FirstKey Homes’s earns a 1.9-star rating from 77 reviews, showing that the majority of tenants are dissatisfied with rental experiences.
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House wasn't cleaned prior to my move-in, wasn't exterminated, and I was told it was my responsibility
House wasn't cleaned prior to my move-in, wasn't exterminated, and I was told it was my responsibility. Rodent problem is my responsibility. Previous plumbing repairs that the last tenant reported that weren't repaired after last tenant abandoned house is my responsibility. I reported rotted subflooring all through the house months ago and am STILL waiting for repair and now have 2 holes in the floor...scared to walk in some spots for fear I may step right through the floor, as my son did! In reviewing previous maintenance requests I found that the previous tenants had reported the rotted subflooring as well and it was never repaired! Vendor who finally just came out to repair my fence used my wood and laughed about it when I asked where my wood went, left the trash in the yard for 4 days and finally came to get it. Left nails everywhere on my driveway and I got them in my tires and had to replace them! Didn't fix several rotted slats I pointed out to him, just left them, and my dog is still getting out. First Key is not worth it. I pay $500 more a month than I did at my previous house (landlord sold all her houses) and this place is a dump. They don't listen to their tenants and don't care as long as they get their money.EDIT:Now, I've had no water for the past four days because of the property manager's screwup, and suddenly I have a $270 charge for two months of electricity that I wasn't even aware I owed! Utilities were never discussed except for telling me that I wasn't allowed to choose my own providers and the only thing I've been billed for the past 4 months has been gas. I assumed electric and water were included in the outrageous rent for this falling apart house! I'm on a fixed income and this gets thrown at me right before CHRISTMAS!I do have to add that two of the VENDORS (I wish I could remember their names) that have been sent to perform MAINTENANCE (outside flooding (installed drains in yard), repaired bathroom sink leak, replaced shower door, replaced toilet, replaced garbage disposal, replaced toilet fill valve, replaced sink gasket, and he even replaced a fence slat that the fence repairman didn't fix) were all wonderful. Very kind, very informative, and very fast. It has just been getting the blown down fence repaired where my dog kept getting out and the rotted floors replaced that have taken forever. I fear the floors will never be repaired. It was only after I published this review on another site that I finally got some of the above repairs done immediately, previously it took weeks to schedule. I have been called 4 times to be told someone is coming to repair the floors and then no one shows up. Finally had someone come. But instead of tearing out the rotted subflooring, the only thing First Key is allowung is for them to put 1/4 inch plywood down over the rotted, uneven floors and cover that with new tongue-in-groove flooring. But you can still feel where the rotted parts of the floor are when you walk, and the flooring is not glued down to the plywood and because the floor is uneven, it's got aur pockets under it. It's such a waste. I just hope I'm moved out before the floor collapses.
The First Key Maintenance Dept
The First Key Maintenance Dept. needs a lot of improvement! The whole point of submitting Maintenance Requests is to avoid significant property damage. The first maintenance issue was a water leak in the bathroom. Two plumbers came out on two different occasions and "fixed" it, mind you, I had to take off work for this. Turned out to be the AC resulting in half of our home being unlivable for 3 months while the water damage was being fixed. Commercial fans and dehumidifiers ran nonstop for weeks and we had to pay that electric bill. The work the vendor did was terrible and I sent emails with pictures to your maintenance Dept. and Property Manager.No one replied...The next work request was because an animal got trapped in the walls of our bathroom (this has happened twice now). The animal tore up the plumbing and ended up dying, I think it took about 4 months for that because they had to coordinate two vendors to address the water leak and pest control. I've had other work orders and have taken more days off of work for the vendors that either don't show up or not fix the problem. At this time, I have a request pending for a bad roof leak. It's been over 3 months since I submitted the request. The ceiling looks like it could collapse, the dry wall and floor are ruined and probably lots of mold. Some Roofers did show (didn't call), asked where the leak was and maybe worked for an hour or so. They left without saying anything. I though they were coming back because the leak is still really bad. I later found the work order status as "completed". So again, I submitted a work request. I also included more requests for water damage inside. The next day, all the requests were canceled, except for the roof leak. I called, waited on hold for 30 mins and was told that the Maintenance Dept stated they were duplicates of the roof leak... So you mean to tell me that Roofers also do flooring and dry wall? Or am I expected to wait and see if the roof is actually fixed, then coordinate the work request orders for each issue to ensure the correct vendors are sent? The helpful representative I spoke with understood my concerns and resubmitted the previously canceled requests and they were AGAIN canceled by your Maintenance Dept. I asked for them to call me so I could talk with them directly but of course, no one ever calls (no reply emails are not helpful). However, the roofing company called on Monday and said someone would call Tuesday morning to schedule a time for them to come out, it's been 3 days since then. I left a voicemail around noon but no returned call. This ceiling condition is becoming a safety concern and I cannot submit a work order because First Key Maintenance Dept. continues to remove it. This is extremely frustrating. On a good note, your resident portal is great and very user friendly. Plus the help with the relaxed late fee on rent during the Pandemic has been much appreciated! Lastly, each representative I've spoken with in the call center has been very nice. I can only imagine what kind of day they have trying to pick up the slack from the Maintenance Dept. We do love the property and it's location, if it wasn't for this work order nonsense, we'd have no complaints!
This review will encompass the Catawba location and corporate
This review will encompass the Catawba location and corporate.
Firstly, we want to state that the homes we viewed to possibly rent were, for the most part, extremely nice homes. We fell in love with a couple homes that we would have really enjoyed living in, but this is exactly why I'm writing this review.
After a couple days of looking at a few homes, we had a few questions about the application process. We tried to contact the customer service team, but every time we called it would say "wait time is more than 20 minutes" and we would wait for well over 20 minutes, at some points exceeding over an hour of hold time. We even had our real estate agent reach out with no response to her phone calls either. We wanted to know if we applied for more homes, would it be multiple hits to our credit and multiple application fees.
The second day of us trying to get ahold of someone, one of the sales representatives, Joe, reached out to us to see if we had any questions about the homes he could see we viewed. While we were on the phone, we told him that one of the locations we were looking at seemed to be under contract based on the MLS status on Zillow. He did in fact tell us he could see that it wasn't under contract and that we should apply for it. We applied for the property immediately and confirmed that everything looked right with the sales representative. In the following days, we tried again to contact customer service about the status of our application and still could not get a single person on the phone to speak with us.
On Thursday of last week we both were becoming frustrated with the lack of communication regarding our application. I looked up someone to contact, leading me to send an email to Catherine Capasso, the person from whom I had been receiving marketing emails. I stated to her that we felt we were misled into applying for a property that was already under contract, and it appears obvious, as the home was leased by Thursday and pulled off the market, that it was already under contract when we were told to apply.
After sending that email I did not hear anything back all day from Catherine. Later that night I received an email from Christine Nonirit that stated we needed more information to complete our application. We sent a response back to her as well that we hadn't even gotten a response from our first email that morning and were extremely upset that we are being asked for information on an application that doesn't even matter anymore. She called my girlfriend later that night in a response to our email and told us that she would contact our local FirstKey office and see what she could do for us.
All we want is our application money back. We are fully understanding that it states it is non-refundable, but this has been unbelievable. Christine, myself, my girlfriend, and my real estate agent have tried everything to get a hold of someone and nobody has gotten back to us in days. I'm requesting you send our application money back to us, being that you have made it completely impossible to get a hold of anyone and nobody seems to care about getting back to us or the fact that they lied to us to get us to apply for a property that we were never going to get. Your sales tactics seems obvious to get as many people to apply as possible no matter the consequences and your inability to communicate has shown that you don't care at all about your customer service.
Issues with FirstKey Homes, Rently, Rentcafe.com, and Core Logic during Rental Application
I encountered numerous obstacles and was shuffled between different websites while attempting to submit a rental application. It began with a Zillow notification on my phone, followed by a link to Rently's site for application. This led to FirstKey Homes, where I encountered login issues and was advised to use Rentcafe.com. Despite completing the application and paying the fee, I was required to take a Core Logic quiz or risk forfeiting my application. Despite a good credit score and rental history, my application was denied, which raises concerns about the legitimacy of the process. I urge caution when applying through this management company and recommend monitoring financial accounts for any unauthorized activity.
That takes the cake! So many violations there. There has to be an class action suit
I am writing a long review, but if I can save somebody from making the mistake of renting from this company, I will feel better
I am writing a long review, but if I can save somebody from making the mistake of renting from this company, I will feel better.
If I could give First Key Homes (furthermore abbreviated to FKH in the rest of review) zero stars, I would. My girlfriend, 6 month old daughter and I recently moved to Cape Coral, Florida, from New Jersey. We decided to rent from FKH. We filled out our application in MARCH for a MAY move-in date, and struggled for two months to speak to everyone involved in our lease, ranging all the way from our leasing coordinator to our property manager. I have called the corporate location at least five times to speak to a supervisor because after we paid the security deposit and first month's rent they required, they basically ghosted us.
