Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Base housing inhabitants
Is your housing company really nitpicky? Our community has changed hands 3 times in the 3.5 years we've been here and this latest company is horrible. Its not the company actually, its the manager.
They drive around in golf carts multiple times a day taking pictures of people's yards, porches, windows, etc. They write up people for having patches of brown grass (no joke), bent blinds (apparently you're supposed to report within 48 hours or you get a warning for delaying in reporting) , someone got written up today for having dog poop on the trail BEHIND their townhouse and another for having dog poop OUTSIDE their fenced in back yard. They're notorious for "losing" the intake paperwork when people moved in stating the flaws. Everyone I know that has moved out recently has been charge an exorbitant amount of $ ($2500-$7000). They are able to get housing advocacy involved and most end up paying practically nothing, but still. The townhouses aren't cleaned when people move in and many say that there's still food in the refrig and pee in the toilet when they move in. If they're charging (or attempting to charge) all this $, where is it going?
Whenever I hear the buzz of the golf carts I get sick to my stomach.
We have a patch of carpet our cat tore up near our door and I'm freaking out that they'll try and charge us thousands. We've been here almost 4 years and I've never seen them get this crazy.
Does anyone else have an experience like this? A lot of people have complained to their national office (this property management firm owns several military housing communities), but this is ridiculous to live like this.
Re: Base housing inhabitants
Holy crap!
If the folks running our neighbourhood had been like that when we did live on base, I would have moved offbase, even if it meant packing and hauling everything completely on my own.
That is supremely extreme, and I'd be doing my best to figure out who on base had contracted with the assholes to run the housing so you can file a complaint where it might make a difference...
Wow, that is extreme. I can imagine them wanting you to keep the yards clean, but really? A citation for a brown spot? Do you all do your own gardening?
No wonder you want to get out so badly. I can not imagine being watched so closely like that.
Ours, when we did live on base, wasn't so bad. They yelled at us to mow our lawn inside our fence once, but that was it, and it was really long so we totally understood.
I would have the housing advocate on speed dial. It sounds like you might need them.
I understand warnings/fines for feces and trash and other things that are legitimate, but they're going way over board simply because they can. The resident isn't responsible for growing grass. How is it the resident's responsibility for poop on the track just because they're the closest house? Doesn't make sense.
We do have one. I haven't had issues with them yet, but we're moving in a month and I'm sure we'll have a fight on our hands. I'm dreading it. Like to the point of waking up worrying about it. They're monsters!
Thanks for your input.
No! We don't do any yardwork/gardening unless you have a fenced yard. We don't. We've never had issues, well we got one "note" on our garage about cleaning up dog poop (which was warranted). Dh hates picking up the dogs poop and let it pile up. He deserved that one.
We called and talked to them about move-out and you can pay $330 to have them clean everything and shampoo carpets, which we'll do. But my concern is the carpet charge for what my cat tore up. This carpet has been in here almost 6 years and logic says that if a family lives with pets, you need to replace the carpet, but no. Not they're style to do things logically.
We've had 7 people move off our street this week and I saw 2 moving vans a street over. Everyone's fleeing! Us, our neighbors and a family 2 houses down all move out the same week. I hope they go down to 25% capacity again and can't pay to keep it and sell. Happened TWICE so far. The manager is supposedly really nasty. She calls security forces when someone tries to challenge her, she hides paperwork, etc.
What a *** nightmare!! Remind me never to live on base if we ever get stationed there. Holy smokes.
I agree on the common sense would say after a family with pets lives in a unit that long, they should know when putting carpet (probably standard grade, no upgrades) in that THEY would need to replace it after long term residents with pets.
This is what needs to happen, but anxiety is getting in the way. I realize we'll pay for what the cat did, but I'm more concerned with being charged for stupidshit. You've been reading my wordvomit on my blog
Everyone we've encountered has been awesome, but lately that's all this base talks about and seeing those damn golf carts tool around makes me stabby.
I had brand new carpet in my last apt. Per their policy they use a black light in pet units to see if there have been accidents and if the affected area covers more than 50% of the carpet area they charge the tenant to replace the carpet. My dog was sick and had a bad accident in my bedroom. Sure enough they charged me $1200 to replace the carpet. I wanted to fight it but I wasn't there when they did the black light I couldn't prove it wasn't over 50% of the surface area. It was also in the lease so I was stuck for the most part. I wasn't happy but I paid it.
