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| - After renting this place remotely (although a friend did go and check it out), I was in for a shock at move-in. The place was incredibly dirty, even though I moved in two days after my lease had started. There were cobwebs everywhere, so much dust that I started coughing, dirt and other particles all over the floor, and of course, the actual structure and appliances were in disrepair. The tubs and sinks were peeling, there were rusted out drawers in the kitchen, soap scum that would not come out of the bathroom fixtures, and lights that were not operational/rusted over. It was shocking, but I wrote to the property manager and they agreed to compensate me. However, it was a negotiation, and the property manager told me there was no way that the place required 8+ hours of cleaning at their professional rate stated in their lease.
Turns out, my upstairs neighbors had the same issue and moved into a filthy place. They were compensated double what I received.
Then, it was an uphill battle trying to get the owner of the property to fix anything inside. They said it would cost too much money and they needed the place to be empty and to raise rent before they could fix anything. (Funny thing is, I moved to a place in the same neighborhood for the same price that is MUCH newer, cleaner, etc., and it is the same price!) Therefore, I was left with many of the issues I mentioned above, but with no effort on the part of the owner to fix anything.
On top of that, their maintenance staff was usually very kind, but there were some times when they (or people they contracted to fix things) would come in and track mud around the apartment and/or damage my belongings. I had to have MPM pay for a new trash can because they broke the lid!
In addition, once October rolled around and they started asking about renewing the lease, MPM began their showings. Other landlords in Madison (like my current landlord) try to schedule their showings in fairly short increments (30 mins or so) and on the same day/time period. MPM would block off hour-long periods at inconvenient times (e.g. 5:45pm on a Friday, 10am on a Saturday) and on consecutive days instead of one day (for instance, the company I currently rent with seems to go to certain properties on certain days of the week). It was incredibly difficult to feel like you were living in your own home. There were also incidents where a misunderstanding with the person showing the home led to unpleasant situations; this was mainly due to problems that MPM had with their keys to the place. In response, I would be asked to keep certain doors unsecured so staff could conduct showings, etc. It was incredibly frustrating, since this was an issue that was out of my hands.
Finally, after move-out, I was told that the apartment required 7 hours of professional cleaning at the rate of $39.50. This was after I cleaned the apartment extensively over the course of three days; I estimate that I spent about 10 hours at the place Swiffering, vacuuming, getting on my hands and knees to use wood cleaner for the baseboards, floors, doors, shelves, etc., thoroughly cleaning the kitchen and bathroom appliances, and even using the wood solvent/cleaner on the windowsills and inside of the windows. The truth is, the place is incredibly old and dust keeps on accumulating; in fact, pieces of the ceiling/walls seemed to continually break off a little at a time and land on my furniture. I also noticed that dirt was being tracked in during showings, which were consistently happening while I was in the process of cleaning/moving out. However, they were convinced that they would charge me for 7 hours of professional cleaning.
When I compared the photographs I took of my initial move-in, I could see a lot of similarities to the kinds of problems they photographed (e.g. a scratch on the wooden floor, yellowing of the tiles on the wall, dirt on the outside of the window -- which isn't the tenant's responsibility since it is on the outside of the building, etc). They were unwilling to admit that I needed 8+ hours of cleaning and did not compensate me fairly at move-in. In fact, my building manager specifically said my documentation did not prove that the apartment required 8+ hours of cleaning. However, the photographic evidence presented at move-out, which they claim amounts to 7 hours of cleaning, is definitely nowhere near as bad as the state of the apartment at move-in. The amount of cleaning supplies used (one big packet of Swiffer wet wipes, almost an entire bottle of wood cleaner, multiple rounds of emptying the vaccum, a whole box of wipes, about 2/3 of a bottle of all-purpose Windex, 2/3 of a pumice stone for the toilet, a substantial amount of bleach and bathroom cleaner, oven cleaner, multiple Magic Erasers, etc.) makes me skeptical about their claims.
I hope to contest this with MPM and find a resolution that is amenable to both parties. We'll see what happens. Next step: contacting Wisconsin DATCP.
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