My parents live in Florida, so in the middle of April we were visiting and decided to check out the house. The one time I was actually able to reach somebody, they told me the house wouldn't be ready to view until APRIL 26TH (keep in mind our move in date was MAY 1ST). We went to check it out anyway, and the place was in shambles. I can go on forever describing what was wrong with the house, but I'll spare the details. We finally were able to contact our leasing agent after the house was "cleaned" and "set up" by the supposedly professionally trained crew. They swore everything was perfect, even though we still hadn't been able to view the inside of the house. We took them at their word and learned the hard way how big of a mistake that was.
Fast forward to finally moving in (it was the first time seeing the inside of the house aside from video chatting with my parents when they did a quick walk-through) and the house was swarming with ants. To this day, we still have a problem. We've had the exterminator employed by FKH comes out three times, and just now are we finally starting to see the number of ants dwindle. We couldn't even cook in the kitchen because the ants were all over the appliances and counters.
For whatever reason, aside from the rooms, the carpet was ripped up and replaced with LVP when the house was advertised as fully carpeted (probably because it was also swarming with ants, but who knows). The paint job is awful and is already chipping in a lot of places throughout the house. The drain in the spare bathroom tub and master bathroom shower didn't drain properly. We just had a maintenance guy come today and pull out copious amounts of hair from the drains from previous tenants. We replaced the shower head in the master bathroom and the pipes were so rusty to the point of pieces breaking off it without even applying pressure. Finally, the automatic garage door wouldn't close properly and we had to have someone out here twice to look at it.
They didn't leave any paperwork or instructions on how to operate anything in this house, aside from what NOT to do (DON'T paint the walls, DON'T use nails in walls, DON'T flush anything besides toilet paper, etc.). Obviously, renting a home on a yearly lease basis, all of that is self-explanatory. The biggest problem for us is the water softener since we have well water. We've never used well water before and finally, after a few weeks of asking questions, it was finally addressed today.
Thankfully, the maintenance guy who was here today (I believe his name is ***) really knew what he was doing and was super professional and courteous. He gave us information about everything we SHOULD HAVE been doing since we moved in, that FKH failed to mention to us entirely. If it weren't for him, I'd still have an unbearably sour taste in my mouth about FKH.
Like I said, if this review can stop even one person from renting from this company, it'll be worth it for me. I contemplated writing a review since before we moved in because I constantly gave them the benefit of the doubt, but this experience has just been absolutely awful and I don't want anyone to go through the same thing we did.
Thank you for reading this.
**Prefacing this by saying: I am making this as detailed as possible to recount my story so no one else wastes money with this pathetic company**
Prefacing this by saying: I am making this as detailed as possible to recount my story so no one else wastes money with this pathetic company
If I could give this company less than 1 star I would. The process began towards the beginning of January, with me scheduling a self tour at a home, only to arrive and find the door had been busted in (should've taken this as my sign from the beginning - not safe at all). I was then called by one of their leasing agents (Mandisa) and was initially given decent assistance, she helped me set up a tour of another property and also assured me the first home I attempted to tour, with the door busted in, would be fixed if I was still interested - yea definitely not. After touring a few properties, we did find one that we liked a lot and wanted to submit an application for. We were told that their application portal was under maintenance and I would have to wait till January 16th when the site was live again to submit our application. When the day came, I submitted my application no later than 12 p.m. on January 16th. Upon getting to the portion of the application where myself and other roommates were required to sign the addendum pages, we continued to receive an error message "parameter not valid" which would not allow us to complete the application. I immediately shared this with Mandisa and attempted to contact her via both phone and email. I attempted to call their sad excuse for a customer service number as well during this time, only to wait on hold with the option to leave a phone number for them to return my call when it was my turn. Do you think I ever got a call back from them no? I also submitted tickets through their online customer service portal, to which I also never received any response. So, the next day I decided I'd just wait it out on the customer service line, you know how long it took before I was able to speak with a representative? 3 hours! Only to be told that I would have to delete my existing application and fill out a new application using a different email address! what?! All this to say, I do so and get the addendum pages signed and get to the final step of paying for the application ($50 per person that is 18+ on the application - so a total of $150 for myself and two roommates). This entire time, I still have not heard anything from Mandisa (supposedly the leasing agent for my area) but instead, a week after paying my application fee, receive a phone call and email from a woman named Sade at around 8 p.m. on a Saturday evening. She asks if I would be the only person submitting income verification, to which I immediately emailed her back and responded that I had already provided my income documents which clearly show I alone make enough to cover the 3x monthly rental requirement. One of my roommates is a student and my other roommate was trying to get her documents from her accountant, but quickly asked if my income alone was not sufficient since I met the requirement on my own. Again.. crickets. I hear nothing back from their team. I then attempt to call Sade first thing the following Monday morning to follow-up and left her a voicemail, again I hear nothing back. We then get to the last week in January and I reach out to both Mandisa and Sade (because at this point I'm not really sure who is actually suppose to be helping me) and ask if there is anything additional I need to be submitting to help speed up this process. Finally I receive a response from Mandisa about an hour after I sent the email that says the following: "I have noted your application. It is pending the final review. Processing time from the day you submit final docs is a couple business days at this time." Now maybe I am missing something here, but at this point we have been going through the motions with this company for close to a month, initially applied this home the first day we could due to their system update, they've already taken $150 for application fees, and claimed that my application was in the final review stages, it seems like we should pretty much have this house in the bag, right? Well a week later (Feb 4) I receive an automated email from Mandisa stating I qualified for the rental price for the home, but unfortunately this home was no longer available. But don't worry, your application is still good for 45 days after initially paying your fees on any other FirstKey Home, a lot of good that does me when they took half of that time from me just letting me know I didn't get the house. I wish I would've taken the time to read other's reviews before applying to a FirstKey Home! Do yourself a favor and don't get involved with this company, their customer service is awful and they completely lack communication skills.
Our experience with FirstKey had a lot of positives (quick maintenance, easy to pay rent), but the negatives were so great that I would never
Our experience with FirstKey had a lot of positives (quick maintenance, easy to pay rent), but the negatives were so great that I would never recommend this company to a friend or relative trying to rent a home. Short Version: There is a large lack of communication, and the size of the company seems to affect their ability to effectively service customers and communicate between offices. Pet hair in carpet, broken garage door, and water damage at move in, threatened with an eviction notice on our door after being 12 hours late on rent, and an abysmal move out process with getting our security deposit three months late made this experience unforgettably horrible. Long Version: When we first decided to go with this rental, we noticed a lot of pet hair in the carpet after we were told that the carpet had been steam cleaned or replaced. The company then said that it was probably one of the painters who brought their pet with them. My wife is highly allergic to pet hair, but FirstKey did nothing to help us, They only said to mark it down so we wouldn't be penalized. There was also water damage stains upstairs as well as a broken garage door. Neither of those things were deal breakers, but they just made the house look bad. About two months into our rental, we got a notice about an HOA violation that our trash cans were visible. Not a big deal, except for the fact that we had no idea there was an HOA. I reached out to FirstKey to ask for details regarding the HOA and what they require. They responded with some documents but none of them had any helpful info. I replied asking for details regarding restrictions and such. The person I was talking to said they would get back to me, and never did. At one point the heater stopped working. We live in Ohio, so that's a big deal. I honestly don't remember if I called in a maintenance request or not. either way I fixed the problem and the heater worked fine after the, but still I fell like it was a testament to the quality of the appliance in the home. Once the issue was fixed, I informed the maintenance guy. Later on in our lease, we were late on our rent one time. by late I mean that it's due by the 5th at midnight and we paid on the 6th at noonish. By the time I had paid the rent, the had sent a person to our house with an eviction notice and stamped it to our door. They were threatening legal action and pursuit of their rent. I was shocked. I'd never received an eviction notice for being late on rent. Just to clarify. We had not received a phone call, or an email, or any other sort of late fee reminder. It was just the eviction notice. This is where things really started going downhill. Towards the end of our lease, we decided we were going to move, so we attempted to send a notice to the property managers. It took a few days to get in touch with the right people and finally set up a move out date and a pre-move-out inspection. This was the root of a lot of our problems to come. We never knew who to call or what person was actually in charge. I spoke to probably 10 different people over our time with FirstKey and I was never really sure who I should be speaking to until we moved out. The pre move out inspection went well. I knew about an issue with the driveway where my car had leaked oil, so I expected to lose some money off of our security deposit. After the walk through, we were notified that we only needed to fix the holes in the walls and paint. I patched all the holes, sanded and got the EXACT paint they told us to get. I painted a few spots, but the paint didn't quite match. At the maintenance guy's request, I chose not to paint the rest, and he said that we would be fine. He said that we shouldn't have an impact on our deposit. That was wrong. We are charged about $300 for paint. Also, we were charged a fee for moving out early when we specifically said that we didn't want to move out early. We paid a prorated rate for the last month since we were only there for half the month, but they also deducted another $400 from our security deposit. In total, there was around $750 deducted form our deposit after we were explicitly told it would not be taken out. But that's not the core issue. The problem is that we moved out February 11th and we didn't receive our security deposit check until today... JUNE 24TH! We have reached out to FirstKey 50+ times in an effort to get OUR MONEY. We should have taken them to court, but we didn't because we wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt with the COVID situation. Every time we would call and try to get an update on our deposit, the customer service center would tell us to call out property manger, Tracy. Tracy would almost never answer the phone, and when she did, she would usually just say that she would look into the problem and then never respond. We tried to go to someone else, but everyone only ever transferred us to Tracy. So from March until late June we have been tirelessly tracking down our deposit. I even got an email in May from FirstKey saying that we haven't accepted our deposit check yet. Apparently, they sent our deposit check in February and then pulled it back. They could not tell me why they pulled it back. Someone mentioned it was possible that they were unsure of the amount, so they pulled it back.Oh, and that email I got was form a different department entirely. Another person I had never spoken to. Overall this process has left me burned and I don't think I'll be using the large rental companies again let alone FirstKey Homes. Honestly, if we had just received our security deposit on time, I wouldn't have been nearly as upset that it was only half. But three months late is unacceptable, and I'm hoping that someone can be held accountable.
