This property management company is not one to use if you are renter. The property that we rented from this company was a complete shit hole before we moved in. I contacted them after seeing photos on Zillow of the property. We were moving from another state, so we had a family member go view the property before accepting the lease. The photos on Zillow were upwards of 5 years old and 100% not what the current property looked like. After finally viewing it ourselves, it was a mess. Kids drawing on the walls, several fish tanks and bird cages were kept in the house, so the smell was wretched, broken blinds, broken screens, shit landscape, the entire house was disgustingly filthy... after several conversations with San Terra, and us being in quite a bind on needing a house, we decided to accept the lease with the promises of them completely fixing up the house. We had our family member do several walk throughs throughout the process to ensure that the house would be in living conditions for us. When we moved in, the house was much better, but there were still several things that were 'jancky' with it. The property management had to do so much to fix up that house, which I appreciated, but they also cut several corners. I am a single mom with 2 kids and the things that were wrong with the house were not concern enough for me to be picky about, so I never mentioned them. Plus I figured since things were the way they were when I moved in, it would be fine. Examples; missing screens on windows. Run down (taped shelves and glued door handle), but still working fridge that would not be replaced by the company so I just dealt with it, dryer that had a broken knob but again still worked and wouldn't be replaced by company so I just dealt with it, disgusting splatter marks all over the ceilings in several rooms, linoleum that was lifting and still had a funky smell, broken blinds.
After moving in I had the floors professionally cleaned myself to try and rid of the smell that the house had. I also replaced the thermostat in the house(which I left) because the one they had didn't work properly. I also replaced the broken doorbell. I had a disgusting second fridge that was left outside removed from the property, and with the management company's approval, I had a broken washer removed and I bought my own. I again cleaned the house from top to bottom to fix the left over filth that was left behind.
During our time renting the house we experienced a slab leak on Christmas Day. I immediately called the emergency plumbing company which came out and told me I had to turn off my hot water. I was able to contact San Terra the following day and tell them about what happened. It ended up taking them an entire week to fix the problem. That's an entire week that we lived with no hot water. Their response to dealing with problems with the property are poor. I also had a sink issue that I ended up hiring someone myself and having them reimburse me for because it just took them forever to fix anything.
Upon move out we were charged for things that we should have not been. The missing screens that I mentioned were never there, we were charged for. Apparently there are photos of the house with the screens, but when asked to show me these photos and a time stamp of when they were taken, it never happened. They say the house was dirty because there were some footprints on the linoleum, so we were charged a cleaning fee. I was charged to fix the broken handle on the fridge that was glued on when rented the place. I was charged for lightbulbs that were never working in the first place. I was also charged for paint. When I tried to paint the house myself before move out but the paint that was left that I was told to use was bad because it had not been properly stored and turned the walls pink. (Which I immediately told the company about when i tried painting) So somehow that is now my fault and I was charged for painting.
I am an extremely cleanly person and left that house in better condition then when I moved in. It's sad to feel taken advantage of, especially when you try your hardest to be a good tenant and not complain too much.
The company never did an initial or final walk through with me, but they say there are pictures of the house before we moved in, but won't show them to me. I would highly suggest not renting from this company. And if you do, take very very good pictures and documentations of the property prior to move in to avoid being screwed out of money. read more