Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/07/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am contacting you due documented abuse of power by my rental company. I have been having excessive inspections, as many as 6 in 1 year, and unprofessional contact by people representing this /company. nonautomated text on weekends while business is closed. My privacy is being invaded and I am being harassed. The director of property management for this company, I was informed that I am only supposed to have 1 inspection a year. They are sending people to property taking pictures with their personal phones of my personal belongings inside our residence. When I asked about previous photos taken, they said they have no record of them. I did not consent for pictures to be taken of my personal belongings and made sure that they were informed every time they came out. This is also not in my lease.
  My child found a man in the kitchen. He was not scheduled to be here and the company claimed not to have knowledge of him being at the residence. He entered with a key without notice. I also have a picture of someone coming out air conditioner. When the work was complete one of 4 of the guys that came out laid down on the back porch while holding a personal conversation with another guy as if they were guest. I had already locked the door but it it’s possible that they had a key and could have entered at any time. I felt very uncomfortable. I have pictures of this incident. They also falsely stated I wouldn't allow inspections to the owner who according to them, decided not to renew my lease for this reason along with wanted to get into the home to do some work to it, after asking me if i wanted to renew and being told yes. They have listed the property for rent and now they are parading strangers in the property while my children and I still live here even though there are 81 pictures online of the inside and outside of the home with and without furniture. This is directly impacting the safety, privacy and peaceful enjoyment of the property during our tenancy.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2025

  Rocktown Realty, per your lease agreement has every right to inspect your property as needed.  We have notified you of inspections that you have denied us entry numerous times.  We did two inspections in 2024 and in one of those you would not allow our agent to take photos.  Per the lease, we do have the right to inspect as we deem necessary.  We are allowed to take photos and do provide you proper notice prior to these inspections.  We did serve you a non-renewal at the request of the owner of the property.  We now have the right per the lease to show your property to prospective tenants with proper notice to you. I have spoken with you on the phone to try, by email and text to see if there are better times for you that we show and you refuse to let our licensed agent in to show the property.  We had one maintenance request made by you in 2024 which was taken care of by our licensed and insured maintenance company.  We also gave you notice that by law we need to come in to perform compliance once per year.  We need to check the smoke detectors to make sure they are working and also check that the fire extinguisher is full.  We give all properties notice of this and a licensed and insured company comes out to perform.  I have spoken to you on the phone and by email to try and explain the landlords rights per the lease but you insist that we have no right to enter to show your property or inspect throughout the year.  This is incorrect and I have sent you the lease agreement to show you we do have the right to enter with notice.  I have also explained that you can be held liable for damages by not allowing us to show the property and advised you to speak to your attorney.***** ******, Broker

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/12/2025

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  There were no resolution attempts just false accusations damaging my reputation.At this point this is slander. Per the law I have a right to
  peaceful and quiet enjoyment of the property and, “The landlord shall not abuse
  the right of access or use it to harass the tenant.” I have never
  stopped agents from coming out to inspect the property.  A couple of times they have walked in with
  the Key after I have told them to wait just a moment until I could get to the
  door. My lease does not say anything about you taking pictures of my personal things
  and when agents came out to take pictures I told them not to take pictures of
  my personal things or my children but feel free to take pictures of anything
  else they needed to.  I have even had
  family there ready to move my things out of the way for them if needed. So,
  there are witnesses to these conversations. I also did not stop you from
  showing the property.  Most communication
  with the company has not been with you specifically. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* **** 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/08/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My landlord came into my house with no warning

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/09/2025

  ************We supplied you notice we were sending maintenance to do our annual compliance for smoke detectors.  This is a Virginia law which requires landlords to confirm that the smoke detectors are functioning. I also noticed you left us a bad review regarding allowing you to smoke marijuana in your apartment.  We do not allow smoking of any kind in the apartment and this is clearly stated in your lease agreement.  I hope you appreciate the fact that we are checking our residents smoke detectors to make sure per the law they are working properly.Thanks,***** ******, Broker

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/13/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The way they are handling operations as a company is on the edge of unlawful! In April 2023 we decided to terminate our lease through them and we were charged a fee to start the sublease process! They then threatened legal action when I refused to pay a full month of rent for may after learning that new tenants would be moving in on the 10th!
  After I told them I would be in contact with my attorney about the situation they agreed to allow us to pay the prorated rent amount for the 9 days it would be between tenants. They have withheld our security deposit and claimed that they used a large portion of it for “repairs/paint” when I know for a fact that I repaired the walls myself and only the paint needed to be touched up!
  There was a non refundable amount of $275 - which is plenty to have covered the cost of flipping the home for new tenants. The company itself was not even in charge of repairs for my house- it was the landlord directly and he usually used his own repair men - not sure why rocktown reality was able to keep the $400 without proper receipts to prove the cost of services required to repair the home!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/14/2023

