This is the worst place I have ever lived in or heard of anyone living in that I know personally. Maintenance was ok at fixing the NUMEROUS problems we had, including a non-functional shower and toilet, but a lot of stuff was damaged when we moved in.

The management is awful. They will eventually get mad at you if you try to discuss something with them. They are charging me an extra month's rent because they didn't get a separate, written notice that I was leaving 30 days before. Even though I was refused my copy of the lease which contained this clause, they still refused to back down and are taking me to court to get money for an extra month BEYOND MY CONTRACT period, regardless of the fact that I am moving out, and regardless of the fact that it is actually ILLEGAL in the state of Michigan to charge for failure to turn in a notice of leave.

In fact, not only is it illegal (in Michigan) to charge for someone not turning in a notice of leave, but a notice of leave is completely unnecessary. Management will argue that they need the notice of leave so that they can figure out when they can rent the apartment out to someone else, but in actuality that is not true at all. The contract stipulates the end of the lease, and without further notification from the tenant, the management is 100% free to rent the unit out to someone else. So, the management attempted (and is still attempting) to charge me illegally for another month's rent, and they either lied about the laws, or they themselves are mislead and uninformed.

For proof of what I am claming, go here: http://michiganlegalaid.org/library_client/resource.2005-05

Look under the section titled, 'CLEANING DEPOSITS, PUNITIVE LATE FEES & ILLEGAL LEASE CLAUSES' You will see that I have done all my homework on this issue. Unfortunately, tenants in Ohio will find the opposite is true: you can be held responsible for another month's rent for failure to turn in a 30-day notice of leave, although some of the Ohio courts found the 60-day notice of leave unenforceable. REGARDLESS of whether or not you signed the lease and wrote in blood your agreement to pay the charge for 30-days notice (which isn't specified in the lease here), you are still NOT responsible to pay it because it is not enforceable in court. These laws are made to protect your rights, so search them out!

Management claimed they never received my faxed checks and information, which included my social security number and other identifiable information. When pressed harder, they still denied it and claimed we never sent it. After a brief argument ensued, it was suddenly 'found' and the problem was pushed aside with no apology or admittance of fault. The person I signed up my apartment with left, and I have no way to verify that she refused to give me a copy of the lease, and so I was unaware of the 30-day move-out notice. They refuse to admit it is possible she didn't give me the lease, even though it was in my file all the time and was given to me when I was arguing about them charging me an extra month that wasn't in my contract and that I neither asked for nor wanted. It was given to me over two months after I moved in, only when I pressed them for.

They are not returning my security deposit or my fitness key deposit, even though I haven't caused any damage.

The place is noisy ALL THE TIME. There is no break from noise. Loud stereos in cars and in apartments, people yelling, people driving by honking, people doing donuts in the parking lot with squeeling tires, maintenance with their horribly noisy muffler in that white sports car, and more.

The stairs in the 'breezeways' (which is a buzz word for no security doors) are in terrible shape. They are suspended slabs of concrete that break apart when you walk on them, and I frequently trip on the suspended metal cables that try to keep them from totally falling apart.

The main driveway has a huge hole in it at one of the sewer grates that is in the middle of the drive, but they haven't even tried to fix it in about a year (maybe longer, I wasn't here too long ago).

The apartments are expensive for the cheap state. There is a $75 cleaning fee, but my vacuum got clogged up twice because of all the carpet fibers coming out of the carpet (and I have a nice, $100 vacuum).

Here are the problems we had when we moved in: management was rude and lacked proper knowledge of the policies, the person who helped me said I didn't get a copy of the lease, and then I was told it was my fault for not coming in to get it, our toilet would not flush, our cold water wouldn't work in the shower, the stove was improperly installed, the dishwasher leaked from 3 spots, the bedroom door wouldn't shut, the patio door lock was broken, the patio was and still is horribly chipped and old, the ceiling has nails protrude from the above apartment, the air conditioner was cracked and the face of it still falls off when you try to use it, the refrigerator still makes strange noises, both the kitchen and bathroom sink were clogged and still run a bit slow, the shower is nearly impossible to adjust the water correctly after running it for a minute or two, the blinds in the living room completely fell off when you tried to move them, many of the slates of the blinds in the bedroom fell off when you moved them, the window lock doesn't work and only has a wood block to keep it shut, cauking was and is still stuck all over our sink, the mirrors were horribly dirty and hard to see anything in, the door doesn't shut all the way letting air escape/get in around the edges, there are no light fixtures on the ceiling or anywhere in the living room and bedroom, the fan in the bathroom was broken and made a horrible noise when run, our old dishwasher was left in our hallway for almost two weeks, and a few other minor repairs.

After returning a 4th or 5th time to ask them specifically about the legality of the lease clause (which was a new point of discussion), the manager refused to discuss it at all, neither denying it nor confirming it, and in fact demanded that I leave. When I requested that this issue be addressed in a regular, calm voice, she threatened to have me physically removed from the office. So, management, unable to hold its own in the face of their illegal actions, misrepresented me as a 'hostile' individual and threatened to have me removed. Although I had brought my wife for every meeting after the first one, to verify my behavior, they still insisted that I was completely inappropriate and that my behavior was 'unacceptable.' In order to turn in my keys, I had to wait until the manager went home for the day, and then I had my wife and her brother join me while he wife videotaped the whole thing, to prove that my behavior was not what they were claiming.

