The Villas

29-Dec-12
Alice L

Don’t Risk your health by living at University Suites or the Villas! These two places are owned and managed by the same people who rent out dangerous conditions, verbally abuse tenants, and use clauses in their lease to break state rental law and commit fraud. You will not be given a chance to take the lease with you to read over carefully when you first meet with the Property manager Ginger Wade.
I moved into apartment 911 at the Villas on May 23rd 2011 and within the week the place started to grow mold profusely on the bathroom wall. I put in a maintenance request and Mike Idyle the site manager eventually arrived on June 2nd looked at the mold and demanded I turn on the air conditioning. At first I was merely confused and asked “The air conditioning?” That was when Mike turned to me rudely pointed his finger and demanded in a nasty tone “You know that is in your lease!” I had no idea at the time why he would have behaved so rudely. I remembered that I had forgotten to get a copy of the lease when I have signed it back in February. I went ahead and turned on the air-conditioning set to 76 degrees.
Several things that Ginger Wade had said just after I signed the first lease for apartment 1101 had worried me, but I did not think that things would get as bad as they did. For one she talked while I was reading the lease and I stupidly thought nothing of it. Furthermore, she switched apartments in the middle of the meeting after I had signed the first lease. The stupidest thing I could of done was signed the second lease; however, since I had signed the first I thought I had no choice. Furthermore, she told me it was never certain which apartment any tenant was getting, and she was forcing the current tenant of apartment 911 to leave three days before his lease was up which was illegal and unnecessary since I did not need to move in until June 1st. I never should have moved in after the way she behaved. It is not safe to live in a place managed by someone who is so dishonest, and it should have been clear to me that Ginger was deceitful when she said she could not let the apartment stand empty between May 23rd when the first tenants lease originally ended, and June 1st when I could have moved in.
Mike Idyle did send someone to clean up the mold, but it just grew back within the week. The air conditioning did nothing to help as I suspected. I put in another maintenance request on June 9th and got a copy of the lease from Ginger. The lease did in fact say I was to run the air conditioning to prevent mold, and it had a number of other items I had never seen before as well. It was not the document I had signed. I knew I had missed a few things on the lease when I went to see Mike Idyle on May the 27th for my orientation meeting he actually read part of the lease to me a practice I believe he does with all new tenants because after this experience I am sure they do not wish the tenants to see the entire lease before they sign it. I emailed Mike later on June 9th to ask if the temperature of 76 degrees was adequate he never responded.
He came on June 10th with the dehumidifier. I asked him again in 76 was adequate he did not respond to the question but rudely ordered me to turn on the air conditioning. I told him it was on. He rudely said it was awfully hot . I asked again what temperature and he finally said 68 degrees. I had to start sleeping in my winter pajamas I was already sick from the mold and the cold temperature only made things worse. It took Mike over a week to come back and clean the mold by which point it had infected the closet, the cabinet under kitchen sink, one entire wall of the bathroom, and the wall behind my bed. Also strangely enough tenants are forbidden to move their beds. The fifty pint dehumidifier filled up once a day; this meant that the apartment was far too humid to be occupied.
I had noticed that the wall in the bathroom was warped from moisture. I realized that there was no hope for the apartment without extensive repairs. Since Mike was lying and being rude about the situation, I thought there was no hope in trying to work with him. I called Jackson County Health Department on the morning of the 17th. A woman identifying herself as Gladys answered. When I explained the situation, I heard her whispering to someone, and then she hung up. I took me a minute or so to realize she had hung up. I thought I better call her back because I couldn’t believe she had actually hung up and we just must have gotten disconnected. I got another woman who just started yelling at me to demand to know where I was calling from and why I was calling and yelled that they could do nothing. I eventually demanded her name and she said she was Tonya Howell.
I realized later in the day that I should give Ginger a chance to correct the situation since Mike would not. I knew this probably would not happen, but I should give her a chance. I called her and started explain the situation. She rudely interrupted yelling at me to ask if the dehumidifier was running. Of course it was I would not have been able, at that point, to breathe without it, so I confirmed that I had been running it. Then she demanded to know why I was calling her. I explained again that I hoped to peacefully resolve the situation by moving to another apartment. Before I could mention that letting me out of the lease would be acceptable, she yelled that it would not be till August that she could move me “maybe”. She demanded in a rude tone to know if the maintenance request was put in writing. There is no other way to put in a maintenance request there. I told her I had put it in writing, but she went off yelling anyway about how it had to be put in writing and why. This was the not only the nastiest way she could have reacted it was the most idiotic. It left me thinking there was no choice but to seek legal remedies. I have no idea why both she and Mike insist on being dishonest and verbally abusive rather than working with tenants on these issues. Even without the dangerous conditions no one should pay rent to be abused by these two. I heard Mike on three separate occasions spending over ten minutes balling out other tenants. Furthermore, Ginger is never polite after you have signed the lease and often resorts to yelling especially when it is totally inappropriate. Ginger is so nasty that she even went as far as to scream “NO!” and hang up the phone on a friend of mine who just called to ask if they did short term leases. I called the Jackson County Building inspectors office and the woman who called me back very politely and apologetically told me there was no minimum housing standard in Jackson County. I put in yet another maintenance request that day mentioning the warp in the wall.
