[08-Mar-2016] ANONYMOUS March 6, 2016SCORE BREAKDOWN
Management Company/LandlordBuilding/Apartment MaintenanceBuilding/Apartment Amenities Building/Apartment ConditionNeighborhood & NeighborsTransportation & Parking
I moved into 9 Arlington Ave. Somerset, NJ in 2010. It seemed to be a lovely house that was perfect for my needs - near public transport for commute into NYC for work, quiet, cheaper than what I was paying living closer to NYC, and the landlords appeared to be nice and understanding. Appeared - key word here. They assured me that the shattered window in the front would be repaired. They assured me that they would get me a new stove as the current one only had 2 burners that consistently worked.
They started out as nice folks - but there was one major redflag. We had an awful summer that year and it decimated pretty much all lawns and vegetation. The backyard was in awful shape as a result. The landlord blamed it on the previous tenants 2 dogs - one small dog and one large dog. They said they would have to replace all the grass (which they never did) due to the dog damage and they would have to resurface the hardwood floors due to dog damage. They never did either - but they refused to give the previous tenants their security back. I should have run then but I needed to move in.
I always paid my rent on time - I had a check leave my account so it'd get there 5 days before the month ended. I never skipped a payment. I loved this house as if it were my own and brought the garden back to it's former glory. Even though the landlords said they would take care of garden and snow removal, I often did much of the work - especially since who they hired were increasingly unreliable. The basement flooded 3 times while I was there - the first time was hurricane Irene and it had a good 3ft of water in it. The 2nd and 3rd time were after heavy rains. They promised to install a check valve (which never happened) and the basement continued to flood.
I lived here for 5 years. It was happy. The landlords were at first very attentive and very nice, but as they moved further and further away and purchased a new home, they seemed to forget this home. When I moved out, they refused to give my security back due to "the condition" that I left it in. They claimed that I ruined their hardwood floors (they were already ruined when I moved in, apparently, by the tenants dogs). They claimed my cats peed and that I left it everywhere. Which is entirely untrue. My cats always peed in their litterboxes. I am extremely sensitive to odor and had 2 fancy automatic litterboxes that removed the waste almost immediately. Not to mention they showed the house WHILE my cats and I were living there - why would they show it if it was in such bad condition? Hmmm. They also claimed I ruined and trashed their basement - the one that repeatedly flooded and ruined all my things. On move day I paid a good chunk of money to remove the ruined things - I also noticed the landlord throwing some of their things in there but I didn't say anything and paid to remove those as well.
Val and Elton Myteberi want nothing but to take your money. They charge an exorbitant amount of rent to cover their mortgages. They expect the tenant to pay all the bills and do all the work at the shithole that they paid too much money for. They have never given back a single tenant their security back, ever. They keep saying they won't allow pets because they "ruin" things - but when they put the house on the market they allow all pets because they want to say that your pet ruined something so they can keep your security.
The neighborhood has gotten much worse over the 5 years that I lived there and increasingly unsafe. I installed a security system on my pocket. I also gave them 2 working air conditioners since they didn't have enough. I poured a lot of love into this place but it was fruitless and thankless.
If you are considering to rent from them, run away.
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