FirstKey Homes

Do not rent from this management company. They do not communicate. Emails and voice mails are unanswered. My move out was a joke. They sent a single email about an inspection. I responded, but they never showed or confirmed. I ended up moving out at the end of my lease without an inspection -- I left 3 emails and 3 voicemails. Then, they send me a check for about 25% of my deposit 2 weeks after my last day. They charged me for things I'd already paid and had done -- clean house, cover nail holes, trash. I spent $500+ on getting the carpet professionally cleaned, professional house cleaners, etc. I should have just saved my money since they were going to charge me for it again anyway. I'm just one of those people who thinks they should leave it as good or better than when they got it. FirstKey obviously thinks they should milk you for every dime. They even noted outside painting that they charged me for that was on my move in inventory -- meaning it was there two years ago and noted. Didn't matter. I was not allowed to be involved with the inspection, so they could do what they wanted. In short, they cheat you. Stay away.

I rented from First Key Homes for…8 years
I rented from First Key Homes for little over eight years was never late with the rent always took care of the property. When I moved, I could not get them to respond to anything prior to the 60 days of moving. All they did was give me the runaround of what to do who do contact and I never heard anything back from them. They are the worst management company I have ever experienced. Do not rent from this company. They tell you that they're offices in a location and when you go to return things or collect paperwork, you find out that they had moved two years prior. Then you, do not rent from this company. They tell you that their office is in a location and when you go to return things or you collect paperwork you find out that they had moved two years prior. Then you were able to track them down and you can't get in. Because they have no one working. You cannot get a work order completed. They keep sending the same individuals out to look at an issue and they keep telling you that there's nothing wrong with it. Really consider other alternatives other than First Key home.

Shortly after moving into a new home Rental, we found out there are bees in the walls behind the master bathroom, and we're able to consistently enter the home. Instead of getting an actual bee keeper out, they sent a normal pest control guy out to basically spray air at them which only further agitated them. We had to pay out of pocket to get an actual professional in to spray poison from inside the house and coat the hive. FirstKey refuses to do anything about the massive amount of honeycombing occurring in the walls and I imagine the rotting honey will eventually bring all sorts of molds and other issues once the hive is fully dead and the honey sits dormant. FirstKey Homes has been nothing but a pain through the entire process of trying to get this remediated.

Their maintenance guys on the other hand are awesome and have solved each issue we've had. They don't make up for the management's lack of ability to look beyond their contracts for third party professionals that will actually handle a safety issue.

After your lease is up if they cannot find renters, they still charge you and put it on your credit they've done this to multiple people and they don't seem like they are going to stop anytime soon stay so far away from this company. It's not even funny they're crooks. They're thieves and they will ruin your credit in your life so if your new renter run away from them, they're terrible.

Completely OUT DONE! I read the negative views, but I thought I would be different! NOPE! Y'all better RUN! They put me through hell! I make 5 times the rent and I have a decent savings. They requested documents they I got to them right away! It's too much to post...I'm literally 5 seconds from having a heart attack after dealing with yhem...then they gave the house away after telling me things will be fine. They think they can just put me in any house if I'm approved! Not understanding, I work 3 jobs. It took alot to find this one! SHM...I had to leave work for the rest of the day! Take notice to all the negative comments here as well as on other sites!

The application process was very complicated. We have 4 adults all with separate incomes making a combination of over 7k a month and we were only approved for a rent amount of 2,200 limiting the options of homes we had to choose from. The first home we applied to the continued to deny us until they told me the home had already been rented, this is after they took our application fees and refused to return them. We chose a new property with a pool which was the biggest mistake. We have been moved in for a month now, and they have drained the pool with no information about when we can use said pool as well as continue to charge us a pool matience fee when there is zero matience being done on the pool. They refuse to give me any information. They use an outsourced call center so you can never reach someone local, and when they do reply to emails they are usually just quoting obscure items in the lease agreement instead of actually trying to help you. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU CAN HELP IT. FIND A LOCAL RENTAL COMPANY. THIS ONE IS BASED IN GEORGIA AND THEY ARE BUYING UP SINGLE FAMILY HOMES AROUND THE COUNTRY FOR PROFIT.

Don't rent here!

