American Realty Slum LORDS - refuses to fix repairs for months on end! Pensacola Florida

My name is Michelle Setele and my husband is Thomas. We are a military family stationed here in Pensacola. We came to Pensacola in August 08' on house hunting leave. We viewed house after house and on our last day saw a sign on Turnbuckle Trail. for a house for rent. We looked at it that day- the co owner of American Realty, Ray McKnight came out and showed us a house in semi- rough shape. The outside was brick, but had the green moss beginning to cover the bottom brick and clouding up the windows.

Upon entering we stepped onto loose ceramic tile. The walls had not been cleaned or painted and the floor was filthy. He said the previous tenant had just moved out so they had not had time to come in and work yet. So we viewed the 2200sq ft home with an open mind that the common renter "boo boo's", if you will, would be fixed. Ray said that he would have someone in here to do the work before we moved in (which was tentatively Oct.) That gave them well over a month to complete the repairs and have the house in clean rent-able order. Ray knew that we were military and would not be able to stop back to verify the work was being done prior to moving in. We signed a full year lease and gave them a deposit of $1,250 and he sent the contract saying it would be ready.

Upon moving in, it was clear that they had done NOTHING- they hired a carpet cleaning company that did a half you know what job... there was a black scum ring around the edges of all the carpet. They hadn't touched the tile, cleaned the exterior, fixed the whole in the closet door, fixed the crack in the door frames that showed exposed metal or change the filter on the furnace. Upon further inspection we noted a broken cabinet drawer, a leaking faucet, a cracked toilet seat that was taped together with low grade medical tape... an no I mean no surface was clean. They did NOT touch the house. They didn't fix any holes in the walls from prior tenant, or paint, or even follow the state guidelines and clean the common areas.

We filled in TWO full walk-in sheet with problems sighting from leaks to unsightly stains that appeared to be mold. We took picture and sent them copies and tried to fix what we could because we have three children and saved the receipts... They refused to call us back or to acknowledge the property's problems. They agreed that anything we fixed to save the receipts, but upon turning them over we were denied retribution.

The house fell into further disarray. The fridge began to leak leaving large puddles pouring out the front and side. Fearing electrical and drain problems we promptly called them and called them after a month they sent someone! But he didn't fix the leaking fridge- we developed a dripping faucet that became so bad we had to shut the cold water off to our kitchen sink... and the leak around the toilet in the guest bathroom was now so bad that you had a horrible smell... constant calls were ignored and they refused to call back. Emails and emails we finally sent a registered letter saying we have had enough! What else could we do but leave... I had already spent $300 plus on this gentleman's house and I wasn't spending a dime more!!!!!

Some please help I have spent the last four years without my husband- he's been out to sea serving his country and just wants to be able to come home and relax for a change! I can't take it! What can we do? They are refusing to give us our security deposit back and haven't sent a repair man to fix anything other than the fridge for FIVE months... our list of problems and concerns for the well being of the property was ignored. Can anyone please help us?

Thanks for reading this,
Michelle S

Angrymom
Pensacola, Florida
U.S.A.