The first day we moved into our apartment, the base of the toilet flooded, the living room window poured rain in from the outside, appliances were broken and pieced together, the tiles in the bathroom pulled away from the wall allowing water to flow into the wall, and the fire detector in the living room was (and still is) hanging from the wall by a frayed wire. These issues were reported several times, and 4 months later, one issue was fixed and another only partially fixed.
The toilet that had flooded was repaired, but not fixed correctly. I was told by the maintenance man that they would not allow them to have proper parts to repair the issue, so he bought his own materials to fix our toilet. The tiles in the wall that were bulging out were simply pushed back into place (there is no backer board for them to be grouted to, they were pieced together) and caulked. I was at that time told this would not fix the problem completely, that the entire shower needed to be replaced. (So technically only one problem was fixed, and that was because the new maintenance man - the only one that works here - fixed it with his own materials). The apartment complex did nothing, and the shower is still in need of replacement.
The window in the living room free flows water out of the top of it. We were told (after the former maintenance man ran a thin bead of caulk on the inside - which soon fell off when it rained) that it would have to be fixed from the outside. It was never fixed. After several calls, (notice it was written up when I moved in, it was raining that day) and even another written letter, it still has yet to be fixed. Because of the heat, the AC will not kick off, so the air stays on. We have noted this to the landlord several times. After the last hard rain, rain water seeped into the siding by the front door and started pouring out of the light switch panel on the wall by the door.
Because of the leak in the window, our electric bills have skyrocketed. We are now paying close to $300 a month for a 700 sq. ft. apartment. My mother pays $200 a month for a 1600 sq. ft., 2 story farm house. The air conditioner now leaks, and the maintenance man pulled the pan off of the bottom of the A/C unit to reveal .25 inch of water on the ground. This water has seeped into the walls, leaving HUGE brown spots all over the walls. We were handled a bottle of unknown "cleaning" fluid (in an unlabeled bottle) and told to monitor it ourselves. Gnats have started flying in from every small hole, and mosquitoes have taken up residence in the space underneath the A/C unit. I had been told that the sewer occasionally backs up down here (I'm on the ground floor apartment in back by the woods) and gnats are constantly flying around, even though we keep our apartment VERY clean.
We told the landlord in a phone message (they no longer answer calls in the office), and ANOTHER written letter that they needed to fix it or we were going to pay to have it fixed and taken out of rent. Still no reply. We called the power company to let them know what was going on and they told us we should hurry and do SOMETHING because we are now looking at ANOTHER high electric bill. We now have no choice, we are moving. We cannot afford the bills incurred to us because of this UNBELIEVABLY poorly maintained facility.
The garbage is not collected on a regular basis, and it free flows out of the dumpsters. The grounds are not maintained regularly, weeds and garbage are abundant. It was shown that the property is siphoning water illegally, because now they are now facing a lawsuit from a former maintenance man. The water is shut off on a regular basis at all the properties this company owns in Chattanooga. They have an F rating from the BBB in NY and TN.
This company owns 2 other sites here in Chattanooga. Mountain Brook apartments and Cambridge Park apartments. Mountain Brook apartments CONSTANTLY have problems with water being shut off, and Cambridge Park has a building that is condemned because they refuse to fix a roofing issue. The owners are not unavailable, and will not talk to residents. They do not and will not maintain these apartments, and have cost my family money that we do not have. Because they have broken the terms of our lease by not properly maintaining MAJOR issues, we are leaving.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Lori
Chattanooga,Tennessee,
United States of America
Family is now sick because of being placed next to mold infested apartment.
#2Author of original report
Wed, September 01, 2010
We found the source of mold in the apartment. The apartment that shares a bedroom wall with mine is completely covered floor to ceiling with black mold. The ceiling has torn away, and there is water .25 thick on the floors. TRASH EVERYWHERE. It has been that way since before we moved in. We moved to this apartment because management told us that they felt bad for us, seeing as how we were sick moving from the same type of situation in another complex. Now we are in an apartment that is making us sick, and we are trying to move.