Afsaneh Razani (the only member of Monik Inc) took over our 6-unit building in St Louis City from…read moreSavoy Properties, around eight months after we (Tenant 1 and Tenant 2) signed a 12-month lease with Savoy. Savoy, based on our brief experience with them, is a great company, and the contrast in management styles was uncanny.
Here is an abbreviated list of problems we experienced with Monik Inc, ranging from minor to unacceptable. We feel taken advantage of and were at the mercy of Razani's pervading incompetence as a landlord, and as described later, emotional volatility. In detail,
1. The only means of contacting Ms Razani was calling a landline, and the only means of paying rent was via mailed check, so it was impossible to have any kind of significant paper trail or proof of payments received. Repeated calls (long prior to the 30 days before the lease end) to her asking for the renewal notice would result in her promising to send one early, which never happened. When Ms Razani eventually sent the renewal agreement, no contract was included with it, so it was signed with the understanding that the renewal would be for the original contract we'd signed (with Savoy), with a small increase in rent. Rookie mistake!
2. Our contract with Savoy included a refundable $200 pet deposit. Ms Razani was apparently not aware of this, and when time came for us to move out, she insisted she did not owe it to us as "Monik charges $25 pet rent, so you saved money". No lease we saw or signed said as much. Our interactions with her were difficult enough that we simply let it slide in the hopes that we would get our $500 security deposit back.
3. We were late with rent once (forgot to stamp an envelope, so the check was sent back), so paid an extra $25 late fee, which we handed to Razani in person at her Clayton office. Upon moving out, Razani declared that we owed a further two $25 payments for late rent -- which she had never demanded during the 18 months we rented from her. For all our knowledge, rent checks were mailed and received in time.
4. We ended up renting for a further month so Tenant 2 could stay an additional few days past the lease's end. During this time, the apartment was cleaned by Tenant 2. Ms Razani performed a walk-through shortly after Tenant 2 moved out, called Tenant 1, and declared all fine apart from a) a missing gate opener (which was subsequently found and mailed back) and b) the fridge not being entirely clean. When the Tenant 2 called her to sort this issue out, Razani brought up that some cabinets had not been dusted. In the same conversation, she assured us that out security deposit would be returned within 30 days, and to call if it had not been sent out.
About a week later, Razani sent Tenant 1 a furious, bewildering text message, with pictures of streaks in a bath tub, some crumbs in the freezer, fluff in a heating vent, and dust in a cabinet under the sink. No coherent explanation or decision was included in the text. When Tenant 2 called to find out what was going on, Ms Razani was audibly upset, ultimately declaring, "you think I am a stupid immigrant!". Ironically, Tenant 1 is an immigrant too, but Ms Razani never bothered to find that out.
5. We ultimately got our security deposit back, which is why this isn't a BBB complaint, just an unhappy review.
We paid Razani $14,505 in rent over eighteen months, never defaulting. We were quiet, respectful, non-smoking residents who informed management immediately any time there was a maintenance issue. No fixtures were damaged during our stay. Monik Inc threw this back into our faces and treated us in a thoroughly confusing and unprofessional matter. Ms Razani should either hire additional staff to help her with organization, or only rent to friends and family who can tolerate her shortcomings as a landlord. If this is the treatment given to good tenants, and Razani does not improve her management style (perplexingly, Monik Inc has been in business for 25 years), this company will be left to deal with empty apartments and bad lessees.
In summary, it is advisable not to rent from Monik Inc. Do rent from Monik Inc if you want your renting experience to include:
-A filthy, moldy, seldom-cleaned basement laundry, with stairs to it permanently covered in slippery leaves and/or ice during fall/winter
-A landlord unfamiliar with email and online banking
-A landlord unfamiliar with the contents of your lease agreement
-A landlord unable to notify tenants in a timely fashion about renewal agreements and late fees
-A landlord unwilling to return security deposits in a timely fashion
-A landlord unable to remember or look up their tenant's name
-Being treated in a way not commensurate with a formal business relationship
-Paying $800+ a month for all of the above.