Email I sent to them they don't care,

I have been a resident for over five years. I've always paid the rent in advance. A $45 fee showed up on my rent this month as a non-compliance fee. I have complied with the homeowners association and there are no outstanding violations. The HOA does not charge a fee unless it's your fourth or fifth time receiving the same notice. However, I was told that 1st key Home's now charges a $45 fee every time somebody rides by and finds one weed sticking up from the concrete and reports it. You guys have forced the HOA to send the letters directly to you and never directly to the tenants. Once you guys receive the notice, you hold onto it for 10 days then send the letter to the tenant stating they failed to comply. The letters are now sent directly to you to guarantee a noncompliance fee is collected each month. It is my personal belief that you guys are encouraging the HOA to inspect more frequently especially right after it rains heavy so the grass will be nice and high. It's not about compliance. It's about recouping the cost of doing business. I understand you guys are still in the hole from the pandemic with all the repairs you had to make on various homes. I get it. That's why the goal is to collect the extra $45 non-compliant fee from as many tenants as possible. If you multiply $45 times about 100,000 tenants, you guys are making big money with this approach. I work 12 hours per day and do not have time to sit around watching weeds grow just to cut them each time they sprout up 1/3 of a inch past the concrete. I have to work to pay rent. I thought at first that you guys cared about your tenants, but apparently you do not this is why you have so many one star reviews on Google, Yelp and with the Better Business Bureau. As long as the rent being is paid, you guys truly do not care. Calls are never returned, emails are never replied to. This system of doing things may not catch up with you immediately, but eventually it will. You cannot continue to operate a business that only cares about making a profit and squeezing out extra cash. My final thoughts are if the HOA is not charging tenants a fee for a friendly reminder why would you squeeze out an extra $45 from each tenant just because you can.

The experience with FirstKey Homes has been a disaster. Since day one we have had safety hazards in our home that have not been addressed. Their staff would come out and would leave without fixing anything. Currently, parts of our floor is missing and has created a fall risk in which I have fell victim to. I was injured and had to be away from work for a few days while I healed. I have a pregnant fiancé that has also stumbled but thankfully has not yet fallen. I have reached out to FirstKey over 10 times with these concerns and have not received one reply. We have been submitting tickets since our move in date and no resolution or response has been communicated. Because of these dangerous (potentially life threatening for our child) hazards we need our lease terminated and security deposit returned. I am prepared to escalate this to more public and legal action if we are not contacted shortly.

Apparently, a combined $12K monthly income only qualifies you for a $1,600 rental. Their rentals are way over market price anyhow and their call center is not local, but based in the Phillipnes. Thanks for nothing.

They are stealing from residents. Report them to HUD with documents to support your claim. Also FREC and the DBPR if they hold a real estate license which I know all of them do.These ppl need to be out of business. Those living condition HUD is going to make them pay!

We moved into a home in the San Antonio area that was not inspected prior to the rental property being posted. We moved in with photos showing a full lawn, nice carpets, and working cabinetry. When we moved in, the lawn was completely gone under the oak trees; the dishwasher was broken; the cabinetry had mis-installed (but new) handles; all the carpets were dog-pee soaked; the HVAC was leaking; the window screens were all missing; the tile floors were missing grout; everything was dirty; half the light bulbs were out; the garage was infested with fleas; the doors were all gouged by dog claws; and the list goes on and on. Good news? FirstKey replaced the carpets, sprayed the fleas, and fixed the dishwasher. Bad news? We were responsible for everything else. Later in the first year, we had someone shoot out a window, and put a maintenance request in for a fix. FirstKey said we were responsible because it was considered vandalism. Here's the rub, renter's insurance doesn't cover vandalism... homeowner insurance (FirstKey) does, but they wouldn't pay for it. Instead, they sent for $150 someone to caulk the hole in the window. When we sent pictures back to Firstkey, they ended up sending a second repair person a month later (we did NOT request maintenance for the window the second time), charged us $150 AND $385 to replace the window. After several emails and phone calls (all unreturned), we are getting no help for being charged twice AND being charged after not requesting additional maintenance. The only time FirstKey was overly communicative was to get our 1st payment and have us re-apply for a second year. I'm so glad we didn't renew our lease, but I'm pretty sure we'll end up eating the costs and probably have our security deposit taken as well... FirstKey, due to their poor running of the company, is hurting good people who do the right thing... DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!

Don't Rent from FIRST KEY HOMES

The day we moved in I was being harassed by neighbors due to landscaping issues / overgrown grass and weeds, which they refused to fix and I had to pay to get done because the woman kept coming to my door threatening me weekly that she was going to call the town and get me fined.

