I am a resident of this community. I have lived here since August 21, 2004. The very first day the problems began after the lease was signed of course.

Here is my story told by a letter written by me that I had to direct to the property management company which, is located outside of Palm Beach County, Picerne Property Group.

October 21, 2004




Ms. Kim Morton, District Manager
Picerne Property Group, Southeast Region
247 West Monte Drive
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

Property: Royal Palm Key Apartments, 1401 Village Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Re:Ignorance of maintenance requests & property/apartment condition.

Ms. Morton:

I am a resident at Royal Palm Key Apartments located at, 1401 Village Boulevard #2028, West Palm Beach, Florida 33409. I moved into this apartment with my husband Felipe Pinto on August 21, 2004. Upon move-in we received a ?move-in checklist? which was completed and returned to the leasing office that same day, we were told that a maintenance person come to our residence and make the required repairs. Nobody came to make the required repairs.

I attempted to make contact with the leasing office on August 26th, 27th, 28th to inquire as to when we could expect the repairs to be made, there was no answer each time I called I did leave message all three times I called. Nobody ever returned those calls. I called again on the 30th and was finally able to reach a person, I inquired as to when the repairs would be made and explained our situation. The office person I spoke with called me back to tell me that someone would be there in ?twenty minutes? to make the repairs. Nobody came to our residence. On August 31st, I sent a fax to the leasing office explaining my discontent with the lack of service we are experiencing, the ignorance of our maintenance requests and a detailed list of the required repairs. That afternoon I stopped by the leasing office and spoke face to face with a woman named Jennifer, she said that she was the office manager. At the end of my conversation with this person, my husband and I were told that someone would immediately go to our residence that evening to make the repairs. Nobody came to make the repairs. I called the leasing office on September 1st and spoke with the same Jennifer and informed her that nobody came to our apartment to make the repairs. Jennifer called me back and apologized and said that the person she told to go to our apartment had been ?dealt with? and someone was on their way to our apartment to make the repairs. I actually had to put in another maintenance request even though the day before I sent a fax with a detailed list of the needed repairs and had given that very same information to the office several times before. This time a maintenance person showed up to our apartment and brought burner plates for our stove (which were not on our stove when we moved into the apartment) and did nothing else. The person that came to our apartment told my husband they would return the following morning to complete the repairs. Nobody has ever been back to our apartment to do any repairs.

On September 7th I contacted the leasing office to report damage to the building and our apartment caused by Hurricane Frances. The damage on the outside of the building was mostly down trees and the like. Our apartment is an end unit parallel with a wooded area and several of the trees were uprooted and down. One tree in particular had been blown over and hit the side of the building, breaking several of the roof tiles and undoubtedly caused serious roof damage. The tree still rests on the side of the building and blocks the view out of our solarium window. I reported the tree, the damage caused by it. I also reported that the fascia of the building is extremely rotted and molding. I was told that the problems would be taken care of. Nothing has been done and the tree still rests on the side of the building. I also asked the staff member I spoke with if anyone will ever come to our residence to make the repairs from my August 21st maintenance request. I had to give the list of required repairs yet again, that was the fourth time that I had to give the same information to the office because there was not record of our previous requests

On September 9th I contacted the leasing office to report a serious leak in our guest bedroom ceiling. The days following Hurricane Frances brought much rain, the leak in the guest bedroom ceiling first occurred on that date. However, it is obvious there was a problem with the ceiling in the past since there is visible repair (photographs are included with this letter). I was told that someone would be at our apartment that day. Nobody ever came to assess the damage or make a repair. The ceiling has visible water damage and the surface of the ceiling has ?bubbles? in it.

September 14th I contacted the leasing office to once again inquire about my original maintenance request, inquire as to when the ceiling will be looked at and report the tree on the side of the building. I once again had to put in a new service request. Nobody ever came to satisfy the maintenance request.

On October 4th, 11th, and 15th I contacted the leasing office for the same aforementioned reasons. Just like every other interaction I have had with the office here, I have had the same result which was absolutely nothing.

When my husband and I considered Royal Palm Key Apartments we were shown a model that was very nice, we were also happy that the community is gated. When my husband signed the lease and we proceeded to our new apartment, we were expecting the same quality that was shown in the model apartment. Unfortunately, our apartment was nothing we expected and we were very disappointed. The appointments of our apartment are in very poor condition, things like, the kitchen cabinets being worn down to bare wood on the edges, water damage under the kitchen sink so it is unusable for storage, half of the windows have no screens, the toilet in the guest bathroom does not flush properly. Another major problem is the external fascia of the building is dry rotted, ridden with mold and falling apart. These are just a few examples of why we are so unhappy. We were also told that the gate was broken temporarily and would be in regular working condition shortly. It is two months later and it is still not functioning.

This situation is at a head and I am hoping my contact with you will finally put a close to these problems. This is supposed to be a luxury apartment community' We pay $890.00 per month for rent to your company and we get nothing in return. We can?t even get a simple maintenance request satisfied. Why' These issues must be resolved, immediately.

Maintaining the roofs, windows, screens, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations and all other structural components in good repair and capable of resisting normal forces and loads; and the plumbing in reasonable working condition is the landlord?s obligation to maintain premises. Several of these obligations are not being met of and it is affecting me, my husband, our peace of mind and quality of life.

We do understand that there were two hurricanes in the month of September that had serious effect on this property but, these problems have been present prior to those storms.

Attached to this correspondence are several pictures of our apartment and the surrounding areas. Please call me to discuss this issue. I have attempted to reach you at your office with no success.


attachments

The End

I have had the building code enforcement here as well who actually came here with the Office Manager Bruce Williams and the supposed Maintenace Supervisor. The problems were eventually solved accept for the roof.

Now my husband and I have symptoms of mold exposure. I have had a headache for over a month, skin irritation and eye irritation. My husband, who had asthma as a child suffers from cold like symptoms with no relief.

Our saga Continues...

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