This was one of my worst experiences moving into a new home
This was one of my worst experiences moving into a new home. I realize COVID has interrupted quantity of services (meetings, in-person walk-throughs, etc), but it should not interrupt quality of services. I'm going to start with what I went through with the agents, and then the home. First, I was not able to view the home in any way before putting down a deposit, but based on another home I'd walked through and the fact that every home within a 30-mile radius was rented out through FirstKey Homes, I thought FirstKey Homes would have quality services. When I did my own walk-through on 7/15 after putting down my security deposit (because homes were being advertised and reserved faster than one could bat an eye), I noticed several things still needed to be worked on/fixed and that the home was not a 3 bathroom home as I'd seen in the listing. Same house - just not 3 bathrooms. I immediately reached out to the leasing agent to query about what the advertisement said and what the home actually was. She said the home was actually 2.5 bathroom. According to realty services, a full bathroom consists of a sink, toilet, tub, and shower. In this home, only one bathroom had all four of these. Another bathroom was a sink, toilet, and tub. Another bathroom was a sink and toilet. So the home is actually a 1 bath, .5 bath, and .75 bath, according to realty services. The agent said the landlord considers the home a 2.5 bath because of tub. We went in circles discussing this. Nevertheless, I needed a larger home to accommodate my family, and every home in the area I needed to live to be close enough to work and my children's schools is through FirstKey Homes. We'd already been in a hotel for a month and needed to get my family settled. The FirstKey Homes agent had nothing else available in the area large enough for us, so I decided to put down my deposit and keep it. I'd relocated for work from England and was exhausted of house hunting. During my initial walk-through on 7/15, I noticed several things that still needed to be fixed, but thought that since there were still 2 weeks left before I moved in, those were things that would be taken care of. The two weeks leading up to moving into the home, I reached out multiple times to the two leasing agents who were responsible for helping me get set up. That experience was atrocious. I sent an email off to one agent, received an Out-Of-Office email, so I emailed the other agent. She said she would promptly speak to her supervisor. When I emailed back two days later to check in, I received an Out-Of-Office email and voicemail message for her. So I reached out to the first agent responsible for helping me get everything set up, and she told me she was only on the CC line of the emails and didn't know anything. I asked multiple times about how the process would work for getting the keys, about when/how I should make payments, and if there was any news from the supervisor. I finally called the FirstKeys Homes 800 number because no one would answer my calls or emails (two days before move-in), and that lady got through to my agent immediately. My agent still claimed to have no idea what was going on, but went back and forth with her supervisor. They decided to drop my rent $25 a month. I moved in on 7/28 and discovered things had not been fixed. Both the front and back doors scrape the floors when they are opened. The back door doesn't open without excessive force because of the way the flooring is set up. My younger children won't be able to open it by themselves. The back door's screen door does not close all the way. The small fridge and the cabinets (by what looks to be a mini hand-washing area in the dining area) smell like a dead animal. The plaster on the wall by the steps is torn in multiple areas and a strip of about 8 inches is hanging off the wall with old wallpaper visible behind it. The water and ice dispenser on the fridge is not connected though you can hear it trying to run. The oven does not shut. The oven has grease stains all along the outside of it. The cabinets in the kitchen (and throughout the house) were never wiped down. The cabinets have dirt and bits of debris in them. The window over the kitchen sink is missing the handle to be able to open the window. There is a metal piece from the frame uncovered where the handle should be. The half-bathroom sink stopper is not connected to the handle and is stuck, stopping up the sink when the water is run. There are multiple light bulbs that are dead. The air vents on the hard floors are just sitting on the ventilation area, not flush with the floor at all and don't even fit in their slots. The air vents in the carpeted areas are just lifted, sticking up off the carpet. There are crayon and other marks along the baseboards and walls of the home. Some of the wall areas along the chair molding are bubbled. A few of the sets of window blinds are broken with strings frayed. There is almost zero ventilation on the second floor. I closed every vent downstairs, hoping to force air upstairs, to no avail. My children were extremely hot their first night in their new home. The carpet has not been laid properly throughout the home. Seams are frayed and sticking out all along the wall and baseboard throughout the ENTIRE house. Other areas of the carpet are bubbled. There feels to be no padding under the carpet throughout the upstairs bedrooms. There are layers of dust throughout the entire house - on every fan, on all the baseboards, on the shelves. The ONE shower in the home has rust all over the drain. There is caulk stuck in the tub. The tubs have trouble draining the water. The tubs are also chipped in several spots. The one full bathroom in the house has soap scum and build-up covering the shelving areas in the tub. There are several areas in the home with scuff marks on the walls and ceilings where it was never painted. The cabinets have marks and dings all over them. There is a large hole in the garage by the door to the house. This experience has been absolutely atrocious. When I called my leasing agent to ask about a few of these items, she told me I need to put in work orders and they'll determine what is a priority. From the experience I've had so far, nothing will be fixed any time soon. And I can't keep my family in a hotel.
I am 37 days into my move into a home owned and managed by FirstKey Homes
I am 37 days into my move into a home owned and managed by FirstKey Homes. I relocated from Arizona to Georgia for new beginnings, to be closer to my family and for a fresh start with my daughter. Prior to my move-in, there were issues noted on the internal walkthrough that I emailed to the agent on 9/17 with detailed info and pictures. On 9/18, the agent emailed back promising in writing, that ALL issues were sent to maintenance and personally guaranteed ALL issues would be addressed/fixed prior to my cross-country relocation and move-in on 10/4. Exactly 2 weeks later and 2 days before I was set to leave for Georgia, I received an email from the agent 3 minutes before the close of business with the following: Good Afternoon Txxxxx, I apologize for the delayed response. Don't worry about making the payment yet, as we are still waiting for the service team to repair the issues in the home. We should have an update tomorrow. Thanks for your patience. JPxxxxxxx Senior Field Manager Atlanta | Birmingham FirstKey Homes, LLC CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Privileged or confidential information may be contained in this email transmission (and any attachments accompanying it). The information is intended only for the use of the intended recipient named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this emailed information, except its direct delivery to the intended recipient named above, is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately. FirstKey Homes is pledged to the letter and spirit of all applicable state and federal fair housing laws, including, without limitation, the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended), for the achievement of equal housing opportunities for all rental applicants and Residents throughout each of the states in which we operate. *** This can go on and on, however to date there has only been one additional item addressed. Maintenance arrived on 10/29 and replaced the missing lightbulbs throughout. He attempted to address the electrical issue in the master bathroom & kitchen but when he went to check under the home in the crawl space, he said it was "too creepy" and an electrician would be best to address the electrical issues. To date, the cleaning of the pet hair in the vents has yet to be completed. The electrical issues have yet to be resolved. Some days I have lighting in the master bathroom and some days I don't. Some days I have lighting in the kitchen and some days I don't and there is a popping sound sometimes when I use the light switch. In the month of October alone, I made a total of 79 calls, sent countless emails and I still have a long list of items to be addressed in the home. Neither AWxxxxx or EGxxxx are returning my calls or emails at this point, but FirstKey Homes very promptly sent the pay rent reminder by email 2 days before November 1st. As a real estate professional and investor myself, I only ever chose to rent in an effort to get to know the area before purchasing my next home. I've been a landlord for many years and I would NEVER disrespect my tenants this way. EVER! I've called the Dept of Housing & Urban Development and filed an official complaint against FirstKey Homes. As a matter of fact, that is the ONLY thing that prompted the maintenance visit on 10/29. To top this all off, I received a disconnection notice from Georgia Power yesterday because of the past due balance that remains unpaid from prior to my October 4th move-in date. Following is the long email exchange between myself and all the employees of FirstKey Homes mentioned in this long and exhaustive complaint. I've added as much detail as possible in hopes that it 1. Helps other potential residents know what to expect when thinking about renting from this company and 2. In hopes it will reach someone who cares and has authority within the company will address and resolve each and every maintenance concern. There is no rating available that can possibly match this experience and certainly not enough space to completely add every email/exchange. Believe it or not, this is still just a high-level overview ... A handyman came to repair a few of the items on the long list of repairs I've emailed to the team at FirstKey Homes numerous times. When he entered my home, the first thing he said was that I'm the 4th FirstKey Homes resident he's been dispatched to and he's at a point where he wants to enter the homes with his eyes closed because FirstKey is ONLY committed to FILLING homes, not maintaining them and he's already seen extreme situations where the home's are grossly being neglected. He remained at the home all day, rewiring some of the electrical that was dead in the master bathroom. Upon going into the attic, he came down and informed me that he found a trap with a dead squirrel in it and apparently it had been there for a while because it was badly decomposed to the point where it's eyes were gone. He said it had been up there in the attic for quite a while but he wanted me to know because the only way to dispose of it was to bring it down through my home to take it outside. The sad thing about this is, he's the 4th maintenance person to go into the attic since my move-in on Oct 4th and NOT ONE person before him ever mentioned the dead squirrel. My last email to FirstKey Homes was sent on 11/10 to follow up on the remaining outstanding items that remain to be addressed, resolved or repaired from the initial move-in list emailed to this company on October 5. I copied the District Leasing Manager, Director of Properties and her Assistant, the Maintenance Manager and the Field Superintendent on the email to advise that not only are the outstanding items still outstanding, but now there is mold growing inside the windows and there is a possible gas leak at the fireplace since the maintenance man lit the pilot on 10/29. NOT ONE person responded or called me with any intentions to resolve these critical matters. I have no choice but to continue with my complaint to the Dept of Housing and pursue legal action. I simply cannot live in this unsafe home with my child. This entire experience has been a complete travesty and FirstKey Homes is the worst company I've experienced in my 25+ years in the real estate industry. Their license and ability to rent homes should be revoked IMMEDIATELY!
