Ben Higginson, Michael Wolf, Herrick Property Management Over charging rental deposit not considering wear and tear. Salt Lake City Utah

When moving in Ben Higginson and his wife Kaycee Stroh were a delight. For this reason I did things around the house out of courtesy and my own pocket. Kaycee was always a nice and understanding throughout I don't think she influenced this.

I fixed the back/alley door all three front fence gates that were in bad shape and cracked, fixed the side fence and replace bricks to sturdy it, I did repairs to the bathroom piping shut offs and floats, fix lighting in garage, had to try and maintain the pool for a couple of months that got horrible when a "miscommunication" happened that caused it a dark green with even worms growing. I overlooked most of this because again, the seemed like very nice people.

After about a year a pushy realtor (Not Ben's friend) basically pushed himself in the home to show it to potential buyers around, my girlfriend was home not me. This is how we found out the home was up for sale. After calling Ben he confirmed the house was on the market but we were not given our 30 days yet. We started to look for another place while juggling moving and working with his realtor friend Michael Wolf.

Michael Wolf of Wolff Financial Services was a nightmare. He, while polite gave us a very difficult time. He would often state he would show up and show the house whether we were home or not. I spoke to both of them about my concern with our two small dogs one still a puppy not listening or running out to the street our property and privacy. He was so pushy we showed the property numerous times during the week and sometimes both weekends basically being stuck at home, sometimes pushing the meet numerous times or canceling after waiting for hours. Michael would go from an understanding person to a rude pushy person unpredictably. I was very close to changing the locks from fear of our property and our pets.

When almost out, I had a contact with steam cleaning for the carpet but was told not to hire him. Ben worked in the past at a carpet cleaning that uses a special alkaline water and no soap. The house was not filthy but a little dirty in the garage and the carpet or course. Luckily my pet deposit "covered this". Some deductions were although high, fair. He first charged us $400 for custom curtains that shrank. $310 dollars for patio furniture that was very worn and old, probably because his friend saw us use it as a barricade for the dogs when showing the property. A living room mark on the ceiling from the Christmas tree about three inches cost $150 and a small wall I didn't paint back to yellow from a green I painted cost $100.

When I stated I didn't think it was fair to take $1225 from my deposit he said that why he dealt with a "third party". They told him he was "justify not paying the deposit" a full $2200, but because I was never late on the rent he had it itemized breakdown then "literally cut most of their prices in half".  He later stated he had spent $800 dollars, later changed to "over $1000" because "my tenants" broke off the hinges. An oven that we used less than five time total and working when we left. I did fully get out half a day late (uncharged) but never did a walkthrough that he was trying to set up.

My biggest fear was getting charged for his "new" central air that never work for more than 15 minutes. It would cool and heat from short times they blow same outside temp air in. I stated this immediately and was never looked into. Its possible it was too small for the home but the new homeowner will find that out for sure.