These are the facts of moving to 223 Meadow and living there for just three months. Speaking to the other tenants, my experience is far from unique.

1. ACCESS
The day of move-in, there were no keys to the front door. No one knew where they were. The property manager, property management company– no one. A day later, maintenance informed the property manager they might be hidden on the hot water heater.
There were no keys to the mailbox. None were provided, and no solution was offered. I... eventually had to pay the post office $40 to rekey the mailbox entirely.

2. SAFETY
The smoke alarm beeped every 30 seconds to signal low batteries or end-of-life. Instead of changing the batteries before my move-in, someone had simply switched off the circuit to the alarm. I immediately called to see if either I could change the batteries, or swap out the hard-wired alarm, as I had experience with them, and had an extra unit from my old house. The alarm continued to beep for another five days, during which I called another seven times until someone finally came out to replace it. I finally called the Fire Marshall. Fire alarms in empty units continue to sound every 30 seconds, every day.

3. AMENITIES
The washing machine listed on Zillow and apartments.com was broken on move-in. I’m potty training a toddler. It took maintenance over a month to replace it, and when they did, the maintenance workers left black streaks going all the way up the stairs from the start of the staircase to the finish. They told me they’d be back the next week to repaint over the streak. They never showed up.

4. ADA NON-COMPLIANCE
The elevator has been out of service for four weeks now. The office reported on July 16 that there were no visible service plans to repair it. My visiting elderly parents will have to take multiple flights of stairs to access my apartment.

6. COMMUNICATION
Over half of the emails I’ve sent requesting updates, maintenance help, and any information have gone completely unanswered. The property management company has promised to call me back with updates over half a dozen times, and only once followed through.

7. LEFT OVER JUNK
Abandoned exercise equipment from the previous tenant was left in the upstairs hallway.

8. “LUXURY APARTMENTS”
Outside, there is a large sign that boasts “luxury” apartments. That’s beeping smoke alarms all through the building all day, a broken elevator, frustrated tenants, and a nearly non-responsive property management company.
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