Review History for anonymous

Town Commons


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anonymous

Resident 2009 - 2014

1/5/2014

I'm currently a tenant - unfortunately until the late fall, which wasn't supposed to happen - I'll explain that in a minute. This apartment complex was nice when it was first built. It has been under a few different property management companies. The property management company that currently runs it is Paragon Property Management. A friend of mine is an attorney and has informed me that they've been the recipient of a few lawsuits already. They'll likely be on the receiving end of a few more at the rate they're going. My g/f and myself have been in this complex for over 4 years. When she moved in she paid her security deposit and pet fee. She had a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom apt. and was paying $760 / mo for years. That is until the new property management company took over - after the complex was in receivership. Our lease had run out in the summer of 2012, and had just been in an open ended month to month lease. In June of 2013 - we received a letter from the new property management company informing us that we had 4 options. We could resign a new 1 year lease immediately, with a $100 increase / a 6 mo lease with a $200 increase / a month to month lease with a $400 / mo increase. Or we had 45 days to move out... Upon receiving this letter from the new management company, I wrote a letter explaining that we weren't in fact in a lease. We hadn't signed a lease, our lease wasn't about to come due, and they couldn't evict us since we'd not been late. We offered to sign a 1 year lease at our current rate. I waited 1 mo, no response. We called them, the lady in the office said, "Oh yeah, we got your letter, but don't hold your breath. I'll get back to you." We waited another 2 months. No word, but we then received the EXACT same letter in aug. that we had received in June. Pay up or move out. We finally gave up and just agreed to the higher rate for a year. We signed the 1 year lease in August of 2013, which was dated good from June 2013 to June 2014. We started paying the new increased lease amount for the next 2 months. Then in mid October we received an eviction warning notice. It said we owed the complex $475 in back rent. It was due in 7 days via money order or we'd be evicted. Keep in mind we'd never even been late before. I went down to the office. I was then informed that we were being charged the back due rate increase for June / July / and Aug because we had signed a back dated lease. Plus we were being charged for the stacked late fees. I told them they couldn't legally back date a lease and they couldn't charge us the fees. I was then informed that the new property management company was "there to make the complex profitable", and that if I didn't agree to the lease we signed, that we'd be charged the month to month rate of some $1000 / mo and they'd come after us for $1200 in fees and fines. It was this point that I told them that what they were doing was completely illegal, she said I'll see what I could do. I left and immediately contacted my lawyer. That same day someone from the apartment complex called and said "we'll waive those fees for you, we just need you to sign a new lease which reflects the correct date of Sept 2013 to June of 2014." Ok fine, I'm just an occupant on the lease, my g/f is the actual lessee. She just resigned assuming that what we were told was in there. Shame on us. The 2nd lease we resigned now was from Sept 2013 to sept 2014, and on top of that had a hidden $100 pet fee. A fee which has already been paid to this complex once, when we moved in. They also changed the late fee rent amount, and moved the date up. Before your rent was due on the 1st, but you had until the 5th to pay without any penalty, the late fee before was $25. Now rent is late as of the 3rd and it's a $75 penalty. If your late is after the 7th you have to pay by money order. This month, because of the Holidays, my g/fs pay check came on the 3rd at 4 pm. She called the office to let them know we'd be dropping a check off. The lady in the office told her that it was too late, that it was due by 9 am on the 3rd. Something that's not in the lease. They also used to give you 1 month rent free when you referred someone to the complex, now you only get $100 off your rent. Our friend in the complex next door, paid his rent on time, they lost his check, asked that they give him a new one. He did, then they cashed both checks. He went in their to get a refund, cut him a check with the wrong name on it, refused to fix it, and said sorry you're S.O.L. He's a cop, so that should work out well for them. Beyond all that, the apartment complex is now getting old. We've been waiting for 2 months to get our hot water fixed, it runs out in about 5 min. You can't even fill a bath tub. Our dishwasher has never worked right, and we've now been waiting about a week for a dishwasher. Rent from ANYWHERE else. You'll have nothing but problems with Paragon Properties. I promise you!
    Manager

    2/9/2015

    Town Commons
    I would like to apologize for inconvenience you may have encountered during your stay here. Normally the pet fee and rent due dates and late fees are described at the initial move in and renewals . I'm sorry about the miscommunication about this at the renewal signing.

    Review 17 out of 27

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    Town Commons

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