By: Roberto at Wednesday 12th of September 2012 04:48:44 PM

In the Summer of 2011. I listed a property I own in New Canaan with Marshall Heaven Real Estate. The main thrust of my communication with Mr. Heaven was that I was interested in having a good, honorable tenant. In February, Mr. Heaven came to me with a proposal from a prospective tenant whom he touted as the perfect candidate. He claimed that this was someone with lots of business experience and associated with an established business. He suggested that we should have the first 6 months be rent free, and a reduced rent for the remained of the first year because he was going to completely renovate the premises. I agreed to these terms based on his recommendation, and signed a 10 year lease, paying Mr. Heaven a $10,000 commission for his services. In March 2012, the tenant took occupancy of the premises. As of today, not a single provision of the lease has been fulfilled. The premises were not renovated. One of the main provisions of the lease was that the Tenant was to have liability insurance. First, the tenant showed a fake certificate of insurance. Then, illegally installed refrigerator compressors and connected them to the condominium water supply, running up a $1200 bill in just 3 months! When confronted with this, he had no explanation and made believe that it was someone else’s doing. On several occasions, I spoke to Mr. Heaven about this predicament, but he claimed that he was powerless to rectify the situation. At this time, the rent has not been paid, the taxes have not been paid, and the condo maintenance has not been paid. Last week, I spoke to Mr. Heaven and asked him to please at least return the $10,000 commission that I paid him for this nightmare, but his counteroffer was that the only thing he could do was to find me another tenant when this one was evicted. I now have lost 7 months of rent, had to pay the $1200 water bill, and had to hire an attorney to evict the tenant in addition to the $10,000 commission that I paid Mr. Heaven. I would like it to be known to prospective clients that Mr. Heaven is not an ethical businessperson.