Oh My Apartment

Not all apartment managers are perfect. Sometimes you move into an apartment complex and find out that the apartment manager acts more like a list of ‘what not to do at work’ than like a professional. Even in theses cases, though, there are steps you can take to protest your apartment manager’s actions.

Jeff Staley heads up the Apogee Companies, a property management company that manages apartment communities in eleven states. He suggests that, if an apartment resident feels that the manager…

As the holidays roll around, you may be thinking about what you can do for the people that make your life easier year round. Maybe you’re considering a larger tip for your hairdresser or cards for your co-workers. Have the apartment management staff made that list? They work hard to make sure that the property is maintained and your apartment is comfortable, even if things are not always perfect. Here are four ways to show your appreciation for them:

1. A plate…

Your new apartment can be perfect: great location, all the space you need and more. But then you go to make a phone call and you discover: no service. Your apartment may be a cell phone dead zone. That situation is bad enough if you also have a landline, but if you rely primarily on your cell phone, no reception can be a major issue.

No service isn’t exactly a reason to break your lease, but living a dead zone can create…

It’s a horrible situation–you’ve lost your keys. You’ve got to get into your apartment, but there are other things to worry about as well. Will your keys show up? Do you need to have a new key made? Do you need to have your apartment re-keyed?

The first thing to do is, of course, get into your apartment. You’ll need to call your landlord or your management company to come let you in. Some landlords charge fees for such a service,…

There all sorts of ways to wind up on a renter’s blacklist–a list of tenants that most landlords will refuse to rent to under most circumstances. It can be tough to get your name off that sort of list, even if you didn’t do anything wrong. But it isn’t impossible.

When people talk about a blacklist, they’re usually talking about the U.D. Registry, or one of several other tenant blacklist firms. Landlords will report issues with tenants to a blacklist, allowing…