Before I give reasons why I m unhappy with my current living situation at Mead Hill Apartments (Cheney Corporation) you are probably wondering why I moved in here knowing a few of the issues ahead of time.

Well to be honest I had literally 2 weeks to find a place and this was the only place I had a chance to visit and contact me back in time for the move. Beggars cant be choosers I guess but nevertheless, im not going to pretend im happy here whether I could have avoided it or not.

For the positives, my wife enjoys the large kitchen. It has a nice island in the middle, plenty of room and good cabinet storage space. Its well lit as well. Just make sure you don t accidentally drop ANY food crumbs anywhere because you will have a ridiculous ant infestation if you do so. We are clean people, so its not like we are living in filth, but it seems like if you don t sweep/mop every single day (who the hell does that) you get ants coming out of the cracks along the trim, and it took me 3 sets of ant traps to get it under control. Talking to a few other tenants this is NOT just us either.

I have never lived in a complex style apartment before, so maybe this complaint is a fault of me being naive, but the sound here is OUT OF CONTROL. We had a lot of late nights thanks to our loud party girl neighbors downstairs (who are thankfully gone now apparently). The guy upstairs walks like he weighs 500 pounds and is moving furniture all day long. Just in general you can hear tv s, radios, walking, etc etc. I expect some noise but this is just ridiculous. Did I mention the yipping dog' Yes they allow dogs here, so heads up on that. And yes, I have filed a noise complaint with some of the more serious ones, but I shouldn t have to every single time someone is too loud. Do these walls have ANY soundproofing'

Parking is fine, no issue there. The dumpster is outside in the parking lot, but apparently they underestimated how much garbage will be produced, or too cheap to have it picked up more because I can count on at least once a week having to go pack the dumpster in just to fit my bag, or toss it next to the dumpster, which looks like crap and/or smells.

Cheney seems a little controlling in regards to terms of the lease. Supposedly when you put an air conditioner in your required to have them come look at it and inspect it. Obviously I didn t because it doesn t take an architect to slap one in the window safely. You are also not allowed to put ANY nails in the walls. So until they make a sticky tack that can hold a 25 lb frame, we just have plain white walls throughout pretty sad. They already steal 50 bucks from your deposit automatically for carpet cleaning, couldn t they take out another couple bucks to throw some spackle in nail holes' Or guess what some tenants are responsible and would take care of it on our own. Also, apparently all windows are SUPPOSED to have some kind of drapery. Well its not like the place comes with curtain rods in it, but at the same time you cant put nails in.. what are we supposed to do' Again, this is a rule that we have not followed because if we were really worried that people might watch us eat dinner in our dining room, we would do something about it I just don t see it as any of cheneys business what we do with decorations (within reason I mean come on)

Listen, I have no issues with the people at Cheney. We have paid our rent on time every month and the few times we had to talk to them they were pleasant. This is in no way an attack on the people behind the company im just putting this out there because I think the monthly rent is beyond overpriced and I want people to know its really not worth the cost. Im sure others have taken this place because they were in the same situation as myself, but if it can even stop 1 person from getting stuck in a 1 year lease for an overpriced loud apartment, I have done my job.

I look forward to my lease ending, but even though my wife and I are unhappy here, I always honor a contract plus I don t want them taking my entire deposit.

Manager's Response
From: Manager	Date: 09/10/2008
We are obviously disappointed this gentleman was unhappy with his home. We do have a large assortment of units, from studios through luxury condos, priced from $650 to $2,200 and we try to find the best fit for a prospective resident. Of course, it is ultimately the residents choice as to what unit they rent, after they have viewed various units and know the amount of monthly rent for each unit they are considering. Concerning the units at Mead Hill, most residents love living here for reasons including the large spacious kitchen, the 1200 square feet of living space, the secure entryway, as well as the two full baths, the extra 'den', the washer/dryer hookup and the large storage area in the basement. Concerning ants, or infestation of any kind, upon being notified of such, we immediately call an exterminator to treat the affected unit. Fortunately, these units are fairly new, and unfortunately, as such, during construction, the ants do get stirred up and appear occasionally. Concerning the loud partying from a nearby apartment, we do not tolerate this at all. A term of our lease provides residents will not disturb the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of the premises by their neighbors. If advised of a disturbance by a neighbor, we deliver a notice of violation and if the disturbances continue, we will evict the violator. Also, small dogs are allowed in this building and if a neighbor is disturbed by the 'yipping' of a neighbors dog, we should be advised so we may follow through with addressing this complaint as well. Of course, we can't do anything about a complaint, unless the resident actually voices their complaint to us! Concerning nails in the walls, IF this was in fact true, how impossible would it be to enforce this this alleged lease term in each of our 500 units? The truth is, we do not and never have prohibited residents from using nails to hang pictures or curtain rods. We only request the nails with anchors that pull off drywall with them when removed are not used. Other than that, a home is not a home without pictures on the walls! We hope that our residents consider their apartment their home and so we would encourage hanging pictures! We often help residents hang pictures, clocks, curtain rods...using nails! We do reserve the right to inspect air conditioners because not every resident is as savvy as this one and some do install units whereby they damage the building or drip on the apartment underneath, neither of which is acceptable. We inspect the installation of A/C units as a prevention measure against costly damage.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/22/2008
IF it is in fact true? IT IS TRUE. It says so right in the lease that nails are not allowed in any surface of the apartment. Do you want me to scan the lease and post it here, or are you going to continue to call ME the liar? and if in fact you DONT bother enforcing it, then why the hell put it in the lease? if you expect everyone to read the damn thing, dont you think some people that actually follow the rules are going to read that, and think its not ok? dont be stupid and as for the noise complaints, learn to read. I have stated that several calls have been made about a few different tenants. Thats not the point. The point is i shouldnt have to take the time to make phone calls every time some moron is noisy. The POINT is that you shouldnt have been so cheap with construction so noise wasnt too much of an issue, and you SHOULD be a little more selective with who you allow in here. Im aware you already have problems filling these apartments so you are probably desperate (i have seen 3 tenants move out in the last few months and they are still empty) but for 1295 I DESERVE peace and quiet, without having to go out of my way to get it

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