In April 27, I wrote a check to Realty Professionals in a good faith for an offer to lease a commercial property. I asked them that I wanted to see the lease before I continued to move any further. After I read the lease I found out that the lease was a triple net lease in which they make the lessor responsible for everything that goes on with the property that lessor has to pay for all the expenses, and I decided to decline their offer. I told the realtor that this type of lease was not fit for us. The realtor came back to me making suggestions that I should hire a realty attorney to have a better understanding of the lease. I told him "why should I go to someone so that I could understand something that I already understood and since the time that I read it, I knew that it would be something that I am not able to go for because we are not a huge company, we are a small business". He kept insisting, and I made a research about property leases and I confirmed myself the kind of lease that I had when I first read it. He's been trying to hold me and told me to see one of his attorney. He provided a couple of phone numbers and said that they would be fine working with me. I didn't want to go to someone that he knows. I haven't found a way to try to make him understand that I am no able to lease the place. On May 10, I wrote him a notarized letter in which I also sent a copy to the head broker, and the property owners explaining to them the situation based on chapters of the lease. The head broker called me on May 14 and said there would be no problem in returning my full refund if that was my major concern. Then he started to make me questions and that brought me back again to the same place that I was in with the realtor. I gave them 5 business days to return my full refund and they didn't answer me until Monday May 21st. They left me a message on my voice mail telling me that the realtor got off the phone with the owners and to call him back. On May 22nd I called them back leaving them a message saying that I was going to take this matter further unless they returned my full refund (I called at 3:39 pm). Forty Four minutes later, they sent me an email where they say that they will be able to return half of the money and that I had to sign that form releasing them of any charges or complaints made to them. They also said that I have to cover all the owners’ expenses because the owner had to have the lease made. I understand that when a property is being leased the owner has to have everything ready so that the place can be leased unless they lease it as is, including all the paperwork. The facility has a back up sewer and the electricity was not working properly. The place also had some minor things to be fixed as well. But it was also full with equipments including lifters. I told them that I did not need the equipments and the realtor said that it wouldn't be a problem. He said that everything was going to be taken care by the owner. While we were in the process of the paperwork, he gave me the keys to the facility gate for us to start moving cars in. I did not do that. The realtor also told me that there would be no problem of doing whatever the facility needed to have done by the property owner. But then the realtor comes back to me saying that the property owner said that he is not going to do anything until he makes sure that I was going to lease the property. I read in one of the chapters of the lease that once the lease is signed, I take the property as is. I pointed it out to him and the head broker that their word and the writing on lease contradicts what they say. Then they come back to me saying that that is not a lease that it is a draft and that we can negotiate and make changes. I would like to point out to you that in the paperwork that I have does not say that it is a draft. It says LEASE and also has a section which is ready with a notarized signature, the owner’s name, and the lessors name to be signed. My point is that they have been trying to hold me for two months and they do not want to get the right understanding of all this. They have too many excuses of why they cannot give me my full refund and come back to me with lots of lies where I have lost trust in them. They have not handled this matter professionally or ethically. This agency is not to be trusted. I wrote them a check for $2, 400 and now they want to keep half which is $1, 200 with the excuse that I owe the owner for all the expenses that he's had getting the facility ready for me and because I haven't been able to negotiate with them. I've been telling them that there is nothing to negotiate because everything to me has been loud and clear. I ask you, should I believe this after everything that I had explained? I hope that the BBB agency can help me out with this matter. If you need proof or more details on this case, be free to ask. Thank You.
*Note: They are putting a lot of pressure on me and forcing me to do things that I cannot.