Jules Junker was our landlord in Atlanta, GA for 4 years, from August 15, 2014 to August 31, 2018. I am posting this report for two reasons.
My wife and I want to warn future potential tenants of what is in store for anyone who rents a Jules Junker home and what they are in for with him as a landlord.
He has wrongfully withheld $200 of our security deposit for untruthful reasons, knowing my wife and I will not travel back to Georgia to initiate a lawsuit.
What to expect when renting a Jules Junker house
We encountered a number of issues over the 4 years we lived in one of Mr. Junker’s rentals, such as a leaking roof, mold, failed appliances, and others. The issues themselves obviously do not make Mr. Junker a bad landlord; these things inevitably happen. Our issue with Mr. Junker was his “fixes” to these problems.
Here are some examples of his “fixes”:
When the dryer stopped working, a repairman came out and discovered it had stopped working because a part overheated. Upon further inspection, he saw that the dryer was being vented into our crawl space instead of outside the house. The repairman told Mr. Junker and myself this is a fire hazard, against code, and needs to be addressed. Mr. Junker refused to fix it properly, insisting the repairman was exaggerating and that venting into the crawl space is acceptable.
We had a hole in the living room wall (see picture) where the drywall was literally bubbling up, clearly the result of rot from a perpetually leaking roof (see picture). Mr. Junker was present when I was speaking with the repairman about this issue and told me he would take care of it. This conversation took place a year before we moved out, but it still was not fixed the day we moved out. Mr. Junker told me several times the repairman was busy but would be out soon.
We had unidentifiable brown ooze on the walls of our master bedroom that Mr. Junker and the same repairman from #2 observed. The repairman said he didn’t know what it was, but it needed to be addressed. Nothing was ever done to investigate and fix this issue.
Over a year ago, the ceiling started leaking in my son’s room onto his crib. Fortunately, he was not in there when this happened. Instead of calling a professional roofer, Mr. Junker called his handyman, who later applied a rubber-type paint to the roof. The roof leaked again about 3 months later, near the same spot, and Mr. Junker had his handyman back out to apply more “goop”. The most telling part of all was that even his handyman told me directly that the roof was in terrible condition and needed to be replaced.
Time and time again, Mr. Junker ignored professional advice on how to fix a problem and instead used a cheaper “quick fix”. I mention the above points as warning to anyone considering renting from Jules Junker in the future.
Security Deposit
The full security deposit amount was $1600, and Mr. Junker returned $1400 of it, citing the below explanation:
Evan, I had a deep cleaning done which included dusting the blinds which weren’t done, cleaning the windows, scrubbing the baths, shower floor, and stove. The basement totally stunk of cat urine. We had to rip out the carpet including under the shelves and use lots of bleach. Total was $400. I am only charging ½ to you. I think that’s fair.
This explanation sounds reasonable enough, except it is completely untrue. It is actually a bit disturbing how untruthful this explanation is, especially given that Mr. Junker is a licensed Georgia attorney.
First of all, I have verified with the current tenant that the basement carpet is still intact. Mr. Junker did not rip out the carpet, and therefore didn't apply bleach.
As for the smell, it is most certainly not cat urine. It’s true that we had our cat’s litter box in the basement, but not once in 4 years did she pee in the basement outside the litter box. When we first moved in, the basement smelled of dampness, which is why Mr. Junker had a dehumidifier hooked up to run 24/7. The dehumidifier emptied to a pump to send the water outside, but unfortunately the hose would often get clogged, requiring manual work to empty it. I would empty it most every time I went down there, but it filled up quickly and wouldn’t run for days. From day 1, we tolerated the smell of dampness and mold in the basement, and that smell remained all 4 years until we moved out. To blame this smell on our cat is shameful.
