Responding to the unidentified pamphleteer who went door to door over the weekend distributing warnings of an impending demolition for The Place Apartments at 1341 Castle Ct., the 90-unit complex’s new management responded early this week with its own tenant missive. The politely worded note from property manager Lori Lindley of newly hired Greystar responds point-by-point to the issues raised in the original flyer, namely that 1) tenants will get a “document stating the amount due,” not an eviction notice, if they’re a few days late with rent payments; 2) the management office is now closed on weekends; 3) online and drop-box payment options offered by the previous management company are no longer available; 4) a recent utility bill was distributed late to tenants only because of the recent change in ownership; and 5) the biggie: “The property was purchased with the intent to do a lease down. However, it is not our goal to evict any resident . . . We are currently renewing leases through 4/30/2014; should this change we will notify all residents accordingly.”
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“You may have noticed the improvements that we have made to the community since acquiring it last month. It is our goal to have all our valued residents enjoy their time at The Place,” writes Lindley of the 3-courtyard complex hugging the northern border of the Southwest Fwy. Some residents do appear not to have noticed;Â Swamplot has heard complaints about the recent removal of the complex’s hot tub, the exit of the complex’s full-time maintenance worker and day porter, a resulting greenish tint in the pool, and some messes left in public areas after recent repairs.
The complex was purchased on October 28th by an entity controlled by Dallas real estate firm and apartment developer Encore Enterprises.
- Multi-Family [Encore Enterprises]
- Previously on Swamplot: Getting Out of The Place
Photo: Rent.com
Hmmm, renewing the leases till April? On one hand they’ll have cash flow till the last day, on the other hand, they run a higher chance of people refusing to move out. Kicking somebody out that is not willing may take months, it might have been better to make the complex feel abandoned by not renewing and stop doing exterior maintenance.
in response to “common sense” – they’ll have no problem kicking people out because of an addendum that was added to the lease agreement simply entitled “Landlord’s right to terminate”. This addendum was sprung on me when I renewed my lease this year. If a tenant signed that addendum (and you could not renew your lease without signing) the landlord need only give the tenant a 60 day notice for “early termination”. No reason other than landlord’s choice is needed to kick you out.
What an ugly business and Greystar is out of South Carolina, so they don’t have to witness their dirty work. They better hope the Buddists are wrong about Karma.
@frustrated renter, addendum or no addendum, if someone refuses to leave past the termination date, the landlord will still have to go through eviction procedures which may take months.
Shannon: After living in my own home for most of my life I moved into a Greystar Property. It’s a nice quiet well maintained property. The office and maintenance staff are wonderful and do everything in their power to keep tenants happy.
These people are basically getting a 5 month notice to vacate—seems more than a reasonable amount of time to find a new home. And if the management company was Texas based would it really change the outcome? I’d ventire to say that Karma is no more of a bitch than Shannon.
I don’t see why this is such an issue. It sounds like a pretty balanced and normal approach. People who rent apartments are typically on one year leases anyway. If they wanted more certainty, they could buy a place or find a place willing to do a longer lease. Why does everybody assume a lease takes on characteristics of ownership just because the landlord wants to end the agreement rather than the tenant? (Can you imagine if the landlord started complaining about tenants wanting to not renew their leases?) Yeesh.
I’ve actually lead an exemplary life. I’ve been philanthropic and giving of my time, I’ve been a responsible citizen and a good son to my parents, I’m a good and loyal friend and usually put others needs before my own. So you see, I’m fine with my Karma, I’m well on my way to Paradise–are you?
Well excuse me for feeling that it’s not exactly honorable for a company to cut staff, not return callas, and slow roll maintainance. It’s great that the commenter has loved living in his Greystar property, I highly doubt there tenants feel that same way. It’s annoying tho not surprising that that most on this thread are completely aligned with the developer– on Swamplot it’s build built build, who cares if a historical building is razed (not this one), or people are displaced. This site seems to attract the Machiavellian and for them Karma will be a bitch.
Shannon: It seems to me that Greystar has responded to the complaints and is working on the issues. The tennants have been given 5 months notice. I would say that is pretty generous. Most of the complaints seem minor to me also. Removal of a hot tub, not picking up trash… Shouldn’t we pick up after ourselves? I know I don’t litter and then bitch because our maintenance worker doesn’t run over to clean up after me.
As for not caring about historic properties maybe you aren’t reading or paying attention to all of the positive articles on Swamplot about preservation. Lots of readers/commenters care but are too busy restoring properties to bitch about it.