They refused to fix anything in the home, due to "covid " for over a year, then they sent random unqualified outsourced technicians, from different companies, none of which completed the jobs. Then charged me for said issues when I moved out even though were reported and not fixed.
They also tried to fine us $3,000 for HOA fees that the company had to pay because they received the complaints from the hoa, and we didn't get the letters they did. They didn't send to us until after the charges had already been accrued from the HOA for not complying and fixing the matters. The letters stated we had 2 weeks to fix them. I emailed with photograph evidence the fixes within that time, and they still tried to charge us. I spent hours and days on the phone with them with clueless representatives, and they kept charging me late fees on top of the fines as well. The matter wasn't resolved for over a year, and they bullied the hell out of us and tried to force me to pay the fines and late fees for it when I had never once paid our rent late. It caused me so much stress and anxiety, they had me crying on the phone with zero remorse or apologies ever.
Besides all these issues since we moved in paying over $1,500 a month to live in a roach infested house which they refused to send pest control back out to. Refused to fix anything. And there were even times air conditioner wasn't working and it was 90 degrees in the home, and they refused to send someone out because it was not an "emergency ". There was a water leak, and I almost got stuck with $1,500 water bill because they didn't fix the issue right away.
Getting ahold of them to move out, was fun too, I left the place clean than I found it and didn't get my deposit back. They also tried to fine us, a fee for not giving 60 days notice, when I had been trying to reach the property manager who wasn't there any longer, and calling the main number for months. STAY AWAY!

As a past homeowner for ~10 years and as a FirstKey renter for the past 9 months (since June 2022 after selling our house) as we wait to begin building a custom house, we have found FirstKey is largely a good rental company to work with (I know this goes against the usual FirstKey Homes review you see on Google, Yelp, etc.).

They know when they are wrong / need to help, as when our home's refrigerator died in the rental, they determined a new unit was needed, and they nicely compensated us for the spoiled food. When you put in a support ticket the right way (i.e., give them appropriate info and follow their ticketing system process), they get it handled appropriately in a reasonable time frame. They also seem to largely know when they are in the wrong (i.e. Initially pushing us on HOA infractions and then realizing it is another neighbor or their unit's set-up is the actual cause of the infraction) and when they realize they are wrong, they listen, and then support us as renters in the extremely strict HOA neighborhood we've found ourselves renting.

However, I will not recommend FirstKey (and it will never get more than a 1-star review from our family) in its current form in how the organization currently handles renewals. If you start renting with FirstKey, then beyond the first term, you should expect a non-negotiable significant rent increase well above the local average rent increase. See below for specifics:
Average rent increases in the area I live are 4-6% YoY. For our early renewal discount (offered at 120 days prior to renewal that must be accepted 90 days prior to renewal), we have been offered the opportunity to renew at just below a 10% increase YoY for a one-year renewal term. If we miss the early renewal offer, we have the opportunity to renew at just above a 12% increase YoY. In both offers, the monthly pet fee will also unexpectedly increase.
ONo options were offered to us for reducing our renewal rate for committing to a longer term
I have tried talking to several renewal agents as to why the Firstkey renewal is so high above the average YoY renewal in the area and I have used a few objective (longer term at lower cost.) and rental unit negativity points to try to negotiate. In reply, each agent uses a blanket statement that these are inflationary times and costs are rising to provide rentals and they do not ever negotiate renewals (every renewal agent says this on the phone each and every time).
I have asked a renewal manager to call back to talk further through these renewal practices and they have yet to call back. This is disappointing to experience.

At this point, we expect we will be be reluctant 2nd year renters of FirstKey as the 10% early renewal rate barely edges out moving and choosing a new rental at lower rates (with security deposits and other fees), but just barely. Next year, we're likely gone no matter the situation (whether our house is done or not) if FirstKey approaches us with another sizable rent increase. At some point, we as customers have to stop allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of by vendors such as FirstKey Homes who are continuing to push the inflationary narrative further and further. Stop paying the higher rates, post more negative reviews, and bad practices like this will stop.

After my personal experience and reading through the many other negative reviews, I expect FirstKey Homes will make no relevant changes and I will then personally look forward to seeing FirstKey Homes sitting on many open rentals when their current renters move – they will be eating significant costs that could likely have been avoided if they would be more negotiable with their "valued" customers at renewal time.

I would gladly change my review / perception of FirstKey Homes to a 4-star review, or even a 5-star review, if I could get just get some real perception on why the rental rates increased so much vs. the local averages and/or offer us a fair negotiation opportunity such as the ability to commit to a longer renewal term at a lower price or a shorter renewal term at the currently offered pricing options.

