Complaint Review: Peter DeGennaro and Charlene Conners - Cape Elizabeth & Woburn Massachusetts

My roommate and I answered an ad back in September for an apartment for rent. We called and made an appointment to see it. We loved it but there needed to have some things done before we moved in. We were told by Peter DeGennaro that the work would be completed by his "guys". This included a whole new bathroom (since it's riddled with mold). He told us he was getting a Federal Grant to make updates to this house. Needless to say, the bathroom is still the same one (and yes still riddled with black mold). We have learned that he received the money for the Federal Grant but he's yet to do anything to this house.

A few things need to be fixed or maintained to date that he has refused to fix: We have a broken toilet seat; the oil tank's gage is broken so I never know when we're running low on oil. This problem usually results in the tank running dry on the coldest days of the year, which in turn requires a "same day delivery" from my oil company, costing an extra $30 and another $30 for the priming of the burner since it ran empty. The burners for both apartments havent been serviced in 2 years and the downstairs apartment's burner is seriously in need of repair. It's actually a fire hazard.

The first half of the month we lived here, the heat didn't work for two weeks. Our phone calls were ignored consistently. Finally the oil guy came out and he told us that he had JUST received the phone call from Charlene that afternoon. In turn, we only paid for half a months rent as the law clearly states the heat needs to be working as of September 16th. My roommates room was 50 degrees at 3pm. She'd freeze at night because her windows are 100 years old (Peter also told us those were being replaced) and the wind blows right through them.

The response to our half payment was a letter from Charlene demanding the rest of the money by the end of the week. We ignored it. And never heard anything from it again. My roommate and I have yet to ever actually speak with or meet Charlene Connors.

Right after Christmas we learned of the foreclosure. Some wonderful, concerned stranger sent us a copy of the letter from the Law Office as well as an article from the Globe stating that these two people have been ripping people off out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for 9+ years.

I did more research and found out that the house was actually being auctioned on Jan 29th. So obviously these people rented us a house they weren't paying on, and come to find out, they haven't paid since June 2008.

I also found out that he's trying to get a mortgage remodification. I called one of my friends who works on loan modifications asking what the stipulations are to get this modification. He rattled off several rules that didn't really matter to me, but one jumped out: The house needs to be owner occupied. Funny, they don't live here. He lives with Charlene in Maine. Yet they get all their mail here. I remember one time Peter told me that if anyone came looking for him, to tell them they haven't seen him or that I don't know where he is. Since then, the tenants downstairs told me the Sherriff has been to the door on numorous occasions at 6am looking for him.

My roommate and I have since called the bank and informed them that this property is NOT owner occupied. The new auction date is now March 4th. I have been advised by legal counsel to cease paying rent.

Every voicemail I have received from him, threatening me has been saved. He has hand delivered to my roommate a letter telling us to vacate the premises. The letter said it was certified mailed, regular mailed and hand delivered. When he dropped off the 'hand delivered' letters he also dropped of a non-stamped letter in the mail box. We have yet to receive the certified letter. We are waiting for our notice to go to court. We don't think that will happen since he IS wanted, but we really want our day in court.

The current mailing address for Charlene Connors and Peter DeGennaro is:

PO Box 6255

Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107

"They are predators to the community" someone was quoted in the Globe article we received, and I truly believe that to be true still to this day. We truly hope these two people get what is coming to them and I will be more than willing to help out any way I can to make sure Peter DeGennaro and Charlene Connors get what they deserve. They deserve to go to jail.