I lived in this apartment complex from 1997-1998. It is considered one of the more upscale complexes here. I paid a premium price for a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. There were several incidents which lead me to caution anyone about renting here.



I should have been forewarned when the "gift" on leasing an apartment here was a toilet plunger. I?m not kidding. They simply issued them to all new tenants with the joking remark that it saved them from maintenance calls. I had plenty of opportunity to use it during the year I was there. The water pressure on the "low flow" toilet was nonexistent. If you used toilet paper, it would not flush without a good plunging. The shower pressure as well was barely a trickle. Maintenance claimed it was a city problem and there was nothing they could do.



I had a downstairs apartment. A young couple lived upstairs with two large dogs. They were thundering up and down the stairs at all hours day and night to exercise the dogs. No use complaining because pets do need to be exercised. But honestly I do not know how they fit two adults and two huge dogs into the 500-odd square foot apt. The dogs, of course, barked loudly and frequently.



It was also a "party" complex. Fortunately I had an end unit, but I can?t imagine the chaos if one was sandwiched in the middle of one of the 3-tier units. The police were there almost every weekend.



I was a good tenant. Quiet, always paid rent early, had no pets and kept the place neat and tidy. The ultimate outrage was when I concluded my lease with ample notice and prepared to move out. I asked for a final walk-through, but since it was the weekend, no office staff was around and the guy at the desk said all he could do for me was turn in my keys.



A friend and I deep-cleaned the apartment thoroughly even though it was already tidy. I scrubbed the oven, shampooed the carpet, even vacuumed out the fireplace. I took pictures of the inside of the place before I left. Never in a million years did I imagine what would happen next.



A couple weeks later at my new place, I got a letter from the management back at the Landing claiming I had "trashed" the apartment, and they refused to return my security deposit, plus billed me an additional $900 claiming the entire thing needed to be repainted!



Thank goodness I had the photos, and I also got written testaments from the friends who helped me move out that it was clean and in good order when I left. I contacted a lawyer. I visited the management in person with a witness, and after getting them to admit that an apartment that small hardly cost $900 to repaint, asked them to justify this outrageous and mysterious figure. I said I was prepared to go to small claims court. They quickly backed down and said they would "re-evaluate the situation." The next time I heard from them, I received was an "amended" copy of the final check-out and the repainting charge was removed. They kept my $250 security deposit though, and since it would cost more to get a lawyer and go to court, I let it go. I was just glad to escape the place.



I later heard they pull this repainting charge scam or similar acts on many departing tenants. I imagine most people pay without arguing. In this state landlords have all the rights, and tenants are almost always (illegally) screwed out of their security deposits, but I consider it an outrage.



My final word of advice is to always document the condition of your apartment both when you move in, and when you move out. Take photos or better yet, video the place as evidence of the condition it is in. I would have been screwed out of over a grand if I hadn?t had evidence to refute their damage claim. I have no idea if they are under the same management or not, but if so, hopefully one day this kind of chicanery will catch up to them.

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