Chancellor Properties

Don't Move Here!

Where do I even begin? When I first moved to the Chancellor 2 years ago, the management was passable. They were typically fairly rude, but since the management has gone solely into the hands of Elaine Rush, it has made the former management setup seem perfect. She stands right outside of the property office doors regularly to smoke in a VERY professional manner (can you sense the saracasm?). She also leaves harassing messages on my answering machine and threatened to evict me when my rent was a few days late because I had emergency surgery. She then also charged me a late fee for that payment (and she was well aware of the emergency situation) and threatened to get lawyers involved if I didn't pay it. They also made changes in my lease without giving notice and then fined me when I didn't comply with the changes that they made, as well as sending me another harassing letter AND phone call. Apparently, she doesn't understand that you can't change a tenant’s lease on a whim, without even giving notice of the change. The door people and maintenance staff aren’t any better, as they stand on the stoop talking and smoking all day, blocking the exit/entrance to the building.

As far as the property itself goes - it took them THREE MONTHS to fix a broken elevator. ONE working elevator for 24 floors is completely unacceptable. And this was after months of one or the other elevators being down repeatedly. I live on the 10th floor - I'm not paying for a 10 story WALK-UP apartment. But in the meantime, the maintenance staff would use the ONE elevator that was servicing 24 floor to go up one flight from the basement. They weren’t carrying anything and aren’t disabled at all that would prevent them from walking up one flight of steps.

That brings me to the horrendous rent. My rent was raised $45 a year, and I am NOT renewing my lease as (in addition to every other reason this is a hell-hole) I'm sure there will be a comparable raise AGAIN. I spoke with one of my friends in the building and her increase in rent was less, even though she has the same style apartment as mine. The electricity charge is another issue, as we’re charged miscellaneous fees, my electricity charge is ALWAYS more than is reasonable, and it seems to be that they in some way split the usage of the whole building between the residents (instead of charging what each unit actually uses). I was away for a few months in the summer. I did not leave anything on in that time and still had a large electric bill.

It has happened TWICE where my tub leaked into the apartment below me – the only two times I filled the tub instead of taking a shower. The management was aware, but their answer was to essentially not use the tub. The thought of actually FIXING the problem never entered their mind. I submitted what was broken in my apartment when I moved in – and I have had broken blinds for the past 2 years. One day, they fell from the framing, breaking a ceramic piece I had on the window sill. They are now on my floor and have never been fixed.

My “favorite” incident was when, at 4 in the morning, the pressure from my heater broke off from the pressure from the steam in the heater and my whole apartment filled with steam – so much so that I couldn’t see. I was forced to wait, in my pajamas, in the hallway at 4am with the steam ruining most of my books (lucky it didn’t ruin my TV or stereo) until they could figure out how to turn the heat off in the whole building (in the middle of winter) and until they could get a maintenance person out.
The fire alarm has also gone off countless times in the middle of the night, leaving the tenants to wait outside for sometimes hours in the street. One of the times even once the fire department came and left the door person still couldn’t figure out how to shut the alarm off and get the elevators working again. It took at least 3-4 hours to resolve the problem …and the alarm had gone off around 3. I had to trek the 10 flights back up to my apartment and try to sleep with ear plugs in as the fire alarm was still blaring but I had to wake up for class early in the morning. So much for sleep.

The noise is not always from the fire alarms. The noise from the neighborhood is incredible. I once woke at 3am to the police using a bullhorn in the street giving the drunken/high people in the street a 10 second warning to clear the streets. I kid you not, he counted to 10 with his bullhorn. I thought I was dreaming … and I wish that I had been. It’s always better to encounter this from INSIDE your apartment and just hear it, than when you see it for yourself outside on your way in. Many seedy people hang around the multiple bars/clubs in the close vicinity (one next door to the building) and you have to walk through crowds of them to get to the door of the building.

As far as security – half the time the guard isn’t at the desk and/or leaves the door that is supposed to be locked at all times open. They also tend to leave the back door open where the trash is that goes to an alley. There is no security or lock between the trash room and the rest of the building, therefore leaving the back door as a great means for any sort of derelict from the neighborhood to gain entrance to the building.

It was also lovely to see a notice on the elevator the other day that every apartment ending in the number 3 (ie. 203, 303, 403, 503, etc.) had their gas shut off for a problem and to stay tuned for when they would have it back. Lovely.

The laundry room was also closed at one point for problems ….. for AT LEAST 3 days. Good thing I do my laundry elsewhere.

I also have had MULTIPLE mouse problems. Everyone that knows me likes to joke about it and ask “How’s your pet mouse doing?” Sadly, I don’t find it to be a joke because I somehow always feel dirty knowing that filthy disease infested mice are rummaging through my belongings and if I dared to sit on the floor would come and watch TV next to me. One encounter was even during dinner. Nice. Maybe they think that I’m lonely living a studio, but families of mice are really not my idea of company.

So, for review, let’s see what we have, shall we?
At any given time you can have the following:
- A 10 story walk-up (or 24 if you’re the lucky sucker on the 24th floor)
- A wake up call at 3AM via the police and their bullhorns, the drunks in the streets, or worse, the fire alarm or steam forcing you to evacuate
- The inability to bathe
- The inability to do laundry
- Uninvited filthy, disease infested dinner guests (and I’m not talking about everyone’s notorious drunk uncle)
- The inability to use your stove
- Harassing letters and phone calls from your classless landlord (who, btw, pretends to be your best friend if you pass her in the lobby)
- A huge electric bill even when you don’t use any electricity that month…
- Random changes to your lease without notice, never mind consent.
- Your neighbors tub leaking into your bathroom from upstairs.
- Ineffective security
- The entire staff of the building hanging out and smoking on the front step, blocking the door so that it’s difficult for you to enter or exit your residence

I pay $865/mo. PLUS their hideously made up electricity charges for a studio – what a bargain for such entertainment!