Don’t worry about it Cody. I know that at first you were getting pretty beat up about the lilac caper but folks are just having a little fun now so no need to duck anymore. If anything, you’ve helped a couple people remember some nice stuff about their pasts and what the flowers meant to them. In short, relax and just be you Cody. We have all stepped in crap at one time or another although I do have to admit that you might have wandered into the pasture a couple of more times than you needed to but still, again, just be you. Heck, no one including the bots would recognize you if you changed anything.
Living in So. Cal I miss Lilacs..Maybe there are Lilacs in No Cal and the weather is overall colder but not here... But as it's said here many have allergies to most blooming things.
Last week we got a residential (to everyone) e-mail from manager stating certain rules that are in the Rental Agreement Policy. From what we've seen, like dog poop laying on the grass and not being picked up, to trash bags still being thrown by the large trash bins (not inside) and the trash bin completely empty, that many residents here are basically telling management "take a hike". Currently, due to rent raise, we have three apartments in our building that are now vacant. I seriously doubt the manager is concerned, because I was told that she has a list of interested people. As for us, we continue to pack some things up.
Nothing will put people over the edge like unpoliced dog poop. Just leaving it lay is a very rude thing to do...I never did that even in my own yard. Did the letter specifically cite those things, or was it a general admonishment to read & obey the lease?
@Cody Fousnaugh - We have to pay $20 a month for outside service to pick up our trash and take to bin. We pay $4.00 a month for pest control ( have never seen a roach) There is $ 6.00 additional- whatever fees for them letting us know we have been billed monthly rent. Just recently received notice that we can no longer have grills( they provided them in other part of complex) No longer can have outside antenna on our patio .This no longer pertains to me..but now the entire complex is smoke free. Not even on your own patio or anywhere on or in the complex. About had it with apts. I know where some caves are here , bit of a drive, we may have to move into one.
We pay $20 a year for access to the transfer station, which is pretty much on the honor system because they haven't had anyone at the gate in years. Unless we want to pay someone at least twice that much per month to pick up our trash, we bring our own trash to the transfer station. Since I compost everything compostable, what remains isn't particularly smelly so I take the trash once a week. I can make additional trips if necessary, but I seldom do. I live in Maine so we don't have a lot of pests. Things like cockroaches do exist in the larger cities, where houses are close together, but most people don't see cockroaches around here. I won't say they don't exist, especially if someone is a particularly bad housekeeper, but I haven't seen one since I moved to Maine. When we first got here, there were fleas, because our house was a low-rent, 3-unit apartment building before we bought it, so we removed three or four layers of carpet and hired a pest control company to rid the place of them, and they haven't been back.
We didn't move into the complex, but there was a complex in Jacksonville, FL where the trash was put into two different containers in front of the single-level apartments that would be picked up. We don't have pest control here, like we had in Jacksonville. There was many, many water bugs (cousin to the cockroach). They would come up from the water pipes into apartments. But, even pest control couldn't put a stop to them showing up. We are allowed to have a "propane only" grill on our patio and we do. Our complex is listed as "Smoke Free", but there are certain areas where people can light up. Not inside an apartment, on a patio or some other places. But, they young folks here don't seem to care and will smoke where ever. Even though recreational marijuana is legal here, can't smoke in apartments or patio, but there have been a few times we've smelled a little.
And, there were chiggers in the long grass by the garages. Can ask me about that. Both of my legs got bitten!
The manager has made written threats to some residents for not following rental policy rules, but, she doesn't want to lose her job so she lets a lot of things go. One of the reasons a lot of young kids live here. Apparently the word got out how lenient the manager is, even after written warnings.
You can’t enforce what you can’t catch. Face it Cody. You live in an apartment complex. Lots and lots of people from different places and with different attitudes most of which have never even read the lease. They wake up, go to work, come back and try to relax without any hassles. Get up in the morning and do the same thing all over again. They’re people. Human beings and you can’t pack a bunch of human beings into cardboard boxes and expect them to act and do as you or the manager want them to. Some will. Some won’t. Some just plain make mistakes. The only way you’re going to be mostly satisfied is to move into a cottage of some sort and even then there is no promise that all will be just peachy. But there is one thing I know for sure. You’re not going to be even mostly satisfied living in a box with 6” between you and the other people living in a box. It’s just the way it is.
It will be interesting to see if people change behaviour. Those smoking rules are putting the manager in a tough legal spot. If there's a fire and people get hurt (or insurance wants to dodge a claim), she's already documented that she was aware of the issue and did not follow up (due to lack of support from above.) In the event of a law suit, the property owner will throw her under the bus in a heartbeat. Regarding grills: My first apartment had wood balconies. My unit faced the courtyard, and one evening I saw some guy with really long hair and no shirt on dump half a contain of fluid on (and around) his grill. Then he leaned over it with a match. ¡WHOOSH! The grill, the balcony and some hair (head and chest) all caught fire at the same time. He got it put out. Probably went out and bought another 12 pak. to console himself.
The No-Smoking rule that some apartments include in the lease can have a lot of holes that need to be filled. For instance: If smoking was permitted and then the no smoking rule was made, everyone who smokes and has a least should be grandfathered in. In Cody’s case, it seems that he has complained about smokers before so that might just be the case, Another “for instance” is if the lease doesn’t stipulate that guests of a tenant are also bound by the no-smoking agreement, well, you see my point. And, how about smoking in one’s car outside of the apartment? Unless the property as a whole has a no smoking policy with no areas given for such things the rule is hard to enforce. The other side of the coin is in a majority of states, a manager cannot just knock on a door and inspect the residence. The norm is that a tenant is given a 24 hour notice and the time of that inspection has to be agreeable to both parties. The main way a manager can find out if someone has been smoking in an apartment is when the tenant leaves permanently or catches them smoking in a no smoking area. If someone is caught smoking on their balcony then sure, they get a 1 time notice and the next time they get evicted. But then, it has to go to court. In order to properly evict anyone here in Alabama, the whole shmeer could take up to 2 months. Owner notifies the tenant of eviction which allows 10 days from the time of notice. If they don’t budge, then it takes $340 to file the eviction. The court sends a court date to the tenant which takes between 7 to 10 days. The tenant is given a court date which is generally between 7 to 10 days after notice. Then the judge gives the tenant 10 days to move. If they don’t move, then it costs $75 for the Sheriff’s office to review the case, send notice to the tenant (7-10 days) and then the Sheriff’s deputies show up and supervises a crew (owner’s expense) who move the tenant’s stuff out and puts it along side of the road. That’s when ya walk in the door, change the locks and say to yourself, gee, I wish they only smoked on the balcony cause now I have to paint, change the carpeting, and whatever else was infected by the dreaded tobacco, or pot, or crack, incense, Tai food, Curry or stinky feet. It’s no wonder why some managers might turn a blind eye on certain instances. The owner yells when the units aren’t full and then yells when he has to fork out a few thousand beans after an eviction.