Hi! My name is Ryan and I'm unsure if I have a case or not, or even really how to proceed from this point. Anything anyone can offer on either subject would be highly appreciated. I feel incredibly unsafe in the neighborhood I'm in and really would appreciate a way out if there is one-- this is not how I wanted to start my adult life.
Up until last week, I was living in Mission Viejo, about 400+ miles from where I have since then moved. I'm going to be starting graduate school soon and needed to move into the San Francisco area to be closer to school. After a lot of searching, I stumbled upon this property management group, SLPM, who seemed to have a lot of answers. Eventually, I sent in an application for three of their properties. Before I got approval on any of them, the lady from SLPM I had been working with called me and asked if she could add another property to my application. She said she thought it would be a "good fit" for me, and that it was a gated property.
At that point, I was unsure whether I was going to get any property (I'm 21; first time renter), so I took her on her word and she added the property. As it turns out, I got approved for that new property, and the worst of the three I applied for. By now I had looked it up on google maps but there's only so much you can figure out on that. I ask the lady I've been working with how I can "minimize" the number of times I have to go up there. It's an 850+ mile round trip and I'm not very well off either. She suggests to me that I can just take it sight unseen, since we've already established it's a good fit for me. Now, I realize at this point I shouldn't have taken her on her word, but I did and agreed to that.
Finally, when it came down to the move-in day, I wanted to move in on July 1st. I was told that it had to be a business day though, Mon-Fri. I asked her if I could move in on Friday without having to pay anything extra (Friday was more convenient than Monday-- my dad was driving me up there). She says no. So I pick this last Friday to move up and was absolutely horrified with what I've gotten myself into. My three big problems are these:
A: I was told this was a good fit. This is not a good fit. I am a 21 year old grad student on a $30k scholarship. All things that SLPM knew from my application. I go to sleep to the sound of gunfire. I don't feel safe walking to the grocery store, yet alone school. I was told to just stay indoors on July 4th or risk some combination of gunshot wound / mugging, by the leasing agent I met the day off-- that's wildly different from what I had been told up to that point.
B: Yes, there is a gate. But again, according to the leasing agent I met that day, the lock has been busted for a very long time and they don't want to fix it because someone keeps breaking the lock. Again, I don't feel particularly safe here.
C: Turns out, I do have to pay more for moving in on Friday. It's only $25.83, but it's kind of the principal of the matter, and if that's the only thing that could get me out of the lease, I want to go for that.
What I would "like" to do is get out of this lease ASAP with as much money as I can get out of here (already put down deposit + first month's rent), and move to a different property that I did get a chance to see that in a MUCH safer neighborhood. I didn't consider it at first because I'd need a roommate to afford it, but at this point, I am all to happy to take two roommates on if it means I can get out of here. I spend all day terrified of stuff happening right outside my windows-- I don't think that's right.
Up until last week, I was living in Mission Viejo, about 400+ miles from where I have since then moved. I'm going to be starting graduate school soon and needed to move into the San Francisco area to be closer to school. After a lot of searching, I stumbled upon this property management group, SLPM, who seemed to have a lot of answers. Eventually, I sent in an application for three of their properties. Before I got approval on any of them, the lady from SLPM I had been working with called me and asked if she could add another property to my application. She said she thought it would be a "good fit" for me, and that it was a gated property.
At that point, I was unsure whether I was going to get any property (I'm 21; first time renter), so I took her on her word and she added the property. As it turns out, I got approved for that new property, and the worst of the three I applied for. By now I had looked it up on google maps but there's only so much you can figure out on that. I ask the lady I've been working with how I can "minimize" the number of times I have to go up there. It's an 850+ mile round trip and I'm not very well off either. She suggests to me that I can just take it sight unseen, since we've already established it's a good fit for me. Now, I realize at this point I shouldn't have taken her on her word, but I did and agreed to that.
Finally, when it came down to the move-in day, I wanted to move in on July 1st. I was told that it had to be a business day though, Mon-Fri. I asked her if I could move in on Friday without having to pay anything extra (Friday was more convenient than Monday-- my dad was driving me up there). She says no. So I pick this last Friday to move up and was absolutely horrified with what I've gotten myself into. My three big problems are these:
A: I was told this was a good fit. This is not a good fit. I am a 21 year old grad student on a $30k scholarship. All things that SLPM knew from my application. I go to sleep to the sound of gunfire. I don't feel safe walking to the grocery store, yet alone school. I was told to just stay indoors on July 4th or risk some combination of gunshot wound / mugging, by the leasing agent I met the day off-- that's wildly different from what I had been told up to that point.
B: Yes, there is a gate. But again, according to the leasing agent I met that day, the lock has been busted for a very long time and they don't want to fix it because someone keeps breaking the lock. Again, I don't feel particularly safe here.
C: Turns out, I do have to pay more for moving in on Friday. It's only $25.83, but it's kind of the principal of the matter, and if that's the only thing that could get me out of the lease, I want to go for that.
What I would "like" to do is get out of this lease ASAP with as much money as I can get out of here (already put down deposit + first month's rent), and move to a different property that I did get a chance to see that in a MUCH safer neighborhood. I didn't consider it at first because I'd need a roommate to afford it, but at this point, I am all to happy to take two roommates on if it means I can get out of here. I spend all day terrified of stuff happening right outside my windows-- I don't think that's right.
