In 2020-2021 we initially signed a lease with a different company, but about 1 month into the lease Middletown purchased the property. They so graciously said they would “honor” our precious lease, as if that’s not ready the law.
Note that because of this they had not seen the unit before purchase and did not know the condition it was in before we signed, however on our lease we included a list of pre-existing damages to the walls, paint, fixtures etc upon our move-in. Flash forward to move out, after my roommates and I scrubbed floors walls, cabinets, and all surfaces we were charged close to $600 for “cleaning and damages”.
Along with this, they decided to keep our move-in deposit. Myself and all four of my roommates individually called multiple times about our deposit after our lease was through, and each time they said it was in the mail, on its way. We asked who the deposit was addressed to and they told us they couldn’t provide that information. When asked to see proof of the check/ or proof that it was mailed they couldn’t provide it either. On a the fifth or sixth call, they finally told us the check was made out to one of our roommates and that it had already been cashed. This was false as the roommate in question 1. didn’t have the check, and 2. did not cash it, so it was either fraudulent or a lie all together. By this time we were approaching finals of the next semester and rather than make a legal claim against Middletown, we all let it go as we didn’t have the time or resources to fight them.
About half way through our lease term, Middletown reached out to us to let us know some contractors were coming to look at the home. While they notified us the day before, they did not tell us when and the next day we had no idea when they would show up.
Maybe two weeks later we were told they would be coming to do “work” on the unit and that we had to move all the furniture out of our living space. (is that allowed?) I told them the couch wouldn’t fit through doorways or down the hall, and if they could keep it in the room and just cover it, to which they agreed. They changed the drywall in the ceiling and then painted it. After we had drywall dust all over and there was paint on our couch.
During this time they also painted the kitchen, which they did not tell us was going to happen. They had all the counters taped off. Including covering the sink, stovetop, and cabinets. We could not access any of our belongings like cups, plates, utensils etc, could not use the water in the sink, use our microwave, or access our fridge during this time. (again is that allowed?) So without notice all five of us could not cook food, access our fridge, or get water from the kitchen for an entire day.
There were also multiple times we had to call the maintenance line for squirrels and opossums in the attic. They would send out a trapper who would leave the trap for two days, and if they didn’t catch anything they would leave.
One morning I woke up to a raccoon in our kitchen that had entered through a hole in the stovetop vent that lead into the attic space. I called the emergency line over and over for about an hour with no answer. Eventually someone called me back and by that point the raccoon went back into the attic and I barricaded the cabinet. It then took two more days before maintenance came to patch the whole in the ceiling.
A pipe froze in our downstairs bathroom (even though we left it dripping) and we could not use the toilet, sink, or tub, and when we made a request they said it didn’t qualify as an emergency so it took them up to two weeks to send someone out to work on it.
