I stayed in the cutest house represented by O'Fallon properties at 1211 S Rockford Ave.
The house is adorable, but it had several problems. The first month we lived in the house, an opossum got under our deck and infested the house with fleas. Not only did they attack my dog, they attacked me. I ended up moving out of the house for approximately one week because the bites were so bad...I had to stay with a friend and board the dog. I spent over $1,200 on medical treatment for the bites (and for the dog who has never had fleas nor did she with the infestation but she was SO allergic because of the severity of the infestation), infections and preventative products to spray the house, basement and lawn. It took over 5 months to rid the house of fleas on the main floor (when I moved out in May, the basement was covered in fleas yet again and I'm working on my second round of steroids and trying to heal scars).
In the middle of January, the heat went out and I had to move in with a friend for a few days until it was fixed.
Once the fleas were "gone" mice came. They went to the bathroom all over the house-soiled the closets and within all of the cabinets. O'Fallon sent a maintenance man to plug holes, but the house is in such dire need of foundation repair that there is no way to keep rodents out unless some serious work is done on the house. You can actually see outside the house from the inside because there is space between the door frame and the door.
The bathtub leaked constantly, although I informed my landlord, nothing was ever done about it. It soaked the floor each time someone took a bath and ruined the cabinetry that housed the sink. The side of the cabinet was peeling off of the the floor and growing mold.
After the mice, a feral cat made its way into the basement and delivered a litter of kittens. It ripped the insulation out of the ceiling and walls and went to the bathroom within the crawl space. Unfortunately, the theme here is that the house is not sealed well and the rodent problem is a serious health concern. Rodent feces carry such terrible diseases, my parents recommended that I inform the health department.
Upon move out, I took all of my items out of the basement which is when I realized the fleas were back. My parents flew in from North Carolina to help me move out and were distraught when they saw the fleas and mouse droppings. They couldn't believe we stayed in the house with so many problems. After spending the day mopping, cleaning and vacuuming each room-we left the house in the same condition that we found it.
A few weeks later I received my deposit back with a penalty of $150.00 for the uncleanliness of the house. O'Fallon sent me pictures of the inside of the oven and moved the fridge to reveal bugs and more rodent droppings underneath the fridge in addition to a few fingerprints on the outside of the fridge...the financial penalties were for that and leaving items that were not mine. (Never have I ever lost a rental deposit for "uncleanliness nor have I seen a tenant penalized for the underside of a refrigerator or the inside of the oven). This was also the reason why I incurred a "hauling fee." In my roommates defense, she was scared to enter the basement because of the flea infestation which I informed the landlord of when I left. My landlord also sent me pictures of piles of dust she swept up and said it took 6 hours to clean the house after we left...I was very surprised to see this because I took pictures of the house when I left...freshly swept, vacuumed and mopped. My parents were shocked because they were critical partners in the clean up project!
In conclusion, the landlord is a lovely person and was responsive to most issues, but we obviously disagree when it comes to definitions of cleanliness expectations during the move out period (the lease also does not outline any sort of expectations around cleanliness i.e. cleaning underneath the fridge or the inside of the oven... nor is there a hauling fee mentioned anywhere).
The house is not in great living condition and I hope the new tenants do not have the same challenges that we experienced. It was a very stressful environment to come home to and live in. It was also a huge financial burden. I would not live there again. The location of the house is also a concern (on the outskirts of Hill Crest Hospital and the psych ward)--it was very common that police were on our street and outside of our house due to local disturbances. read more