FirstKey Homes lawsuits span mold and habitability claims, high-volume eviction filings, a state attorney general settlement over utility billing errors, a federal wage-and-hour class action, and a steady stream of consumer complaints tied to maintenance, fees, and refund checks. The company, an institutional single-family rental operator owned by Cerberus Capital Management, manages more than 40,000 homes across roughly 30 U.S. markets, and its legal disputes have drawn attention from state regulators, federal courts, and housing advocates.
Mold and Habitability Cases
Mold complaints sit at the center of some of the most closely watched cases. In Clermont County, Ohio, tenant Jennifer Johnson began reporting mold in her FirstKey rental in August 2023. After months of remediation attempts that she said failed to fix the problem, she sent a formal noncompliance notice to the company’s Georgia headquarters in March 2024 and deposited $1,600 in rent with the county clerk under Ohio’s rent escrow statute.1Supreme Court of Ohio. Johnson v. First Key Homes, L.L.C., 2025-Ohio-882
FirstKey challenged the escrow action, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction and that Johnson had sent her notice to the wrong address. In March 2025, the Twelfth Appellate District of Ohio rejected both arguments. The court held that FirstKey had violated Ohio law by failing to provide an in-state business address in its lease, which under the statute waived the company’s right to complain about how it received notice. It also found Johnson’s testimony about persistent mold uncontroverted and affirmed the release of the escrowed rent to her.1Supreme Court of Ohio. Johnson v. First Key Homes, L.L.C., 2025-Ohio-882
A Georgia mold case took a different turn. Kobree Robinson leased a FirstKey home in Decatur in January 2019 and reported mold throughout the property by August, alleging health effects for himself and his wife and inaction by the company. When the case reached the Georgia Court of Appeals, the issue was not the mold itself but the makeup of Robinson’s legal team. FirstKey moved to disqualify his law firm because one of its attorneys, June James, had previously worked as in-house senior counsel for the company. In October 2022, the appellate court agreed that James’s prior access to FirstKey’s confidential policies and legal strategies on tenant maintenance created an actual conflict of interest, and it ordered the entire firm disqualified.2FindLaw. First Key Homes of Georgia, LLC v. Robinson
An earlier habitability suit alleging non-functioning utilities and pest infestations settled in December 2018 for between $5,000 and $10,000.3U.S. Department of the Treasury. Public Comment on Institutional Single-Family Rentals
Eviction Filing Patterns
FirstKey’s eviction filing rates have drawn some of the sharpest criticism. In Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes Memphis, the company filed for eviction at a rate of 21 per 100 homes annually, nearly double the local average of 11 per 100. In the first three quarters of 2018 alone, FirstKey filed 435 eviction notices in the Memphis area.4Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Cerberus: Three-Headed Attack on Homeowners and Tenants Housing advocates have described the pattern as a “pay and stay” tactic, using filings to pressure tenants into fast payment rather than to remove them.
Clayton County, Georgia showed a similar pattern. Between May 2018 and February 2020, FirstKey or related Cerberus entities filed at least 222 eviction actions, targeting 127 of the 328 households in their Clayton County portfolio, a filing rate near 40 percent. Seven individual tenants were named in eviction filings at least four times during that 22-month window.4Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Cerberus: Three-Headed Attack on Homeowners and Tenants
The company also drew criticism for continuing eviction proceedings in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, including advancing a Clayton County case and seeking default judgments in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida while public health authorities urged landlords to pause.4Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Cerberus: Three-Headed Attack on Homeowners and Tenants A 2016 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta study found large corporate landlords about 8 percent more likely to file for eviction than smaller landlords, and FirstKey’s rates exceeded even those elevated averages.3U.S. Department of the Treasury. Public Comment on Institutional Single-Family Rentals
North Carolina Attorney General Settlement
In May 2025, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced a consumer protection resolution involving FirstKey and 161 state tenants. It started when two tenants told the state Department of Justice they had been instructed to transfer utility accounts into their own names, directly contradicting what their leases required. The mistaken instructions produced unexpected fees for some tenants and false lease violation notifications for others.5North Carolina Department of Justice. Attorney General Jeff Jackson Secures Refunds for 161 North Carolinians
When the attorney general’s office raised the complaints with FirstKey, the company identified 159 more affected tenants. Under the agreement, FirstKey agreed to compensate tenants at 200 percent of any fees they had actually incurred and to pay $250 to tenants who received the erroneous instructions but had not yet been charged. The company also agreed to improve its communication practices on lease inquiries and to retain outside counsel to review and update its internal policies.5North Carolina Department of Justice. Attorney General Jeff Jackson Secures Refunds for 161 North Carolinians
Federal Wage and Hour Class Action
Not all of the company’s legal exposure comes from tenants. In 2025, three plaintiffs filed a class action in the Northern District of Texas alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case, Harper et al v. FirstKey Homes LLC (No. 3:25-cv-00642), is assigned to Judge Sam A. Lindsay. In November 2025, a magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery, and the case remained pending as of late 2025.6GovInfo. Harper et al v. FirstKey Homes LLC, Case No. 3:25-cv-00642
Code Violations and Complaint Volume
Individual lawsuits are only part of the record. In 2018, the Memphis Blight Elimination Steering Team listed Cerberus-owned properties among the city’s top 10 residential code violators, and the FirstKey-affiliated entity CSMA BLT LLC was identified as the top violator that year with 190 citations.3U.S. Department of the Treasury. Public Comment on Institutional Single-Family Rentals
The Better Business Bureau profile for FirstKey Homes shows 1,367 complaints filed in the three years leading up to mid-2026, with 411 closed in the most recent 12-month period. Service and repair issues account for 817 of those complaints, by far the largest category. Of the 1,367 total, 1,223 were marked “answered,” meaning the company responded but the consumer either did not accept the outcome or did not report satisfaction, while 144 were marked “resolved.” FirstKey maintains an A+ BBB rating and accredited status despite the complaint volume.7Better Business Bureau. FirstKey Homes Complaints
Recent complaints from May and June 2026 illustrate recurring themes. Tenants reported living without air conditioning during extreme heat, with indoor temperatures reaching 90 degrees, and waiting extended periods for repairs. Other complaints cited black mold, water leaks, pest infestations, and sewage backups, with some tenants describing safety hazards for children. Multiple tenants reported that security deposit refund checks from FirstKey were flagged by their banks as fraudulent or altered, causing account restrictions; the company issued a replacement payment in at least one case. Billing disputes centered on “insufficient notice” fees charged when tenants vacated without providing the 60 days’ written notice required by the lease, with some renters saying staff had given them incorrect verbal instructions.7Better Business Bureau. FirstKey Homes Complaints
Arbitration Clauses That Limit Tenant Claims
Any tenant weighing legal action against FirstKey needs to look at the agreements first. The company’s website terms of service, updated in April 2025, require disputes to be resolved through binding individual arbitration before the American Arbitration Association under the Federal Arbitration Act. Class actions, class-wide arbitrations, and private attorney-general actions are prohibited. Claims must be filed within one year or are permanently barred. For disputes under $25,000, hearings are conducted by phone unless the arbitrator sees reason for an in-person session, which would take place in Los Angeles.8FirstKey Homes. Terms of Services
One boundary matters here. The website terms note that rental agreements are separate agreements distinct from the site’s terms, so the arbitration provisions in a specific lease may differ from those governing website use. Even so, class waivers of this kind limit tenants to resolving disputes one at a time, which is why so much of the legal pressure on FirstKey has come through state attorneys general, appellate rulings on individual habitability cases, and public complaint data rather than through consolidated tenant litigation.