I made the unfortunate choice of deciding to sign a lease with Northern Brokerage when I was living in Chicago. I was referred to an apartment in Mt. Vernon by an organization called Teacher Props. I was moving from Chicago to become a teacher. Everything happened very quickly, so I entrusted my leasing with Teacher Props. Unfortunately, they did not vet Wendy. I should have known when she was very dismissive via text message initially--not wanting to answer questions or anything of the sort. The apartment I am renting is infested with mice, and there are rats in the basement where giant horse flies breed and make their way to people's apartments. Because I was in Chicago, I had to rent this apartment sight unseen and hope everyone was truthful.
Sadly, the minute I walked up to the building after traveling from Chicago, I was greeted by a big pile of garbage on the sidewalk. That big pile of garbage is there 80 percent of the time. The reason is that Wendy has never made it a point to create a place for tenants to put their trash. Instead, she hands out black garbage bins for people to keep inside until the end of the week. I do not personally do this, I dispose of my garbage regularly in dumpsters, but I have to take my garbage into my car. Unfortunately, only some neighbors do this, understandably so, as it is a considerable hassle. Hence, mice and rats love to make homes in the walls of our building.
I am just getting started. There are many problems with the apartment. In a text message that Wendy was included in, I was guaranteed that the ceilings were 7' tall on their lowest slope (I live on a top floor with pitched ceilings. They are not. The lowest ceiling is less than 5' tall. The dishwasher does not open fully, and the oven does not open fully as well because the kitchen is so narrow. Not all windows have screens, and if they do, they might not open. None of my windows face anything besides a brick wall (of course, they left that out of any pictures or descriptions). The laundry I have to pay for downstairs is a machine from the 60s. To use it, you must be prepared to encounter a dirt floor with dead rats and flies swarming everywhere. I don't do my laundry in the building, which is one of the very reasons I chose this particular place because there was "laundry in the building." However, only one of the tenants is brave enough to use it.
The wafting dead rat smell permeates the hallways in the summer. I had finally endured an entire year at this apartment and found a cute new apartment with an excellent management company. I decided to put 50 days notice in writing and sent it to Wendy, letting her know. Coming from Chicago, this is a very generous and courteous way of handling business. Wendy told me to consult my lease. So, mystified, I discovered a clause that states that you must provide 90 days notice to the landlord letting them know that you are not going to return, or else YOUR LEASE AUTOMATICALLY RENEWS. I checked with a lawyer who explained that only predatory landlords use this clause. She should have given me a courtesy notice letting me know that the clause was about to take effect. That is how more reasonable landlords handle it.
Not Wendy. She acted as if she would work with me, but I gave her fair notice that I wanted to leave. It should cost you NOTHING to leave an apartment for that you have provided an appropriate amount of notice. She would let me out of the lease if I paid her 60 days of rent and signed a non-disclosure agreement. I am staying with the predatory landlord for a year. She still does not want to give me a receipt stating that she will let me out of the lease. And the reason you don't see these types of reviews because once you settle on something, she has you sign a non-disclosure agreement. I am, of course, not signing any non-disclosure agreement, and I will leave the premises in a year. read more
