So first of all, I lived in Autumn Ridge from Spring of 07 to Early 2008. My wife and I moved into the place on a sub-lease agreement. The tenant at the time was military and had to move into barracks at FAFB.
While we lived there it was okay. We honestly liked our apartment, it was spacious and we had a bathroom in our bedroom (goody). ARA is a great place to live, if you never have any issues requiring a maintenance request, or anything requiring the attention of management, at all, ever. Their maintenance boys all look like they are on meth, and I'm not joking. They speed around the parking lots in their golf carts racing eachother, flying around corners.
Their late fees are ludicrous, 50 dollars after the 1st. My daughter was born on rent day and I was stuck in the hospital and had to incur the late fees because they said they would not bend. Whatever...
The trash, oh my goodness, the trash. They have fenced in areas with trash cans that get filled in about 2 days and which are emptied by maintenance about every 20 days if the stars and moon are aligned just right. Suffice it to say that garbage flowed in to the streets regularly, and that's not on a windy day.
Security' Are you kidding me' My buddy's car was stolen right from in front of his door while he slept. ARA looked the other way, not even an "I'm sorry". Nothing. No cameras in lieu of the fact that break-ins are a regular occurance there. This place is in the ghetto, let me tell you. Little gangster wannabe kids running around with their rap and their bass shaking windows. Not just once in a while, everyday, all day. ARA did nothing. That was all while I lived there.
It doesn't get really exciting until you try to move out. I had to move out mid-month because of a military deployment in my family. I educated ARA of this and they said I would be responsible for all of January and there would be no proration. No proration' That's BS. Whatever, if it's in the contract, I'll abide by it. But wait, it's not in the contract, I read it a hundred times and then read it some more. No where in the legally binding document that I signed does it say they do not do prorations on rent. They have a paragraph about receiving 20 days written notice to vacate on or before the 10th of the month. But nothing about being financially responsible for the entire month. I turned in my written notice (more on that in a bit) on 19DEC2007. They refused to accept it because it wasn't on or before the 10th. But I recorded the conversation in case they tried to deny, in court, that I attempted to give it and that they refused to sign in. I used the vague wording in the contract to my benefit though; told them I was giving my written notice and I planned on vacating on or before the 10th of the month. On the 8th to be precise. They said that's not how they meant that paragraph to be interpreted. I told them I didn't care what their intentions were, if it can reasonably be interpreted in any other capacity, the wording is too vague and that it would not hold up in court. She said she would not accept my prorated check and that she would take me to evictions court if I didn't pay ALL of January's rent. Told her I'd see her in court then. Regarding the 20 days notice to vacate. You are not required to sign the one they give you, they doctor it up to look like an evaluation form, but there is small print that states that they do not do proration (an afterthought after they forgot to put that in all the original contracts'). What's more, also in the small print they say if you sign their form they can enter your unit without ANY notice whatsoever in the next 20 days, so they can "show" the apt to prospective new tenants. Dawn P (the landlord) hated when I called BS on this one. She tried saying it was legal. So I pulled out the landlord-tenant act and showed her; she was required to give 24 hrs WRITTEN notice to enter, and that I would not sign her form and consequently sign away my legal rights, allowing her to enter my unit unannounced whenever she pleased. She said she wasn't a lawyer and that her lawyer wouldn't have put together the forms if they weren't legal. I laughed at her and told her to get a lawyer that didn't receive his diploma in the mail.
Right around New Years, I sent in a prorated check for the first 8 days of January that I would be inhabiting the unit. I'm not stupid, I sent it certified. They told me they would not accept it, and that I would get taken to evictions court. I wasn't scared because I'm not an idiot. I knew they didn't have a chance in court. Well of course they cashed my check, and of course they didn't try to evict me. I'm gone now, and it is nice. I'm expecting they will get a maintenance guy to punch a hole in one of my walls, and then try to take it out of my deposit. I've got lot's of pictures so I think I'm good. They even refused to do a checkout with me, but I could care less.

Landlord-tenant act also requires that within 14 days of vacating they MUST give you written notice of any reason they are withholding your deposit, if any, or you're entitled to the entire deposit back without questions; even if your apartment was completely destroyed. I'm kind of banking on them not following that law either, it is kind of a trend with Dawn P and the ARA funky bunch. They must be used to dealing with low-income, uneducated folk because of the area that it is in. They have obviously gotten away with it before, because they certainly weren't afraid of me at first. Hopefully whoever is reading this hasn't let ARA get the better of them. These people are truly Machiavellian in their management tactics, and the antithesis of aboveboard with regard to any ethical or moral behavior, not to mention they try to break the law any chance you give them. There are ways around them and their BS, Read RCW (Revised Code of Washington), the law is with you, not them.

A note about the landlord in charge, Dawn P.-- This is by far the most unprofessional, inadequate, substandard excuse for a property manager I have ever seen. She treats her tenants like garbage. She should truly be ashamed of herself. Watching her try to justify the illegality of her contract made me want to go play in traffic, because if someone as (in my opinion) stupid as her can be in the place of power that she's in, the world has no hope. Good Job Dawn P.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/02/2009
Great Job!!! That is wonderful and well put in a nutshell! Kudos to you! I unfourtanly still have to stay here but this is good information for when I move out! I hope you get this so that you know that all of your hard work didn't go for nothing and that I will take it to heart before we leave!!!

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