I would like to warn any potential tenant against renting from the Neusse family (we rented from Benjamin Neusse, his brother Steven Neusse was our manager for 1 1/2 yrs, then his mother Sandra Brunelle took over). They call themselves ""Neucastle"" on the lease document.
We rented a home from them at 5519 Jernigan Lane, Murfreesboro, Tn 37129. We lived there for 2 years. It is an older home in somewhat poor condition, so we did not think to document EVERY single damage pre-existing as I now know we should have. Trust me, it would have been a LONG document had we done so. It's a cute house, but outdated, and not maintained very well. The manager at the time, Steven, was aware of all of the issues in the home, and we never thought to document minute things like cracked outlet covers, or small cracks in the shutters outside, or a tiny chip in the fireplace mantle, etc.
We never met the landlord - Benjamin Neusse (the owner of the house). Upon moving in, we dealt solely with Steven Neusse, who was wonderful. We are very low-maintenance tenants, always paid rent on time, and only asked them to come fix issues 3-4 times in the 2 years we lived there. We also improved the property by installing landscaping (previously there was none), and improving the front lawn (seed/fertilizer/etc.) Upon moving out, we of course left several thousand dollars worth of landscaping there (between labor installing the beds, materials, plants, etc.)
Sandra Brunelle (owner's mother) took over for Steven as manager right before we gave notice that we were moving (about 2 months before our move). She instantly started scheduling showings (illegally - Tennessee law states they cannot start sooner than 30 days before the end of the lease), and we felt instantly harrassed ot move out (with well over a 1 1/2 months remaining on our lease agreement). We were in the early stages of packing, and she insisted that we were causing them to lose potential tenants as the house didn't ""look like the listing pictures"" (the pictures showed the house empty before we had moved in 2 years ago.) She scheduled showings 3-4+ days a week, and numerous showings per day on many occasions. Not only that, but she allowed the potential tenants to damage the home during showings, which she denied, and we obviously couldn't prove (someone drew with pen on several walls, she allowed someone to bring a puppy to leave unattended in our back yard while we were not home on a showing, and it chewed on the back porch, etc). She claimed that these damages were our responsibility...we, obviously, had no way to prove that it was not our responsibility as we were still residing there.
Upon moving out (early, as we were tired of the harrassment), we scheduled the final walk through. She had obviously illegally entered yet again (never gave us notice that she was going to be going into the house, as per our lease agreement) as she already had a list of all of the ""damages"". She listed things that had obviously been there before our residence, and things out of our control (a chip in the back of the mantle on the fireplace, cracked shutters, water stain on the ceiling, hard water stains in the toilet, foundation issues to the home, rotten wood in the bathroom where a toilet had previously leaked) etc. (They charged us to REPLACE the toilet that had hard water stains, just fyi.) Steven (previous manager) had apparently moved out of the country, so we had no way to contact him to try to rectify the situation.
*Also note: The person who made the final decision about which of the damages were ""wear and tear"" or what was ""our responsibility"" was the owner - Benjamin Neusse. He lives out of state, and, to my knowledge, had not even seen the home in years. Certainly had not while we resided there.
We had done everything to restore the property to ""as good as we moved in condition"" or better (landscaping, cleaned carpets to better than before, etc.), as per Tennessee law. For another example, when we moved in, the back yard was very rough, uneven, and had a serious mole problem- nearly impssible to mow. I got rid of the moles, and where my dogs had dug a few holes in the yard - I filled the holes, seeded, and put straw down before we left. She claimed it wasn't good enough, and she ""didn't see any seed"" so they charged us an extremely outrageous price to ""fix it"" (I am a landscaper, and know it was done ""correctly"" and the cost to ""repair it"" was unfounded.)
Some of the other ""repair costs"" for the ""damages we caused"" were also completely unfounded (i.e. $150 to repair a SCREEN in a screen storm door).
All this being said, we paid $1250 in deposits when we moved in, we received $530 back. (I would have been content with as little as $900, even though I truly believe - along with anyone else who saw the home before/after we were there - that we, without question, deserved the return of our entire deposit.)
I have been so stressed and anxious about the whole ordeal, that don't feel like dealing with these impossible people anymore, so taking them to court just isn't worth it to me. I know that's exactly what they were hoping for, but I'm done.
I will be happy just knowing that by posting this review, maybe I will save some future tenant from the nightmare my husband and I experienced with these people.
