was given 3 different amounts for how much we owed for our last two weeks. At the end of this, we will pay an extra $1000+ because of all of this poor communication and nightmare customer service. The most infuriating part is that it all seems so arbitrary. If I was more cynical, I would say it seems like a racket to gut their renters for more money. Instead, I think a more fair assessment is that the staff is working poorly with each other from home and there is very little concern for the time or experience of those of us who are leaving. It's been a wild ride. So grateful to be out of here.

First key homes is an absolute sorry excuse for a rental company that is money hungry and is scamming renters.
I began a rental contract for a one year lease May until May . Upon discussion of my lease I informed Ms Patrina and her other staff that I was only doing a 1 year lease do to me buying a home. I was told no problem that's all we will do the lease for .
Will living in the rental property at *** Blvd *** INXXXXX we went thru horrific instances that cause my new born child, my wife and I to not be able to sleep in our bedroom and were forced to sleep in the living due to extreme loud vibrations and noises coming from AC lines/pipes installed in the wall of the master bedroom. Not once did we ask for any monetary funds or discounts in rent and nothing was ever offered. Once someone came to move the pipes to the out side of the home we had to keep our child away from the wall do to
The large hole that was left behind with insulation sticking out from the wall and it took another month for some to come patch and paint it.
Now as we come to the end of our lease I am asked if I would like to extend my lease and I replied I did not and no thank you.
two weeks before we vacated the home I paid the 11 month rent and told first key to keep the deposit for the twelfth month and that we would exit the property before the second week of the 11th month so that they can have time to find another renter.
At that time I was informed that I needed to informed them 60 days ahead of time and that I would need to pay for an additional month.
I told them no and that I was never informed or was it ever explained to me at any given time because we were rushed to sign the lease before someone else took the property.
No I have brandy Williams from first key homes calling me and telling me that we have to pay $1000.00 but she will settle for $800.00
I expressed that we cleaned the carpet upon exit even though it was done for us on entry and we had to live with the odors for 11 months and we did the correct thing upon exit and left the receipts for proof and emailed the receipts also.
Now they want to send me to collection even though the home was rented before two weeks aster we left.
First key lost Zero $0 dollars and is trying to make triple profit for one month.
They are Liars and scammers.
I offered to pay them have the money so we can both take an equal blame for the miscommunication they never provided and since they claim they don't remember me telling them anything.
The answer is no that they want an additional 800 even though I did everything correctly.
The worst experience of my life and now they want to tarnish my credit because of their negligence.
Don't rent from first key

We went through a home leasing process with FirstKeyHomes and had a lease in place roughly 30-45 days prior to our desired move-in date. The week we were supposed to take possession of the property, we found out while setting up utilities that there was a resident currently residing in the home (2 days prior to our move-in). After a long process of back and forth with different individuals at FirstKey, we found out that there was a squatter in the home who wouldn't leave and our lease was no longer valid to move into that home. FirstKey did nothing to let us know that this was going on even though, as we later found out, the property manager was aware of this situation for sometime and had even been to the property with police. Had we not found this out on our own we would have arrived on our move-in date with all of our things to find another person living in the home. This created a situation where we had a move date and nowhere to live. As so much time had passed, all alternative properties that we were interested in were already off market. We were highly upset and dissatisfied with the manner in which FirstKey communicated and handled this situation, non-the-less, there was nothing else we could do, so we requested a refund as our contract with them was cancelled and we needed to find another home and needed our deposit and rent payment to pay for our new lease elsewhere. FirstKey proceeded to ghost us for a week (and counting). We've had short conversations with the Leasing Coordinator saying that they're "working on it", but have heard absolutely nothing from the property manager or anyone else at FirstKey in regards to getting a refund. At this point we have started to feel that this is a scam and we may never get our deposit and rent payment back ever, even though this situation was completely out of our hands and FirstKey's fault for not being able to deliver their end of our lease agreement. I've left messages via email to several different individuals at FirstKey regarding getting a refund and resolving this quickly so we can move on with our leasing process elsewhere as well as leaving messages with FirstKey's customer support team and we still have heard absolutely nothing regarding this. To say I'm dissatisfied with them is an understatement. They are completely mis-managed, don't communicate well, even within their own company, and mis-lead prospective tenants with information that they don't validate. I highly recommend against anyone working with them unless they don't have any other alternatives. The way in which they respond to situations that arguably should be their highest priority is absolutely awful, so I worry to think of how they would handle even the simplest of tenant issues.