FirstKey Homes Complaints 48
Had to sign lease early and then your stuck!
I am started to communicate with a lawyer at this point. My lease was up in June but they have you sign a lease in February or you risk a fourth increase in your rent, or people walking through your home 90 days prior to bed of lease term.
I signed the lease and as always had a number of issues occure
Water in kitchen 2/22/23 through window. Windows not replaced
4/6/22 sub level and garage flooded. No wall drying or walls replaced
4/23/23 water from roof into living room
7/23/23 sub level and garage flooded
7/23/22 Toilet bathroom area pooling water in ceiling and leaking into garage.
9/12/23 roof still leaking
9/21/22 laundry room flooded
10/17/22 roof still leaking
12/12/22 roof still leaking
3/7/23 flooded in basement, complained about water coming through door
3/21/23 drain in sub level isn’t draining and standing water
7/11/23 still getting leak from windows into ceiling of sub level worked on
7/28/23 flooded
I have lived her for 5 years and we always flood and I always report it. First the replaced walls, now they tell me someone will call me in 24 hours (it’s two days later) and no one even calls to check reason for flood, water damage, or mold.
I have a 9 year old and he is always confused why we can use our downstairs family room and I explain it’s due to the constant flooding. I just want to break my lease and leave. I am not happy here, I don’t sleep when it rains, I take countless days off work to clean the water… I just want to break my lease and go from this nightmare
Side note… our roof is also leaking and they still haven’t fixed it
Desired outcome: Break lease
Charging my bank and Misusing Rental Assistance and Energy Assistance And still charging me
I received Energy Assistance for my electric Bill and Rental Assistance and First Key Homes is still charging me for electric when there is not a bill to pay. I paid 2 months of electric charges that were not due because there is a credit at the electric company. FIRST KEY HOMES pays all the utility bills and then the tenants reimburse them via YES. A billing service they use. When my energy assistance was credited in April I was still being charged when First Key Homes didn’t make a payment, because there was not one due. Why do they expect me to pay the bill when they didn’t pay and nothing is owed? Then I was given a Rental Assistance check, and they’re deducting all of my utilities including electric to the rental assistance even after I paid all the utilities. They are auto deducting money from my funds they aren’t supposed to and not crediting my account back the money that was paid twice for utilities. I have all the documents proving this. I need help with this.
Desired outcome: I want a credit for what they owe me.
Renter’s insurance
We have been arguing back and forth with First Key homes regarding the proof of renters insurance. We even called Effective Coverage to verify that it’s been approved but this leasing against in charge of our move-in is threatening to not let us in after they rushed us through the application process and said we had to move in by the following week. Fornesa...
Read full review of FirstKey HomesSecurity deposit
My husband and I are still waiting on our security deposit. We moved out of our rental may 5th. We cleaned the house up to first key homes standards and we even paid someone to paint the walls that had damage to them. I have videos for proof since we never received an inspection report. We have been waiting on our deposit more than 45 days now. The company has issued multiple checks to our new address and the property manager we’ve been in shaky contact with keeps saying that they’ve put a stop payment on 2 of them. The property manager is never in her office and keeps giving us the run around. We are starting to think this company is scamming us and it feels like we’re gonna have to make it a legal matter. We are just regular common folks who fulfilled our contract and would like our deposit back.
Desired outcome: We want our deposit. That is it. That is all.
Refusing to return security deposit
I live in the state of Florida. Florida law states that security deposits or deduction statements must be sent to tenant within 30 days. I have received neither . When I call about my deposit I get multiple stories. One minute I am told it has been mailed and the next minute I’m told they have 60 days to process my return. The property manager Ariane Williams has been very unprofessional in handling this situation despite my requests to get this matter solved as quickly as possible. I am now in the process of hiring and attorney to retrieve my security deposit.
Desired outcome: I would like my security deposit sent via fed ex had I have requested this multiple times now that First Key Homes has violated Florida law
Discrimination
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am going to sue First Key Homes because they've discriminated me. I would appreciate it if Colleen Keating would get in contact with me via the telephone as expeditiously as possible.
My phone number is: [protected]. I look forward to speaking with her soon, ( Lord Spare ). I am going to move forward with legal action because this isn't right how First Key Homes handle their business with potential customers.
Respectfully,
Chareese Joubert
Fraudulent charges on my account
First Keys homes has charged me $300 in charges that i do not owe.
They denied my maintenance request and then sent a maintenance person to my house that i had no ideal he was coming. He left a note on the door and they charged me $75 for the missed trip and $125 for landscaping that was never done. I have called at least 25 times and sent numerous emails for over a month. They also issued a payment/credit to my account for more than the $225 i was requesting and then 3 weeks later reversed the credit/payment and issed me a $75 late fee. I have never paid rent late and the way the portal is setup you can only pay what is shown that you own - NO partial payments. No, they say I owe $300 in charges and I am not able to pay my rent on July 1 unless I pay the $300 because they do not take partial payments. I just called again today and got they same reply that they would email my property manager to contact me. This has been going on since May 5, 2023. I don't know what to do - they are forcing me to pay charges I do not owe or be delinquent in rent and be evicted.
Desired outcome: I want the credit issued to my account for the $300 in fraudulent charges.
Withholding security deposit/damage to my personal property
We had damage to our rental property from hurricane Ian in September 2022. The roof leaked water into 2 bedrooms and the living room. Firstkey promptly came out and cut out all the wet drywall. However did not address the roof needing to be tarped or water damage to carpet. Or test for mold as we had no power for 7 days after the storm. After many complaints to maintenance 1 month later they tarped the roof. The paver driveway was also damaged and was separating creating “pot holes”. After multiple calls and emails asking when repairs would take place we were told in February 2023 5 months later our work orders were cancelled. I asked for a reduction on my rent and was told they didn’t do that to contact my renters insurance. After a bunch of arguing a contractor finally came out February 20th to replace the missing drywall and fix the driveway. The contractor damaged our tv and bedroom furniture with paint. The tv had to be replaced. Firstkey’s response was to file a claim with the renters insurance. Then on February 25th my son was backing out of the “fixed” driveway and the pavers came loose and became lodged under his car. Their response was to contact my car insurance. The cost to fix the car was $1900. We also incurred other expenses such as an extra $100 a month for electric because our walls were left cut out for 5 months. No repairs to the roof were ever made. We moved out April 18, 2023 and they sent us a notice saying they are keeping our $1931 deposit and we owe them an additional $1905 for paint and new carpet, carpet that should have been replaced with hurricane damage. Letter said we had 15 days to respond. They gave an address to respond. We responded to the exact address with a certified letter and it was returned undeliverable. Within the week after we moved out the roof was replaced. Firstkey is the worst rental company and owes me a lot of money.
Desired outcome: Please refund my deposit and pay for damages from your contractor
No one responds to calls, emails, escalations, or anything!
