Apartment complex is called Gardencrest. Landlord/owner is Home Properties.

Three types of construction are going on.
'In some unoccupied apartments a complete remodeling (down to the studs) is being done. This takes 5 months and despite the managements saying it's no big deal, it is awful in many ways and a violation of the neighboring tenants right to peaceful enjoyment of their home.
'The second type of construction involves replacing the heating system in each occupied apartment from radiators or baseboard heaters with a single furnace for each building of up to 12 units with a new forced hot air system, new ductwork and individual furnace in the basement and a new water heater in an upstairs closet of each unit.
'The third type of construction is the installation of new windows.

1.Contractors are unsupervised and unaccompanied by a representative of the landlord. The landlord is remodeling and/or doing construction on so many units at a time that it would be a logistical impossibility to navigate the whole thing with the proper tenant notification and worker supervision and to avoid the many problems that occur. They would need many supervisors to accompany/supervise workers. The contractors include many crews of plumbers, HVAC people, electricians, sheet rock installers, painters etc. It's a different crew every time you turn around. All of them have keys to every unit in the building being worked on. This is a violation of MGL chapter 186 section 15b.

2.Contractors wear no uniform, have no ID saying who they are or that they are authorized to be there. A landlord is legally responsible for building security and Home Properties is guilty of negligence in this area.


3.Contractors enter occupied apartments whenever they want to do their work often without tenants having any notice or any chance to schedule a more convenient day and time. Sometimes tenants are home and sometimes they are not. Plumbing and electrical systems are connected from one apartment to another making the process logistically difficult to orchestrate without serious disruption to tenants lives. Again, by trying to do so much construction in the complex at any one time Home Properties is biting off more than they can chew without violating tenants rights. This is a violation of MGL chapter 186 section 15b.

4.Tenants have come out of the shower to find unknown men in their apartment who were not expected. Apartments are often entered when the tenant is not home. Tenants are led to believe they have no choice but to allow this. Only the boldest tenants who refuse to cooperate with ridiculous disruption are safe. The meek and the elderly are at the mercy of whatever Home Properties tries to get away with.


5.Tenants have come home from work to find a notice saying that workers will be coming the next day. This is not 24 hours notice. Even if the management left the notice at the apartment at 8:30 a.m, the tenant may not see the notice until they get home from work. For seniors, those with small children or those with health issues, 24 hours notice is not enough when tenants are being asked to relocate items in the basement to make room for a new furnace or to move items away from all windows to make room for the installation of new windows. The management says that the contractors will move things. The contractors have been known to do so by throwing things in a pile and damaging them so this is not an adequate alternative to giving tenants more time and the opportunity to postpone the work.

6.Tenants have had property stolen by contractors. When tenants call the management office to report this, they are told to call the police. The office is not taking responsibility and embracing accountability for their contractors. The management told one tenant she should contact the police about a theft. She is a senior citizen and is in no condition to be calling the police about a problem caused by a contractor hired by Home Properties. Management higher ups claim no knowledge of any theft. This is no excuse and is merely an example of the lack of communication within the company as thefts have been reported to on site office staff .





7.Water and electricity are turned off in occupied apartments, (sometimes with no notice) for a whole day because of the construction. One 82-year-old woman had no water and couldn't flush her toilet all day.

8.At one building of aproximately 12 units, an elderly woman and her neighbors, one of whom is also elderly and at home, dying of cancer, endured 2 days without heat when the temperature was below zero outside. This is a violation of MGL chapter 186 section # 14.This same building has suffered from water temperature fluctuations since the construction started that cause the water to go without warning from freezing to scalding. Home Properties has been told of this but they have yet to fix the situation. There are many seniors living in this building and at least one visiting grandchild at risk of being scalded. This is a violation of the State Sanitary code regarding habitability


9.The change in the heating system from baseboard or radiator heat coming from one furnace per 12 unit building to a forced hot air system (ductwork and a large furnace in each basement and the loss of a closet to a new water heater) means not only the hell of living through the construction, but the apartment is not the same apartment for which the tenant signed the lease. I myself would not rent an apartment with forced hot air heat, as it tends to make me sick. The tenants lose the use of a much-needed closet and significant space in the livingroom and bedrooms as well as losing space in the basement. This is a violation not only of the right to peaceful enjoyment but constitutes a breach of the lease, as the apartment is not the same one the tenant signed the lease for.


10.New tenants are not given accurate information about the nature of the construction. Some have said they would not have moved in if they had been told the truth. Home Properties denies giving false information yet it is true. This is a violation of Massachusetts General Law chapter 93A regarding deceptive practices.

11.One senior says that she called the management office about a first floor apartment in her building. While the apartment's occupant was away for weeks, a ground floor window was left obviously open in the middle of winter. She was afraid for her safety. When she reported this to the office, she was told to call the police. She is elderly and in no condition to make a management issue into a police matter. Despite the fact that she wrote a letter to the manager, it took her three months to get someone from the management office to go into the apartment and simply shut the window. This need not be a police matter. This is a violation of the State Sanitary Code regarding building security and a landlord's responsibility to maintain a safe environment. It also took this woman three months to get the landlord to replace a burned out security light behind the building. There are balconies on that side of the buildings and they have been a point of access for thieves in the past.


12.Management keeps telling tenants who complain about issues that involve code violations that if they are unhappy at Gardencrest, they should move out.

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