The Department of Justice resolved an enforcement matter against JWB Real Estate Management for violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act when it imposed illegal early termination charges on military service members who terminated their leases after receiving military relocation orders.
The SCRA is a federal law that provides legal and financial protections to active-duty military personnel. It covers various aspects such as interest rate caps on pre-service debts, protection from eviction and the ability to terminate leases early.
Jacksonville-based JWB imposed early termination fees on at least six members of the U.S. military after they attempted to terminate their leases in accordance with the SCRA.
“Our military families already shoulder the burden of military-ordered moves and deployments,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a June 23 news release. “We will not allow them to be penalized by landlords for answering the call of duty for service.”
As a result of the department’s enforcement, JWB is required to pay more than $39,000 in compensation to the affected service members, as well as a $25,000 civil penalty. The company also will make changes to its policies and training to ensure that it complies with the SCRA in the future.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida is committed to protecting the rights of all our service members,” U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida said in the release. “Our servicemembers make tremendous sacrifices to protect the rights and freedoms of our citizens and we will combat all forms of discrimination against them to help ensure that they are able to fulfill their military obligations.”
This case was handled by Middle District of Florida Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Karahalios and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division Yohance A. Pettis.
"JWB Property Management takes special care to serve our military and veteran residents with the respect they deserve. JWB identified administrative errors within our system that could have led to incorrect fees for a small group of military residents – this impacted fewer than 1% of our military move-outs," JWB President Alex Sifakis said in a statement to the Daily Record. "JWB quickly reversed and remedied these issues before any deposit refunds were incorrectly charged. We have since updated our internal processes to ensure these errors do not happen again.
"JWB remains fully committed to compliance across all aspects of our residential leasing and operations including in our military- and veterans-focused programs that include no fee applications and our philanthropic commitment to veterans through K9s for Warriors."
Service members and their dependents who believe that their rights under the SCRA may have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations can be found at legalassistance.law.af.mil.
This story has been updated with a statement from JWB.