Roger Grooms

I rented a property that Roger owed. I naively believed him to be a fair businessman, property manager, and owner. I quickly realized what a mistake I made. In violation of the lease agreement, the rental property was not empty when I attempted to move in, and the key he gave me barely worked without having to wrestle with it. Once the furniture was removed, it revealed dead bugs and stains. He assured me that he had had it recently cleaned. The carpet cleaner that I hired told me that he didn't believe the carpet had been cleaned in years after he cleaned it. I took pictures of everything just in case he ever attempted to claim that I caused the damage. As a tenant, he requires that you pay $75 towards every maintenance issue. Since his properties are old, this quickly adds up. He will take forever to schedule service. I had to wait two weeks for him to order a new refrigerator after his 20 year old one broke. He makes little effort to maintain or even improve his homes (i.e. replace windows, toilets, or old/inaccurate thermostat control) from what I can tell. He will go on and on about how he enjoys a great relationship with his tenants which is hard to believe given his lack of responsiveness. When the lease ended, the pictures that I took of the condition of the home when I moved in came in handy as he did attempt to claim that I caused the carpet damage. Oh, then he claimed that I replaced the front door lock because his key didn't work and he had to wrestle with the keys that I turned over to open the door---just like I spent the last two years struggling with! I assured him that I would hardly take the money to replace the lock given how much money I put in the place (i.e. replaced the thermostat, a toilet, and cleaned the vents since they had three inches of dust in them). Of course, he didn't believe me. But, then you can't expect someone who operates with a complete lack of integrity to recognize it in another. Buyer or Renter: Beware.