I moved into the property on March 27th of this year. A week later I get a citation from First Key dated March 27th that the weeds needed to be treated and if I don’t handle it then I will be fined. I felt that was pretty messed up as because you give me a citation as I am unloading a truck. That should have been done before I moved in. The hedges are taller than me. I contacted over 20 times. Made escalation request with these non helpful resident advisors 5 TIMES! They state they will have first key contact in 2 days and here we are 2 months later and nothing! I also let stated I wanted to have access to the pool and other amenities but of-course there is a form that needs to be filled out, and here we are weeks later still nothing! They don’t assist with any issues I have. All they want from me is for me to give them $3000 a month and as long as they get that, they do not care. I contacted and emailed Ashley Johnson numerous times, she is who was supposed to be the one assisting me with any questions or concerns. It’s left a very nasty taste in my mouth and I am never one to complain or anything. She send me back a message stating she moved to a different dept. I just do not understand why I am being treated this way. A contract is a contract! Your there to answer any questions or concerns I may have and I am to pay rent and upkeep the property. Seems as if I am the only one committing to what I signed and agreed to.
Desired outcome: I’d appreciate a response and maybe a refund on what I had to pay to get the weeds done THE DAY I MOVED IN
House rented though first key homes
I am a current resident of first key homes. I moved into a house that was not move in ready and has had a multiple issues with the pool, pool service, smoke detectors, and so much more. Me and my roommates have been trying to contact a manager of first key in which they refuse to give us a call. It has been a month of us constantly trying to get in contact with them in which they refuse to give us a call.
Desired outcome: Compensation and honestly just to talk to a manager
Poor process/process made me I'll due to stress
On 5/10, I started the process. I'm not sure if the site was malfunctioning but it took me 9 hours to upload the requested documents. I was assured the house wasn't going anywhere since I was in the process. I work 3 jobs, looking for a property is alot.
The next day, they wanted two more months of bank statements from one of my banks but not the other. By the time it was requested, the banks was closed. The next day, 6/11/23 I was late for work by 2 hours. The housing person, with a VERY thick accent, called as I was arriving to work. My anxiety was on a million because I feared I'd lost my job. The housing representative for First Keys would stop talking eventhough I respectfully explained my situation. I apologize that I had to hang up (this was around 10:30 am on 5/11). The rep said he was sending the paperwork as soon as it was sent. It was sent no more than 10 minutes later. I emailed to let the person know, it was downloaded/sent. The person called immediately and stated, it was sent to underwriters. Around 12, this person called again and said they was about to send it. My heart dropped. I ask if the property was still available. I was told, "No, it was rented!" I almost fainted. My blood pressure went up causing me an instant headache.
At 8pm, I saw the house was still up for rent. I was able to request a showing. This house was still up for rent. I lost $110 and had to go home due to stress. Now I'm depressed!
Desired outcome: I want the discrimination to stop! I want my application fee back.
Charging me to paint the mailbox
I moved into the property on August 13, 2022. I received three Courtesy Notice letters from the HOA dated January 28, 2023, stating the driveway and sidewalks needed pressure washing, the mailbox needed repair and painting, and the dead grass in the front yard needed to be replaced. I forwarded the letters to FirstKey Homes through their system since I was never given contact information for my property manager.
I received an email on March 18, 2023, stating I was being charged for a maintenance request. But the email did not note what request I was being charged or the charge amount. I reponed to the email asking for more information. After days of no response, I called the toll-free number and spoke with someone who could not give me information about the charge; they did not have access to the data. He provided me with two email addresses for my property managers. I requested a phone number and was told they only had email addresses.
I sent emails to the email addresses and a copy of the March 18, 2023 email asking one of them to call me. Days later, I sent a second email requesting a call. Several days later, I called the toll-free number again and got a person in the billing department. This person could not tell me the reason for the charge but could see an amount of $150.00. They put in a request for someone to reach out to me ASAP. I was asked how I wanted to be contacted, and I requested a phone call and ensured they had my correct contact information.
I received an email from James Cummins on March 28, 2023, not the requested phone call. His email stated that I was responsible for maintaining the property's exterior and included an attachment with the billing for the mailbox painting. The mailbox paint was pealing when I moved into the property. I responed to Mr. Cummins email asking how I could be held responsible for painting the mailbox after living in the property for only four and half months. I received no response from Mr. Cummins.
Desired outcome: Refund of the monies charged
Being punished for paying my rent on time while allowing others to not pay rent and buying them out of their lease
Being punished for paying my rent on time while allowing others to not pay rent and buying them out of their lease. We have been trying to get in touch with FirstKey since the beginning of Dec. Due to covid related issues we can no longer afford our rent so we were looking to break out lease. We were told we would have to pay $2750 to break the lease. We don't have money to pay rent how do we have twice rent amount to break lease? Then he told us there were programs for people who had fallen behind on their called keys for cash, where first key would pay residents to get out of their lease and absolve them of all debt owed to the company. So my point of contention was why am I being punished for being upfront early so you can re-lease the house and not miss out on any money but people who did not pay their their rent, for the same reason i cannot pay mine, were bought out. I did also confirm that program is still on going where they pay people to leave their houses after falling months behind on rent. That is insane. I don't want to be bought out i just want to leave the house. The property manager, who only called himself JR, was incredibly rude and argumentative on the phone. I told him from the beginning i would work with them and find a solution, not completely necessary to walk around with no charges but I cant afford to pay 2 months rent upfront. I was instructed to call the salvation army. Not to mention the numerous issues we have had and reported that go unaddressed for months on end. Our garage floods with any rain and their idea to fix it was to extend the lip on the garage. The contractor recommended something else entirely different. We went without heat for 3 weeks because. Our stove did not work for a week. There is mold in the bathroom. The kitchen faucet was just replaced and just falls off for no reason. There was a leak in the kitchen sink that was "repaired" but really all he did was put a board over the rotted hole, which just rotted again and attracted gnats which they wouldn't do anything about. Light switches don't work, outlets don't work. This has been a nightmare renting from this company the the way people just genuinely don't care is mind boggling.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
We rented from Firstkey Homes (FKH) for a year. For the entire duration of the year we had consistent issues with accessing hot water. Our water heater was replaced 3 times in a year, by 6 different 3rd-party maintenance employees, never actually fixing the problem. We went weeks, then months, without access to hot showers in our rental. Though we followed protocol and opened maintenance requests, reached out to maintenance, CX, & our property manager, our issues were not taken seriously and were not handled with any amount of concern or urgency. Though I could go on and on about our troubles with FKH and their negligence, for the sake of this complaint I would like to address the following issue. We opened a maintenance request on 10/20/22 in our FKH renter portal stating that once again, that we were experiencing issues with our water heater and that the water in our shower was cold and never got warm, let alone hot. Our maintenance request was finally closed on 12/29/22, though the issue was still not solved. For over 2 months we were forced to take cold showers in our home, during some of the coldest months of the year. This is a clear violation of *** Tenant Laws and our lease agreement with FKH. Finally, it came time for us to pay our final month of rent. We reached out to our Property Manager, her counterparts and colleagues, anyone who's contact information we had, pleading for some kind of concession for enduring their negligence. We don't feel it is fair to have to pay full rent when FKH violated our lease agreement for over 2 months. Nobody who we reached out to could help us, if they even responded at all they'd pass us along. We finally were put in contact with the Director Of District Operations & emailed her explaining our situation on 1/4/23. She asked us to give her a call to discuss, and she has never responded to a single call or email we've sent since, of which there are many. FKH did not provide a habitable home, and they're ignoring us.
Around 1 month ago, two charges were added to our account for maintenance requests we had placed six months ago. We put in a maintenance request for a few things that were broken upon move in, and asked about how to turn on our sprinkler system. When the maintenance technician came, he fixed the few things that were broken, and offered to turn on our sprinkler system. The sprinkler system required climbing into the basement crawl space in order to turn on the water to it. Apparently, 6 months later, this cost $150 to do. At no time was anything communicated that it would cost us money to have this done. It was not something we would have even known how to do on our own without potentially damaging the property. Additionally, we were charged $150 for a maintenance request that was never actually completed three months later. We requested the company to do a sprinkler blowout. They accepted the request, but never showed up. We paid a separate company to do the blowout, and *** tried to charge us for the work that was never done. After these charges were incurred, we called our new property administrator (in which a change was never communicated to us) and posed our concerns about the charges. She claimed it needed to be paid, according to our lease, and upon reading the lease multiple times, we do not see where these charges should be incurred. We have sent multiple emails to her to try and work this issue out and have heard nothing back. Additionally, we were wrongly charged a late fee for not paying for these charges, even though we are trying to get more information about them and get them removed from the account.
I had an emergency water loss in my upstairs restroom caused by rusted out tank bolts in October 2022. The water soaked the sub-floor under the tile and the sheet rock ceiling underneath it. I made the Firstkey maintenance team aware of the situation immediately and that it was an emergency. It took a complete week to hear back from anyone. Because I did not hear back from anyone by day 3 and it was not handled in a timely manner I took care of the situation myself. I replaced the bolts and I dried the floor/ceiling out and repainted the affected ceiling. By the *** guidelines, If I would have waited, the loss would have changed from a CAT 1 water loss to a CAT 3 water loss (which is no different than a sewage loss). This would have meant that the tile and the sheetrock would have had to have been removed to treat the subfloor with an anti-microbial after it was dried and then replaced. I took this into account so that I could save Firstkey Homes money by not having to complete a rebuild. Im a great renter and dont deserve to be placed on the back burner for emergency losses or being compensated for repairs I handle due to lack of customer service. I have made *** and *** aware of the situation from the beginning. I was promised to have rent concessions handled before January 1 2023. I have repeatedly sent emails and called yet I get no communication back since mid December. In the state of Georgia it is well within my rights to withhold rent in the amount of the repairs but I have not done so. My rent is always paid on time.
