Consumer complaint received 2021-08-18
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: National Credit Systems,Inc. (FL)

Complaint:
National Credit Systems has been attempting to collect a debt from an apartment complex. The lease of that apartment complex was terminated due to the landlord 's failure to maintain the premises. Mold, algae, and water intrusion were not remediated after the landlord was served a 7 day notice on XXXX XXXX XXXX. After the 7 day notice expired, tenant served landlord with notice of termination of tenancy XX/XX/. After moving out, the landlord failed to send a notice of intention to impose claim to security deposit to the address listed on the termination letter. The landlord is withholding security deposit and attempting to collect early termination fees and rent for the month that the lease was terminated. I do not owe those debts because the landlord failed to provide a habitable premises under Florida Statutes. 

From FL statutes : Once tenant properly serves seven-day notice and the landlord fails to substantially resolve the issue within the seven-day time frame, the landlord is considered the party who breached the lease. At this point, the tenant can serve a second notice informing the landlord that the tenant wishes to terminate the lease and be sure to provide a move out date in such letter so the landlord knows when tenant is leaving. If the tenant properly gives the landlord a seven-day notice and terminates the lease in writing after the seven days expires, the tenant is not responsible for the 2-month early termination fee/liquidated damages. 

Please see and review FL statutes 83.49, 83.51, 83.56. 

A dispute was submitted to National Credit Systems on XX/XX/XXXX. The date is now XX/XX/XXXX and I have not received a decision from the dispute. I call National Credit Systems for information from the dispute and I am told that my account is in investigation status so they can not talk to me. 

This attempt to collect is a malicious attempt by the landlord to collect funds in which I do not owe. Photos of the property show mold and algae growth over several months after the office was notified. No significant effort was made to remediate the property. A 7 day notice was given and soon after notice to terminate. All paper work signed and dated by the property manager. 

XXXX XXXXXXXX will claim that the window was left open and resulted in mold growth. This simply is not true. This is an attempt by them to limit liability and shift blame to me. ( they wanted me to sign a non disclosure agreement when I left the property for the last time. ) I contacted XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX about the issue. I followed the guidance they gave me and the issue did not resolve. After contacting them several times after, nothing was resolved. I contacted an attorney and they provided guidance for me to find better living conditions. All of this was documented with daily photographs of the mold and recorded conversations with apartment management. The facts are this : I reached out for help, XXXX XXXX did not provide it so I served them with a notice to fix. They did not fix the issue, so I gave them a notice of termination. Now they are attempting to charge me for a contract they violated - as a result it was terminated in accordance with FL statutes. 

National Credit Systems continues to report the account to the credit bureaus and refuses to update the dispute in a timely manner. This is not fair to me - a debt I do not owe is being reported to the credit bureaus and wounding my credit history.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation