|
Piano Craft Guild feature: Vicious management I should have trusted my first instincts. We were not permitted to see a copy of the lease in advance (we asked repeatedly)- not until we were here at the building from a thousand miles away with a truck full of personal possessions, nowhere else to live, and a substantial "deposit check" already in the management company's hands. So... I encourage you to trust your first instincts, and do business with someone who is capable of establishing mutual trust and respect from the start. Piano Craft Guild is not such a place. After enduring half a dozen incidents of water leaking into our home, we threatened to withhold rent until the leaky ceiling was repaired (as is permitted under the law). Melanie Norquist of Shoreline Corporation said that was fine with her, and that we could expect to receive an eviction notice the next day. These are not particularly kind people, and they aren't even a little bit interested in their customers' well-being, health or safety. I talked to the Boston Housing Court about filing a lawsuit to recover damages. A court officer advised me that it would be a "very bad idea" to file a lawsuit against Shoreline Corporation, since their attorneys were well known for their successes in defeating cases filed by Piano Craft Guild tenants. Quote of the day: "Don't go after them without a lawyer." That was a little disheartening, considering all we had gone through. We were told in June 2000 that things are so bad, the resident manager (lived in the building for either free or reduced rent) moved her stuff out in the middle of the night and is living with friends until she finds another place. And we were told several times by building staff and the resident manager that we should just get out as soon as we could, because the problems would never be addressed. Random Rulemaking We were told (and our contract states) that the laundry room is open 24 hours a day. This was one reason we chose to live here (I work late and cannot do laundry in the morning or afternoon). The laundry room is open now only from 6am to 11pm by decree of the manager, and there is no way to change her "rules". Some tenants tried to "sign a petition" but of course that didn't have any effect. Apparently the management company is renting spaces that are so poorly-separated from the laundry room that the "sound of the laundry room" is keeping the tenants there awake. This is unfair both to the people who rented the noisy apartment, and the other tenants who have lost a promised accommodation. Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000, Boston was hit with a significant snowstorm. Before I left for school at about 11:15am (to travel half an hour or more to Cambridge), I checked all the outside doors for notices that the parking lot should be cleared of cars for plowing (they had been warning us they might do this) There were no notices posted anywhere in the building. When I arrived at school around noon, I learned that the building's management had ordered that my truck be moved "immediately" from the parking lot, or they would tow it. They had decided to move all the plowed snow into my parking space. My roommate attempted to move the truck, but it would not start (distributor cap broken, and it was very wet out, so it wouldn't "spark"). We didn't know the truck was broken - in fact, I had just driven it a few days before (in dry weather). Last I knew, it was fine. An AAA tow driver arrived minutes before the building's tow service would have hauled my truck away for a huge fine. In all, I missed two very important meetings that day as well as other school work, and had to rush home just to accommodate this fantastically unreasonable request. No other cars were ordered moved and no one else was asked to move their vehicle on Jan. 25, and certainly not on 15 minutes' notice. I complained about the towing threat, and the manager decided that henceforth, my truck would have to be "moved to a different space every two days" or it would be towed from the lot. The building rules we agreed to state that cars need to move "every 5 days". I was singled out for special treatment because I had the audacity to complain about their bad behavior. The owners and managers of this building have little regard for the sanctity of a contract, for tenants' rights to be left alone, or for simple human courtesies - good manners and consideration of others in decisions that affect the quality of people's lives. Promises made should be kept. Unilateral decisions should not be issued, handed down by someone who feels too much urgency to exercise "control" over others. It's inappropriate behavior. We did nothing to invite this. ... and a long history of treating tenants quite badly If you don't believe any of this, some long-time tenants have had their own site up for a while, discussing the checkered history of the building's ownership and its unsteady and bullying (as I read it) relationship with tenants. That web site is here: http://geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/7910/ If I had known about that site in advance, and the story of how the owners have treated the tenants, I would definitely not have lived in the building, if only to prevent more money from reaching people who treat other people badly.
|