Complaint Review: Palm Coast Landing Senior Apartments - Palm Coast Florida

Concord Management Limited http://www.concordrents.com/ is the agent for the new senior living apartments known as Palm Coast Senior Apartments, 465 Landing Blvd Unit # 107, Palm Coast, FL 32164. Two leasing agents, Kim Oliver and Alexis Miller were operating out of a sister property to secure applications from seniors to pre-lease the new senior apartments. At no time during the application process did any Concord Management employee inform the applicant that their $350 deposit monies were be non-refundable and was actually considered a holding fee. The agents did mention that they had some cancellations which had come in for the senior apartments, so they weren't sure which apartments would be assigned to qualified applicants.

You had to wait and be assigned an apartment! And, you didn't even see the building or the actual apartment since it was a construction zone. One thing was clear, if you were approved, you had to take possession of the apartment by the first of June, 2015. They weren't "holding" apartments into June or beyond. So, what happened to those applications that weren't approved? Were those $350 monies refunded to applicants? Googling Concord Rents/Concord Management, it seems they might be deceptive with other properties in that they don't tell you the deposit monies are non-refundable; and are actually holding fees.

Why do you not get any documents stating full-disclosure of your submitted monies should your application be not approved? Why are they not forthcoming to tell you upfront about the actual pet policy; that cats are charged $50 per month as a fee? The only documentation that you get when you have supplied your financial history and completed an application is a floorplan! And, you've never seen the apartment, building, or even been told which apartment you might be renting.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME:

On May 7, 2015, I drove from Jacksonville, FL to Palm Coast, FL to view the Palm Coast Senior Apartments and possibly secure one of their senior apartments. The apartments were not yet ready, so I met with two leasing agents at a sister property. They had two layouts for a one bedroom apartment - Laguna and Reef - both renting for $746. When I arrived, Kim Oliver first sat with me and gave me the application to fill out. Later in the process, Alexis Miller sat with me. When I filled out the application, they asked for two checks, $75 for the application fee and $350 which would go towards the deposit of $600. After I had written my two checks and they had taken them, I mentioned my cat. That is when I learned they charge $50 per month for cats although the pet policy says nothing about that charge. They took an incredible amount of financial information from me including a copy of my divorce decree of 11/2010, my current home sales contract of 5/4/2015, checking account statement, savings statement, IRA statement, copy of a monthly check from the ex.

They took me into another room and told me to call the Social Security Administration to request that they fax a current income letter; to tell the SSA I was sitting in front of the fax machine, although that wasn't the fax machine the income letter would come through - it was in a different office. When I asked to see the apartments, they said we couldn't go down there. Instead, they took me to a townhome at the sister property to show me the kitchen saying it had similar finishes. After the showing, Alexis said goodbye to me in the parking lot. I decided to go find those apartments. I drove around the block and then found Central remembering Alexis had mentioned that street. Driving a couple of blocks down Central, I saw a building that looked a bit like the website photo. I drove up to the entrance and saw the Palm Coast Senior Living sign.

At no time during this first meeting was anything said about my $350 being non-refundable. I had discussed that I was just under contract on my home and hoped the sale would go through; as of today, it still hasn't. I also discussed how I would need the apartment perhaps by June 15th. I do remember Alexis/Kim saying that they couldn't "hold" the apartment into June, but wanted potential residents to be in by the first of June. We hadn't agreed on any move in date as my application hadn't bee processed or accepted and there was always the potential I might need to cancel should my home sale fall through.

The only paperwork they gave me was a floor plan for the Laguna and Reef one bedroom apartments. I was interested in the $746 rent since I am retired on Social Security. I mentioned I knew they had those two floor plans, however, the Reef was being marketed as a special as a carriage home at $999 including a garage. If I was interested in either of those apartments, I could tell them which floor was my preference and they would try and match that. I had no idea which apartment might be mine; that they were working off a list and hadn't assigned apartments yet; but, they had some cancellations which had opened up other apartments. It was all kind of ify!

On May 12, 2015, I got a phone call from Alexis Miller saying they had questions about my finances and required further information. They asked me to contact my mortgage bank to have them fax a current mortgage statement. And, they asked for six months of checking statements along with a current IRA statement. I called my bank and asked them to fax the mortgage statement. I then pulled electronic copies from my bank of the checking and IRA statements, put it in a zip file, and emailed to both Kim Oliver and Alexis Miller. I was told I should hear about my application the next day, May 13th.

On May 14th, I emailed both Kim and Alexis asking if my application had been accepted. There were no replies to that email.

On May 15th at 4:30pm, I emailed Alexis Miller that I was canceling and asking for a refund of my $350 deposit along with the return of all my financial documents. She replied at 6:30pm that I had just been accepted and would I reconsider as she didn't want me to lose my holding fee. That was the first time "holding fee" was mentioned and that it might not be refunded. I wrote back that I wanted my $350 deposit refunded immediately. There was no further reply from Alexis Miller or Kim Oliver.