Tintara at Canyon Creek II Jefferson Canyon Apartments Stole a disabled woman's inheritance Austin, Texas
12/24/03 we realized my mom was sick. By 1/24/04 she was dead from lung cancer. I lost another job (quit), my mom (dropped dead), my family (disowned) & another boyfriend (dumped) in about a month & a week. I was sick before this happened. Afterwards, I am disabled. I had a 15 year old to finish raising & needed help to pull it off. Specifically...she needed insurance & I needed help hauling her around & help fighting greedy & corrupt so-called licensed pros to fix her.
I had raised this child alone all but 3 of her 15 years. Her "father" sent a check once a month. I thought for her last 3 childhood years he could & should physically help. I called him & told him what we needed & he promised us help. However, he's a pathological liar & I knew this before we ever came here.
Her father's cousin, an apartment locator, hooked me up with Jefferson Canyon Apartments. I called them & told them all of the above. I'm disabled. Until I'm fixed I'm unemployable. I inherited some money but I only had part of it - the rest was in probate & I didn't know how long it would take. I told them we were moving here based on the promises of a pathological liar. I told them this was all "iffy".
They forced me to pay not $100, not $200, but thousands for a deposit. After we moved here they talked me into signing a year's lease so my rent would only be $700+ a month rather then over $1,000+ a month. Then sure enough, my child's father, a pathological liar, lied. I'm disabled...I'm half blind...I'm night blind...& I'm completely lost. Yet he dumped us in these apartments & left me to rot. He got the kid on the weekends - took her out & showed her a good time. He's got friends in high places. He was more like a cool uncle then a responsible parent.
After 5 mo's of this I was broke. And again - the rest was in probate & I didn't know how long it would take. I told Jefferson Canyon to use some of my huge deposit to continue paying rent but they refused. They left me with no choice but to break the lease. They not only kept most of the first chunk of my inheritance...they tried to bill me for several thousand more. They claimed since I broke the lease I had to pay the difference between the discount rent & the full market rent. I refused to pay it so it's probably still sitting on my credit report today.
Between a pathological liar & a greedy & corrupt property management company the great credit I had before I moved here was ruined. I've even had a TX HUD dump refuse me because of this. They've changed their name because I see almost nothing but complaints about them but I'm sure they're just as greedy & corrupt as ever. I'd avoid them like the plague if I were you.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
dmleforce
Pflugerville,Texas,
USA
Life Story Included
#3Author of original report
Sat, August 06, 2011
The point is I had a list of health problems (Scoliosis, Endometriosis, etc. etc.) plus depression, stress, anxiety & PTSD. The point is I went through a month of h**l on earth. The point is I'm disabled. The point is they knew it. They took advantage of someone who was already so far down. People can filter out my life story all they want but it doesn't make it any less true & they knew it. They were cold, calculating, greedy & inhumane. If 2012 is the end of life as we know it it's not going to be because of some ticked off god. It'll be because of stuff just like this.
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
RipOff?
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, August 05, 2011
By the time we filter out your life story it comes down to this. You had a lease, you "broke" the lease, and they are charging you for breaking the lease. This is standard practice you would find with any apartment.
Deposits are just that a deposit on the unit. Legally that money is separated from other monies and can not be touched to pay your monthly rent. So no apartment management will use your deposit to pay all or part of your regular monthly rent. However, once you move out they can use that deposit to pay for any damages, back rent due, or in your case any fees caused by you breaking your lease.
If you didn't like the amount of the deposit they were charging you could have found another Apartment that charged you less.
When you break the lease you may be subject to additional fees that were part of the agreement. Having you pay the difference between the "Market Rate" and the Discounted Rate does not seem that out of the ordinary. In fact if that is all they did it seems rather generous. Because there are a lot of apartments that would not have only done that but continued to charge you that rate until they lease the unit again. Which might be anywhere from a month to the end of the current lease.