I have been living at an apartment community for almost a year now, and recently this place announced that their rates had gone down with a printed advertisement stating such. This was over a month ago, in February, and at that time we already knew our lease was close to ending and made a brief visit to the office to inquire whether those new rates were for everyone, and if we would get them if we signed a new lease beginning in April as our current one expired then. We were assured that we were, but come late March, we are trying to sign a new lease and have been informed the prior rates were a temporary promotion for February only (this is now mid-March). Now, here for the hinky parts:
- our new neighbor moved from an apartment in the same community to next door and are paying these new lower rates, however, they did pay a ‘transfer fee’ for moving. They signed their new lease in March.
- the printed advertisement announcing the lower rates does not have an expiration date or wording indicating the information is a temporary promotional offer
- after being told this and coming back to the apartment, i had my girlfriend call the number for our property listed on rent.com and was told by the person I was just speaking with that the current rates for our exact apartment was the new, lower rate we were expecting
- she went to the office, and was then told that she had spoken with someone affiliated with rent.com and not the office, and their testimonial was invalid (paraphrased). She did not say who she was or that she had just called anyone, but she does have a distinctively soft voice
- she returned to the apartment and i called the same number, spoke with the same person, and was then informed of the rates we were given just today, as opposed to the new lower rates. as i pointed out the conflict with her information and the printed information on rent.com, i was told the policy was updated this morning and it took 24 hours to update the website. however, this promotion was for FEBRUARY and they are JUST NOW changing it as a tenant is signing a new lease?
- as she returned to the apartment again, she informed me that they told her the rate was for new tenants only, which conflicts with the FIRST hinky point i mentioned here, the person who moved in March and received these rates
The total difference between the rate we are being offered and the lower rate is $<300 for the duration of the lease we wish to sign. It’s not like I’m asking for a kidney or anything. I have been very lenient with the poor maintenance and shoddy paperwork (we have been charged twice for late rent and informed of pending action once, only to discover our check was sitting un-cashed in a folder somewhere. twice.)
Now, I’m pretty sure there has to be something screwy going on here. Is there any way to contest this?
