From clogged drains to menageries of mice, off-campus tenants can place a variety of requests to their realtor’s maintenance team. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
From clogged drains to menageries of mice, off-campus tenants place a variety of maintenance requests with their landlords. The Lantern posted an online call for students to share their maintenance horror stories. Below are some of the responses.
Jennifer Mannino, fourth-year in nursing
“It was 90-plus degrees out, and it took them almost two weeks to come fix our AC. And it was like flooding the apartment the whole time. I mean our carpet — you put your foot down and it squelched. It was the [heating, venting and air conditioning] system, something in it broke. I truly don’t understand HVAC, so bear with me, something in it broke. Whatever water, coolant or whatever was in it was leaking, and our HVAC closet backed right up to our living room. So it leaked out of the closet under the wall and was popping up on the other side of the wall. And we just noticed a wet patch and it was one of those like my roommate and I looking at each other like, ‘Did you spill something?’ When we realized neither of us had spilled something, we called the maintenance line and told them that it looked like there was a leak. It ended up taking 12 days to resolve and it got to the point where the whole base of that wall was sopping wet, it was 90 degrees out and we’re in a little two-bedroom apartment that’s 94 degrees.”
Mannino rented from Hometeam Properties. Hometeam Properties did not respond to request for comment at the time of publication.
Jin Hirsch, third-year in Hebrew and security and intelligence
“My apartment/apartment building this summer for about two weeks was around 85-90 degrees and I was constantly calling my landlord/submitting requests to maintenance to fix the issue, but they kept dismissing me and pretending to fix my AC but wasn’t actually, and then I eventually found out that the AC chiller system for my building was broken and it eventually got to the point where I had to have my dad call the landlord to fix it cause it was so bad, and he basically called them every single day for a week till the HVAC person came out to fix it which took two days to do. Also, I have a cat, and it was starting to act weird cause it was so hot in my place.”
Hirsch rents from NorthSteppe Realty. NorthSteppe Realty did not respond to request for comment at the time of publication.
Shannon Reardon, third-year in biology
“A shrimp [was found] under the fridge of my Hometeam Properties apartment upon move-in. Just a loose, shriveled shrimp. We also found a cornhusk under the sink. And then when we asked maintenance why the apartment had so much loose, old food in it, they said that they thought it was fine.”
Reardon rents from Hometeam Properties. Hometeam Properties did not respond to request for comment at the time of publication.
