A little about Mitch Painter

Why not enforce your legal rights if this is the case? I read Ohio's landlord tenant act and it's pretty clear on who's responsible for what...

http://www.dayton-ombudsman.org/llt.htm

I slammed my former landlord for violating my rights, not only did they have to pay me 3 months rent, but damages, attorney fees relocation costs, lodging, food etc...why hasn't anyone here mentioned doing that?

I rent from rent clifton right now and it is horrible... the basement has floods at least once a month, which would be whatever except for the fact that 2 bedrooms are in the basement. Im about 100% positive that it is infested with mold and some of us are now starting to get sick from mold allergies and the company is completely non responsive and unprofessional. I'm sorry but maybe they own too many houses to handle, because that is not how you run a business. I basically can't wait for my lease to be up so I can get out of here.

If it is as bad as you say. WHY...please tell me WHY you don't put in a complaint to local building inspectors (code enforcement) or contact the Department of Agriculture (yes these are the folks that handle MOLD issues, not the health department like once thought when I had such an issue in my old apartment).

Nobody in here has ever stated they've done this...things will not change if you don't MAKE them change! Did you know if you serve the landlord/property owner a notice of these issues which are their responsibility, they HAVE to fix them or you can put your rent into a court register until they show the problems have been addressed, and if they DON'T, within 30 days, you are free to withdraw all the money and MOVE!

Jack wrote:

I rent from rent clifton right now and it is horrible... the basement has floods at least once a month, which would be whatever except for the fact that 2 bedrooms are in the basement. Im about 100% positive that it is infested with mold and some of us are now starting to get sick from mold allergies and the company is completely non responsive and unprofessional. I'm sorry but maybe they own too many houses to handle, because that is not how you run a business. I basically can't wait for my lease to be up so I can get out of here.

That's just swell! My earlier comment was very conveniently removed. I'd come back to report all the trouble I had to go through before I finally moved out. I guess they figured that someone writing about them not paying the water bill on time may sell them out. There even were a few times when our water was cut off. It still makes me furious when I think of my time there. I got sick due to the mold and had to move out. They did nothing even after I filed complaints. And I'm still waiting on my deposit.

Sep 29, 2008

This whole scam run by Painter and his people is a nightmare to deal with! They don't pay the water bill on time, they don't respond to ANY maintenance requests, they are rude, and they've turned the property into a dump.

Again...

Like I said in my earlier post, STOP being ignorant of the law and your rights as a renter!

If they've done the things you say...WHY do you not report it, take action? I'm beginning to see this whole 'Mitch Painter is a slumlord' thing is just a few people who are expecting everything to change because they come online and whine instead of taking the appropriate (legal) steps to put an end to it.

You have rights as a renter, if you don't know them LEARN THEM!

http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com

former tenant wrote:

That's just swell! My earlier comment was very conveniently removed. I'd come back to report all the trouble I had to go through before I finally moved out. I guess they figured that someone writing about them not paying the water bill on time may sell them out. There even were a few times when our water was cut off. It still makes me furious when I think of my time there. I got sick due to the mold and had to move out. They did nothing even after I filed complaints. And I'm still waiting on my deposit.
Sep 29, 2008
This whole scam run by Painter and his people is a nightmare to deal with! They don't pay the water bill on time, they don't respond to ANY maintenance requests, they are rude, and they've turned the property into a dump.

Its just an apartment, what do you expect. Quit complaining.....My apartment is perfectly fine.

I lived in a building in Hyde Park that was sold to RentClifton.com after I lived there for 4 years and I couldn't get out of there fast enough! I paid way too much for the apartment I lived it for the very poor attention I recieved from this company. I was never able to get ahold of anyone and none of the maintenance requests I submitted were ever answered. Now I have been out of the apartment for over 60 days and haven't heard anything regarding the return of my security deposit. I am never able to get ahold of anyone when I call. Does anyone know who I can contact about this that will actually respond. I may seek legal advice.

PLEASE HELP! I am currently in a lease with rentclifton. This was our first time renting, and we've had a HORRIBLE experience. Many of the same things previously listed have happened to us too. Something really needs to be done about this. We want to make sure we receive our security deposit back- what can we do to ensure this?! Is there a way that previous tenants can collectively take legal action against rentclifton? something NEEDS to be done! I don't want anyone else to be taken advantage of by them.

IN terms of getting a security deposit back I would just recommend taking rent clifton to small claims court. I personally have never done it, but I have read up on it a bit. You do not need a lawyer, you go to your local court house and ask for information about filing one of these suites and then go and present your case. If they seriously wont respond just write them a letter informing them that this will be the action you will be taking to receive what they owe you. Good luck to everyone and FYI there is a ton of renters rights legal advice online I suggest looking into that and being as educated on the subject before you take action.

Where to start? First off, to give you an idea of what kind of people these are, Mitch Painter posted a Craigslist ad offering $300 to anyone who could make the first several pages of a Google search result for RentClifton.com positive or neutral. Unfortunately, it looks like he's succeeded--they've set up all kinds of dummy posts to push back honest reviews like the ones on this site. If this doesn't turn you away, consider the following:

1. The entire wing of my building moved out at the end of their leases--NOT ONE person chose to renew with these people. That's just the people I know personally, too--I'm pretty sure 3/4 of everyone else moved out as well. That should be a big clue that something isn't right.

