Three Stories Regarding Unliveble Conditions and Harassment

_{The following stories involve a single tenant who told me her story. I'm summarizing it here.}

Story One: Harassment

About half a year ago, the Manager came to apartment of tenant at about 9 PM and knocked very hard “scared the shit” out of the tenant. The tenant, a recently widowed mother, was afraid not knowing who was knocking so urgently to see what was the emergency. She went and opened the door only to be surprised by the Manager, half-naked in a bathrobe who immediately began screaming and shouting accusing the tenant of dropping her trash in front of the dumpster. In the midst of her accusations and rant she even yelled at her son. She forced the tenant and her son to go and clean it in the middle of the night.

The Manager made not point to clarify whose trash it was. In fact the trash, which consisted of a pregnancy test and Asian takeout, did not belong to neither the tenant nor her son. Nevertheless, they cleaned most of the mess.

Story Two: Sewage Flood and Unlivable Conditions

Roughly a year ago, issues with the pipes caused sewage to rise from the tenant's toilet and completely covered the bathroom and entered the master bedroom.

The tenant asked for a clean up crew to come and handle the clean up of the sewage. The Managers had cleaners come and clean up; unfortunately, the cleaning crew cleaned the carpet but not the bathroom. Moreover, in the process of starting to clean up the bathroom they removed some things that fell into the sewage in the bathroom.

The tenant complained that the job was left unfinished. After a dispute with the Manager, the cleaning team was sent back.

At this point, the carpet was still dirty and unsanitary. The tenant requested that the carpet be replaced, which was rebuffed by the Manager who said that that was the tenant’s responsibility. A year later, the carpet has yet to be replaced. A formal complaint has been registered with the City of Glendale.

Story Three: Hardwood Floor Issues and Unlivable Conditions

Over a year ago, the tenant's kitchen hardwood floor began to bubble and fringe. The tenant complained to the Management that it needed to be fixed. The Management didn’t even acknowledge the issue. Later the bubble burst, leaving splinters of hardwood exposed to the Tenant, her son, and her pets. Despite having tried to fix it herself, the tenant reports that she has tripped over it many times.

Up till this week, the issue has yet to even be acknowledged by the Management.

Animal Urine and Feces

Upon visiting the Falls at Montrose, you'll notice plenty of this:



which I posted in the first post.

This is a chronic problem at the Falls, so much so, the Management acknowledges it on each monthly flier they distribute. Despite warnings of fines, one a given weekend you'll see this:







Just in walking out to my car. These photos were taken over the course of a weekend on the grass at the Falls and on the side walks on Valderas and within the falls itself.

A tenant remarked to me that they have often complained and sent photos to Management asking for specific action be done to clean up feces and urine. Management has never responded to her emails and the feces and/or urine seemingly persist with no action being done.

Now I personally never noticed marks of urine, but the tenant alerted me that the ever-present splotches I see on the walkways of the Falls are in fact urine. The tenant contact management several days ago with this photo:



Management has not replied, let alone cleaned it. In fact, the number of these splotches along the walkways is alarming. While it's at first the pet owner's responsibility, it is next the responsibility of Management to maintain the grounds and develop better countermeasures to this behavior. None of which is seemingly being done.

Stagnant Water Violation?

Yet again, another potential violation.

The namesake of the Falls is a system of man-made waterfalls that are placed throughout the complex. They certainly serve a purpose in drowning out annoying noises such as music or dogs barking, but they're not always on.

For starters, they are off every night. While this may save water and power (which would seem somewhat disingenuous on behalf of the management as they leave the light on in the management office on overnight from time to time) is still leaves stagnant water.

There have been several days on end, as well, where the pumps have been turned off and water hasn't circulated. Moreover, there's been a few times where the lagoons were drained of water, leaving a few puddles here and there.

Also, even despite function of the pumps, there are regions which appear to remain stagnant as is shown here:












The Manager has claimed that the waters are treated to prevent insect infestation, though I'm skeptical of this claim after reading the pool report and having seen many gnats or mosquitoes previously.

Whatever the case, it is in need of an official inspection to make sure it is up to relevant codes.

Loose Step in South Staircase

I don't know if anyone has reported it, but ever since I've moved in there has been a loose step om the southern staircase lead to and from the pool. Sadly, it's difficult to take a photo of a loose step to show it's actually loose-but it does pose a hazard to people who may be running up and down it while not minding the rails.

Whether or not there hasn't been a report, it's highly unlikely that any member of management would have not walked on it and it is their responsibility to maintain it. If someone falls and is hurt-they are liable according to Every Tenant's Legal Guide (click here for link to the page).

