Apartment Life #114

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

A couple of weeks ago we got a 24 hour notice that management would be doing an inspection. So someone from the Fire Department and the maintenance man went to all the apartments and checked the smoke alarms. That's fine, we got a notice they would do that. But when the fire department guy comes in and spots our personal fire extinguisher in the corner that we own, he picks it up and tells Ken he's gonna have to take it because it's out of date. Ken told him when the fire marshal was out here a couple of months ago when he was servicing the fire extinguishers that are on the walls outside, he had him service it and filled it up and it's fine. This guy informs Ken that he's taking it anyway because it's out of date and he can't leave it here. They almost got into an argument but the guy just took it and left. Uhm, we own them, they're ours. How can this guy just come in here and confiscate something personal of someone's. Wow, just wow. Ken was pissed.

The about an hour later I'm out with Falcor and spot my fire extinguisher sitting on the sidewalk at the end of the building! So I go and snatch it up and bring it back inside. The guy just left it there, he didn't even take it with him. Wtf?

Ever since this new management took over we've had all kinds of notices left on our doors. In December we got a notice that we had to sign a new lease. Ok, no problem. Our rent went from $585 to $645. I expected an increase but I didn't think it would increase that much. The most the increase has been in the past was $20.

Then there was another notice left on all the doors in December that anyone with a lease with the old management company would have to pay an additional $20 per month for water, sewer and trash because this new owner was honoring all the old leases until they were expired. So that pissed off a lot of people because us people on the new leases don't have to pay for water, sewer and trash. But our rent did increase quite a bit. Oh and all of us new people signing new leases have to pay an additional $200 pet deposit if we have a dog. Thankfully I didn't have to pay this because we've lived here for 21 years and the manager said that since our carpet is 21 years old and not new there was no reason to pay a pet deposit since our carpet would have to be replaced when we move anyway. So at least that was good.

And our new lease had a renter's insurance fee of $10 a month if you didn't have your own renter's insurance (I do). But paying their renter's insurance fee would only give them money if something happened to the apartment it does not cover the resident's belongings at all. I hope that these people understand that and get their own renter's insurance.

Oh and our new lease is 20 pages long. I think they put in absolutely everything they could possibly imagine just to be safe. One thing that's in my lease that I didn't like was that if I or any of my visitors get hurt on property that we can't sue the property or hold it liable for any damages/injuries. What? So if I trip over the broken concrete in front of my window and fall down and break my neck, I can't sue this place for damages? That's kinda crazy.

So that's what I've been dealing with due to the new owners and management. Ugh, living in an apartment is stressful. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.