This is the letter that I wrote to the property manager:
I have lived at the Preserve for 9 months now and for the most part, I have tolerated my living arrangement. However, today was the last straw. I want you to know, that I have worked as a leasing consultant for 2 communities in the Overland Park area. I have also lived in a few communities myself, so I am not ignorant as to how apartment communities are managed. Your property has been by far the worst!

I understand that the policies of your community are expressed in our lease, and I should be aware of that. So my rent being late today is solely my fault. However, you should know that every other community I have ever lived (or worked at for that matter) allows renters to turn rent in until the 4th of the month. Also, the late fee at your community is absolutely ridiculous! $156 for being less than 24 hours late is absurd!

Secondly, I have tried to deal with all the events that have occurred in and around our building but I feel that you should know what s going on. Maybe you ve even received the police reports, but those of us who had to live with it, never got a single apology. My neighbors have had fights that have lasted well into the early morning hours. I don t know about the rest of the building, but my roommate and I work during the day and need our nightly rest undisturbed! I, myself, called the police twice for domestic disputes! When the couple finally broke up, he put her belongings out in the hall way and her entertainment center, TV, clothes, dishes, and end table sat in our hallway for days! I have heard from other residents in other buildings that they receive apology letters and cookies when their neighbors leave trash out overnight, and we had to deal with seeing the TV daily as we walked up the stairs without a single apology, or even a letter sent to the people who did it telling them to remove their junk! Also, my neighbors leave their trash out for days. Animals rummage through the trash spilling old food into the hallways, and nothing has ever been said! I complained once, but was told by your staff that they would have to see it happening. Thanks for trusting your residents!

I also want you to know your overall curb appeal is hideous! The potholes in the parking lot has caused me to be stuck in the snow twice! Your maintenance men had to come and push me out on one instance. You should have paid a little more money to have those holes filled in when you had the roads repaved last year! The one and only trash dumpster is constantly overflowed. I m sure that looks great to potential residents! Also, our stairs are falling apart. If you bothered to look, you d see even today there are pieces of the stairs broken off and just sitting in the downstairs hallway. Our upstairs neighbors spit their gum out over their balcony, so there s always a nice rainbow collection of gum at the bottom right of the stairs too! There is always trash littered everywhere around our building. How about instead of sending out letters about dog poop being left (which I have never seen around our building, by the way), why don t you send out letters telling people to pick up after themselves!

When we moved into our apartment, we reported a rather large hole in the wall of our laundry room. This was written on our walk-through, but never repaired. Our front door s lock is broken and practically turns a full circle before we can get it to lock. Lastly, our north wall in the living room is beginning to break away from the ceiling. It s probably some kind of foundation problem. But I m sure you ll just throw some plaster over the crack when we move out.

Speaking of moving out, I considered for a split second renewing our lease and staying but my fianc quickly talked me out of it. He d much rather go someplace that looks and smells better (try living with the smell of curry for 10 months!). Not to mention, he has had to put up with all my complaining about this place. Not that I am EVER late on rent, but I d also rather go somewhere when their policies aren t so strict. It s funny, you re so strict about paying rent on time, but so relaxed on people s crap being strewn about our building. Why is that' Apparently you re more concerned about getting paid then keeping your residents content. I m not one to ever resort to letters of complaints to the management, but this has gone too far!

My roommate and I went through Peggy at Relocation Central to find a new apartment and she was the one who highly recommended your property. I have already voiced my complaints to her and I hope she thinks twice before she recommends your property again!

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/08/2008
I have been looking for apartments here in KC and I visited this one today....I don't see half the problems this person rambled about and my friend lives here as well and thinks this is hilarious. I just wanted to voice my opinion, and say that I am personally pissed off about the 'curry' Comment. Be racist somewhere else whomever you are and maybe I could complain about your food as well. Some people have way too much time on there boring hands and want to write letters on the internet because of something that is there fault! PAY YOUR RENT ontime and keep your racist opinions to yourself!
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/01/2008
Your letter stated how your were late on your rent by "less than 24 hours." Later, "Not that I am EVER late on rent." The end.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/29/2008
Your a loser and if would PAY YOUR RENT ON TIME and it seems like you wouldn't have any problems. I love living here and it makes me mad for people like you to complain and try to make our home look bad because you can't pay your bills on time. And your curry comment... YOU ARE A RACIST AND A DEADBEAT NON PAYING RACIST AT THAT!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/14/2008
I just wanted to say I don't think hating the smell of curry makes you a racisit. I think you don't like the smell of curry. There are a lot of issues with that apartment complex! It all revolves around lazy management. I had similar issues, minus the curry. Rock on!
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/07/2009
Okay people...some of us are actually looking for an apartment to rent and appreciate ALL the reviews - both positive and negative. It doesn't make a complex particularly appealing to read a comment from someone who "loves living here" and proceeds to insult their neighbors as racist, loser, and deadbeat. Talk about making your home look bad!! I don't like the smell of curry but it might be better to live next door to that smell than put up with anger and hostility.
From: orangeandwhite	Date: 04/22/2009
The rent payment policy does seem a little tight, but if clearly stated in the lease then I don't think the reviewer can really complain about that. The issue about trash and belongings being left out is of more concern. I don't think complaining about cooking smells makes you racist, unless anyone is trying to suggest that curry isn't widely enjoyed by a diverse number of people - I get a bit fed up of the strong smell of garlic that filters through from one of our neighbours into our current apartment and do sometimes wonder if perhaps some of the other tenants don't make use of the extraction fan on their cookers. I don't complain about it, but it does mean that I have to wash soft furnishings very frequently and make regular use of air fresheners.

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