My family and I rent from this company, we have paid our rent in payments, all of a sudden called one day to make a payment and was told pay in full or *** without giving any notices or anything, and they literally would not take payment it was either all or nothing, very stressful and disappointing as of course next in line is eviction , we literally have not tore up the property or nothing , when calling the office you can never speak with anybody other than the person who answered and says the balance must be paid in full, but when you go onto the app it gives you a announcement that now says no partial payments but say some exceptions may apply, with the way the economy is now it is heartbreaking that this company would rather see a family homeless from eviction than to allow them to pay there rent in payments throughout the month and just up and change the policy and not inform the residents, not like this review will actually matter as the company continues to reply with the same response and to look into the account.
Security deposit not refunded according to what website states, taking way too long
Security deposit not refunded according to what website states, taking way too long. We have been trying to apply to homes with First Key for 3 months, besides countless fees lack of prompt help and taking our deposit KNOWING a home on your website had an active violation preventing us from moving First Key has been a headache. I am writing to complain because 8 days ago I had it with First Key and their run around and requested my refund back, they tried telling me it was going to take 30 days when it states on their website it only takes 10 days, before you say something else it states it on your website and I'll even link you the exact page here: https://support.firstkeyhomes.com/hc/en-us/articles/XXXXXXXXXXXX-Housing-Choice-Voucher-Program-Section-8-Applicant-Eligibility-Guidelines- I spoke to the cooridnator Leslie *** as well as Ernesto *** and all they could say is they'll see if they can cut it down to two weeks. I got an email around Monday stating my request has been processed and that's it. No tracking number no nothing. It has been 7 days already approaching the 10 days stated to get our refund back and no tracking number in sight or notification from first key whatsoever, I doubt I am going to get it back in three days when no tracking has been issued. I need to move out now and need this money back ASAP before the end of the month and First Key has probably not even sent it. If this company requires people to make a deposit within 48 hours of getting a lease and we make it happen how can you NOT be able to issue me my deposit back within the same time frame? Expedited mail is a thing and a check can be drafted and sent overnight, *** I would even offer to PAY for the shiping yet you are going to tell me I have to wait an indefinite amount of time to get my deposit of $!800 back? That is absurd and shameful, all this company has done is wasted my time. I try calling now and nobody wants to respond to my request, you guys record your phone calls so you should know I have been on top of this, I spent over $400 in application fees and other administrative fees with you guys on top of wasting three months of the time I had to move out. Please get me my check expedited to my home ASAP, I cannot wait any longer.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Water has been seeping into my garage for months, first reported 10/12/2022. They had someone come out who installed a 2nd sump pump to my garage. Since that day the sump pump has been alarming 24 hours a day. I can only temporarily silence it. The pump is located in the same area as another pump so the circuits are all over plugged with these pumps. Their is still water coming up on the concrete and you can tell it is still wet and cracking. I have to keep putting in work orders but the management company keeps closing them out. I was told back in December that the vendor was going to come back out to fix the install. No one has come beside maintenance men who state they don't know much about it. They replaced the battery even though that's not the issue.
They are partnered with a fraudulent company called YES ENERGY MANAGEMENT who has been class action sued in 4 different states for excessive billing charges and fees with no meters. They refuse to address it and do not respond to emails, calls, or voicemail. I cannot upload copies because they block you from taking screen shots and do not provide actual bills from FPL or the
First Key Homes ("FKH") manages the property we live in: *** Monthly rent: $2500 12/24/22: We had cold weather over Xmas in the *** and woke up on this day to find water leaking profusely from the ceiling and pipes in the laundry room around our washing machine. I shut off the water to the whole house to avoid the whole downstairs flooding, and attempted to reach FKH "24/7 Emergency Support". The line was disconnected and after multiple attempts I had no choice for the sake of our home/belongings to call an Emergency plumber. I updated FKH via email, but received no response.12/25/22: Emergency plumber comes and bypasses the burst pipe which is in the attic, so that we are able to have water in the house. He takes photos of the pipe and explains that the section of pipe was not insulated causing it to burst. FKH failed to properly inspect the home prior to us moving into the home (July 2022). The emergency plumber schedules time on 12/29 to return with new pipe and complete repair.*** Emergency Plumbing cost: $607.57 (invoice forwarded to FKH)12/28/22: A property manager from FKH reaches out to me and informs me that they will move forward with repairs from this point and to cancel the 2nd visit from initial plumber who is due to visit the following day. It takes FKH an additional 10 days to complete the repair, during which time we are unable to wash clothes in the home. I enquire about re-imbursement for the cost of emergency plumbing, and am told "we will let you know".1/26/23: After no response to my request for reimbursement I am told that repair costs related to burst pipes will not be reimbursed, and in fact, all costs relating to these issues during the winter storm are being charged back to the residents because, "tenants should have ran their water overnight to prevent pipes from freezing."
I moved into a First Keys Homes rental property September 2022. Within 2 weeks I had over 6 maintenance orders. Two of the issues involved their electrical and plumbing. There were lights that constantly stayed on in the basement, and a running toilet. Maintenance corrected the issue in October. When I asked for a credit on my light and gas bill, after receiving and paying 2 statements on time, I was ignored by the property manager. I finally left her a message and said thanks for nothing. She called me back, immediately, and left a message stating there was nothing she could do as I had not been in the property long enough for my usage to be accurate. It is now January 2023. The home has never cooled or heated properly. Maintenance came yesterday and discovered the ducting was warped and that is the reason the house has NOT been heating and cooling properly...after he fixed the issue 8 hours later I was lucky enough to be able to turn the heat down. However, I also now have a backed up sewer line that clearly was an issue before as the plumber said the issue would have been caused well before my 4 months of living here... this is one of the worst rental companies I have ever rented from and I can't wait for this lease to expire so I can move. I won't dare email or call that property manager cause she's a waste of time.
I have been leasing a property from First Key Homes for 3 years
I have been leasing a property from First Key Homes for 3 years. They started out by forcing me to do a walk-thru 2 days prior to our move in date without any power on at the property. We were not able check if anything was functional. Within 4 months of living in the property the *** unit went out in the middle of August which left us sitting in 90 degree temps inside the property, it took them 8 months to actually get the system working properly after installed. Then the roof had to be replaced. In August *** the front yard, which took them 16 days to come fix which resulted in a very large water and sewage bill which they refused to help us with, I started calling and emailing FKH on 8/31/2022 and the water line was not replaced until 9/21/2022. They have also been trying to charge me for a yearly assessment bill that was sent directly to Cerebus/FKH from the county. This bill is a yearly storm water runoff assessment which the homeowner is responsible for. My husband and I spoke to the property manager upon receiving the first bill and she did her due diligence and removed the charge from the account when she found out that this was not a utility bill, if it had been a utility bill it would have been sent directly to my husband. All utilities for the property are under my husbands name along with the deposit to have utilities turned on to the property *** pickup is included in our monthly charges) we should not be responsible for paying their yearly assessments on their property especially since our lease clearly states that we are only responsible for utilities. The latest problem has been the garage door which has been inoperable since 12/08/2022 and still no call or response from FKH as to when they are going to repair. I have called everyday since 12/11/2022 and cannot get any one to call me back. We have been trying to reach property manager for over a year about the assessment charges with absolutely no response. I have now been forced to pay their assessment bill in order to pay my rent. After speaking to an attorney I was told that my contract with first key has been voided when they forced me to pay the additional charges, that are now claiming is rent. My rent amount is clearly stated on my lease and cannot be changed without all parties permission. They have clearly violated the terms of my lease and of course the property manager will not return any messages or emails. We at this time have no use of our garage and I can not get anyone to at the very least call us with any information.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I was trying to pay the balance for my rent and make a payment plan. In order to make the payment plan to pay the additional 30 percent I would also have to pay the following months rent in full even though my rent is not technically due until the 5th as stated in my lease. So they took the first payment of 70 percent of the balance and said they would revert that payment if the next months rent and 30 percent are not paid by the 31st. I have lived her for almost three years. They recently changed their policy to where you are no longer able to make partial payments but it says some exceptions may apply - but there are no exceptions. In *** my rent & utilities should not cost as much as they do in ***. We are all still experiencing the aftermath of Covid and are trying to stay in our homes. The way they are doing people is wrong.
