If I could give a business zero stars, I would only reserve that honor for companies that have treated me as poorly as Old Towne Golden Realty has over the past 3 years. As a student, there were not many options for living arrangements in Golden. So, I ended up staying in a house managed by the company. Initially they just had a poor habit of keeping up with general maintenance of houses. If you are an owner, be wary of this. The house I lived in was supposed to receive landscaping every week and have sprinklers turned on/off during transitionary times. The summer that the house received the most care, landscapers came once a month, and that was just because I called to complain. After that summer, Old Towne did not send landscapers, which were guaranteed in the lease, unless it was requested by our house.
Aside from the poor communication with their landscaping service, they also have poor communication with tenants and inconsistent application of lease guidelines. A girl in the house I lived in decided to move out in April of one year even though our lease terminates July 31. The lease directly stated that an early termination would require fees and rent until a new resident was found. Instead of following the lease guidelines, Olde Towne communicated to this girl that she did not owe rent for the remainder of the lease term, or even for the months before we found someone to fill her room. However, they did not lower our total rent after they told her she didn't have to pay. So, the remaining house members had to pay her rent. On top of this, they returned her a portion of the security deposit, which according to the lease, should have been forgone.
In addition to poor communication with their tenants and landscaping services, they also have poor communication amongst their inhouse staff. The house I lived in had sewage and trash paid for according to the lease, which I am assuming, perhaps incorrectly after the rent debacle, that they have a copy of. In April of this yea, my house received a bill for over 200 dollars of unpaid sewage and trash bills. We called and emailed the company. I talked to one member of the staff and communicated that we did not pay either of these things. Then a month later we got another bill for the same amount plus a late fee. I called, again. And talked to a member of the staff, again, to tell them that we weren't responsible for these amenities. Then a week later, I received a call from a different staff member (I think there's only 3 of them?) saying we needed to pay the bill. After this call it was all settled, they had just not realized that they were responsible for the water and trash bills for the entire first half of 2018, even though they're a property management company.
In addition to their communication issues with all of the previously mentioned groups, they also are rude to prospective tenants. I have a group of friends that, even after I told them to avoid Olde Towne at all costs, applied to rent a house. They received a very rude phone call from an employee saying as a company, they didn't want to rent to students anymore because they lack maturity. So, I say to students, do NOT rent from Olde Towne because they lack any ability to run a professional business.
After finally finding another house and leaving Olde Towne's grasp, we got the carpets professionally cleaned by Stanley Steamer, because the lease requires it. When we got the invoice for our deposit, they took money out to have the carpets cleaned again because "the carpets weren't satisfactory enough". I don't know how I could have expected anything less from them. read more