Mike merely responded to the maintenance request by demanding that I put the air conditioning at 66 degrees. I soon came to the conclusion that anytime I requested that Mike do his job he would just punish me by making me colder. He also claimed that there was no warp in the wall that the dry wall was just improperly hung. The drywall was improperly hung there is a very clear slant in the wall indicating it; however, that does not change the fact that the bathroom wall had a bubble at the bottom that could only be caused by moisture.
After roughly three weeks of illness some friends of mine were kind enough to put me up in a motel so I could recover. I went to the campus health center and received a note from a PA there explaining that my health was too poor to live in such conditions. I took the note to Mike who finally contacted the owner Robert Henline. Mr. Henline promised to allow me to turn down the air-conditioning to 72 degrees if I run a second dehumidifier and move me at the end of July. He explained that they were just going to keep having trouble with that which I thought meant they planned to repair or not rent out apartment 911 again until they did. He also promised to pay my electric for running the second dehumidifier, but Ginger charged me just the same. Mr. Henline said I should talk to Ginger about the move and of course when I called her she was very rude and reminded me running the air conditioning to their specifications was on the lease, but DO NOT BE FOOLED. Since under North Carolina State Law42-42-(a)-l a landlord must repair any drainage issue contributing to mold, that clause in the lease is almost certainly illegal. Air conditioning only dehumidifies slightly and will do nothing for moisture issues serious enough to cause mold. The only way to solve mold is to stop water from seeping into the walls and under floors and replace the dry wall and flooring. Furthermore, it is unbelievably cruel that they expect they have the right to control the temperature of any home other than theirs. In addition, since they are using the air-conditioning to avoid their legal responsibility to repair the drainage, and the tenant pays the electric this part of the lease is fraud. Mr. Henline kept his promise to move me, but a man was moved in right away and nothing was repaired. The only reason I was moved was because I was willing to keep on them and seek legal help if I needed it. It was not done out of kindness, nor willingness to obey the law.
In addition to the mold that is quite dangerous, the furniture reeks of formaldehyde. I had wondered what the odor was in the apartment until I found the label under from beneath the table. The kitchen table, stools, night stand, and dresser all have labels stating that the furniture was rejected in California for formaldehyde. These are on the back of the dresser and night stand and underneath the table and stools. The last apartment I had there still reeked of formaldehyde when I left in July of 2012 even though I kept the window open in all mild weather to dissipate the scent. Formaldehyde is also a dangerous substance.
If all of these factors were not horrible enough, about a third of the lease is nothing but fraud. A tenant is fined $50 for losing their key rather than just being asked to pay for a replacement. The tenants are also fined for getting locked out of their apartments even if they locked their key inside. A tenant is fined $100 dollars for allowing a non-resident to use the washer and dryer in the apartment; this is too incredible since the tenant pays and all the electric. Tenants will also have their television or internet services revoked or lose pool privileges for breaking any part of the lease such as leaving dirty dishes out; this should never happen since the tenants rent is supposed to cover these utilities and amenities. The utilities and amenities should; therefore, be revoked only for nonpayment of rent. They insist on changing the light bulbs and charging the tenant $10 per bulb. They have the tenant paint when moving out. No sensible landlord would do this since not everyone knows how to paint. Furthermore, the tenant is charged $35 dollars per hour that a workman or painter is in their room after they move out if not every demand is followed. They only pay the painters and workmen $10, the supplies could not be worth $25 an hour; this price is just fraud. The Villas and Suites specify which cleaning products the tenant uses and how they should clean. The worst fraud is that everyone must pay for the full month of July, but those leaving have to be moved out by July 20th. They insist that everything is taken off the floor for the quarterly insect spray which is highly inconvenient. Two of my neighbors told me that Mike Idyle entered their apartment without even knocking. They demand that tenants make no noise including footfalls after ten thirty. I have no idea how this is supposed to be possible. The electricity goes out spontaneously roughly every three weeks. The managers and owner of the Suites and Villas have no interest in doing repairs they are legally obligated to; however, they do senseless things such as painting the sidewalk between the 900 and 1000 building. The fumes made me dizzy on the third floor and nearly made a friend of mine, who was visiting, sick. After the paint dried it made the sidewalk slippery in the rain but also when it was dry.
The three weeks I was sick at the Villas were the most frightening time of my life. No one even apologized for the three weeks of illness or the verbal abuse I suffered. The sinus infection and stress of living in this prison lowered my grades. The horror of living in an unsafe environment run like a prison is far too great a stress for anyone and nothing one should pay for. Please do not let this happen to you.