Sometimes it is said that you must break away from the norm, and in this case, breaking away from Politics. Because of a personal situation that I am experiencing at my place of residence, an apartment complex located on the north side of Dallas, Texas, I feel compelled to tell my story.
Recently, the apartment complex that I'm living in for nearly 2 years now is a place called Celery Stalk apartments located in Dallas Texas. Recently they were purchased by a firm called Trinity Property Consultants. On June 7th, a note was tacked onto my front door by the property management group the the apartment, 5-6 days after my automatic payment was to be credited from my rent. the complex was no longer to be called Celery Stalk and now was to be called 'The Brighton' as the notice stated. The staff was named to be Kim Dominguez, the new Community Manager and SaQuincy Pouncy as the new Maintenance Supervisor. In the note explaining the change, they claimed to be available for any questions or concerns that I may have.
The concerns have been many, from the constant invasion of privacy from residents using the community pool located right outside of my living room window with activities running well after the proclaimed closing hours of the pool of 10:00PM. The new local management has honestly tried to control the violations but seem to be always falling short in getting the abuse under control. I have asked that the access doors to the pool area be locked at night, but that has never been done. The access doors to the pool are directly attached to the wall outside my living room, and there is a constant clanging every time they close, and the noise constantly reverberates through my apartment, leaving no sense of privacy or a way to sleep in peace when you need to. The clanging which seems to be at least 2 or 3 times a minute during the heat of the day and even late at night is relentless.
The new management in less than 1 week of taking over the complex, served me an eviction notice because they claimed that I didn't pay my rent. So much for the management trying to contact me to tell me that my automatic payment that has NEVER been late was never received because the new management did not have an automated payment method secured yet for this property. The property has 3 numbers to contact me or my wife for any issues involving the apartment, Nevertheless, the managers felt that the best way to get my attention was to hang an eviction notice inside my apartment. Of course that got my attention besides the very uneasy feeling that I was just about to get thrown out on the street, and I had to take time off from work the next morning to stop by at the office to find out why I was served the notice. After all, my payment was to be taken out of my checking account promptly after the first of the month, and has been so for nearly the last two years. I lost nearly 3 hours of pay from IBM that morning addressing this issue at the leasing office by the time I finally made it to work. I was assured that the only reason that I was served the notice was because management wanted to get my attention, and that I was in no way in danger of being evicted, except if I didn't make payment of course. But nevertheless, the eviction notice had a drop dead leave date for the eviction, which they could have used to have the local authorities remove me from the premises at the drop of their whim. There were also late charges involved, which I did not have to pay after talking to management at the front office promptly in the morning when they opened their doors at 9:00AM. Mind you, I was supposed to be at work at 7:30am, but had to take time off to address this issue.
Now believe this or not, this is not the reason why at this time that I am writing this article. I am writing this article to explain my disgust for the most recent lack of addressing my emergency concerns which are still ongoing.
I presently have a water leak coming from the apartment above, or a pipe located in the ceiling of my first floor apartment. I discovered this problem at approximately 7:30PM on 8/15/2012, and I contacted the complex on a 24 hour number claiming I needed emergency service. I received a return call from the the maintenance man just 25 minutes later. I was pleased with the time it took for the maintenance man to call me back. But unfortunately, he made claims that he could not keep. He told me to use a bucket in the bathroom, and since he had 2 more emergency calls before mine, he would come by the next day. I wasn't too pleased with the answer, because now I had to put up with a water leak above the toilet in the main bathroom, and walking in that bathroom posed now to be unsafe from falling ceiling debris.
To my surprise or shall I say the lack of it, I found the ceiling in the same condition some 27 hours later after work the next day. I left a voice mail at the main office, then called the maintenance number 30 minutes later explaining this problem, and others that still need to be handled, along with informing management and maintenance that this article is forthcoming.
It is unfortunate that renters have to live in units that they call their home and have to receive this kind of service for the monthly rent that they pay. It will be interesting to see if this management group make good with monetary funds or allowing me to break this lease just a week early. Because of the issues at this unit, I in no way plan to stay. Instead, I am willing to pay almost $300 more each month from another complex that I can trust. In the mean time, I must live in a unit that in no way I can call a safe home to live in. In the past, the odor from mold because of setting water was a main concern, and soon will be again if the present situation is not taken care of in a timely manner.
I am moving just a few miles away to Carrollton, Texas in a complex called SpiceWood Apartments, and it is so very obvious by working with the people there that their resolve to handle problems that I made them privy to regarding my issues at 'The Brighton' will be handled in a totally different and professional manner.
By the way, the lease by both units are underwritten by MAA, but still, the management at 'The Brighten' claim that I cannot break my lease. I must continue to live in these unlivable conditions because of a contract that I renewed just under 1 year ago. Do I have ANY rights here?
Besides not getting issues resolved in a timely manner, and not allowing me to break my lease, the management expects me to also pay the first 9 days of September, which is the valid end of my present contract with 'Celery Stalk', now known as a property called the 'Brighton'.
This article is just the beginning. It can have a happy ending or it can become very ugly. If the property goes out of their way to handle ALL of the present issues which they will become very privy of the next time we talk, then I will explain in a future article how they handled the maintenance. Likewise, if it is not handled in a timely manner, future correspondence including to the better business bureau and a local attorney will be also made known on this website. Furthermore, if issues are not handled promptly, I will personally contact every resident of this complex and make sure that they have the ability to read this article.
Unfortunately, you must have to go to extremes to get things done the right way at complexes such as this. It is also unfortunate that the new management obviously had no idea on the condition of the property that they decided to purchase and manage, and even with the light they have so many issues, they have not taken any provisions to get outside help to maintain the property, i.e an outside plummer to keep a resident happy. I'm a pretty easy guy to get along with, but I can be the most difficult to get along with if I am slighted of my rights as a renter in this case.
Another article is forthcoming, hopfully praising the property management group and the local managers who try to maintain the property, when they take care of the issues of my concern with my unit. If continued lack of regard to my concerns persists, then I will take legal action against this property, the management, along with the property management group who appear to have the wrong people in place to run the property.
In case management does not consider this notice serious, make it be known that this note can be and will be read by readers of this blog from around the world. So this is formal notice that ALL concerns must be met and handled in a professional and timely manner.
This is a formal notice, as it is published for anyone and everyone who cares to read it.
As of 8/18/2012 at 11:30AM, these outright incidences are still occurring, and by the way, the leak is still leaking. It's now been 3 days since it started.
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