No certified class action has produced a public judgment against Darwin Homes as of mid-2026, but the Austin-based single-family rental manager has been named in a federal wage lawsuit, has filed evictions against its own tenants, and sits under a Better Business Bureau “Pattern of Complaints” alert built on 397 complaints over three years. A tenant petition launched in January 2025 explicitly calls for a lawsuit against the company. The Darwin Homes lawsuit picture, in other words, is a collection of individual disputes and organizing efforts rather than a single consolidated case.
The Federal Wage Case: Naasz v. Darwin Homes
The clearest court action naming Darwin Homes as a defendant is Naasz et al v. Darwin Homes Inc., Case No. 3:24-cv-03037, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Plaintiffs Tiana Cunningham, Jacob Naasz, and Stephanea White sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case terminated on June 12, 2025, after the plaintiffs filed a stipulation of dismissal. Terms were not publicly disclosed.1PACER Monitor. Naasz et al v Darwin Homes Inc
This was an employment matter, not a tenant case. If you’re searching because you rented from Darwin, it isn’t the vehicle for a claim like yours.
Eviction Filings Brought by Darwin Homes
Darwin appears in court more often as a plaintiff than as a defendant, filing eviction actions against tenants across multiple states. One documented example, Darwin Homes LLC v. Chaya Morris, was filed in Warren County, Indiana, on August 26, 2025, with an eviction hearing held September 11, 2025.2Trellis Law. Darwin Homes LLC v Chaya Morris
Why Tenants Are Pushing for a Lawsuit
The company’s BBB profile carries a “Pattern of Complaints” alert. As of mid-2026, the profile shows 397 complaints filed over the prior three years, with 134 closed in the most recent 12 months. Darwin Homes is not BBB-accredited. Of the 397 total, 317 were marked “answered” by the company but not resolved to the tenant’s satisfaction, 66 were resolved, and 13 went entirely unanswered. Service and repair issues account for 194 of the complaints; billing disputes account for another 92.3Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management Complaints
Security Deposit Deductions
A repeated allegation is that Darwin withholds deposits or charges tenants for damage that was pre-existing or amounted to normal wear and tear, and refuses to provide photographic before-and-after documentation or itemized contractor invoices to justify the charges.4Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management BBB Complaints – Page 1 In one Texas complaint, a tenant was charged $1,014 in damages despite paying a $1,495 deposit, and the company forwarded the balance to a third-party collection agency.5Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management BBB Complaints – Page 4 In a Georgia dispute, Darwin declined to return a deposit during a residency change involving court-issued orders, maintaining that under Georgia law the deposit stays with the property until all residents vacate.
Some tenants have alleged charges for items that did not exist in the home at move-in, including a missing doorbell and a missing sink plunger. Others describe being billed for painting and cleaning they consider standard landlord turnover expense.4Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management BBB Complaints – Page 1
Maintenance Delays and Habitability
Tenants across states have reported mold from unresolved leaks, nonworking HVAC systems, and months-long waits for basic repairs. A January 2026 complaint described a family with children living with mold growing under cabinets from a persistent sink leak the company did not expedite.4Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management BBB Complaints – Page 1
How Darwin Responds
Responding to BBB complaints, Darwin Homes consistently cites the lease agreement and internal records, denies improper conduct, and states that its practices comply with local law and company policy. The company emphasizes that maintenance requests must go through its designated online portal and that communications through other channels do not count as sufficient documentation.3Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management Complaints
A Recent Case That Settled Through Mutual Release
An Indiana case documented on the BBB profile involved a sewage backup. The tenant initially sought $10,000 in damages, a full refund of a $2,075 security deposit, and $14,434 in content remediation costs. The dispute resolved on January 23, 2026, through a lease termination and mutual release agreement. The tenant received a full security deposit refund, a refund of January rent, and a relocation payment in exchange for ending the lease and releasing all claims.5Better Business Bureau. Darwin Homes Property Management BBB Complaints – Page 4
