Reviews

1.2/5.0

04/20/2011

This apartment complex has become an absolute nightmare. I had moved in, in January of last year to what seemed like a decent and inexpensive apartment. I quickly learned that the complex was no more than a ghetto with lots of make-up on. When I moved into the apartment, they told me of all these great features including the balcony, a garbage disposal, and a brand new oven that had been installed. They forgot to mention that the balcony door does not actually lock unless you use the steel bar in the running track. The garbage disposal was a nightmare from the time I moved in until I tinkered enough to fix it on my own. The maintenance man came out to take a look at both the door lock and the garbage disposal when I notified the complex, but he failed to fix the garbage disposal and informed me he couldn't do anything about the door lock. Very safe! The brand new oven was great until you wanted to cook something. The moment the food started to cook, the smoke detector would go off and have to be removed from the ceiling. The balcony itself has a layer of cheap paint that is destroyed from the weather and looks awful. Inside the apartment I suffered from loose outlets that the plugs would frequently fall out of with no assistance. The bathroom is a horror with poor amenities. The towel rack and toilet tissue holder were only half screwed in when I moved in; thus resulting in the racks falling off and having to reinstall them myself. The drains in the sink and shower/tub clogged in the first week and required Draino (or else I was showering in 4 inches of water). The shower never comes clean. Bleach, Tilex, Clorox, Bam!, or any other product has no effect on the cheap tub kit they chose. By the time I was ready to move out, the cheap motel vanity that was installed began to run off the track as well. The neighborhood is becoming a ghetto quite quickly as well. When I moved in the ladies in the rental office informed me the area was safe because it was located in Absecon. This was their first lie, as it is just over the Pleasantville border and mere moments away from the bad areas like Marina Del Rey and Sassafras Run. When I first moved in, the neighbors were decent with the exception of the Hispanic "family" that lived downstairs. This woman has at least 3 kids living in the apartment and has a never ending supply of loud (as well as driving loud cars with no mufflers) visitors at all hours of the day and night. I never met the neighbors across the hall from me, but there were multiple times I would walk up the stairs after work and be greeted by the heavy stench of marijuana. This is an obvious oversight on the complex since the owner lives right above them. Eventually my quiet downstairs neighbors moved out and were replaced with a lower-class white couple. This would have been great, except that the wife smoked like a chimney all day, thus fumigating my apartment ever 15-20 minutes, and the husband was a creep. Outside of my actual neighbors, it wasn't uncommon to see the locals walk right from Route 9 onto the property and cut through or do other shady acts in plain sight. Once again the manager had a perfect view from her apartment of all this, but must have never seen it. The grounds themselves are really in terrible condition. The rental building is the only one they really offer pictures of because it is the only one that is taken care of. The grounds are a mess, and often littered with cigarette butts and other miscellaneous trash. The pictures they offer on their website are more than likely put through Photoshop and/or ancient photos of when the place looked nice. In the summer, be prepared to always have bird poop on your car as the trees as overgrown and everywhere. The staff is an interesting mix of women. They are less helpful and less knowledgeable then they should be about the complex they work, and some reside, in. The biggest problem with them is the supposed "fire inspection" that occurs every year. This is written into the contract in Section 9 of the agreement. This contract states that the landlord may, at any time with no notice, enter your apartment. As a tenant one would assume this is simply for emergency purposes or in order to keep dangerous tenants from living in the complex. This is sadly not the case. A letter was sent to me in late October informing me that "fire inspection" would be occurring in the first two weeks of November and that we should make sure that we do not have any potential fire hazards in our apartments (i.e. overloaded surge protectors). However, the letter included a strange sentence telling us that the cleanliness of our apartments will play a major part in the inspection. Now, the last time I spoke to my friend who is a former Fire-Fighter, a dirty kitchen or bathroom won't spontaneous combust. What this actually turned into was the manager waiting until you left your apartment and then letting herself in to play "Mom" with how you are maintaining your apartment. After she apparently did this, as she does not give you notice, I was alerted I needed to speak with her in regards to the inspection in my apartment. This lead to a lecture on how to keep my apartment tidy by her standards. A little annoyed with this turn of events, I sought legal help in the situation and contacted the town of Pleasantville about this supposed fire inspection. *** This is the most important thing I learned while living in this complex! According to Pleasantville law, a booklet entitled "Truth in Renting," the complex is required to give you notice within 24 hours of when they need to enter your apartment for inspection or otherwise. The complex only sends you a letter with a 2 week span that your apartment "may" be inspected. This is a violation of town law, as well as an infringement on every legal American citizen's 4th Amendment rights. When my legal counsel brought this to the attention of the manager, she had nothing to say and never approached me again. It is disappointing to say, but this complex is run by the bottom line and all they want to do is raise your rent as you live there or refuse to return your security deposit so they can pocket the money. My advice to all the prospective renters out there is that you can find much safer places to live that cost the same amount or slightly more in Galloway, Smithville, or Brigantine. If at all possible, avoid this complex!! I rented from winter 10 through winter 11. ...

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499 Manor Dr, Absecon, NJ 08201

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