This company is an absolute nightmare. The first time apparently the house owners before us were using the "flushable wipes" and when i went to flush my toilet one day the water and everything else you can imagine started overflowing onto the floor and even filling up the bath tub. We had to lay towels down to make sure on of the roommates walls wasn't affected since he shared walls with the bathroom. Took them multiple week to even get someone in there to pick up the poop, pee and whatever the *** else was in there and slowly started to take the toilet and cabinets out. Long story short my house had 1 bathroom and shower for two months, do you know what its like for 5 guys and one girl to share 1 toilet and shower for TWO MONTHS? Was brushing my teeth in the kitchen to make sure everyone could do what they had to do on the regular day just preparing for work or the day in general. Now 4 months later the power generator is so old and outdated that on a normal day the house almost power boxed itself and when the power came back on half of the outlets even available in the house cannot be used. We had to throw *** away in the refrigerator, there area extension chords running through the house like vines in the rainforest which by itself is a huge fire hazard, my front porch lights don't work, my garage door opener doesn't work and is now 100% open for anyone to push up and take a stroll in there, i have two security cameras one in the kitchen one in the laundry room neither work because of the outlets. Neither bathrooms outlets work, again you know what its like for your girl to not even be able to curl her hair in the bathroom? No electric tooth brushes, no water picks LITERALLY ANYTHING YOU PLUG IN DOES NOT WORK. This issue as well has been over two months and for the record they have been charging the full $2100 for rent for a house i have not been able to use fully for half of the time we have been here. Hasn't even been a year like come on now. Oh by the way i still have my old toilet in my backyard chilling since no one thought they needed to pick that nasty *** thing with them and dispose of it? I will never ever again in my life rent from a property management company because they have made everyday life such a pain in the *** and when i call in its just a bunch of minions "oh I'm sorry to hear that sir and I'm sorry that you have to go through that, i can't imagine" well let me paint you a picture mother F, come over and fix your *** property?! Like for *** sakes this house could literally catch on fire at any moment and they are taking their sweet *** time to fix the *** in my house. Today I'm going to the local office on my lunch time to raise *** and inform them i will not be paying any rent at least this month if not a few.

THE WORST! I worked in property management for 18 years (first half in multifam and second half in single family) so I know how busy it can get and how some none emergency issues can get delayed when youre dependent on outside vendors BUT NOT A YEAR AND A HALF DELAY! AND I NEVER INCREASED ANYONES RENT $160/month ESPECIALLY KNOWING COVID HAS PUT A FINANCIAL STRAIN ON SO MANY PEOPLE.To summarize:1. MAINTENANCE DELAYS. Expect to wait months and even over a year for maintenance repairs to be made even if they are urgent matters like A garage door falling in or windows staying open. Ive been here *** to dig holes and thankfully the angry German Shepherd hasnt caught us outside yet.2. RIDICULOUS RENT INCREASES. Theres no rent Control in Georgia and you can 100% expect that this company will take full advantage of this. In my case it was $160/month! I get Im renting and you can expect a rent increase but every company I worked for (4 in 18 years) we always made sure it was a reasonable amount Usually no more than $50 so that it wouldnt be a burden to the residents and of course we didnt want anyone giving us a bad review or telling people how insensitive we were stupid me thought this type of customer service is common sense for most rental companies. So STEER CLEAR and do your research on the company you plan to rent from so you dont get stuck with a ridiculous rent increase or have to move again after a year. Oh and she wont be able to negotiate so my only option was to basically renew because sadly due to Decreased hours at work I dont have any more savings to Pay for application fees, deposit, and first months rent somewhere else. They are simply just taking advantage of people stuck in this situation.3. NO ACCESS TO PROPERTY MANAGERS. EVER. No direct information is provided and the customer service department seems to be outsourced because every time I call its someone with a heavy accent that I dont understand and all they can do is provide me information that is auto populated in their system such as when I tried to negotiate my rent they said all they could do was tell me what the new rate was in the system and guide me through the online process of renewing. Every time I asked for the property manager information they would say they cant provide it but they could transfer me and when they would transfer me it would just take me right back to the main menu. Again do your research because all my residents at all four companies I worked for were always provided with mine and my assistant managers direct numbers and our reception desks were never outsourced and if someone wanted to complain they were provided with a Regional Managers or even VPs numbers.

Here a little update what I've been dealing with for the past couple month? the struggles with my property management company.

