I?ve been a tenant with Kefalos for a year now- and just moved into one of their more pricey rooms. I have been a satisfied customer. It was the cheapest north oakland had to offer.



BUT:



My first room wasn?t cleaned b4 I moved in last year, although they usually make tenants wait to move in because their custodial employees need "time to clean". So after moving in, I spent my first 4 days cleaning tai sauce and smelly cooking grease off of EVERYTHING in the kitchen area. It was thick and browned the white cupboards. Through time and money on my part, I got them white and clean, though.



Also, my first room had windows that would not open- they seemed to be whitewash-painted shut. Still, like the greased-kitchen, i didn?t complain. I was a good tenant and managed to make things work for myself.



The winter last year was awful: the heater?s thermostat never functioned properly- so one had to turn it off and cycle it manually (which is impossible when you are sleeping). The windows were so horribly "renovated" in the 1950?s (interesting that they claim to have renovated everything in the building just "recently" in their newspaper ads). Wind actually blew in through the cracks and kept my room freezing even after running the heater for 5 hours non stop at max.



Now, after a year of being a good tenant that does not complain, that pays rent on time, that even chooses to come back for more, I have been shafted by Kefalos.



This new room I just moved into has been nothing but a nightmare for me.



I found out from the previous tenant(s) of my new room that it was actually heavily infested with roaches. Months ago, the landlord and previous tenant were hesitant in saying why I could not move in when my lease began. Each played some sort of role: The landlord would say the following when I would call a month ago about my move in (as required by them):



"Well, ahh... Before you, uhhh... move in... uhhh... we have to...uhhh... move some things around. We have to get in their and fix things up- because you see, when we sprayed for roaches last week we found that uhh... they have four people living in there. you know they?re indian guys... So we have to clean things up a bit."



I literally was mystified at what the hell my landlord was trying to tell me. I spoke to my boss at work, my folks back home, around the "water cooler" at work asking people "what the hell do they mean by ?we have to move things around before you move in?'" I mean, what is there to "move around" in an empty room'



Months ago, I also spoke to the former tenant- I saw him on the sidewalk and recognized him as a tenant of my building. I asked him what room he was in and sure enough he was living in the room i was about to move in to. He said that it was a nice room but seemed hesitant:



"Well, you?ll want to call ****** and tell him they need to clean it up.... uhh... it?s uhhh... well the upkeep isn?t good. It?s [falling apart]"



Then just 7 weeks ago, I saw that same tenant coming out of my new room down the hallway. I asked him if he was ready to move out. To make a long conversation short, he told me my new room was infested with roaches, that the fire alarm was broke for several months, and that kefalos stopped listening to his complaints. So he and his 3 other siblings in my apartment left it go- they let the roach infestation get out of hand.



So it is early August. My folks drive the distance to the city to help me drag my furniture down the hall to my new room. The landlord comes on a sunday and opens the door to the new room for us and gives me the keys. We walk in to my new room and instantly see roaches everywhere. There was even a roach crushed in the door frame. It?s head is there now, two weeks later. My folks drove back home angry since I could not move in.



I waited 10 days, stayed in my old room with my things semi-packed up. The landlord sprayed the new room and gave me a note under my door to say that "okay to move in; room **** sprayed today"



I walk in and boom- roaches in every room- even the closet for crying out loud. So as those 10 days of uncertainty ticked by, I got another note under my door saying "please move into your new unit immediately, new tenant needs your old room ASAP. call with questions"



So I?m forced to move into a roach infested room. The health board of this county told me i could not file a complaint until i actually "took possession of the unit". That is just what i did. I?ve spent so much money on roach killing products (the landlord even came into my new room and "mistakenly" removed two cans of my expensive raid roach killer- one was nearly empty and the other was 60% full. he said they?d buy me a new can. lying SOBS never did).



So here i am a week into living here. I still see large cockroaches on my sink, ceilings, etc. I am pissed, to put it bluntly. The secretaries seem inept and never take proper messages for you- as the agents NEVER EVER get back to you. My specific agent answers my calls on his cell phone anymore or returns my messages.



The landlords seem racist too- as they blamed the roaches on the 4 indian people that were crammed into this apartment. He said they were a dirty bunch of people- because they are indian. Well, I?m a white american and i still have roaches in here.



Well, there is nothing that can be done about the roaches, I found out. Roaches have been here in the past several years. This wing of my building I just moved to has several units with roach infestations- a tidbit of info i got from other tenants.





So, thank you for reading my story. Dale Carnegie, the master of professional relations, once said that a good listener helps one feel better. As I typed this long story and crush a roach that crawled up to my laptop, I feel better that you are reading this. You have been my patient listener. Thank you.

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