Equity Residential reviews and complaints 1
View all 26 complaintsEquity Residential - mental harassment
I live in unit 166 of carmel terrace apartments managing by equity residentail. I moved in march 6th 2010, when I moved in I mentioned that quality of tub is not good. They ignored it. Now, property management saying that they fixed the tub and asking me to pay charges for that. I told them I am already mentioned about the quality of tub in move-in inspection report, so I am not responsible for these charges. But, still they are trying to harass me mentally by keep on asking payment for charges.
Update by
gandhidavuluri
Dec 22, 2010
11:34 am EST
Thanks for support and suggestion. If I don't pay they might send this to collection, it might effect my credit score. How to handle this? Because I have read some of them saying, these things ruined their credit score.
The management at Academy Village(CA) are the same way, using intimidation tactics like they are doing you a favor by renting from them, and general condescension to fulfill their own personal gratification/ego.
Something like this happened to me too. The management of the apartments I was in tried to get me to pay for THIER repairs to the apartment! Not only is this unethical and immoral, it is illegal.
YOU dont own this property, you are a renter. The OWNERS of the property are responsible for repairs and upkeep of the apartment.
The only think you would be responsible for, is if you did the damage to the apartment. And since the damage was there when you moved in, you are not responsible for it.
Send the management and property owners a certified letter, telling them you will take them to small claims court for harassment if they dont stop.
Also make sure you do everything through the mail from now on, keep copies. Phone conversations will not be useful
I would ask them for an itemized list written, signed & dated on their company letterhead of what they think you owe them.
Then I would write them a letter (keep a copy for yourself) that simply states you do not believe you owe them this amount because they were notified of these problems at the move-in inspection. Say you do not wish to be contacted about this again, unless you are being notified of any legal actions they are taking. Send them the letter certified mail.
If they try to put this on your credit report without having won in a court case then you can dispute it with the credit report company.. This will again put them in a position of having to prove you legally owed them the money... Which would be hard if they haven't taken you to small claims & got a judgement against you.,
Don't give them a dime. Just pay your rent normally.
Tell them they are more than welcome to sue you in small claims court for anything else they think you owe them, every time they ask you about it.
They will probably stop asking.