Some months back, late in 2008, I got a letter from the Oaks at Weston - my apartment at the time - which indicated that my current lease was up soon.
We didn't have any intention of renewing but, naturally, didn't want to close the door on the possibility if we didn't find somewhere new. We found somewhere new about a month before the lease expired. I figured it didn't make much difference one way or another, since our lease was running out, but I told the office folks that we'd be moving out.
And this is when they explained that we couldn't just let the lease run out. See, there was a clause in the fine print that indicated that, unless stated otherwise, the lease would renew upon expiration. It's the sort of logic that belonged in the George W. Bush years.
We moved to our new place, paid the Oaks for the time we lived in the apartment, and no more. Naturally, that didn't satisfy them. This week, two months after we've been out of the Oaks - and plenty of time for them to get new tenants in the old place - we got a letter from a collection agency demanding money. Then the agency called my cell phone and my office.
I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with a hapless fellow who gave his name as Steve Sims, using a colorful selection of epithets and comparisons to extortionists and kneecapping thugs, which had the effect of making him act all butt-hurt and tell me that I "wasn't very pleasant."
Well, Steve, fuck you. It's not pleasant to have to deal with strong-arm tactics from the hired dog of a faceless corporation that's out to take money it hasn't earned from my limited resources. So, you'll just have to cope with the fact that someone you're trying to rape financially puts up a fight and makes you suffer a knock to the nuts in the process.
My tirade also yielded a better deal on the "settlement," which, if paid immediately, would prevent a hit to our credit rating and rental history. So, I'm glad about that much. And on the offchance we take legal action against the Oaks, it's better to pay and be done with it, then argue the ethics of it later.
As I close that chapter, let me share some of my thoughts about The Oaks at Weston, currently owned by the Steven D. Bell Corporation. I lived there for three years. Here are some key recollections:
* There's one dumpster for hundreds of residents. Every Sunday evening and Monday morning, the place looked like a Mumbai slum piled high with trash bags and tossed furniture.
* The smoke detectors are cheap pieces of shit with a tendency for beeping incessantly.
* Maintenance responsiveness was, with rare exceptions, atrocious.
* Parking? A fucking joke.
* Rent costs? Too high for what it got you.
* They dicked me over previously for the carpet in the first apartment, before we moved into the new place. They made me pony up cash to replace all the carpet, claiming Huck's fur had ruined it. Bullshit. A good cleaning would have done the trick. But we were already moving into the new place, so they had me over a barrel nice and neat. I should have known right then that they were lying thieves.
* They did a shitty job of keeping track of package deliveries. I had to ask on several occasions to get packages that had been dropped off weeks earlier. Some of those items had been perishable goods that Karen had ordered.
* They misrepresented or lied through omission about lease contracts, especially when they had the advantage.
Ultimately, it was an advantage that I gave them. My advice: Never sign a contract with an apartment complex unless you've had someone familiar with rental contract law look it over first. Make sure you have fair terms. Save yourself some money and heartache. Be smart.
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