The Kansas City Case That Drew National Attention
The most detailed public account of tenant problems with Darwin comes from a 2021 Shelterforce investigation profiling Jazmin Murphy and Curtis West. The couple moved into an SFR3-owned home managed by Darwin in June 2021. The property lacked a water heater and stove, had a nonfunctional refrigerator, and had frayed cords and obsolete outlets.6Shelterforce. Tech Company Promises More Than It Delivers to Tenants of Single-Family Rental
It took three weeks to get a working stove and two weeks for a refrigerator. An electrician who eventually inspected the home called the wiring a “serious fire hazard.” Tenants reported flickering lights, burning smells, and a rotting odor from the crawl space suspected to be a dead animal that had chewed through electrical wires. The underlying problem was a faulty electrical system supplying incorrect voltage to appliances. Darwin’s area manager, Archie Sowell, allegedly broke a new stove to trigger a Home Depot exchange and attempted electrical repairs the tenants believed would void the appliance warranty.6Shelterforce. Tech Company Promises More Than It Delivers to Tenants of Single-Family Rental
Murphy and West reported losing over $1,000 in income from disruptions caused by the failures. In September 2021, Darwin offered them a mutual release and indemnification agreement that would have terminated the lease and reimbursed move-in costs, rent, and lost wages. The tenants declined. They said the agreement functioned as a non-disclosure agreement and that the second half of the payment was conditioned on their vacating the property, which they did not trust the company to honor. A Darwin representative declined an interview with Shelterforce.6Shelterforce. Tech Company Promises More Than It Delivers to Tenants of Single-Family Rental
Organized Tenant Pressure
A Change.org petition titled “Demand Justice Against Darwin Homes for Neglecting Resident Concerns” was launched on January 4, 2025 and had gathered 85 verified signatures as of mid-2026. The petition explicitly calls for a lawsuit against the company and cites the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as a standard it alleges Darwin is failing to meet.7Change.org. Demand Justice Against Darwin Homes for Neglecting Resident Concerns
Signers describe emergency maintenance treated as routine, rodent infestations, unexplained chargebacks on their ledgers, and security deposit deductions they consider unjustified. Some report being charged for damage created by the company’s own maintenance work, such as holes cut in walls during repairs. Commenters describe unreturned calls and emails going unanswered for three to five days.7Change.org. Demand Justice Against Darwin Homes for Neglecting Resident Concerns
Shelterforce also reported that Kansas City tenants sought support from KC Tenants, a local advocacy organization, and that some tenants in other markets reported the company to their state attorneys general.6Shelterforce. Tech Company Promises More Than It Delivers to Tenants of Single-Family Rental
Who You Would Actually Be Suing
Darwin Homes was co-founded by Ryan Broderick and Zachary Kinloch as a technology-driven property manager for single-family rentals, operating without local offices and routing tenant contact through an app and a general phone number. Its clients range from individual landlords to institutional investors including SFR3, an LLC that owns thousands of rental homes.
In January 2023, Pagaya Technologies, a publicly traded AI-driven financial technology firm, acquired Darwin Homes for an undisclosed sum, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.8Fintech Futures. Pagaya Buys Darwin Homes To Capitalise on Rental Market Broderick and Kinloch stayed on to lead the platform after the acquisition.9Nasdaq. Pagaya’s Acquisition of Darwin Homes Powers Premier Tech-Enabled Single-Family Rental More recently, Evernest acquired Darwin’s retail property management division, covering agreements for more than 500 homes in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. Darwin retained its real estate brokerage.10Evernest. Evernest Acquires Retail Property Management Division of Darwin Homes Depending on when your lease was active, the entity actually responsible for your property may now be Evernest, Adoor, or Darwin’s remaining brokerage.
As of mid-2026, no large-scale class-action lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action against Darwin Homes has been publicly reported. The pressure that exists is spread across BBB complaints, individual settlements under mutual release agreements, eviction dockets where Darwin is the plaintiff, and a petition asking for legal accountability that has not yet produced a filed case.