I was working a temporary contract assignment in New York during the fall and winter 2018 – 2019 time frame.
The manager, Nancy, at this apartment complex made an agreement with me and gave me her word that if I agreed to extend my lease for an additional 6 month term but had to leave due to any emergency, that she would be reasonable and let me terminate early.
She explained to me at the time ” We do not exactly have anyone beating down the doors “ referred to the fact that at that time during the dead of winter and the number of open units was high and no one was likely going to rent anything from her, so she was desperate to hold on to any renters she could.
Just three weeks later, my parent became gravely ill before passing away and I did have to leave the unit early to manage her during this critical time. Nancy flat refused to honor her agreement and keep her word, even though this was the understanding written out and attached to the lease with our signatures.
Nancy, compromised her integrity by writing a nasty demand letter that completely ignored everything we discussed and agreed to with a demand immediate full payment of the entire 6 month term.
I wrote to her by certified mail and by email ( [email protected]) the attached letter dated March 14, 2019 and reviewed our understanding with her. She never replied.
I had the apartment professionally cleaned to a move in ready condition. This was indepenendantly inspected with pictures, given her agressive letter. I allowed her to keep the rent for that month along with my deposit. This was outlined to her in a second attached letter by certified mail dated April 08, 2019.
Nancy refused to reply or answer any of these letters or acknowledge our understanding in any way. Please see the attached certified mail return receipt examples. This was a demonstration of extreme lack of integrity, given that she was happy to look me in the eye, make an agreement, but absoutely refuse to honor this understanding.
Instead, Nancy sent the remaining 6 month term to collections. I had a lawyer review the situation and respond to her collection agency (April 17, 2020) with the attached letter explaing this to her again and explain that we were ready to litigate this matter if necessary. Nancy and her agency refused to go to court but instead chose to ignore everything.
The collection agency was trying to get me to pay the full 6 month term during the time that the whole country was shut down during the ongoing Covid19 crisis. It was very unreasonable.
As a matter of principal, I would not let Nancy or her agency profit from her refusal to be honest and forthright in this matter.
On the basis of my experience, I would not recommend that anyone rent a unit at Katie’s Place or any of the other apartment complex owned by Youngs Development Inc.
If you really need one of these units just understand that they will not likelly be honorable, so get a lawyer right up front. The lease is agressively worded. I suspect that many of the elderly that rent here are abused by their management style.
Nancy had a big problem at the time keeping anyone on the property for maintenance, I had a continuing plumbing leak ongoing for over 7 months. The television in the exercise room rarely worked as advertised.
It is my belief that Nancy re-rented the unit (#212) even though she sent this to collections. We could examine this fact in court but she refused this option and refused to work with me in any way period.
Expect poor service, poor maintenance, low integrity, and an agressive lease if you stay at Katie’s Place.