Anticipating having to fight for our security deposit, we had the entire house deep cleaned. But instead of hiring a cleaning company, my mother-in-law insisted she clean our house instead of hiring someone, because she knew she'd do a better job. She spent 10 hours thoroughly cleaning the house, including the basement. In the end, I can safely say that house was the cleanest it had ever been in our 4 years. It’s funny that Mr. Junker mentioned that the stove wasn’t clean, because my mother-in-law literally said “I bet he’ll try to get you on the stove, so I made sure to clean that as well”. The only thing she didn't anticipate was that he'd cite the stove even if it was clean.
As for the window blinds, I honestly can’t remember if these were cleaned or not. What’s ironic here is that I actually remember how dirty the blinds were when we moved in. When we moved in 4 years ago, Mr. Junker and his family were still in the process of moving out. He had things in nearly every room, and the kitchen and refrigerator was full of food. We were happy to work with him and give him as many days as he needed to casually move out all of his stuff. But even when all his stuff was out, we had to have the house professionally cleaned because the floors and windows were dirty, and the blinds in particular were filthy. It takes some nerve and a lack of shame to charge my wife and I for not cleaning the blinds given how much nicer we left his house than how we found it. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure dusty blinds don't even quality as an item to withhold a deposit anyway.
To Recap
My wife and I are getting ripped off from Jules Junker for $200. It’s a strong guess that he chose $200 because it was small enough to where he knew we wouldn’t come back to Atlanta and fight it. And he’s right. My wife and I are too busy with our jobs and young kids to engage in a legal battle with a lawyer himself, so he will get to keep our $200. All I can do is warn future tenants of Mr. Junker what they can expect from him during and after their time renting from him.
We took excellent care of Mr. Junker’s house for 4 years, paid him nearly $100,000 in rent over 4 years (always on time), tolerated all sorts of insufficient fixes during our stay, and went above and beyond to leave his house in excellent condition. He gave me a list of things to address for the security deposit, and I fixed all of them. For him to disregard all of that and lie about the state of the house just to make an extra $200 is shameful. I hope this warning proves helpful to someone in the future.
And if you are looking to rent Mount Royal Dr, 30329, then please be sure to ask if the roof has been replaced. My apologies to the current tenant for not giving a warning ahead of time.
The Jules Law Group Reviews
Jules Junker was our landlord in Atlanta, GA for 4 years, from August 15, 2014 to August 31, 2018. I am posting this report for two reasons.
My wife and I want to warn future potential tenants of what is in store for anyone who rents a Jules Junker home and what they are in for with him as a landlord.
He has wrongfully withheld $200 of our security deposit for untruthful reasons, knowing my wife and I will not travel back to Georgia to initiate a lawsuit.
What to expect when renting a Jules Junker house
We encountered a number of issues over the 4 years we lived in one of Mr. Junker’s rentals, such as a leaking roof, mold, failed appliances, and others. The issues themselves obviously do not make Mr. Junker a bad landlord; these things inevitably happen. Our issue with Mr. Junker was his “fixes” to these problems.
Here are some examples of his “fixes”:
When the dryer stopped working, a repairman came out and discovered it had stopped working because a part overheated. Upon further inspection, he saw that the dryer was being vented into our crawl space instead of outside the house. The repairman told Mr. Junker and myself this is a fire hazard, against code, and needs to be addressed. Mr. Junker refused to fix it properly, insisting the repairman was exaggerating and that venting into the crawl space is acceptable.
We had a hole in the living room wall (see picture) where the drywall was literally bubbling up, clearly the result of rot from a perpetually leaking roof (see picture). Mr. Junker was present when I was speaking with the repairman about this issue and told me he would take care of it. This conversation took place a year before we moved out, but it still was not fixed the day we moved out. Mr. Junker told me several times the repairman was busy but would be out soon.
We had unidentifiable brown ooze on the walls of our master bedroom that Mr. Junker and the same repairman from #2 observed. The repairman said he didn’t know what it was, but it needed to be addressed. Nothing was ever done to investigate and fix this issue.
Over a year ago, the ceiling started leaking in my son’s room onto his crib. Fortunately, he was not in there when this happened. Instead of calling a professional roofer, Mr. Junker called his handyman, who later applied a rubber-type paint to the roof. The roof leaked again about 3 months later, near the same spot, and Mr. Junker had his handyman back out to apply more “goop”. The most telling part of all was that even his handyman told me directly that the roof was in terrible condition and needed to be replaced.
