My husband and I rented a home in mid-January 2008 through Honeycutt Realtors here in Clarksville, TN. During the walk-thru, we reported the heat not working properly. It ran on auxilary heat which is very expensive. It was not repaired. I sent off an email in February to the owner of the realty and rental management company. Ms. Huneycutt herself came out to my home. Still, it was not repaired. We continued to run the heat on auxilary. When the cold weather returned this fall and we had to run the heat, I went into the realty office and told them that at 7 months into my pregnancy and sick now with a cold, I wanted it fixed and requested a repairman to come out the following Monday. They did send someone and it was confirmed by the heating repair company that the heating unit “was shot.” After 2 days of not hearing anything back, I called and told them I could not stand it anymore. Another day went by and all I could get was “we cannot get the owner of the house to call us back.” Is this not the most ridiculous issue? A broken heating system from the time we took possession and now it is 10 months later, it still can’t get fixed?! Amazing.

In a last ditch effort, I called the Housing Authority at Fort Campbell, explained the issue. Housing Authority was extremely supportive and advised that I come in and file a report. As the man I spoke to stated; “We do not tolerate our soldiers and their families going without properly functioning heat in a house.”

I shot off a kind, but stern email to the realty company stating that I had an appointment with Housing Authority for the following day to file my report. Miraculously, I received a telephone call within the hour from a heating company who were here the following morning (today) and a new system was installed.

I have learned one HUGE lesson from all this. You pretty much have to do research on a realty/management company and KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS! Scour a potential rental property with a fine tooth comb; check the heating/air con system, all faucets, etc. Take A LOT of photos. In our case, the vents never were cleaned and I did send off photos to have them fixed. Also, inspect the property on the exterior. We had a huge mess under our back deck (debris beneath it) and 15 bags of leaves from the prior autumn season that were never cleaned up. I trusted this company when I found the house because the rep was a Christian and I trusted in her and the company she represented.

Today, I have a warm home and for that I am thankful. Hopefully this raises awareness to others who might be new to leasing a home.