FirstKey Homes is by far one of the worst property management companies that you can find. Beware that they will rip you off! The way they do business and treat their renters is as shady as can be.
I have been renting a house through them in Cape Coral, Fl for the past year.
As everyone knows, we have been hit hard by hurricane Ian last year in September.
Just three days after the hurricane, I reported all the damages. The house lost about 90% of its shingles, screens were ripped or completely gone, the soffit on one side of the house got ripped out, rain gutters blown off. Everything was documented with photos and reported through their online portal and also via phone. It was summer, so we have quite a lot of rain here in FL, almost every day. I told them that they would need to get the house tarped, as I was certain the condition the roof was in, would not give enough protection from any possible water damage. Last thing I needed was my things in the house get damaged as well by water leaking into the house.
Days past and one week later I called them again to inquire about them sending someone to tarp the house. Again, I was told it'll be taken care of.
It took almost 3 weeks until the house got tarped. Nobody ever contacted me to let me know when it was happening. My neighbors texted me to let me know as I was out of town.
Shortly after I returned from my trip, I had a leak in the house and water was dripping on my bed in the middle of the night.
Again, I documented and reported everything through their online portal.
Nobody ever called or showed up to check on the issue. A few days later I called them and told them about the leak issue from a few nights ago? apparently it wasn't a big deal to them.
I said that I'd expect someone to look into it before there is a bigger issue and mold may the growing in the walls or ceiling.
Nobody felt responsible again.
The only excuse I kept getting and keep getting until this day is that we had to deal with hurricane and they are trying their best. Many people are in need of help right now.
October went by and so did November.
All of a sudden I received an email about my lease expiring on January 10th and I was asked to log into my profile online to checkout the lease renewal. I did and almost fell off the sofa? let me remind you about the condition the house was and still is in. They were raising my rent by $400, which is about 20%! I sent an email asking them if they were serious and how they would justify the increase for a property that's located in one of the hardest hit areas by the hurricane and nothing had been fixed. We are going on 5 months now and still? nothing has been fixed since then! NOTHING!
Nobody ever responded to my email. Instead I kept getting lease renewal reminder almost every week and phone calls. Every time they called me about the renewal I would unload on them? tell them every time about what still needed to be fixed here at the house and when I would hear back. Also I told them that any increase would be ridiculous! Every person I spoke to 'apparently' took notes and forwarded my comments to the local agents. I was told so at least 4 times. In regards to my issue with the rent increase, I was told that will be handled by the property manager.
I received emails with the name and phone number of a roofing company, which made me blow up again and resulted in me sending them an email?

"Hello Kim,

It is not my responsibility to run after the company to give me an update about the roof.
I am payimy you, First Key Homes and not them? so I expect you to have them contact me.
First I need to constantly remind you that I need the roof tarped, even though I reported everything just 3 days after the hurricane and now I have been waiting to hear anything regarding a repair.
My neighbors next door have the same company here working on their roof right now and he asked them if they have any work order for me, which he declined.
So not sure what is happening here, but it doesn't seem like anything has been happening so far.
And on top of all that I am being constantly reminded to extend my lease, which is ridiculous, as well as the increase that you are requesting. With the house being in the current condition, there is no renter that would pay this much money for the house right now or even sign a new lease.
Also nobody has ever reacted to the water damage that I reported weeks ago!
All my concerns seem to have been ignored so far.

Just for legal purposes, I also wanted to put this in writing now, as you have many recordings of me talking to someone at First Key Homes already.

Thank you,
Carsten "

The holidays passed and of course nobody ever got back to me.
I spoke to one of the renewal people shorty after New Years. She said that the increase was based on the local property values and increases in the area and there was nothing she could do. It was up to the property manager here in the Fort Myers area. ? So she referred me to the same people who would never respond to my emails or return my phone calls - awesome!
The online portal however showed the same rent for the month of January.
So I paid and as of January 10th, I'm on a month to month basis.
A few days ago I received an email reminding me that my rent payment was due in one week.
I logged into the online portal and almost fell off my chair. They did increase the rent and also added an additional amount for the 20 days of January that were past my one year lease. Basically they want a bit over $2800 now.
Needless to say that I sent them an email telling them that I never accepted the increase and won't do so until everything has been fixed in the house. The email was sent to the renewal team and every property manager and administrator here in the Fort Myers area.

Their response was priceless?
They wanted me to let them know if they had to give me my 60 days notice or if I was going to pay the rent as requested.
Then I got an email from then local property manager:

"Hello Carsten, As of January 6th First Key Homes sent an email stating storm related work orders have been in transition with the construction team. The roof is priority and is on the list of many homes pending to be repaired. Our construction team are working diligently with our vendors in getting these homes repaired. Please reach to t Jannifer Delfin who is the renewals specialist as I do not have any say in resident lease renewals. "

She is the same person, who told me that she wasn't able to help me with that, as it was up to property management here in FL.
So? I emailed her again and got the following response:

"Hi Carsten,

We value you as our resident. Regarding of your rent price, we can't adjust it.