2. Within the span of a year, Rent Clifton wanted to jack up the rent from $700 to $895

3. They tried to kick everyone who was moving out out BEFORE the dates on their lease (which is illegal, by the way).

4. They pay their bills to the water and gas companies late--several times everyone got a note on their doors saying the utilities were going to be shut off b/c of failure to pay.

5. No one that I've spoken with got their deposits back, and we all spent a lot of time cleaning up our apartments.

6. The health inspector put up flyers in our building warning us about asbestos because it was not up to code.

7. They are constantly turning off the water for hours at a time--without warning.

I could go on and on... If you still want to rent with these people after reading the honest testamonials (not the fake ones posted by the landlord), do so at your own risk.

If these people are keeping deposits, then they need to have a lein put on the property.

People get a back bone and do not allow these types of things to go on.

NO one is above the law, it just take sht eright people to show them that!

Great press today for these guys from Channel 9 WCPO

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/I-Team-R...

Looks like they're still trying to buy positive testimonials.

Me thinks the FTC should be involved in that one. They take a real dim view of fabricating marketing testimonials to the tune of $11,000 per incident.

These guys need a visit from the Attorney General.

All the disgruntled people should file a complaint at http://www.ripoffreport.com/

This site gets a lot of Google love and they can't force it down in rankings.

a current happy tenant wrote:

RENTCLIFTON.COM HAS BEEN GREAT!!! I moved from out of town and the went out of their way to help me!!! Properties are nice and staff is super friendly!! Close to school with off street parking! While the building is older the hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings give it a great old world charm. Can pay twice as much for stratford heights with shared kitchen.

This was written by Whitley Shipley, property manager of rentclifton.com . You can tell by all the exclamation marks, which permeate every ad she posts on craigslist.

M Ross wrote:

any of you own a company at 18 and own as much as he does at 28
didn't think so
stick to talking about things you understand

Just because Mommy and Daddy bought him a little company doesn't mean he knows what he's doing. He's nothing to admire, just a little scumbag who's gonna get caught someday. Company by 28, jail by 35.

see right through you wrote:

<quoted text>
This was written by Whitley Shipley, property manager of rentclifton.com . You can tell by all the exclamation marks, which permeate every ad she posts on craigslist.

This Whitley Shipley? http://www.myspace.com/lub_me

Classy looking... in a ghetto trash kind of way.

Pure garbage

we have a property owned by the illustrious painter brothers in our neighborhood. they are the WORST property owners i have ever had experience with and i have seen it all in the 25 years in the neighborhood. SLUMLORD does not do them justice. they use multiple names for their companies just to evade anyone who tries to contact them. they are nephews of JUDGE PAINTER and use his legal experise to stay above the law. they rent to what i call GRITS - WHITE TRASH who party all night, and i mean from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. and then throw their beer cans on the street when they are done draining them at 9 am. i have personally witnessed this. district 5 police had to put their rental property on a do not cite list. that means if anyone calls about the chronic nuisance that they are they immediately receive a fine because the police are tired of dealing with them. they also trashed a neighboring property and would never pick up the mess they had left after numerous calls. these guys are the sleaziest so- called humans i have witnessed. they don't pay their utility bills and then put their tenants through hell going without electric, heat and water. they have a grade F with the better business bureau and put an ad on google to pay anyone who would give them a good review 250.00. they put their first-grade hand-written rental signs on public and private property, which is against the law in the city of cincinnati, because they are desperate to rent their crappy properties. channel 9's I-TEAM investigated them because of complaints of poor treatment their tenants from the porter house in hyde park received. channel 9 said they had done nothing illegal but their compassion and good will towards long-time tenants including the elderly was non-existent. they really know how to skirt the law. someone should invent a giant roach trap for these guys and do away with them.

Anybody looking into renting from this company needs to slow down and think twice. My friends and I moved into one of their larger buildings near UC's campus and have had a terrible experience. We used to rent from Al Tepperburg, another major campus property owner. He repaired things when they broke, the rent was cheaper, HE PAID HIS BILLS, left the heat turned on in the winter (yes they turn off the heat in December to cut costs). Don't be pressured into signing a ridiculous lease accepting apartments in 'as is condition' before they let you see your unit. Just realize they will take your rent, not pay the utilities on time as promised in lease, and then not answer calls when you try to let them know the heat has been off for 3 days and counting in fridgid December weather. And the promise of on site laundry....ask them to show you the laundry room and demonstrate that 1 machine works....they dont. These people are just plain greedy and ought to be out of buisness, every check I am forced to write to them make me sick to my stomach.

Has anyone noticed that most of the posts supporting RentClifton.com and the Painters are personal attacks? Just an observation folks...don't get all worked up.

I was a former tenant of RentClifton.com for about 4 months after they bought out the building I was living in. 6 months later I'm still waiting for my deposit. And in case anyone reading this is wondering whether I deserve it or not, I have a letter from RentClifton.com that acknowledges that I should have received it already. That was 45 days ago that I got the letter and still no deposit. Now I'm taking them to small claims court over $700.$700 for a company that supposedly owns 20+ rental properties? Anyone else seeing a problem with the math here?

Also, you guys want to know how seriously the owners took that news report on Channel 9 a couple of weeks ago? Check out what one of them wrote on the Facebook Wall (11/22/09) of a now former employee. If you've dealt with this company or read the article from Channel 9 you will know who she is...

http://www.facebook.com/whitley.p.shipley...