Pros: The apartment was clean and newly renovated when we moved in
Cons: Our leasing officer (Danny) was unprofessional; the leasing office was not transparent about the move-out process; and community rules are not enforced
I have no complaints about the apartment itself, and most people in the leasing office were friendly and tried to be accommodating.
However, our leasing officer, Danny, was unprofessional. We were moving from DC and communicating with him remotely leading up to our move back to Denver. He was very casual about the process, and didn't seem clear on what his job entailed. He asked for weird details (how much my tuition at school was, how much I had received in federal aid), but couldn't tell me why he needed this information when I asked. He even asked me to fax over a copy of my financial aid award letter, which I of course did not do because this isn't relevant to renting an apartment. He also called my girlfriend and me "sweetie" several times on the phone. He was incompetent, and never checked in with us after we moved in to make sure everything had gone smoothly.
Secondly, the leasing office did not enforce their policy on marijuana. Even though the community rules in the lease clearly said that residents were not allowed to smoke marijuana inside or outside their apartment, our neighbors did so everyday, and many of them multiple times a day. It made it very difficult for my girlfriend to breathe if we left our windows open. It would even smell up our closets. It got to the point where we had to keep our windows shut and use the A/C more because of how pervasive the smell was. We brought it up with the leasing office several times; they were slow to respond, and when they did, they said there was nothing they could do but put up reminders outside residents' doors reminding them of the policy. In my opinion, there is no point making rules if they have no intention of enforcing them. From the time we moved in until we moved out, nothing substantial was done to ensure that everyone was comfortable in their apartment.
Thirdly, the grounds for the apartment were messy and littered with trash very often. I found trash throughout the complex, which looked ugly and was nasty (whole pieces of pizza, half eaten cheeseburger, a jar of pasta sauce, wrappers, etc...all real things I saw).
Finally, the move-out process. We spoke with Sheena in the leasing office 60 days prior to moving out. We asked her if they were going to do a move-out inspection before we left the apartment so we could be present and they could inform us if we needed to repair or clean anything before we left. She distinctly told us that this was NOT their policy. She said that the move-out inspection would happen after we left and that we had nothing to worry about. We told her that we had been present for the move-out inspection at our apartment in DC, and she told us clearly that she wished the Parc had that same policy.
Before we moved out, we thoroughly cleaned the entire apartment and bought new drip pans for the stove. I even replaced the blinds and lightbulbs myself after putting in a service request that was ignored.
I also had family come over on the last day to help us clean. The apartment was spotless. Fast forward two weeks, and I received a move-out bill in my email from the Parc itemizing charges to my account for repairs and cleaning they supposedly had to do after we moved out. The charges are as follows:
Blinds - $27; Sink - $15; Tub - $25; Carpet - $650.04
We called them promptly to discuss the validity of these charges, and were met with resistance and dishonesty. Sheena said that she had actually encouraged us to be present for the move-out inspection, which was completely different from what she had told us in the office. We asked for pictures of the above areas of the apartment; these pictures showed that the caulking on the tub was coming off (not our fault) and there was a small amount of soap scum in the sink. They removed these charges as a "customer service gesture", although they admitted that they were not warranted in the first place. We disputed the carpet charges, as they found a couple of spots on the bottom of the carpet after pulling it up that they told us was urine. However, there is no proof that these stains are urine and not usual wear and tear (other liquid, etc.). They told us that it was their policy to pull up the carpet after a resident moves out, but they NEVER informed us of this. Had they, we could have rented a carpet cleaner and made sure to avoid this charge. None of these stains were visible from the carpet's surface, and therefore, impossible for us to know there were still things that needed cleaning. They should have told us that they would inspect the bottom of the carpet. We would have ensured that the carpet was cleaned before move-out.
Overall, a clean, safe place to live, but they try to bleed you dry right at the end. read more