We do re-evaluations on all First Key Homes properties annually which may result in a rent increase. Our pricing team will take a look at similar properties within that area and they are also keeping up with the fair market rate of your current property. Our pricing is firm, and the rate that has been offered to you is the best and lowest rate available for this property."

It is by far the worst management company I ever had to deal with.
To them all that matters is money and they do not care at all about the people they are renting to.
Stay away from this company, it's not worth the headaches and trouble!
But if you like feeling ignored, ripped off and taken advantage of? this is the company to give your money to.

***To everyone who Firstkey Homes neglects call your city! I have so many horror stories. I have wasted so much of my life stressing, calling and emailing getting nowhere! I called the city of Deltona they were so helpful and easy to talk to on the phone. At my door within an hour apologizing it took them so long to get to me. Insane!

Now they will do all the work and if Firstkey Homes does not do what they are suppose to they will pay and the city will deal with them, not me.

A petition has been posted change.org

“Demand Better Maintenance and Tenant Care from FirstKey Homes”

I was resident of Firstkey homes property till 01/17/2024.On date when leasing expired move out inspection mad and inspector said to my husband that will be only small charge for a little carpet damage and for blinds on one window. We cleaned all the house,move out all stuff. Today we saw a list of charges on their portal. There is a couple of charges for the bathroom and for cleaning. Also it is balance for unpaid rent on portal but we paid all our rents. What is my right to show me for what they want to charge us?It is make no sense that one thing inspector told us and all others charge magically showed.

On or around May 23, 2023 firstkey Home‘s, and the Cook County sheiffs evicted me. At the time of an eviction there was no property manager on site at the time of the eviction. The Cook County sheriffs told me that I had to arrange an appointment to move all my belongings. Firstkey homes refused to allow to get my belongings i fact they stole everything they wanted. Then throw the rest on the street. I also filed an emergency motion to get the matter resolved but firstkey homes evicted me 2 days before eviction court how I still don’t know. It’s sad that you would steal a single father things and his daughter things you stole the last things we owned.

The rental home at 1813 Madrid falls is disgusting. Drug house with cars in/out all the time, parties and music blasting all hours with explicit language. Yard is full dog waste and garbage. This is in a family subdivision and police been there multiple times. Inside is trashed and dogs left there days alone. Cockroaches coming from house/garage that is full garbage and beer cans

I have called and emailed several times to have the remove 2 dead trees on one of there properties. Everytime I get some run around of contact this person or we have a work order in but we are very busy due to recent storms. This has gone on for well over a month. I know the city has cited them and they still have no concern.i can only imagine what it's like to be a tenant of this company. I'm sure there only concern is that rent check.

Never never never rent from this company. I moved out of my house back October 31st just as my lease stated. We never signed a renewal, we submitted the move out form. Moved out as we were suppose to. Later they try to say we never moved out. The house was empty the property manager even gave us the code to put the keys in the lock box. Had they rode by to see, they would have known. They didn’t ride by till December. But now, they say we owe almost $8,000. For the rent and bills from October to august Which everything was paid up when we left.

And now they are giving me no choice, it’s either get the court involved, or this is going against my credit. Absolutely absurd company, no one knows what they are doing. And no matter who you talk to no one takes notes. So there is no record.

They 100% do this on purpose.

STAY AWAY!

Hello,

I have made numerous attempts to have someone to come to the home to check for mold for the past weeks.There is a damp odor and leaking in upstair bedrooms and on the stairwell . Walls are cracking. Roof remains unfinished. Sick maintenance issues have contributed to health issues. Also, attempts to communicate with the property manager remain unresponsive.

Firstkey home is the worst company that I could ever imagine Renting a home from! I started renting from them in November 2022, from day one no one was there to do my walk-through with me. I couldn’t get in the house there was no key. Once I finally made entry into the home, there was a list of things wrong, I submitted my list, and only two of the 20 things wrong they fix. We had to deal with the septic tank leaking in the yard smelling it from January to July 2023. The basement bedroom of the home I’m renting has been filling up and flooding with water since June 2, as of today, August 8 it is still not fixed. my air-conditioning went out and it took five days for them to come fix it with the temperature being 96 in the home every day. I am now dealing with water just leaking out of the bathroom shower they will not be out until Friday. This company could care less about their tenants, I have never been late on my rent. I have caused no issues and yet getting them to come out and fix anything or better yet getting them to return your phone call is never going to happen. This company should be shut down they have complaint after complaint, but yet they are still operating! someone Please point me in the right direction to get the help that I need. My furniture is being destroyed from the water the smell of the standing moldy water is unbearable. Please help me.

