I moved in June 2011 and was very happy to find a place because my dog does not fit the normal apt 25 pound weight limit and this place easily accepted her, granted I paid a monthly fee. From there the happiness ended.
The apt mgmt co as of June was still Morgan Properties and they required our initial deposit check to be paid as a certified bank check. I receive a letter (TAPED TO MY DOOR) from the propy mgr that there was an issue with my check and I had 24 hours to resolve it. Of course I panicked.
The 'issue' is that Morgan Properties did not endorse the check, so it was returned. Morgan Properties then forwarded the check, un-deposited, to their corp office which was never to be seen again. Unfortunately because it is a certified bank check, it is as good as cash and you cannot just cancel the check. The money also left my checking acct as soon as the check was issued, moved to a holding account with the bank. I kept in constant contact with Morgan Properties, who were unresponsive in helping me resolve the issue. Their only response was that they were trying to track down the check.
Then, the worst case scenario happened in that Morgan Properties was sold to Candlebrook Properties.
I received my 1st stmt from Candlebrook and walked over to the office to explain why the balance and why it's not owed. They did not understand why we could not just cancel & re-issue the check. My bank stated that to be able to re-issue the check, I would have to purchase a bond against the original check for the full amount in case it was cashed as well as the new check being cashed. The bank then offered that the check has an expiration date and mine expires in Sept. Once the check expired I would be able to get my money back and re-issue Candlebrook a check.
A rep at Candlebrook seemed responsive and interested in the matter. They agreed that waiting a few weeks to re-issue the check is the best resolution and she would put a note in the system of why there was a balance would try(?) to clear the late fee's that came as a result of this issue. I figured to deal with those late fee's later.
The check expires and I go to the bank, re-issue a check and walk it over to the Mgmt Office. A new office mgr is there and I try to explain the issue to her and she is not interested. She takes the check, writes me a poor excuse for a receipt on a post-it note and that's it.
I felt like the situation would be resolved but I was wrong!
1 week later I come home to a letter from the Superior Court of NJ that Candlebrook is suing me! Not for the deposit issue, but for not paying our Sept rent?! I have never even been late, I keep every piece of paperwork that pmts are made & cleared. This has to be the deposit issue and they just misapplied funds. They never ever once tried to contact me about any issue. No calls, no letters, no one coming to our door - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I was 100% pro-active in every way. A few days later they must have realized our acct balances were ok and we received a letter from their attorney requesting dismissal of the case. As relieving as that was, I was brought to be furious again when Candlebrook taped to our front door the original document stating we were being sued. We share a front door! How embarrassing for us that our neighbors could possibly think we're deadbeats!
I called the court & confirmed the case was dismissed but I will never ever re-new my lease here and I will do anything in my power to prevent anyone from giving this company a dime. I have still never received anything from this company apologizing or anything!
On top of this, I've called many times for maintenance - during a storm our front window had water pouring in like it was pouring out of a hose. When Hurr Irene was coming we really began calling and of course their response was 'this is the 1st time your reporting this?!' To this day, no one has showed. The street is also very bad- potholes that bottom out your car. Morgan Properties stated on their FB page that the township slated the road to be paved by the end of summer 2011. Its Nov - and no improvement.
All this and I've lived here 4 & 1/2 months! read more