Liberty Property Management; Curtiss Property Management, Brandon Curtiss Kept Rent and Security Deposits MERIDIAN Idaho

I am writing you to share my story with my former property manager, Brandon Curtiss of  (Curtiss Property Management, Liberty Property Management). Before I begin, I would like to share with you some information about myself. I am active duty Air Force and been in the service for almost 10 years. I was stationed in Idaho for over 6 years at Mountain Home AFB. In the fall of 2014 I received orders to leave for South Korea for a remote tour for 1 year. I was excited but stressed out at the time because I am a first time home buyer. I love my house in Nampa Idaho and wanted to ensure I hired a great Property Manager before I left. I found Brandon Curtiss through Angies List and also looked up his company "Curtiss Property Management". We spoke on the phone and he also came by my house to look at it/talk about how much I can get for rent. I remember meeting him and being thoroughly impressed with his business, his career in law enforcement, and especially how he screens potential clients. He assured me that he would not have anyone live in my house that had a criminal background because he does through checks. Also, with my dad in law enforcement and Brandon in law enforcement I felt he was the one to hire. I gave him $200 dollars for my property reserve funds immediately and moved out of my house in October. He found tenants and had them moved in December 2014. Brandon collected the security deposit and also nonrefundable pet deposit that totaled $1,250.00 from the new tenants.

I left for Korea in January 2015 and everything seemed to work out pretty smoothly during the initial few months. However, communication was starting to lack a few months after getting to South Korea. For instance I wasn't getting paid on time and would write an email to Brandon and the company email. I would wait days and sometimes a full week or more before I heard a response. I kept telling myself that I can't compare civilian email correspondence to the military...typically in the military one would go no more than 48 hrs to respond to someone. I would also try calling but with the time zone difference it was hard to get a hold of anyone/they wouldn't be in the office. When they did responded which was Brandon because he handled the money, he would give me the run around and say: I already paid the account or the best one is that he claimed my bank is a government bank. I primarily bank with USAA which is a bank that is specialized for military members but it's a normal bank just like US Bank or Wells Fargo it is federally endorsed. So after not getting paid sometimes for a full month! I told Brandon since he was having "issues" with USAA that I have another Bank that he can easily deposit the money into, which was US Bank. He deposited the money in there twice by actually walking in and depositing with a counter slip instead of doing the electronic pay account that he goes through. By that point I just had enough of the lack of communication, not getting paid on time, and also the rudeness and bullying he displayed to me. I came home for my midtour "vacation" in September 2015 and decided to fire Curtiss Property Management which is now Liberty Property Management. They changed their name around September/October 2015.

I gave him my 30 day notice to fire Brandon/Curtiss Property Management/Liberty Property Management. I then hired my real estate agent who sold me the house and is now my new Property Manager. I left to go back to South Korea at the beginning of October to finish my yearlong remote tour. During that time Rex and I were still having a hard time communicating with Brandon to get all the stuff turned over to us pertaining to my rental property. They were so horrible when it came down to writing an email back. I remember Rex finally telling me he went to the office and received everything for the house except for the security deposit, property reserve, pet deposit. The secretary told Rex that Brandon's Lawyer was going to contact us. When Rex told me that information I was confused and wondering okay why would he involve his lawyer. A week or so passed and I still wasn't paid for my October funds which should have been paid out to me per the contract on the 10-15th of the month but no later than the 20th. Please keep in mind that I was always getting paid towards the end of the month. I emailed Brandon and asked him about my October Rent Funds, Security, Pet Deposit and property reserve. He once again was rude and bullying me around stating that Rex was not to be involved and that I need to do X, Y, and Z to call the utility companies to get their company name off the contract. I felt so frustrated especially bc I gave him my notice and he nor his secretary told me I needed to do that! So I went ahead and stayed up late in Korea to call all the utility companies as they first opened up. I fulfilled all his obligations and then he wrote me in a very nice way and said thank you that is what he needed. He will pay me next week since he was on vacation. So I figured okay good we are in the clear! Boy was I wrong! I kept waiting for the money to show up in my account it never did. I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was the holidays with Thanksgiving and was lenient thinking he was busy.

The first of December I wrote him to get an update and so did Rex. Once again he was rude to Rex and told him it didn't involve him eventhough I obtained a special power of attorney for Rex to represent my interest with my rental property. Brandon gave me the run around stating that he will not release the deposits to me because the tenants never signed the release form. When in actuality they did sign the form and gave a copy to Rex. Rex emailed me and also Brandon with the form. From there Brandon even got more hostile with both Rex and I and threatened to take me to court! He threatened me so many times for me just asking politely where is my October Funds $1,058, Security plus pet deposit $1,250.00 and property reserve at $200. He also told me that Idaho law states I need to have a separate account just for the deposits he will give me. He is not allowed to just deposit the account into my checking account. Also, he said he paid my October Funds but that too was also a lie because neither account "USAA or US Bank" had money deposited in them. After that I just had enough of all the games, especially being stationed in Korea with no options for help. I filed a small claims case against him towards the end of December to get my money back.

I do not recommend this company or dealing with Brandon Curtiss! Stay away from him, especially if you are in the military! It has been nothing but late rent payments, late email responses, and hard earned money taken away from me while serving the country I love! I have never dealt with someone like him before and I'm honestly appalled that he can get away with what he is doing. Especially to any military member who is active duty or guard.