Elevator Permit Violation

Again, a fairly trivial issue and not a particularly dangerous issue (I'm speculating that hydroelectric powered elevators have more robust safety modes)-but the permits for the two elevators in the buildings have expired and are possibly in violation:





Click for big. I'll try to have a more substantial post for tomorrow.

Quick gander at ApartmentReviews.com

Sadly, not every prospective tenant checks www.apartmentratings.com before hunkering down for a one-year lease. Do a Google search and the reviews for Falls of Montrose will appear at the top. Click here to go right there!

With many reviews and comments, it becomes pretty clear why the Falls of Montrose warrants its 7% approval. Let's take a look at a few.

Here's an Anonymous poster with the most recent review on 1/25/09

"We have found the manager, [name redacted], to be extremely unhelpful. We have had plaster falling onto our car for months and this has not been addressed despite several requests. There are about a dozen old appliances outside of our window without any apparent plan for them to be removed. We would not recommend this apt complex to anyone that we want to keep as friends."

So the Falls is billeted as a tranquil place-well, an Anonymous commenter for that post begs to differ:

"The kids and dogs run wild and loud. If you like the loud rumbling of skateboarding and rollerskating on the overhead walkways(same volume and sound as when people are moving and using dollies and carts)you'll be in paradise."

The follow statement is from about a year ago by yet another anonymous poster:

"Starpoint Properties needs all tenants so they can renovate and charge higher rents. They refuse to pay tenants what the city requires to do this. Instead they harass them and don't follow through on simple commonplace things that landlords are supposed to do. They have come into my home for bogus reasons and left a mess that I am supposed to clean up. Yesterday they took over the tenant parking area for painting all day and just went ahead and taped up the cars there with plastic sheeting- they didn't tell any tenants about this, just did it. I had to back up and find a spot on the street."

Another poster chimes in with a refernce to the lawsuit:

"A criminal case was filed by the city of Glendale against Starpoint Mgmt. A number of former tenants have filed claims against the company in small claims court. The management has demonstrated innumerable times that the only thing that matters to them is money. What more can I tell you to warn you against this place' What was once a nice, friendly, family community has been turned into a dressed up dive. Don't even bother renting a place near the pool or BBQ area unless you're hard of hearing, not even the din of the waterfalls will drown out the noise. Don't bother complaining to the on-site manager that a neighbor's dog barks throughout the night and keeps you up - they won't do anything about it. I lived through the hell of "renovations" and was treated less than human. Then they continually hiked my rent until I left. I couldn't be more relieved to be out of there. Do yourself a favor and find a place where the management cares about you and takes care of any issues as they arise. You deserve better than this place."

It's worth noting that Falls of Montrose is an LLC of Starpoint Properties, which has appears to have a tainted record based on two tenants of another Starpoint properties adding to the conservation:

"I can also relate to the anger and frustration. I am trying, but to no avail, to get my substantial deposit from Starpoint. I was a tenant in one of the properties they acquired in May of 2007. We also had numerous problems with workers, evictions, and code violations. This is a company that is not tenant right friendly in any way shape or form. Be very careful of the entire management staff. Also, all tenants residing at 2211 E. Washington were given evictions with the date of Dec. 31, 2007! Nice holiday gift from your landlord!"

And this one, too:

"I lived at the Starpoint property (now managed by Miller and Desatnik) on Magnolia Blvd in Valley Village for 15 years. Miller and Desatnik tried to bill tenants for the work that Starpoint did to the apartment. We had problems with them constantly working at odd hours, wanting entry into the premises for B.S. reasons (how many times do you need to see a "floor plan"??) It got so bad we went to Radio Shack and bought a motion detecting sensor for the door so we would know if the basatrds were entering while we were still home. Starpoint would "show" apartments to potential tenants that were still occupied by current tenants while the current tenants were not home. This inconvenienced everybody in the entire complex. They even turned a supply closet into another apartment!!! They are getting at least $800 a month for that, no mailbox, no parking space! Miller and Desatnik is no better than Starpoint was. We got pictures of all the messes the workers hired by Starpoint left. So when Miller and Desatnik tried to bill us for the "improvements" that Starpoint made, every tenant wrote to the Los Angeles Housing Department to oppose the rental increase. It was overturned forunately. You just can't polish a turd! 23 notices on my door in 2 months, and a whole lot of aggravation from Starpoint"

Here's an excellent response in defense of the Falls. Yet another Anonymous poster, but one must wonder what interest they have in post this:

"You ignorant people! So what is wrong with big dogs? Wine refrigerator...great idea!! but you people probably drink 40's anyway and would not understand the concept....and for you kayaklvr08 just because you make minimum wage and can not afford the place....... stop talking s******* and if buy a house...oh yeah...you can not afford it!!!!looser :)"

Keep it classy, guys!