[03-Aug-2019] The building/location: The apartment is located in a great area of the city and is across from a park where a large farmer's market takes place every Saturday during the summer. There are many restaurants nearby, and the area is close to the TRAX. Additionally, parking is an option in a below ground and secure garage where one space is included in the rent. The parking is not assigned, however. Access to the residential area is via secure elevator or floor-level exterior doors, however towards the end of my occupancy the door closest to this apartment would not properly close and could be opened without a key (see HOA/property management below).
The apartment: Very small but use of space is efficiently used and I found it quite comfortable. The kitchen has all of the key appliances, and even a gas stove which can be difficult to come by. Plenty of built-in closet space in both rooms, however there is little storage besides the cabinetry in the kitchen and a toiletry cabinet next to the sink (there is a semi-large cabinet under the sink). The space is somewhat noise-insulated; however it is located off of the street and inevitably you can hear traffic, people, etc. clearly from the living room and first bedroom, which both have windows overlooking the street. The apartment was recently renovated/re-painted, and generally looks pretty good. However, many of the floorboards, especially in the kitchen, contained gaps that I would stub my toe on if not careful, and also displayed some warping which worsened throughout my year there.
Building/apartment maintenance: This overlaps somewhat with my landlord review, as the landlord was responsible for bringing in contractors to conduct repairs. I found this aspect to be extremely inadequate throughout the course of my tenancy. When I first moved in, the hot water heater was not working; I was not notified of this fact prior to moving in. It took five entire days for hot water to be restored, which exceeds the legal amount of time for an "essential" utility to be restored. At the same time, even after placing the gas utility under my name and activating service, the company could not send someone to turn on the gas to my unit in a timely manner and missed the original appointment to do so; I had to eventually get the landlord to give me access to a building key to enter the secured area where the gas meters were, and turn on the gas to the unit myself. I also learned (again prior to moving in) that the heating unit was no longer working and was part of a model that was no longer supplied or maintained by the manufacturer. The landlord told me that he "hoped it was something he could fix before winter," which was not reassuring. Months later, the hot water heater went out a second time; this time I was actually able to research the aforementioned requirement for essential utilities and had to send the landlord a formal notice through the state requiring him to fix the issue within the allotted time after multiple direct message did not mobilize him to get a contractor into the unit. Finally, towards the end of the summer the air conditioning stopped working and took about a week to fix. During this time, I had to keep my windows open, and one particularly windy night a gust slammed a window shut and shattered the glass, leaving plenty of glass I had to personally remove while waiting for another untimely repair. Several smaller issues were never fully resolved during my tenancy anywhere from weeks to months after I reported them, including: the bedroom doorstop screw coming loose from the drywall, the coat hooks in the living room also coming loose, the previously noted gaps/warping of the flooring, the handle of the washer breaking (the landlord removed the handle but did not actually replace it, and I had to pull on the very small release the handle was meant to manipulate in order to open the door every time), and a large, unsightly hole above the bathroom door that the landlord directly told me that he "had no intention of fixing."
Landlord: This was another extremely negative aspect of my time in this apartment. There were multiple instances throughout the year where the landlord acted with indifference, indecency, and callousness to me as a tenant and in response to my complaints or situations that arose. When I asked for some form of compensation to seek out a place to shower while the water heater was not working during my first week, he refused, telling me that "you can go to a local gym pretty inexpensively." Similarly, I requested the water filter on the fridge be replaced as the replacement indicator was on at the time I moved in. He told me that he "did not consider this to be an item he should be responsible for replacing" despite the fact that it was part of an appliance, and thus covered per the lease terms. It was only after stating the health risks of using these filters past their life cycle and the fact that I hadn't even been the tenant to use the filter before it needed to be changed did he agree to replace it. His response to maintenance requests, as described above, was also lacking. The most appalling incident was the way in which he handled my security deposit. When I moved out, I forgot to leave the parking pass and garage door opener before I left, and they ended up travelling with me to Chicago where I now live. The following week, he notified me that they were missing; I asked if I could mail them, which he said was fine. At the time, I was brand new to Chicago with a new job, and my work hours made it difficult to get to a post office. I had intended to visit a Fedex over the weekend with the intention of mailing the items express. The landlord had told me the new tenants would not be moving in until the 20th, and I calculated I could get both items to him well before their move-in date. That Saturday, the landlord texted me asking for a tracking number, and when he heard the items had not been shipped he immediately stated that failure to return all keys upon move-out (he considered the garage door opener a key) was subject to lease violation and forfeiture. I explained my intention to mail them back before the new tenants moved in, and he told me that they had moved in "days ago;" a fact that he had previously not shared with me, stating "it doesn't matter when the next tenants moved in because you violated the lease either way." I offered to overnight the items, a message he ignored until the following Monday, when I re-asked him and he said he had requested new items from the management company. When I pressed him about the outcome of my deposit and whether he would actually withhold the entire thing, he told me that it would "be decided within 30 days of your move-out per the lease agreement." He then waited until the last possible minute, knowing full well what he intended to do already, and sent me a letter (which I received after 30 days) saying he was withholding the entire deposit for not returning a parking clicker. Lease terms aside, that's a show of complete disrespect and greed.
Neighbors/homeowners association/management company: I can't really describe individuals comprising this group as anything other than "snooty." The homeowner's association was hyper-critical when it came to enforcement of community policies where tenants were concerned while simultaneously neglecting their own responsibilities. There is an outdoor area on my floor meant to be a grassy area or garden, and multiple planters throughout the halls. The HOA is responsible for maintaining these, but for the entire year I was there the entire area was covered in weeds and completely unkempt. The exterior door that would not close/lock properly, which I mentioned earlier, was something I reported immediately. The solution? Place a sign on the door insisting that the tenants ensure it completely closes when coming and going. Technically a solution, yes, but a lazy one. Building security is not the onus of the tenants. Similarly, early in my tenancy the HOA forbade locking bikes anywhere in the common areas, forcing me to keep mine in my tiny apartment all year. Despite assurances that a bike rack would be supplied, this was never done. As for neighbors, one called animal control to collect my pet cat when he slipped out of an open window, and another placed a sign on my car threatening to have it towed if I wasn't a resident even though my tag was clearly displayed and I had been parking there daily for 8 months.
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