[Lucky Mary]

Homeowners BEWARE of this company!!! If I could give the VIR Group zero stars, I would. Alistair Barrett Powell (Owner) owes us a substantial amount of money from our property that he managed. Our calls are left unreturned, we have been thrown out of VIR's office, and been threatened with trespassing!!! These guys are crooked and anyone would be foolish to do business with them.

[dnobles]

He owes our friends a lot of money too. I think there is a suit against them. Thank God our other friends didn't use him They stayed with Home Town Property Management

[Chatbrat]

Stating crooked online, makes you vulnerable--please amend your post to include the following-in my opinion they are crooked, retail and condo mgt firms have a very lousy rep in Fl--

[ArkOuFan]

Owners comments were disappointing to read. We have rented through VIR for the last 3 or 4 years and have found them very good to work with. Rentals were all handled through the website and we were billed exactly as we expected. We can only do weekly right now as we both still work so we found the much easier than say **** to find what we wanted. We did have a couple of small issues with a home and they had a staff member right there to take care of it. We'll continue to monitor closely for owners comments because we don't want to contribute to a problem. From a renters perspective we were satisfied.

[Toymeister]

Everyone brings something from their work life, mine is writing contracts, so naturally I reviewed the VIR management contract. If you are interested in VIR you should review their contract for yourself.

I note these things:

- There is a non-disparagement clause, he does not allow for you to mention anything negative about his firm, reputable firms do not need to have this in their contracts. I have never seen this in any other contract in The Villages.
- You authorize VIR to spend whatever sum they see fit to maintain the property to their standards, using the firms that they choose.
- You authorize VIR to hold back 18% and other, unspecified, marketing fees. There is no upper end limit.
- You authorize VIR to charge you for a number of unspecified fees service fees for services that exist for their convenience.
- VIR determines, at its sole discretion, if your property is a ‘premium property; and will be rented at a higher rate. That does not seem unreasonable until you realize any minor infraction removes you from consideration, no ESPN? Forget about it.
- You agree to mandatory arbitration. Ok this is pretty standard.
- The contract cites numerous reasons why YOU will be in breach of contract but not VIR. VIR not paying you and you take control of your home by changing the locks? YOU are in breach (IMHO)
- The offending party in breach pays all legal fees (see above).
- An early termination results in a fee by VIR which is calculated by them, without recourse by you or review of the supporting documents.
- VIR shares the marketing report with several promises that conflict with the contract. Not to worry the contract disavows all prior agreements. Translation whatever you are told is not binding.
-Finally the owner of VIR willingly returned his real estate license for reasons that are known only to him as the state web site does not specify the details.
- I do think VIR does a great job marketing your property, however I have no idea if this translates into a happy property owner as I found the contract unreasonable and did not use VIR.

[JourneyOfLife]

Take a look at this!

I seem to remember news articles about several bills on the issue of online reviews working their way through congress... but lost track of it due to all the stuff going on with the election.


Speak Freely America: New Federal Law Outlaws Gag Clauses That Punish You For Negative Reviews – Consumerist

President Signs Law Protecting Your Right to Review | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 -- Beware of the Negative Online Review | Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by JourneyOfLife

Take a look at this!


Speak Freely America: New Federal Law Outlaws Gag Clauses That Punish You For Negative Reviews – Consumerist

President Signs Law Protecting Your Right to Review | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 -- Beware of the Negative Online Review | Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer

From what you have written VIR's contract violates Federal law, That is interesting.

[I Tango]

Originally Posted by ArkOuFan

Owners comments were disappointing to read. We have rented through VIR for the last 3 or 4 years and have found them very good to work with. Rentals were all handled through the website and we were billed exactly as we expected. We can only do weekly right now as we both still work so we found the much easier than say **** to find what we wanted. We did have a couple of small issues with a home and they had a staff member right there to take care of it. We'll continue to monitor closely for owners comments because we don't want to contribute to a problem. From a renters perspective we were satisfied.

Sorry to hear about the problems with the management end of things. We agree with the above quote...from a renters perspective we've never had a better experience. We had a 10 day rental through VIR this past May and the rental experience couldn't have been any better. We have another 10 day rental scheduled through them for this Sept. Hope things get worked out because we already paid our money, so there's no backing out now. Although we did purchase travel insurance just in case.

[dnobles]

Great for renters but unfortunately the owners aren't getting paid

[Railcruiser]

How does this continue? I don't understand how they are still in business after all this time. Where is the justice?

[Barb05]

How in the world is this Company still in business?

[Railcruiser]

????????

[Toymeister]

If it makes those who say that they were ripped off by VIR happy the number of property owners that use them for managing their home has dropped. VIR reports, in a marketing report available on the web, the number of properties that they manage in 2017. Yet when you count the number of properties on their website it is over 15% lower. Now if I had rented a certain home and the owner pulled it back because they were getting ripped off I 'd be irritated. Not because I care about the contract dispute but because I am inconvenienced. I am not some pawn that can be moved to another home like a chess piece!

[wsudberg]

thank you and there is SLAPP Legislation as well

[wsudberg]

for the renters that have a great experience I get it. However there is a level of what is fair. We, in a senior community hired a company to fairly rent our home on a short stay basis and they have not revealed the amount they rent it for, if they pay the taxes, receipts for their purported repairs. You get a great deal on the backs of people who are selling their home, seniors depending on rental income and if there is a god or spiritual leader this is not right. In terms of the contract, you can remove the lock if you let them know in advance. It is implied that the company does not profit while you lose money. There is consideration for a service and if the company makes money and shows no receipts and you wind up owing them money after a rental of a brand new property as what happened to me there is something greatly wrong. In terms of telling the truth and posting I would never have hired them if i did not see an A rating from the BBB and the Birdeye reviews that filter out negative reviews and never post them. There should be something about not allowing any negative reviews. In terms of the gag orders there seems to be legislation like SLAPP and others that allow you to write truthful statements. So I tell all the renters have a conscience and do not use a company that rips off the people you are renting from. It is bad Karma. And the owners need to band together so that we protect each other and the future people who will become victims of VIR. Such a great idea, such a beautiful office, nice management of the property but dishonest company owners with a very colored history in England