DO NOT MOVE IN HERE. If you care about spending your money wisely, and keeping the money that is rightfully yours, DO NOT MOVE IN HERE. I have to get a lawyer to fight them on this matter and they are still unwilling to budge.

Security is laughable. The people at the front gate might occasionally ask you for information, but for the last month they just let anyone through, all you have to do is say where you're going and what your name is. They almost never ask for ID or anything to prove what you're saying is true.

The security guy who drives around is frequently seen hanging out at the front of the complex with the other security guy at the gate, just chatting and laughing, while crime and problems occur at the back of the complex. Security has several times passed right by problems without addressing them, such as the 6 people dancing to loud music in the parking lot, which the security guy drove by TWICE in an hour and didn't even bother to stop to say a word.

The security gates are frequently broken, about half the time I was here my card didn't work to get me in and the guy at the gate just opened for me without asking any question, sometimes opening it before I even took my card out of my glove box. The gates are frequently busted off, too. They've been replaced about 6 times since I've been here, that's less than 3 months.

We had an ant problem too. They're flying ants, and they get in all over, including the bathroom and windows. They bite you and leave red bite marks that hurt and itch. Maintenance did take care of the problem, however.

The pool was promised to us on Memorial Day, but it didn't open until two months later. They kept telling us they would send out a letter notifying of us that it is open and how to get a keycard; they never sent it to anyone. After it did open, they wouldn't give us cards to use for the pool, and then finally when we came back later and they told us we didn't need cards, so ANYONE can just walk into the pool, resident friend, non-resident, bum, etc. The pool is only 5 ft deep at its deepest, too. We just found a different pool to swim at.

Last week there was a HUGE hit and run in the parking lot right next to my bedroom. A van smashed into a car and completely totaled the car. When I told maintenance, several days later, they were completely unaware that anything had happened.

Many of the apartments have broken screen doors, and several have no screens on the windows. One guy went so far as to use duct tape and tape up cardboard around his open window to try to install his own A/C unit. Our A/C unit takes a long time to work and must be turned up very high to feel anything. It also makes loud banging noises that scared me for several nights until I found out what it was.

Neighbors are HORRIBLE. It's a culture of incredibly inconsiderate, noisy people. They drive around squeeling tires, playing VERY loud music that rattles your insides, honking their horns at all hours of the day and night. One guy drove around for 30 minutes honking the whole time! I had to call the sheriff's office to come take care of the problem, since security just passed the guy by and ignored it. Many drug deals go down here, and a lot of drunk people wander around. We do not feel safe here. When my wife tries to go jogging, all of the guys stand outside and stare and gawk leeringly at her, even getting their buddies to come out and stare; she's wearing full clothing, too! This isn't a skimpy outfit, she's wearing an undershirt, full sized T-shirt, full-sized shorts. When I drive around people constantly stop and stare as if they are sizing me up or something.

One guy who lived across from us would whistle and say inappropriate racial comments toward my wife, and we finally had to have a maintenance guy actually go over in person and talk to the guy. A resident from across from us approached my wife and tried to solicit sex from her; I later saw him with a prostitute while talking to a friend sitting in my car. Another guy who lives opposite us in the next building over sits in his car for hours and stares at us, and occasionally says 'hey' in a very menacing and strange voice.

My wife's car has been scratced up from people swinging their doors and hitting her car, because they were partially drunk.

Several times people fought by my wife's car, arguing for over an hour after midnight. The people who lived above and below us played loud music at any and all times of the day and night, and office did nothing but send them a letter (so they say). The people ignored the letter and kept making the noise. They partied so hard that it sent nails from their floor boards THROUGH our ceiling, cracking our ceiling and requiring repairs!

I knew staying here would be a mistake, but I leased here because my wife and I had no where to stay and we were running out of time, and other places wouldn't take our 3-month lease. MOVING HERE WAS A HUGE MISTAKE. I REGRET it incredibly.

My time here was a nightmare through and through, and I highly, highly suggest you find anything else.

This place is unsafe, insufficient, poorly maintained, poorly managed, and a nightmare. I COMPLETELY REGRET EVER MOVING HERE, and will NEVER return.

If you are stuck here, just tell yourself that it could possibly be worse, somehow.

User Responses
From: SIRHAN	Date: 07/30/2006
Stop blaming others for thinhs International should be taking care of. What are we suppose to do when we come home and the gates are not working. Most of the time. We have to get in. The gates broke twice on my car. Cards do not work to open the gate. Again, unless it all works we need to put the blame on International. No one else. Wendy told me we should call 911 when we have a problem or see a problem. Half the time it takes 2 people at the gate to get us in. GET THOSE GATES AND KEY CARDS WORKING. MR.S
From: MithrilFox	Date: 08/31/2006
This is the author of the post. I am confused by SIRHAN's reply to my post. I AM blaming International Place for what is going wrong. I did blame the security for overlooking and ignoring blatant problems, but that is very clearly their responsibility. In general, however, nearly everything I complained about is the responsibility of International Place management and staff.
From: hmc3	Date: 11/09/2007
I lived there from 1993-1997 and it was a dump then. Don't feel bad about the lacks of the security gates, when we there, they did't have any at all! It sounds like you have them pinned down pretty good on the legal issues. I fought with the management there plenty of times as well. I'd be interested in knowing how it all turned out for you. If you have the chance, drop me an email at hmc3@hotmail.com and let me know. Thanks!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates