River Road East Apartments

Dear Mr***: Thank you for contacting me last week about this apparent complaint by a current residentAlthough I am not certain what the complaint is, I will simply respond as to the conduct of this resident since their occupancy, as that is how she opens and closes her complaintMs
***, now known as *** ***, began renting at her present apartment on September 1, Her husband, *** ***, did not move into this same apartment until September 9, 2016, a year laterMs*** signed her lease agreement and all attachments a few days before she moved inOn October 1, 2015, a month after moving in, Ms*** asked if we had available storage lockers and we said that we didStorage lockers are not a part of the lease agreement and are only issued to residents upon request and only if there is one availableThere are specific rules that govern the use and occupancy of all storage lockers and Ms*** negotiated these agreements and agreed to abide by the building rules that govern the use of storage lockersThere is not any provision in the lease agreement or security deposit agreement that affords any resident any right or entitlement to a storage lockerIn short, the policy and rules that govern all storage lockers is simpleThere are numerous storage rooms in the building and they are numbered through In each room, there are lockers with a letter code from A to H, in most casesIn other words, there is a door to the actual room that looks and operates pretty much like a door to an apartmentInside this room are then, in most instances, eight lockers with plywood doors on two hinges secured with a simple hasp and a padlock for securitySo, without a whole lot of trouble or effort, lockers can be tampered with or vandalized pretty easily should the door be left unlockedOnly residents with lockers in that particular room have a key to that roomSo, with tight security, we have little problems with theft or vandalismNow, although the resident does not cite an actual complaint per se, by doing the name calling and reference she is making, it seems to me that she is complaining about their access to their storage lockerFor the record, this storage room has been a constant problem over the last few years and all of the problems and complaints have been since this resident obtained a locker in this roomNow, this isn’t to say that all the problems are associated with this residentBut, the company has a duty to protect other residents and their belongings should there be an issue as well as theirsSo, for example, since April 18, 2016, this storage room was found unsecure three times in a two week periodAs well, a resident complained about abandoned personal property, including a mattress, left in the access isle that violates local fire codesBecause of the security nature of the issue we sent letters out to the eight occupants with lockers in this roomAt that same time, pursuant to our policy, we changed the lock to keep the room secure and required all residents to sign out a key or call down for access to the roomThis resident is the only resident that called down, made immediate demands, and constantly made immediate access demands and in all instances cited that she needed important documents from her lockerShe constantly asked us to just leave it unlocked for herThere were over eight such requests in a short period of timeOn June 15, 2016, two months after using security lock control measures, we restored the original lock, notified all residents, and allowed unlimited access to their lockers once againAlmost immediately, the calls started flooding in again about the room being left unlocked and on one occasion, one resident told me which person they last saw in the room when it was left unlockedIt was this complaining residentSo, on December 5, we made the decision to permanently change the lock and require all residents in this room to request admittance to the room or sign out a keyThis complaining resident was always calling down, rude to staff, always critical with our policy and screamed at whoever answered the phoneI drafted a letter and advised her that we could not always respond immediately to her access request as if we were a bellhopI also informed her that this is a storage locker, not a daily extension to her apartmentThis did not deter herOn Friday, October 6, 2017, Mr*** came into the rental office after closing, 5:PM, and I was meeting wit two residentsHe told me that they desperately needed items from their storage locker that evening and asked if I would unlock the room for the weekendI explained to him, as I had explained to his wife numerous times, that we cannot simply leave the room unlocked for them for extended periods of timeBy us leaving the storage room unlocked for days and nights at a time is no different than what we are complaining to the residents aboutIt also puts the liability on us should someone break into a storage locker because we left the room unlocked over night or a weekendBut, he insisted that he needed to get in there right away so I asked the residents to wait and that I would be right backI began to walk out of the office with the only key to the storage room and suddenly found myself in gripping painI am partially disabled from a car crash and long walks and stairs are not my friendI knew I would not make the walk and would find myself lying on the floorSo, I looked him in the eyes and told him something to the effect, “I have to have this key back tonightIt is the only key to this storage room and I have someone who wants to go in there first thing at 8:AM.” He promised to have it backSo, he was to use it for that night and drop it back into the rent drop box so we would have it when I came in the next morning for this other residentBut, the next morning, no keySo, yes, I was angryNo, although they now state I should have called them and woke them and all that, I disagreeI simply took my crew up there with the people waiting to get into the storage room, as I did not want a possible embarrassing scene should knocking on their door and trying to retrieve the key not workSo, I simply drilled out the lock and replaced it with another lock as I was telling him the truthI really did not have another key to this roomSo, by Monday morning and still no key, obviously it was not an oversightSo, I drafted a letter and invoice and billed them $for drilling out the lock and replacing itI also advised them in this letter that no further access would be permitted unless it was to remove their belongingsNow, some two weeks later, October 27, 2017, Mr*** came down to the rental office and began screaming at the top of his respective voice at an employee that had just started less than a week earlierShe was so scared she had hoped I would not return while he was there because she felt that he was going to attack meThis is how frightened she wasSo, by chance, I did walk back towards the office as I heard the screaming from down the hall where I was talking to a residentWhen I came walking up, he was out in the common hallway outside the rental office and immediately began screaming and shouting at me so fast and so loud, the two residents fled and one asked if he should call I have been doing this for some twenty two years and have not had this type of experience beforeThese two people are just plain bullies and when they don’t get their way, they resort to scare tactics, then name calling, then filing complaints littered with vulgarity and race accusationsI maintain that I have been more than tolerant with these twoNow, I removed everything I had originally put in this letter as I think I should stick to the facts of their complaintBut, I have had issues with this apartment since the day after they moved inBy her own admission, they did not return they key because they decided they needed it until MondayAnd no, they did not see anyone else in that room on Saturday or the weekend for that matter as they had the only key and know thatWe have been told by our corporate office some time ago to not accept packages for residents, as it is a huge liabilityBut, I want to be as helpful as I can be to residents so that they enjoy living at my propertyI like what I do and I do a good job and am usually considered pro-residentThis is why I have not seen a court room in twenty two years, other than if we had to file an evictionI am fair to residents and I don’t care what color they are or where they are fromBut, what I do care about is when residents disrupt other residents and put other residents at riskThat is what these two are doing and it has to stopI cannot take the risk that one of them may come into the rental office for a package or storage access and behave in the same manner as beforeI have a duty to the employees of this company as well and I cannot put them at riskSo, it is true, we no longer accept packages for this apartment and access to their storage locker will only be for the removal of their property and it will be supervised by usWe cannot afford another incident like the lastIn her own complaint, she openly admits to not returning the key as agreedIt was simply these two wanting it their waySo, I apologize about the length, but at least you have the facts. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact meSincerely, Robert *** Site Manager