TBH I think you should be responsible for the damages from your cat. But I would be sure to talk with your H about what you think is a reasonable amount to be charged or have to pay. My FIL is a landlord and he confirmed that it costs him $1200 to replace the carpet in units the same size as the one I was in. So at least I knew they were not upcharging me.
I have never lived on base, but I am curious if you are still required to sign a lease or something stating you are aware of what you are liable for (lawn care, pet damage etc).
Credit to Awkward Family Pet Photos
http://tiny.cc/kpfcdw
I completely agree we should be responsible for our cat damage. Not trying to get out of that.
How big was your unit? This one's like 1700 sq ft. We've been here 3.5 years and the carpet was 2 years old then. They did cut out and replace certain areas (you can see the seams in random places) before we moved in, but it wasn't new. There's a chance they have it scheduled to be replaced, but I'm not counting on it.
We have pets and we got our dog here as a puppy, of course there have been accidents. I can't imagine it would cover any great percentage of sq footage, but who knows. We use a carpet shampooer frequently, which drenches the carpet and presumably the pad, so I'm not sure how they'll distinguish, but I'm sure they have a way.
No, the lease says residents aren't responsible for lawncare. Pet damage would fall under the residents responsibilities. I don't believe that will fall under 'normal wear and tear'.
Good to know. I'm not sure if they do or not, but we'll be asking for one
In NM, I dont think they were very picky, but I also heard that they were picky with enlisted housing. I did not notice them being picky with officers i.e. my neighbor had icicle Christmas lights up until like late March/April, while I heard a story that two years before that a friend whose H is enlisted was yelled at in like Feb for not taking their lights down and her H was deployed and she was very pregnant. And my neighbor would just let their dog out (not fenced yards unless you fence it yourself) and the dog was constantly pooping behind our house. Drove me crazy, but I wasn't going to pick it up. No one ever told us to clean it though. I think I only ever saw the housing people three times - when they came around after a freeze, and they checked if pipes had frozen or if there was any damage, during moving and and moving out.
But thats all anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt.
For us moving out was super easy. We cleaned like mofos and had a gang of people helping. The lady barely looked during her walk through.
ETA: the whole housing area's grass was one giant brown spot. Couple desert + drought + really inefficient watering system = dry dry spotting crappy grass.
I changed my name
based on memory it was between 800-1000 square feet. I'll double check my records when I get home.
Credit to Awkward Family Pet Photos
http://tiny.cc/kpfcdw
Definitely ask and keep up with it because they should have around 30 days to give you one. Like I said, I never lived on a base but if it's run by a regular rental company then it should work like that.
Our space is double that. I would vomit if they asked us to pay $2400.
I would be ok if they pro-rated it based on the lifespan of the carpet. Which I think they would have to do. If the lifespan of the carpet is 7 years (which is what they say) and the carpet has been here at least 5.5 (between us and the renters before us), I can understand being responsible for the remaining percentage since they would have had to replace it early. If they have to replace the carpet.
I would suggest looking up renters rights for whatever state you live in. That should give you a starting off point of what to expect. Also, did you put down a security deposit? Because if you did then you wouldn't have to worry about a huge bill.
Edit: If it makes you feel any better, we lived in a 1600 square foot townhouse. Our dogs chewed up 3 different places of carpet and ruined one whole room's worth. It didn't cost us $2600.
That sounds pretty extreme.
We live on base but our housing isn't privatized. They do weekly inspections but they are not that strict. They mostly just care about things like your lawn being cut and edged, no oil stains in the driveway etc.
So I don't know if this applies to you but, apparently if you have USAA renter's insurance you can file a claim under the "the damage to other people's property clause," or something to that effect, and be reimbursed for any charges you incurred due to damage upon move-out.
At least that's the word on the street.
I heard that's not the case anymore.
Our privitized housing has a reputation of charging out the wazoo for carpet replacement so everyone got USAA b/c they'd cover the charge like SG mentions. Then, a few people recently moved out and said USAA no longer covers it. My friend called to check and, sure enough, policy changed. Sucks.
Otherwise, they're pretty lax. I wouldn't mind a *little* dog poo patrol here, it's out of control.
That's a great idea, thanks!
Good to know you weren't charged that much. Hopefully you weren't even charged close to that. I'm not sure if there was a deposit, I'm inclined to say no, but I have no idea. I'm wishing there was one now.
That's a bummer USAA no longer covers that! Though it seems like a crazy thing to cover. We'll look into it just to be sure.
Gracie, I think that's what kicked all this craziness off. They never used to "patrol" and there was dog poop everywhere. It was ridic. Now they've started getting too extreme.
Thanks for you input gals!