Apartment Review for Planned Property Management

I have never had a landlord post so many notices about PAYING you to refer a Planned Property building to a friend. You will find these notices on the walls, in with your monthly statement and under your door. I don't know anyone who would refer a Planned Property building to their "friend", even for money! <P>
The management is clueless, from the office here to the very mean collection department. Joe, (the manager) who doesn't want to get involved with any kind of issue. Then there is the collection department who makes most of the mistakes and is always trying to threaten people with eviction rather than trying to figure out the problem. Like one of the other people said in one of the reviews, Mary Frances does whatever she wants with your account and they have no clue what they are doing. <P>
The problem isn't just this building. Planned Property has a reputation of just not caring. Once they get you to sign your lease they figure they've got you and they don't care if you sign again. This is confusing because they seem to want to get people in the building (hence they will pay for a referral), but they don't care if they stay. That is just bad management. It is much more cost effective to keep a tenant then to go through the process of finding a new tenant, paying a rental commission (or a referral fee), cleaning the apartment and taking a chance the apartment will be empty before you get a new tenant. (This is a basic real estate class.) <P>
Oh yeah, they think they can just walk in when they are showing your apartment to a potential new tenant. They have put notices under a tenant's door saying this is your two day notice they are going to be showing your apartment over the next few weeks or months. This is NOT a legal notice, they must tell you each time BEFORE they show it. If they couldn't get a hold of you and they show it, they must tell you they have been there <P>
Their business policy seems to be for Joe to tell you to call the main office and the office to tell you to talk to Joe. I guess they figure you will get so fed-up, you will just forget about the problem. <P>
The building is ugly on the outside. They have been doing some kind of work on the outside for over 11 months, but don't ask Joe, because he doesn't know what they are doing. I rarely hear my neighbors, except their dogs. The apartments are old and the elevators are very slow and small. <P>
It was cold in the apartments during the winter. They have to seal the windows and air conditioner. This wouldn't be a problem except during the spring and fall it was very hot in the apartment. You would have to leave your windows open, even when it was 50 out because the heat doesn't use a thermostat. I think they use a timer so it doesn't matter how cold or hot it is outside. <P>
Be careful when signing your lease. There doesn't seem to be a standard price. Some people seem to get 1 month free when they sign, others have gotten 3 months. When they send you a new lease, the price will be so much higher then your first lease, people just move. Again, they don't seem to want to keep tenants. <P>
The maintenance staff is very nice, but the building seems to be getting dirty and smells. <P>
The police seem to be here an awful lot. There is a small store downstairs that has absolutely nothing in inventory. They never seem to have things like soda pop, bread, milk, butter, eggs. You know the normal stuff, but they have a lot of candy. There is a hair salon here. They do a good job on young and old, male and female. There are a lot of old people from the neighborhood there. <P>
Like so many others have said, stay clear of Planned Property! <P>