Time and time again, Mr. Junker ignored professional advice on how to fix a problem and instead used a cheaper “quick fix”. I mention the above points as warning to anyone considering renting from Jules Junker in the future.
Security Deposit
The full security deposit amount was $1600, and Mr. Junker returned $1400 of it, citing the below explanation:
Evan, I had a deep cleaning done which included dusting the blinds which weren’t done, cleaning the windows, scrubbing the baths, shower floor, and stove. The basement totally stunk of cat urine. We had to rip out the carpet including under the shelves and use lots of bleach. Total was $400. I am only charging ½ to you. I think that’s fair.
This explanation sounds reasonable enough, except it is completely untrue. It is actually a bit disturbing how untruthful this explanation is, especially given that Mr. Junker is a licensed Georgia attorney.
First of all, I have verified with the current tenant that the basement carpet is still intact. Mr. Junker did not rip out the carpet, and therefore didn't apply bleach.
As for the smell, it is most certainly not cat urine. It’s true that we had our cat’s litter box in the basement, but not once in 4 years did she pee in the basement outside the litter box. When we first moved in, the basement smelled of dampness, which is why Mr. Junker had a dehumidifier hooked up to run 24/7. The dehumidifier emptied to a pump to send the water outside, but unfortunately the hose would often get clogged, requiring manual work to empty it. I would empty it most every time I went down there, but it filled up quickly and wouldn’t run for days. From day 1, we tolerated the smell of dampness and mold in the basement, and that smell remained all 4 years until we moved out. To blame this smell on our cat is shameful.
Anticipating having to fight for our security deposit, we had the entire house deep cleaned. But instead of hiring a cleaning company, my mother-in-law insisted she clean our house instead of hiring someone, because she knew she'd do a better job. She spent 10 hours thoroughly cleaning the house, including the basement. In the end, I can safely say that house was the cleanest it had ever been in our 4 years. It’s funny that Mr. Junker mentioned that the stove wasn’t clean, because my mother-in-law literally said “I bet he’ll try to get you on the stove, so I made sure to clean that as well”. The only thing she didn't anticipate was that he'd cite the stove even if it was clean.
As for the window blinds, I honestly can’t remember if these were cleaned or not. What’s ironic here is that I actually remember how dirty the blinds were when we moved in. When we moved in 4 years ago, Mr. Junker and his family were still in the process of moving out. He had things in nearly every room, and the kitchen and refrigerator was full of food. We were happy to work with him and give him as many days as he needed to casually move out all of his stuff. But even when all his stuff was out, we had to have the house professionally cleaned because the floors and windows were dirty, and the blinds in particular were filthy. It takes some nerve and a lack of shame to charge my wife and I for not cleaning the blinds given how much nicer we left his house than how we found it. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure dusty blinds don't even quality as an item to withhold a deposit anyway.
To Recap
My wife and I are getting ripped off from Jules Junker for $200. It’s a strong guess that he chose $200 because it was small enough to where he knew we wouldn’t come back to Atlanta and fight it. And he’s right. My wife and I are too busy with our jobs and young kids to engage in a legal battle with a lawyer himself, so he will get to keep our $200. All I can do is warn future tenants of Mr. Junker what they can expect from him during and after their time renting from him.
We took excellent care of Mr. Junker’s house for 4 years, paid him nearly $100,000 in rent over 4 years (always on time), tolerated all sorts of insufficient fixes during our stay, and went above and beyond to leave his house in excellent condition. He gave me a list of things to address for the security deposit, and I fixed all of them. For him to disregard all of that and lie about the state of the house just to make an extra $200 is shameful. I hope this warning proves helpful to someone in the future.
And if you are looking to rent Mount Royal Dr, 30329, then please be sure to ask if the roof has been replaced. My apologies to the current tenant for not giving a warning ahead of time.