We had a leak in our front yard for a couple weeks. A vender company came out Thursday august 3. They were not able to do anything because they are still waiting on the approval from FirstKey homes. Friday evening august 4 we noticed a puddle of water in our kitchen. My husband wiped up the water but 30 minutes later the puddle was back. We cleaned it up again and noticed water was coming from the cracks in the flooring. We also noticed multiple soft spots in the ground as well as the floor was bouncy. We contacted the emergency maintenance number which claims to be 24/7 but was told it was closing hours. We called the emergency number again Saturday morning and was told that nothing could be done and we would have to wait. This person wasn’t even in the United States. So they have no one that’s actually able to help in case of an emergency. We called the venders number that had came out that previous Thursday and they sent someone Saturday evening. The plumber was able to stop the leak, but we no longer have access to our fridges water or ice maker. The plumber went under the house and found layers of thick black mold covering the subfloor of about 50% of our house. And we were told that it was there for atleast a couple months, possibly longer considering how thick it was. The plumber marked the issue as urgent through first key homes, but no one from first key homes has been in contact. This company has zero sense of urgency and doesn’t care that their tenants are risking their health by breathing in black mold. We are no longer living in a safe environment.

I have been complaining about my upstairs a/c unit not working for months. My house continues to stay at 76-80 degrees during the day. They have sent four people out there on different occasions and refuse to do anything about it. I’m paying about $3,000 a month for rent and this is just unacceptable. They keep claiming everything is fine. The first technician that came out actually removed my air filters and forgot to replace them when he was done looking at unit. The unit is old and rusted at the bottom and honestly I think it’s just going out and needs to be replaced.

I have had a giant tree branch on my house since 7/23. They assigned to one company. They then would not approve the work. I have called everyday since then. BTW, you get send overseas and the person just reads off a piece of paper canned responces. I cant open garage and have to climb over branches to leave. They will not call back and obviously don't care. I just read on this website they would recommend working with these scumbags. That is poor advice. They clearly haven't dealt with First Key.I have already contacted an attorney and will be moving forward with a lawsuit. DO NOT RENT from this company.

We have been renting from this company for 15 months. Their customer service is the horrible and non responsible. We have had numerous issues starting with taking months to get access to the HOA amenities for our house (2xl). I finally had to circumvent First Key Homes and beg our HOA to provide access without the signatures needed by first key. It is two months later and still no response from our property manager (4 emails and 6 phones never returned). They try to charge tenants for any and everything, even items that are not a fault. We had two broken toilets (no use of a running toilet and it took them almost 24 hours to respond and then charged us for $150 for the repair when the back of our toilet had been sealed shut and we couldn’t access it. We spoke to the head of maintenance when the repair was done and he said he understood but they are trying to charge us. We submitted a maintenance request for carpet that had no stripping between flooring (noted in writing upon move in) that literally has nails Sticking up in three different locations … it is over 2.5 months later and nothing has been done. We obtained rental insurance through their recommended company. We renewed the policy and kept receiving messages we were not covered. Spoke to customer services provided proof of insurance and was told our account would be updated. They have continued to charge us a lapse in coverage fee of $15 a month (even though their payment page says $9.99). I have reached out via email to customer service 10 times in regards to this and via phone, and have provided proof of insurance 4 times and I still get not get a returned email, call or my ledger fixed. I would not recommend renting from this company. We are actually looking at options of leaving with the help of an attorney. Stay away!

The most recent request was to repair a window that was vandalized/ damaged end of may/ june. I put the request in immediately (same night) it will be august tomorrow and 3 different companies one from first key and 2 different vendors come out take the same pictures the other 2 already took and uploaded to the system and reps have confirmed they can see it and measured this same window 4x and still has not been fixed! I am feed up with this company. They fix the repairs in a timely manner. It takes more than 2 weeks for any type of request to get looked at and this is passed ridiculous! I have had multiple issues since living here in 5 1/2 yrs with maintenance issues! I pay my rent on time every month why cant you uphold your part of the lease repairs are suppose to be done in a timely manner not take a month or two to be fixed! I have asked for the property manager, regional and vp to give me a call and all I get is “I will put a ticket in for someone to call you back”! It is impossible to speak to the local office like why? This does not make me ever want to rent or refer this company to anyone and every chance I get I will warn ppl on my social media, family and friends!