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Me and my girlfriend moved to Versailles in late 2008. The rent was good at 665, we generally liked the overall layout of the apartment, and despite being off state street the noise wasn't anything a couple of ear plugs couldn't handle.

Our biggest gripe at first was the laundry situation. The washers and dryers are located in the basement that constantly smells like body odor and they're relatively small units that cost $1.50 per wash and dry. Not to mention we found out the hard way that only the bottom two dryers actually dry your clothes. And if it rains hard, the basement where all these unit are held, floods.

We had some maintenance issues early, such as our shower ceiling caving in with water due to a massive pipe leak that was spraying water all over. To the maintenance guys credit they managed to fix the problem promptly, but made a dusty mess out of the bathroom in the process. Me and the gf had to throw away some toiletries like our toothbrushes because of the fine cement dust that had covered everything. We also had multiple leaks near the sliding patio door whenever it rained; that never got resolved despite us telling the office twice to have it fixed.

But forgetting all this, everything was bearable until a tenant moved in below us. You see, my girlfriend and I are both non-smokers and ever since the new tenant moved in our apartment smells like a lit cigarette. And since the new tenant moved in my girlfriend has gotten bronchitis twice and I've gotten it once myself. If you are a non-smoker, don't do it. There's nothing management can or will do to resolve this issue.

But the real kicker is this. A few months before our lease expired we received a renewal contract for the amount of $675. This isn't much of an increase, but we hated the smoke and were debating on leaving because of it. We sat on it for the remainder of our time to look for other apartments. Despite us wanting to leave, we knew that we were ill prepared to since we hadn't planned on moving prior to the new tenant arriving. A week before our lease is expired we received a notice on our door saying that the rent is being increased to $680 and if we were planning on vacating the apartment we needed to give management 60 days notice or else they'd keep our deposit. So in other words they gave me a week to decide if I wanted to pay even more money than they originally offered me, and if I didn't or even if I couldn't I would lose my deposit and have a week to find a new place.

I called the main office to explain the situation with the smoke and told them we had contemplated on moving. I said that we made the decision to stay (mainly because we hadn't had the money to lose our deposit, put down another deposit on a new apartment, first months rent, U-haul money, and misc-funds to hook backup the internet and cable) and asked if we could bring down the original contract of $675. The office said "sure" and I told them I'd bring it down later that day. Shortly there after, we find out that the 'new management' said they wouldn't accept the $675 contract and that we had to do the $680. Granted, it's not going to break us, but it's the principle of the matter. Bottom line is, at the end of this lease, we'll be prepared. We're not gonna stay in a place that is harmful to our health and with management that is more worried about strong arming their tenants.

PS. The secretaries in the main office are very sweet ladies.

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