  Tenant ****** **** rented a property we manage located at **** ******* ******* ** ************ **. She contacted us, wanting to enter into our sublease program, that is stated in her lease. She entered our sublease program after completing all our steps to do so, on 3/16/23. We began advertising and showing the unit for her that day per our policy. We received a new qualified applicant who signed a lease on4/3/23 to start on 5/10/23.We ask for a full months rent to be paid by the person receiving a sublease, when the new lease taking over the current lease, starts later than the 9th of the month. This is because we pay our owners out rent on the 9th of the month, and if the new "sublease" lease starts later then statement day, our owner would lose out due to a sublease occurring. We credit a tenant back any rent funds, when refunding their deposit, within 45 days of their lease end day. The termination form tenant ****** **** signed states "any and all expenses to ready the rental property for the new tenant, to include 1. cleaning 2. steam cleaning 3. painting 4. maintenance related costs 5. any repairs due to damage will be the responsibility of the tenant requesting early termination of his or her lease."After we received ******** frustration on the topic of May rent, we decided to not charge her a full months rent, and in fact to give her May rent for free. Rocktown Realty did not charge ****** May rent at all, when she was due rent. We tried our best to accommodate her, and work for the owner at the same time. Sincerely, ****** *******Director of Property Management 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/14/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  There wasn’t an itemized breakdown of charges explaining in depth why they did not refund the $400 portion they stated was for paint and repairs! As I stated in my original complaint I wanted an itemized receipt showing me that the charges were necessary! I completed all necessary tasks outlined in the sublease agreement- there is no proof of where the $400 was allocated in addition to the non refundable amount of $275 - also on the documentation I provided the non refundable amount was listed as 2 different prices $275 and $250! She has provided the same information to me when I reached out but refuses to provide itemized receipt for proof that the paint and wall repairs did cost $400! 
  
  Regards, ****** ****

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/15/2023

  I have attached your lease, ledger, and deposit deposition letter.You did not provided a forwarding address to us. The deposit deposition letter, that's itemized, was emailed to you, and **** on 6/9/23 at 3:34PM.Your lease states that the non-refundable maintenance deposit owed is $275. Your ledger shows you were charged $275, and paid at move-in $275.Normally our non-refundable maintenance deposit is $250, due to this you were charged $250 instead of $275 against your deposit.The owner of the property turned the property himself, and directed us on what to charge you. The owner is not in town at the moment, I will request receipts from him and provide them to you when received. You will get a response out to you within a week.Best Regards,****** *******Director of Property Management 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/19/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards, ****** ****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/02/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  an unauthorized charge of $31.35 was made for a maintenance visit of which I've contacted them via phone and email disputing this charge yet they still charged my credit card without any form of invoice or service of work. Apparently the tenants were charged all the same amount. I was the told by Rocktown that the plumber charged the tenant's 1.5 hours worth of labor yet he was there 15 min and performed no work. I have no problem paying for the visit however the 1.5 hours worth of labor is not fair and equitable specially when no work was done and no signed invoice was provided. I feel Rocktown Realty is taking advantage of young college students who are living away from home for the first time.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/09/2023

  This is the correct business and I have recieved my refund.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/27/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  So on January 3, 2023 what had happen was I was using the microwave and making toast in the toaster when my kitchen power went out. I tried to restart the breaker the best way I know how considering I have no knowledge of a maintenance person. It still wasn’t turning my power back on so I contacted the maintenance department of my apartment complex. I waited 1 day for them to respond to my request the next day the maintenance department coordinator reached out to me through texting trying to guide me through a way to reset it without sending somebody out to my apartment first and it didn’t work so then the coordinator goes to tell me that she will send somebody out now since it still wasn’t working. So January 4 a maintenance person came and was looking at the breaker figuring out what was wrong and then he hits a certain switch and the power comes back on. So a few days go by and all of a sudden I get a bill of $82.50 I call the people which I rent from Rocktown Realty and was notified that since nothing was actually wrong or broke that I was responsible for paying the $82.50. Which I don’t understand why I didn’t break anything and I’m not a electrician so I didn’t understand or know how to turn the power back on that’s why I called maintenance. I think I should not be responsible for paying the $82.50 and think that bill should be disputed. I have never paid a maintenance fee before from a place I rented when I have not damaged something. I could see if I broke something or damaged it then I would be responsible for it but the power going off is not my doing so there for I should not have to pay the $82.50.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/27/2023

  When we receive a maintenance call and we find that it was due to tenant negligence or nothing is found wrong this is a tenant charge.  The resident signed rules and regulations with their lease agreement that specifically states that these charges will be added to their account and due with the following months' rent.  We try to walk residents through issues like a tripped breaker but if they plug in additional appliances and the breaker trips this is a tenant charge.  The resident was told to check the breaker.  When maintenance went out they found a tripped breaker and explained to the tenant how to see a tripped breaker.  Unfortunately for the resident, this is not an owner charge.****** ******* *******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/27/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ******