State Presses Suit Against Cambridge Firm Advertising Apartments For Sale in City.

Mary Sue Brancato said she saw a newspaper ad for a two bedroom apartment with "sunny kitchen" in Belmont for $300 per month. But Rentell Inc.. the rental service which ran the ad, would show her the listing for the apartment only after she paid a $75 registration fee.

Brancato paid the fee, but when she looked at the listings, she found not the apartment she wanted, but a flat in Watertown for $340 per month, with a kitchen that consisted of a microwave oven.

The treatment that Brancato--a research technician at Harvard's museum of Comparative Zoology--received at the Cambridge agency, located at 1695 Mass Ave., was not uncommon. Approximately 30 recent customer complaints resulted last week in a suit by the state Attorney General's office against the firm and its president, Robert J. Carye.

Assistant Atty. General Carol K. Dietz said that the firm is being charged with misrepresentation in advertising and violation of the Consumer Protection Act.

The Consumer Protection Act prohibits unfair and deceptive practices in commerce, Dietz said.

"They used the ads to induce people to come to their office and pay the fee, and then did not deliver the goods," Dietz explained. She added that the firm is being charged with offering a "deceptive" money-back guarantee and with violating a state law preventing real estate brokers from charging listing fees.

The Atty. General's office will seek an injunction against the company's operation at a March 15 hearing, Dietz added "Ultimately we'll want restitution for the consumers, but that's not in the immediate future." she said.

Rentell's license has also been suspended for 30 days after a hearing last month before the Board of Real Estate Brokers and Agents, Jerry C. deCristofaro, a board investigator said. He added that further hearings as a result of complaints are expected later this month. Carye could not be reached for comment last week.

DeCristofaro said that the Real Estate Board is also pursuing complaints of misrepresentation by another Cambridge listing service. Home Folks Inc., located at 1770 Mass Ave. "There has been no hearing yet, but the two complaints are still pending," he said.

Dietz declined to comment on the Atty, General's involvement in the Home Folks case

Homefolks

Home Folks President Mary E. Riley said that the complaints have been resolved and that the Atty, General's office "has nothing to do with us. There is nothing in the wind for Home Folks."

Generation II, another Cambridge listing service, closed in October after more than 400 complaints prompted action by the Atty. General, the Real Estate Board, and the District Attorney, deCristofaro said.