Benjamin Neusse Reviews
I would like to warn any potential tenant against renting from the Neusse family (we rented from Benjamin Neusse, his brother Steven Neusse was our manager for 1 1/2 yrs, then his mother Sandra Brunelle took over). They call themselves ""Neucastle"" on the lease document.
We rented a home from them at 5519 Jernigan Lane, Murfreesboro, Tn 37129. We lived there for 2 years. It is an older home in somewhat poor condition, so we did not think to document EVERY single damage pre-existing as I now know we should have. Trust me, it would have been a LONG document had we done so. It's a cute house, but outdated, and not maintained very well. The manager at the time, Steven, was aware of all of the issues in the home, and we never thought to document minute things like cracked outlet covers, or small cracks in the shutters outside, or a tiny chip in the fireplace mantle, etc.
We never met the landlord - Benjamin Neusse (the owner of the house). Upon moving in, we dealt solely with Steven Neusse, who was wonderful. We are very low-maintenance tenants, always paid rent on time, and only asked them to come fix issues 3-4 times in the 2 years we lived there. We also improved the property by installing landscaping (previously there was none), and improving the front lawn (seed/fertilizer/etc.) Upon moving out, we of course left several thousand dollars worth of landscaping there (between labor installing the beds, materials, plants, etc.)
Sandra Brunelle (owner's mother) took over for Steven as manager right before we gave notice that we were moving (about 2 months before our move). She instantly started scheduling showings (illegally - Tennessee law states they cannot start sooner than 30 days before the end of the lease), and we felt instantly harrassed ot move out (with well over a 1 1/2 months remaining on our lease agreement). We were in the early stages of packing, and she insisted that we were causing them to lose potential tenants as the house didn't ""look like the listing pictures"" (the pictures showed the house empty before we had moved in 2 years ago.) She scheduled showings 3-4+ days a week, and numerous showings per day on many occasions. Not only that, but she allowed the potential tenants to damage the home during showings, which she denied, and we obviously couldn't prove (someone drew with pen on several walls, she allowed someone to bring a puppy to leave unattended in our back yard while we were not home on a showing, and it chewed on the back porch, etc). She claimed that these damages were our responsibility...we, obviously, had no way to prove that it was not our responsibility as we were still residing there.
Upon moving out (early, as we were tired of the harrassment), we scheduled the final walk through. She had obviously illegally entered yet again (never gave us notice that she was going to be going into the house, as per our lease agreement) as she already had a list of all of the ""damages"". She listed things that had obviously been there before our residence, and things out of our control (a chip in the back of the mantle on the fireplace, cracked shutters, water stain on the ceiling, hard water stains in the toilet, foundation issues to the home, rotten wood in the bathroom where a toilet had previously leaked) etc. (They charged us to REPLACE the toilet that had hard water stains, just fyi.) Steven (previous manager) had apparently moved out of the country, so we had no way to contact him to try to rectify the situation.
*Also note: The person who made the final decision about which of the damages were ""wear and tear"" or what was ""our responsibility"" was the owner - Benjamin Neusse. He lives out of state, and, to my knowledge, had not even seen the home in years. Certainly had not while we resided there.
We had done everything to restore the property to ""as good as we moved in condition"" or better (landscaping, cleaned carpets to better than before, etc.), as per Tennessee law. For another example, when we moved in, the back yard was very rough, uneven, and had a serious mole problem- nearly impssible to mow. I got rid of the moles, and where my dogs had dug a few holes in the yard - I filled the holes, seeded, and put straw down before we left. She claimed it wasn't good enough, and she ""didn't see any seed"" so they charged us an extremely outrageous price to ""fix it"" (I am a landscaper, and know it was done ""correctly"" and the cost to ""repair it"" was unfounded.)
Some of the other ""repair costs"" for the ""damages we caused"" were also completely unfounded (i.e. $150 to repair a SCREEN in a screen storm door).
All this being said, we paid $1250 in deposits when we moved in, we received $530 back. (I would have been content with as little as $900, even though I truly believe - along with anyone else who saw the home before/after we were there - that we, without question, deserved the return of our entire deposit.)
I have been so stressed and anxious about the whole ordeal, that don't feel like dealing with these impossible people anymore, so taking them to court just isn't worth it to me. I know that's exactly what they were hoping for, but I'm done.
I will be happy just knowing that by posting this review, maybe I will save some future tenant from the nightmare my husband and I experienced with these people.