Get the Facts: Hoover woman charged legal fees in apartment eviction battle gets fees dropped

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —

A months-long battle between a Hoover woman and her apartment complex is one step closer to coming to an end. After facing an eviction over a year ago, the woman said the property management was coming to collect.

Téa Barnes lives at the Overlook at Greystone on Cahaba Valley Road in Hoover. She said this all started when she was going through a hard time in October 2023 and was almost evicted from her apartment. Barnes said she paid all the fees to dismiss the case, but nearly a year later, she was facing another eviction.

Barnes said property management company BH Management Services was trying to illegally charge her legal fees for the case that was dismissed over a year ago. She said her rent is usually paid online, but those legal fees were added to her resident portal along with last month’s charges. She said an employee in the leasing office told her to pay her rent with a Money Order to avoid the charge.

Barnes believes the Money Order was used to satisfy the fee instead of going toward her rent. Because there was a balance left on her account again, she found herself facing another eviction.

Barnes’ mother, Tiffani Collins, said she worked in property management off and on for 15 years. She doesn’t remember seeing an itemized list of legal fees included in the original notice.

WVTM 13 worked to get the facts to see what rights tenants have when they feel they’re being charged unfairly. An attorney who handles cases of tenant rights said he would not suggest Barnes pay any court costs or legal fees. That’s because the case was dismissed and no judgment on the matter was made. That means the property management company cannot collect any owed money through the legal process.

“That would have just meant a charge that the company would just had to eat,” Collins said. “We would just have to pay those attorney fees and that’s it.”

But the dispute between Barnes and property management isn’t over just yet. She said the charge for legal fees was taken off her account, but she still has a late fee for paying her rent late in November. She said the money order was made on Nov. 2 — the same day her payment should be received by.

“They’re still expecting me to pay 10% of my rent from last month, even though I paid on time,” Barnes said. “Even when I go in to pay my rent today, they’re still going to say, 'I’m short.'”