Real estate agent gave us the lock box code and we walked the house and loved everything we saw except I saw mold on the living room ceiling. Asked real easte agent about that and he said not to worry that an inspector would do a walk through and make sure everything would be in order before move in. Amenities listed in house said steam shower which doesn't work and they won't fix, fireplace which was boarded up on our move in date, but not during walk through and after 3 months we decided to have a cook out and open all the blinds in the living room and the cords just broke, because the blinds were sun baked and brittle from the house being vacant for 2 years. Called a friend that owned a mold company and he confirmed it was black mold and aspergillus on the ceiling. Plumbing company said they were going to fix the steam shower, but then emailed me a month later saying they weren't allowed. When I put work orders in the techs never wear mask if they show up at all. I was charged $75.00 additional dollars, because they claimed a tech came to my house and nobody was here, but I have cameras to prove that was a lie. I've politely asked them to replace the blinds which is 20 windows and they tell me it's my problem. Even the tech when he came out walked over to a blind and barely bent it and it snapped off in his fingers. They have yet to address the leak in my garage from the main sewage pipe that my classic car is mere inches away from or the mold eating the downstairs bathroom. I pay $2875.00 a month and now they've said my rent will go up to $3195.00 which they've lost their minds. I've reached out to my attorney about the inept techs and the blind issue, because they aren't sticking that on me. First Key are nothing more than slumlords who once they've gotten you in a lease don't care about your issues and this was from the techs mouth. He showed me his iPad where it said please replace blinds for tenants, but he said they wouldn't allow him to replace them all.
I have been out a refrigerator for 2 weeks and cant get any resolution from property management or maintenance! They obviously dont see any signs of emergency! This is not the first time I have called with issues that are not deemed urgent! My garage door was opening and closing in the middle of the night, non emergency, someone used a key to open my door while I was at home, I can go on and on! I am asking for reimbursement on my groceries and ice that I am to continually buying daily!
We're renting a property from First Key Homes, however, their negligence and disregard for renters is appalling, when it comes to their ***, *** maintenance team. We had our heat out for almost a week and the only way to get them to respond was to continuously call the maintenance call center to have them escalate the ticket again and again. We finally resorted to calling their local applications department and another local number that we had. *** (applications department) was amazing and got ahold of someone and escalated the issue again and finally we received a call back. When you call the office number you would be directed to a call center and those poor people have no control over whether the onsite maintenance team actually does their jobs. It's a joke and thankfully the weather wasn't colder than *** degrees at night and it rose into the 60s and we were able to all bundle up with multiple layers to keep warm.
BEWARE! FirstKey has Bad Business practices as it relates to their lack of follow through and resolution of raised concerns
BEWARE! FirstKey has Bad Business practices as it relates to their lack of follow through and resolution of raised concerns. I m reaching out today regarding policy and practices however I have had multiple maintenance issues as well that were not resolved adequately and has left a negative customer experience for us. I can share those in detail and have record if requested I can share.. Back in January this year I brought it to FirstKeys attention that our vehicles were being towed and we had not received any prior notification or warning related to what the rules were or why we were being towed. It happened multiple times and when contacting FirstKey they stated they did not see any violations so this shouldn't happen and then proceeded to give me a # to call the HOA reps. When I contacted the HOA reps they told me that the will not speak to me that they speak to the landlord and that there are restrictions and they then proceeded to email Firstkey and told them they do not speak with me and that Firstkey should cover the towing expenses since they did not disclose this to me before it happened or even when I asked. I waited and waited and had to send several follow up communications related to the matter and finally came to the conclusion that I was left with no choice but to escalate the issue. I stated either 1 or 2 things were happening. We were being targeted and picked on or FirstKey is not communicating adequate information. This is unacceptable especially since I have requested repeatedly to have this matter looked into on my behalf since I can not speak to the HOA team directly. My last email on Feb 4th (see attached) I requested that they intervene on my behalf to get this issue resolved. I am now up to $800 of out of pocket expenses. All of this happening during a pandemic no one can afford unnecessary charges.They would not like it and would come after me full force if the rent was late however when the resident 'victim' has a concern they are not willing to step up on their behalf to get the issue resolved.. We just get to get stepped on and mistreated with no negative impact to them. Ignoring the resident is not the ethical or humane thing to do! I would not recommend First Key based on their business practices. It is unfortunate but since my last email on Feb 4th no one has bothered to follow up with me regarding next steps. They have simply brushed my concerns under the rug and left me high and dry and out of a substantial amount of money that I could have used to feed my children or make sure rent is paid! I can't say it enough! This is BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
First Key Homes cares only about their bottom line. I live across the street from a residential home in ***, ***. The neighborhood used to be well kept and people cared about maintaining their homes. First Key Homes came in and started buying up homes in ***, *** and the Phoenix, *** metropolitan area. Since then, the house across the street from me is in COMPLETE disrepair. The paint is faded, streaks on the exterior walls, landscaping is completely overgrown, shrubs are taller than trees, cars parked on the front lawn and on the street--a complete eyesore causing my property value to plummet. Who would want to live across the street from that trash pile. Contact to First Key Homes goes completely unheeded.
First key homes changed payment policy without notice. I am behind on my rent due to *** had not been working. I am trying to pay my October balance and emergency rental assistance agency will cover the balance. The only way they will pay the balance is if I show I paid and first key wont allow me to make any payment below 70% due to payment policy change without notice. I am single mother and trying to get my past due rent paid in full but now that Im able they wont allow me.
FirstKey Homes is pursuing me and has decimated my credit score over a due amount I do not believe I should be liable for. I previously lived in a residence of theirs (I was on the lease but was not the head, nor was I aware of the failed payments at the time) with my mother, whom I no longer am in contact with. She had neglected to pay her agreed share of the monthly rent through her online Firstkey account - Each resident had a payment account under their own name, myself included, via which I had paid my portion each month, on time. - if records are pulled, they should be able to see these payments in my name. I am 21, trying my hardest to keep myself up on two feet, and was soon to move to a new area which is no longer feasible due to the extreme detriment this caused to my credit score. I feel it is incredibly unjust and wrong to penalize me over anothers wrongdoing, merely for my association with them. I will gladly pursue legal action against FirstKey Homes or the occupant to blame if necessary. I have filed disputes with the credit agencies involved regarding this as well.
Just moved in to a rental through them. We pay a good amount of money to rent here too. Unfortunately the experience has been absolutely horrendous. The blinds are all broken about 15 or more. The recyclable bin is filled to the top with regular disgusting smelling trash (which I was told oh well, your problem). I sent an email the week I moved in with our move in photos of all the areas we have concerns with and what needs to be fixed. This is a nice neighborhood and a very nice home, I dont understand why they will not come and fix any of these issues. They claim as is okay but really? I mean the blinds are a main part of a home. So now I have to spend my own money to replace these?!?! Makes zero sense! Does this mean Im responsible for them when I l move out?I will be locating the actual property owner off the property appraiser site to make sure theyre aware of the situation at hand. All I see is a lazy company trying to profit off of a new renter. My biggest concern now is if this is how the beginning of move in is going, how is the process going to be when I move out? Im scared, really scared of the money they may come after me for.
