In June of 2010, I turned in my written 30 day notice to vacate to the leasing office at Sawmill Ravine Apartments. On the written notice I evoked my right as a tenant in Ohio, and requested the right to be present during the final move out inspection of my unit to validate any potential issues that would result in the loss of my security deposit and or additional charges.
The leasing agent acknowledged receipt of my notice and I went on my way. A month went by and I had not been contacted by Sawmill Ravine or any member of Ardent's staff. Around the last week of August I received a move-out condition form and an addendum from Ardent Property Management. The forms included an invoice for over $300 dollars worth of charges including the consumption of my security deposit.
At that time I contacted Heidy Shea, in the Turnover Division of Ardent. After calling several times with no answer I left a voice mail and emailed Heidy with my concerns. To date (9/4/10) Heidy has not returned my call. However, when I advised Heidy that I had requested the right to be present during the final move out inspection of my unit as per Ohio law, Heidy responded with "this is not Ardent Property Management policy". I then advised Heidy that regardless of policy it is a tenants right to be present for those inspections and that the charges needed to be itemized and explained.
Now, Heidy is ignoring all correspondence and refuses to return my calls or emails. The charges are completely illegitimate and unfounded. It is my belief that Ardent is purposely charging residents for "normal ware and tare" which themselves as landlords should be responsible for.
After reading the 100's of complaints from former residents like me I am more than willing to pursue a class action law suit. Please feel free to respond to this report to arrange a suit. I am unwilling to let a company like Ardent take advantage of consumers like they are.