I applied for a home with Invitation Homes. The process was smooth until they asked me for a $500 holding fee in 2 days and threw in this fee along with, they were awaiting HOA approval which is not within my control. I've never heard of this. Normally with an approval the next step is deposit and lease. However, Invitation Homes is asking for a "hold fee of $500" to take the property offline in which they have already once I was approved. I have the screenshot to prove it. They keep sending me a "docu-sign" emails for the non-refundable $500 without explanation as to what it is for. I haven't received an explanation as to why I have to hold the property instead of getting the lease and security deposit information considering the property was advertised as move-in ready on 2/11/2023. When I initially filled out the application it would not allow me to choose the 2/11/2023 as stated their website stated as a move-in date, this is why I chose the date 2/15/2023. In one of their emails, it stated that the reason for the “Pre-Hold Lease Agreement” is due to them waiting for HOA approval, but I received an email welcoming me to my residency along with 84 pages of bylaws with certification/government forms along with stamps/signatures of every hand this property has exchanged since it was built along with an HOA form that needed filling out which I did via efax.
I was not informed during the application process about the HOA approval process instead I was sent emails telling me of my approval for the property along with an email sent by John Justin Canada about signing the "Pre-Hold Lease Agreement" once and a reminder to follow up that particular email sent. In another email, it Congratulated me on being a new APPROVED tenant with sparkling confetti but went on to say this home is coming soon due to it undergoing your update/inspection process. When I applied it stated it was move-in ready 2/11/2023.
I'm being discriminated against and penalized for things that were unbeknownst to me during the application process by Heidi Jellison and the Houston Office who knew but chose to hide under FALSE ADVERTISEMENT in their properties for lease. If you look at their BBB rating, it's because of their turnaround response time. Because they're not correcting every situation, you can visibly see from complainants' remarks. It shows so many forms of breaking contractual obligations, fraud and scams regularly to EVERYONE then say, "get a lawyer". They stated that my 1099 & bank statement where funds are deposited did not meet requirements, and I needed to send my paycheck stubs & payroll bank statement where the funds are deposited for verification, however a 1099 is on their list of approved documentation. They stated via email their 3rd party screening provider TransUnion issued a warning related to the information in my credit history file, however after contacting TransUnion yesterday out of fear from they're email, they stated the only thing on my file is a freeze due to several T-Mobile breaches and my credit score is a above 700. Even the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) our actual credit bureau stated they didn't see anything alarming either.
After reading the emails from Invitation Homes, I contacted TX Landlord Tenant, HUD, OIG & the AG pertaining to my inquiries about application process. There's a lot of companies out here in our pandemic-stricken society preying on the innocent financially and retaliation is at all-time high. I want to ensure that no abrupt changes are made to my application without clarity, nor having my application suddenly denied due to some form of retaliation pertaining to my inquiries. This company has been under fire recently with charging tenants new/old with excessive fees and all sorts of not so good business practices. My Civil, Constitutional and Housing rights have been violated in so many ways to the max, I want to make sure it ends, gets rectified so I can move-in without issue with my complaints filed. I know at times people can drop the ball due to not being trained properly. I want to give them the benefit out the doubt until my complaints findings state otherwise