Demanded moving out fee $1,800.52 during the covid-19 KNOWING I had a child that had and illness and that's why I moved in the first place
Demanded moving out fee $1,800.52 during the covid-19 KNOWING I had a child that had and illness and that's why I moved in the first place. When I first moved into my home in Kannapolis, NC I was pregnant.. a couple months into the move door knobs began to fall off and there were black little spiders EVERYWHERE. Also not to mention when I was getting closer to my due date August 18th my air conditioning unit blew. They sent someone out and he even told me out his own mouth it wasn't installed properly. I called my headquarters after giving birth and spoke to a woman named Tracie Buckley and asked to speak to a corporate office where she told me that she will give me the number but they are going to send me right back to her. Then I let them know I was moving because my baby was born with an illness and they didn't care not ONE BIT. I also told them I could pay my balance in installments and they told me NOPE all up front or nothing. Every time i emailed someone from this office or called they never answered unless I called multiple times. In the end results they sent me an RIDICULOUS bill with the amount of 3,000.00 dollars ! Telling me that's everything I owe unless it will go on my credit and I will have to pay court fees. Fast forward my mother and her attorney spoke to them and they lower the bill to $1,800.00 ! HOW DOES IT GO FROM 3,000.00 TO 1,800.00 ! Also when I asked why the balance they told me I had to lay new mulch , clean the roof (branches and sticks) , the walls had to be painted etc. Some of those things are wear and tear AND I KNOW THAT. Also how is a pregnant women climbing on the roof to clean sticks and branches ? Their is no trees hanging over that home. I left it just how they gave it to me! They never came to pick up their for rent sign I had to store it. I had to hire an exterminator , I don't understand how I'm responsible for all this when I was just renting. Now during this Covid-19 they tell me I have to pay this $1,892.00 mind you I am a SINGLE mother , taking my child back and forth to the doctors for an ultra sound and to get blood taken weekly! I already have those bills to pay and now I have to pay that so they don't ruin my credit in this whole pandemic. I have the email of me saying Friday 04/24 I can make the payment and they women told me nope she's not waiting that long she's sending me to collections if its not done on 04/21. I scrapped and took my stimulus check and some money from my mom to pay this bill. Instead of using that towards my child that is sickly. This whole company is a scam because they do what they want and how they want. Not caring about anyone but themselves while people are struggling. Hopefully these homes they rent out are in BETTER conditions for other people that rent it out and everything isn't breaking every 5 seconds.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I was misled about a property advertisement availability in order to be mislead into applying for the properties less desirable areas of Memphis
I was misled about a property advertisement availability in order to be mislead into applying for the properties less desirable areas of Memphis. On March 16 I applied for a home that was advertised as available. I was notified via email on March 18 by a leasing coordinator that my application was submitted for review and please allow 7-10 business days to get an update. On March 24th I was connected to a local leasing agent by the name of Teresa. She told me that I was approved and then tells that the home I applied for unavailable and off the market. Teresa then goes on to tell me that the house had a house fire. I then mentioned to her that there has to be some sort of mistake because the home is still listed and being advertised as available. She went on to tell me that she can't tell me or have no date as to when the home will become back available. She next then asks me do I see anything else I'd be interested in. In disbelief I told her that I wasn't prepared to choose another home because I wanted that home. Then I mentioned to her I will look over the website again and call her back. On March 25 I called Teresa back to tell her that I was interested in another house. Once I gave her the listing address she tells me that this home is unavailable due to water damage. After that she says that she doesn't know when it will become available. Then she said she don't know if would ever become available because it will probably get sold. I told her that the home is still being advertised and available as for rent. She mentioned to me that she would find out by a manager the if they would get contractors out to fix the water damage. She never call me back to follow up on the second home I was interested in renting. The same day I called the the property management corporate contact number and spoke with the customer agents they have answering there calls. The agent told me that the first property I applied for was still available, I then tell the rep that the local leasing agent Teresa said it was in a house fire. The customer service agent said that he would have the local leasing agent Teresa to call me back. Of course she didn't call me back. So on March 26, I attempted to call corporate back to do a complaint internally only to get another customer service rep that was not part administration. I expressed my experience with the agent about the way I was being treated concerning renting a home with them in a particular neighborhood or certain area in Memphis. This discredited me and denied my claims and hung up on me. I called back to speak with another agent who then takes my information about the issue. This rep claimed that she would have the local management to call me back about my concerns. It didn't happen. So now that I complained and tried to reach someone to get my application fee refunded/or a resolution Teresa the local leasing agent will not answer my calls now. She is the only person they have in place in Memphis, TN to speak with me about my application.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Botched application process, home applied for not actually available and zero communication Myself and my significant other are currently out of
Botched application process, home applied for not actually available and zero communication Myself and my significant other are currently out of state trying to rent a home for our move to the area. We contacted FirstKey about a house we were interested in on 2/10. We were informed it was available and that there were no other applicants by the leasing agent (Tammy ***). We moved forward with our application process, including the $100 fee. Two days later (2/12) we called just to make sure they received all of the necessary documentation from us and that everything was going according to plan. They said everything was fine, that they were waiting on the underwriter and that as soon as the application gets approved (there should be no reason it isn't) we'll have the home since we were the first applicants and we should hear something on 2/15. 2/15: We hadn't heard anything and are nervous and excited for the home so we call and do a check in. We left a message with the leasing agent and then sat on hold for 45 minutes for a customer service agent. They said "everything looks good, you'll definitely hear something tomorrow" 2/16 (tomorrow). No call from the leasing agent or anyone else. We call back in (honestly just out of excitement) and leave a voicemail with the agent and sit and wait for a CSR. We were then told to wait until tomorrow. We asked to get put on a call back list from a Supervisor and the leasing agent again. 2/17(tomorrow/today). No call. We call back in first direct to the agent leaving a voicemail and holding again for a CSR, a little less because of excitement this time and more out of worry. We were told this time that "I don't know why you were told any of that, we're just now sending it to the underwriter and you should hear back on Friday (2/19). We ask for another Supervisor call, another call from the agent, and get off the phone. We call back a few hours later. THIS TIME we are told that our application had been processed, that we were approved, but that house had been rented and is no longer available. She didn't know why we would have been told there were no other applicants. The ONLY reason we moved forward with the application is because we were specifically told it was available, with no applicants, and that we met the qualifications and that it was basically just a waiting game with the underwriter and we would be good to go. To sum up: 3 voicemails with the leasing agent, two requests via CSR, 2 supervisor call back requests: NOT A SINGLE PHONE CALL. 4 different stories regarding the application/rental, with an application fee paid for a house that is not available. The solution suggested to me was that we just move the application over to another home. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I'm requesting a refund of our application fee. That's all. Either our application was not sent in when we submitted it, the house was never available to begin with, or we were lied to about there being no other applicants. Either way, I don't think a refund to unreasonable. Looking forward to your response.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
This company is unprofessional, doesnt communicate, and doesn't provide tenants with genuine and real information
This company is unprofessional, doesnt communicate, and doesn't provide tenants with genuine and real information. I moved in Aug 28 and have been attempting to reach the property manager Marquita *** since Aug29 via email, never received a response. I reached out September 3rd via email and phone call, never received a response either. I have left numerous voicemails for Ms. between August 29th to September 23rd. When first moving in there were nats, roaches, and roach eggs in my refrigerator and frozen in the freezer. I continuously called Ms. trying to get a new refrigerator and was unsuccessful reaching her. Talking with Shoy, after 2 weeks of living in the home I received a new refrigerator, which didn't allow me to grocery shop and properly store my food in the refrigerator or freezer during that time. This caused me to have to spend unnecessary money after being told that my property manager would get the refrigerator replaced within the first week.My pregnant girlfriend moved down and has attempted getting on the lease since September 4th (she has also paid the application fee), we were told by Shoy *** that Ms. would handle it and we would receive more information. I never heard anything. I was also told that the application process takes 72 hours, it has almost been a month since Giavonni has submitted her application. I've had numerous issues with the home maintenance and attempted to get in contact with Ms.,and I am constantly told that someone from Firstkey Homes has sent her an electronic message to get back to me, and she never does. On Sept5 maintenance "fixed" my door and left a gap open at the bottom of the door, during this time a lizard got into the home, water bugs, and we had seen a black garden snake outside the door and we sprayed it with ammonia. The Resident Services lady told us we would have to wait for Sept 8 before anyone could close the gap and to put a towel under the front door to try to block anything. On September 23rd, the power and gas was turned off on the property that I live in at 11:33am. Only this property had the outage. I attempted to call Ms. again and received no response. I contacted another representative that said she was going to contact the utility companies and that Ms. would give me a call back. Ms., nor anyone else returned my call, I called back multiple times and was told by someone in the maintenance department that they sent an electronic message and to give Ms. 1 hour to return my call. I never received a returned call but by 4pm that day everything was back on. Now again my power and gas is off as of Oct2 and a rep name Sheila told me that YES management would be sending me the utility bill on the 20th and the best thing for me to do is wait. I have a pregnant woman in the home at the moment and a 6 year old child, I can't wait 18 days for the gas and power to be turned back on. YES management has also said FKH has not sent them any information for me living in this home, so there is no statement for them to send me. I'm getting the run around with every FKH rep, and can't receive any real solution to my problems living in this home for only 30 days.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
About FirstKey Homes
FirstKey Homes offers a vast selection of homes to fit a variety of lifestyles and preferences. From spacious single-family homes to stylish townhouses and comfortable apartments, they have something for everyone. All of their homes are equipped with modern amenities and appliances, as well as well-maintained outdoor spaces.
The company's team of experienced property managers and maintenance professionals ensures that each home is kept in excellent condition. They are available 24/7 to respond to any issue or repair needs, making it easy for renters to enjoy their homes without worrying about maintenance or upkeep.
FirstKey Homes also offers a user-friendly online platform that simplifies the rental process for their clients. Prospective renters can browse through their listings and apply for a property directly online. The platform also allows current tenants to pay rent, submit maintenance requests, and communicate with their property managers.
In summary, FirstKey Homes is a reliable and reputable rental home management company that offers high-quality rental homes and excellent customer service. They prioritize their clients' needs and make renting homes a hassle-free experience.
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Overview of FirstKey Homes complaint handling
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FirstKey Homes Contacts
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FirstKey Homes phone numbers+1 (770) 726-0204+1 (770) 726-0204Click up if you have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (770) 726-0204 phone number 2 2 users reported that they have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (770) 726-0204 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (770) 726-0204 phone number 15 15 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (770) 726-0204 phone number+1 (214) 919-8165+1 (214) 919-8165Click up if you have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (214) 919-8165 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (214) 919-8165 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (214) 919-8165 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (214) 919-8165 phone numberListing Agent+1 (713) 904-1706+1 (713) 904-1706Click up if you have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (713) 904-1706 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (713) 904-1706 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (713) 904-1706 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached FirstKey Homes by calling +1 (713) 904-1706 phone numberListing Agent
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FirstKey Homes emailsinfo@firstkeyhomes.com79%Confidence score: 79%Support
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FirstKey Homes address1850 Parkway Pl SE STE 900, Marietta, Georgia, 30067-8261, United States
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Checked and verified by Stan This contact information is personally checked and verified by the ComplaintsBoard representative. Learn moreOct 29, 2024
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