The startup Tabas by Blueground is accused by more than 80 clients of not passing on apartment rents to owners of luxury properties in the west zone of São Paulo.
Tabas rents high-end properties on five- to six-year contracts, makes improvements to the apartments and sublets them to third parties. The company operates in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.
The complaint is that the company is not passing on the amounts to the property owners, resulting in million-dollar debts in rent, condominium fees and property tax. The losses amount to more than R$1.5 million.
Lawyer Marcela Miranda, who represents the affected clients, said she has already filed more than 60 lawsuits against the startup for debt collection and contract termination. Some of the clients are also suing Tabas for fraud and misappropriation of funds in the criminal sphere.
The Civil Police are investigating the case. According to the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) of São Paulo, the 78°DP (Jardins) is investigating the crimes mentioned through police inquiries.
THE CNN found that many police reports have already been filed. “We have been monitoring the company’s movements since April 2023 and I believe it is a management problem, not a financial one,” said the lawyer.
The representative said that individual debts with customers are around R$30,000 to R$40,000, totaling more than R$1.5 million. “This number could still be much higher, new customers arrive every day.”
The lawyer also said that a building in Jardins, an upscale neighborhood in the west of São Paulo, has 17 apartments with unpaid condominium fees, all rented by Tabas. “The building manager is already desperate,” she said.
Customers affected
THE CNN obtained a series of emails in which a couple, clients of Tabas, questioned the company about the delay in the payment of three installments of the Urban Property and Land Tax (IPTU) for three apartments.
The communication took place in November 2023. The startup only responded after customers threatened to take legal action against the company. See below .
After regretting the case, Tabas sought to regularize the payments urgently. CNN concealed the names of customers and company employees to preserve the identity of those involved.
Another client, Patrícia Naderth, said that the startup owes her five months’ rent, equivalent to R$60,000. “I rented my apartment to Tabas in 2021. It seemed like a great deal, even though the contract included R$50,000 for renovations and a five-year term with a very high fine.”
She explained that it was after the acquisition by Blueground that the extremely high arrears began. “Defaults on condominium and property tax and, when I found out, I was being sued by my condominium”, she revealed.
Patrícia stated that most of the clients represented by Marcela Miranda have already filed a police report and that a police officer is already handling the case. “They are profiting from a property that is not theirs.”
The woman said she has two more years on her contract with Tabas and will be in a cycle of “stress and exhaustion that is emotionally absurd”.
“It drains anyone’s mental and physical health. Good heavens, the only improvement they made was to put horrible porcelain tiles on top of what we already had in the apartment,” he added.
In a consultation with the Reclame Aqui portal, Tabas is classified as “Not recommended”, with less than 50% of complaints answered. In total, 88 queries are still awaiting a response, and the average time for a response is 56 days.
In the last 30 days alone, the company has received the following complaints: “They do not comply with the contract”, “lack of payment”, “deceive customers”, “do not deliver what they promise”, “do not pay owners” and “misleading advertising”.
What does Tabas say?
In a note, Tabas informed CNN that it is aware of the cases and that they are being handled by the courts. However, the company claims that it has not been notified of any ongoing police investigation. See the note below in full.
“Tabas is a startup that rents and subleases properties. It is not considered a real estate agency. Therefore, the company did not stop paying rent, but rather, as a tenant, suspended payment.
The company is aware of the cases and informs that it has not been notified of any ongoing police investigation discussing the non-payment of rent. The cases mentioned are in legal proceedings and each situation has a specific reason, provided for in the contract, for the suspension of payments. In all of them, amounts owed by the owners to Tabas were determined due to improvements that the company made to their properties.
Tabas currently manages over 2,000 properties, and these cases, which represent less than 2% of our client base, are being handled appropriately in court. We are committed to ensuring that each situation is handled with due care and in accordance with legal requirements.
We continue to grow and lead the flexible rental market, focused on offering a high-quality experience for all our tenants, with the transparency and commitment that have always been pillars of Tabas.”
Tabas opened in April 2020 and currently has 1,300 rental units. More than 20,000 contracts have been signed by customers.
The company was acquired by the North American company Blueground in early 2023, a world leader in flexible and ready-to-live accommodation.
This content was originally published in Startup is accused of not passing on rent for luxury properties to 80 owners on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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