I am a current First Key home resident in the Clayton, NC area. Let me just say, the company is horrible when it comes to maintenance. My home has had heating/AC issues 3 times in the last year, current issue being now. I have no heat or air. Submitted a request on February 28, didn't get a technician to come look at it until March 1. Technician could not fix the issue so they assigned a vendor on that day. The vendor declined the order on March 2 because they said they were "too busy" to come fix it. Another vendor came March 3 but stated it was an electrical issue, not an HVAC issue. They notified First Key immediately, as did I via the useless call center that can resolve absolutely NOTHING! The call center stated they cannot assign a vendor only the local manager/office can and they ultimately can't assist me any further. I even spoke with a call center supervisor, POINTLESS!

I've requested a call from my local office since Wednesday, I've heard from no one. Even reached out to the property manager located in the Charlotte area (which controls the area I reside in), I've heard nothing from her. I've tried emailing and calling, no response. I've literally been texting the initial Maintenance technician that responded initially to ask him to get in contact with his manager. The manager still has not approved an electrician to come service my home. Day 5, still no heat or AC and not a call, text or email from the local manager to assist with resolving. WORST COMPANY EVER! I will be considering breaking my lease due to the failure to repair my heat/AC within a reasonable time.

This is the worst place I have ever dealt with. I could go on and on like everyone else about maintance issues, rude customer service if you do get to speak with someone, the increase in fees for paying rent on their on-line portal (I have NEVER heard of such), how they give your private information to other companies, and on and on. But today, I just about lost my mind. They sent an email updating their privacy policy. It basically says they will give your information to who ever they want and if you do not like it, to not use their company. So, I called and said I do not like it, when I signed my lease with you this was not the way things are so you need to let me out of my lease as you stated in your email. Nope... they feel they can do what ever they want to do. So here is my question... would anyone like to file a civil suit with me? I think we all have enough information it would be very sucessful.

Dirty property and multiple broken features that they would not repair. Could never speak to a real person. Upon renewal, they increased rent by $200 and would not negotiate. Any other option is better.

Beware they take your money, show you the property that you are interested in then tell you the property had too many applicants. They do not refund you the money.

Had basement flood 6 times. After 1st flooding plumber sent information to first key and they did nothing for over a year. Then when finally addressing they said they would discuss compensation for us for the property damage and hassle once the work was done. When completed they kept telling us there were open work orders so they couldn't discuss compensation. They left work order open until we moved. Took 4 months to repair a sidewalk with the tripping hazard. Took 5 months to resolve an electrical issue in the kitchen that cause circuit breakers to kick. Had a tree fall that blocked access to vehicles in garage, took 4 days to send someone to remove and when the tree fell a hole was created in the roof of the garage and was not repaired for 3 months, after we had moved out.

DO NOT RENT FROM FIRST KEY HOMES!

We are being charged $2800 a month for rent and we are also getting charged $100 extra for pool service? And not to mention the maintenance request I put in (online and called a couple days later as there was no response to the request) for the smoke detector not functioning properly! I put in that request over month ago explaining the issues with our smoke detectors and they are still not working (I would fix myself but the ceilings are 15' tall and it is the responsibility of the management company). The man I talked to said it would take 4-5 days to get somebody out to our place, maybe he meant 4-5 months? Seems like a bit of a safety hazard as well as a lot of neglect from first key.

When we initially moved in I emailed first key and tried calling our "agent" assigned to us numerous times (did not get a response until I contacted his manager) about the many things that were either broken or missing on the property. We moved in early September, I am still waiting for these issues to be resolved and its November 5th.

I have contacted first key about 8 times over the course of the last month and a half. Our pool has been green, disgusting and unusable for nearly two months. Every time I contact them they come up with an excuse and a way to make the pool being dirty my fault and they claim that they have been servicing it. This does not look like a serviced pool to me, it looks more like Shrek's swamp (pictures have been taken over the course of the last month).

My advice to you is to stay far away from this company. We will be leaving the residence soon as it is unsafe (no smoke detectors) and we are being neglected by management.

This might be the worst place i've ever rented. The house looked nice but had countless issued but they mever bothered to send maintenance. We were left without power/water multiple times because they never payed the providers in time. Oh and good luck tying to contact them because they don't know how to help you or they will refer you to some 3rd party who ony bills you based on some made up numbers. Of course a payment is demanded but they simply don't care about their residents. So do yourself a favor and stay away.