worst mistake of my life

By angry renter

I signed a lease contract with ***** Apartments in April 2009, but months later the complex was not at all what I thought it was when I first signed the lease. But I will admit that I didn’t do a complete walkthrough before signing the lease and well after I did completely move in I noticed the unit was not clean, stains in the carpet, vents had two inches of dust caked on them, and it was not energy efficient there were heavy wind drafts in the doors and windows and the bathrooms had small spots of mold growing in it. I was willing to overlook that at the time because I thought the complex was safe and quite but that was not the case, there were always cops called, loud guitar playing and awful singing outside the units, loud partying, booming systems, bug infestations, dogs barking and running loose, and a local drug dealer that delivered drugs to the neighbors right in front of there children in broad daylight. And an incident of a intoxicated neighbor banging on our door and other tenants doors at midnight because they cannot find someone’s apartment and then later that morning fighting with there spouse and throwing heavy work equipment out of there truck almost hitting my own vehicle. Also there is a sex offender living in one of the units even though they require background checks.

During the April 2009 snow storm several tenants had car accidents in the parking lot because the owner did not salt or do any preventative measures to protect the tenants from the disaster, and myself and about 3 other tenants had worked in the dangerously snowed in steep parking lot for about 4 hours to get everyone into parking spaces who had not been in accidents. the owner did not show up until late that night. I also had to be careful leaving my unit, having to dodge grills, toys and other items in the walkways, and there was always boats, Rvs, bikes, and lawnmowers wasting space in the parking lot, which forced myself and other tenants to search for a parking spots because there were never enough parking after 7pm. Also if anything needed to be fixed in the unit’s the maintenance person just finds a way to rigg it up. Cars traveled through parking lots at very fast speeds and parents leave there young children unattended outside to play, which I think is very dangerous, because of the large cracks in the cement of the parking lot plus steep hills behind units. the property manager is very unprofessional her office is always filled with cigarette smoke to wear its hard to breath within a few minutes of being there.

But anyways long story short in October 2010 I tried to be released from my lease without being charged the termination fee, because of the issues we were having with the living conditions, but they would not agree on anything they would not waive the termination fee and refused to resolve the issues. In which I did not sign a new lease, my mistake of not entirely reading over the lease states it rolls over for another year even though she did not contact me about this when my lease was up. The reason I put up with it as long as I did is because I was pretty much stuck there. It was very close to my college campus so I had invested all my saving on that apartment, I had paid months in advance, I my rent was always early or on time and yet they still treated me unlawfully.

I did not appreciate how they tried bullying my wife about all the issues and never asked to speak with me considering the only name on the lease was mine. Eventually I had signed a contract to buy a house and I was supposed to close on it or before November 30 so I had turned in my 30 day notice more than a month before. but I did not close on my house until December 12, but before then (December 1) my wife tried to pay my rent just for those 12 days but the property manager refused but she eventually got her to accept 1 half’s month of rent just for those 12 days. the day of December 12 (the day I vacated the apartment) they had sent me a notice stating that not only did I owe them the termination fee but also the rest of Decembers rent and also Januarys rent which totaled up to be over $1500, then my wife calmly spoke with the office manager to explain that we did not owe that and we are not paying those excessive fees, and the property manager absolutely refused to discuss or work anything out and would not release the apartments corporate contact information. Then two days later they sent the account to a collection agency without consulting me about anything.

I understand that I did sign a one year lease with hillcrest apartments in April 2009 that just so happened to state that the renewal terms automatically rolls over for another year but the property manager also signed the lease too, and she did not abide by the lease and the promises of peace and quite enjoyment that the apartment supposedly offers. *** has falsely advertised on there advertisements and I was mislead. Why does my credit have suffer because of there breach of contract. what should I do? should i contact a lawyer?

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