Apartment Residents Foot Bill For Recurring Vandalism
Posted: Sunday, August 23, 2009
by Gerry Charbonneau
http://nibblednews.typepad.com
I have resided at my current residence, a comfortable three bedroom unit, since 1991. The building itself, currently managed by Boardwalk Rental Community Properties, is a three story walk up apartment building.
It is located on the west end of a major metropolitan city in an upscale and somewhat friendly neighborhood community. A bustling and well known shopping mall lies within walking distance from my residence.
A primary school, grades K to five, lies directly across the street from my building as does a ballpark and soccer field. A busy community center building is situated on the same property as the school. In short, this should be a comfortable, quiet and secure place to live and raise your children.
When I first moved into my apartment the rent was reasonably set at $595 per month. The monthly rental cost of a parking stall was a nominal $15 per month. The building amenities included a sauna facility, satellite television, clothes washers and dryers on every floor and more importantly a weekend security guard.
Over the ensuing years these advertised rental luxuries have either been drastically reduced or totally eliminated while the rent for every suite has more than doubled in cost. The satellite television antenna on the roof was removed and the sauna room converted into a janitorial storage room. The second floor laundry room was converted into another fallow storage site. That's the cost of progress I guess.
The quality of tenant protection and overall customer customer service has been seriously compromised. A number of years ago the building hired a security guard to patrol the hallways and ensure that peace and quiet reined on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The advertising spiel for this rental property describes it as being "a safe and secure haven to live and raise your children in a worry free environment". The last security guard the building management staff employed informed many tenants that he did not work weekends. Residential managers now advise tenants to call the police if they have any trouble.
The incidents of vandalism occurring at this property has increased. The lock to the front door of this secure haven has not worked properly for months. Repeated telephone calls by many tenants to the rental office's customer service assistance line reporting the faulty door lock mechanism resolves nothing. An on site maintenance man always attempts to remedy the situation but to no avail.
This past Saturday night two large exterior panes of window glass located at the front door lobby were smashed in and totally demolished by thrill seeking vandals. Glass and debris lay strewn all over the interior carpeted front door waiting area.
A hastily executed overnight repair attempt by maintenance personnel eventually resulted in the placement of a large piece of cardboard on the gaping hole in the front door. A large dark green plastic garbage bag was taped over a vandalized window frame.
The cost of these types of property damage is ultimately borne by the tenant. Yearly rental increases inform residents that "increased property taxes and operating maintenance costs" force the company to raise monthly rental fees.
Boardwalk Rental Property Management Company owns this property and many other rental properties in the area. Customer complaints and concerns when voiced are often delegated by fax to the on site resident managers. These managers are young trainees and in actuality have no real power to address tenant concerns.
The vacancy rate for this rental property and a number of other rental sites in the city is fairly high at this time. Rental inducements and other monetary perks are shamelessly dangled to lure unsuspecting prospective tenants to sign on the dotted line and secure their lease. Once these new tenants sign the lease they are quite literally on their own and must fend for themselves to secure service.
Many tenants seem to purposefully try to break their rental lease agreement. Others stay in residence until their lease expires then leave disgruntled. It's the way of life here now. The large rental property management firms have effectively become slum landlords raking in the profits from their overly inflated rental rates. The long term tenant is left holding the bag and footing the bill for the costs and damages done by non residents.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Gerry, you have just given the status of our country called, these United States of America. A generation of morals and respect for others have somehow just evaporated. Thanks for sharing information in which we see every day when we drive.
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