Potomac, Maryland-based Curbio, which specializes in renovating homes to prepare them for resale, will settle a lawsuit brought by the D.C. Attorney General’s Office (OAG) last fall for $7.5 million, including restitution to homeowners who claim they were harmed by Curbio’s deceptive practices.
Curbio admits no wrongdoing in settling the suit, adding in a statement that it’s “disappointed” in the “myriad baseless allegations” made in the suit.
Under terms of the settlement, Curbio will pay $3.5 million in restitution and credits to more than 180 D.C. homeowners who filed complaints about alleged shoddy work and deceptive contracts. It will also pay $4 million to the District, stop making deceptive marketing claims and change its contract provisions.
“Ultimately, as the agreement states, we determined that the time and money we would spend over the next two years to clear our good name would be better spent doing what we do best: modernizing home improvement to make it more accessible, reliable, and successful for Realtors and home sellers,” Curbio said in a statement to WTOP.
Curbio operates nationwide. The D.C. settlement applies to its practices both in the District and other markets where it does business.
The D.C. suit accused the company of greatly exaggerating average return on investment from presale renovations and misleading homeowners about how much faster their renovated home would sell compared to as-is condition. It alleged the company targeted elderly D.C. residents, and threatened and intimidated consumers to enforce unconscionable contract provisions.
“We’re happy to resolve this matter and excited to continue the journey with our partners and customers to elevate presale home improvement to a permanent part of the home sales process,” Curbio wrote.
When the suit was brought last fall, Curbio said it believed the D.C. attorney general’s office cherry-picked a handful of exceptions with isolated instances that painted a false narrative of its customer satisfaction in the District and said the overwhelming number of its D.C. projects have been completed without complaint.
A copy of the settlement is online.
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