I never write reviews but I felt compelled to write this one today after photos of this townhome we…read morelived in Gaithersburg, MD came up on my camera roll after 6 years. Also because I regret not taking more drastic actions against them, including potential legal action, for their negligence and lack of care to our health and safety while we lived there.
My family and I rented a townhome that was managed by Noah's from 2017-2021 and it was the worst rental experience I have ever had. I reported mold, dust, water damage, and pest control issues several times over the years we lived there. While they would send out a handyman, they expected him to fix everything even if he did not have expertise. And there was a general lack of urgency, responsiveness, and care to our issues.
The previous tenants or owners left the home passable but it was clear when we moved in there was a lack of maintenance (e.g. old carpet, appliances, dusty vents, deck unable to pass City Inspection multiple times, just to name a few). The backyard area was over grown and they left multiple large items in the garage. When we moved out, with the house in that same condition, Noah's took money out of our deposit to move items in the garage that were not ours and to do landscaping when it was not landscaped to begin with (and this was all reported to them during our initial walkthrough, but they expected us to pick up the bill at move out). At the time, I just let it go (remorsefully) and tried to move on.
The issues culminated in 2020, as I mentioned to them that the ceiling had mold spots, water spots, and that there was seam in the main bedroom that looked like it was coming apart. The answer from Noah's was that it was just a "settlement crack." The handyman painted over some of the mold and water spots but never treated the underlying water damage.
Snippets from our email exchanges:
Me: In the master bedroom, a long crack is starting to develop in the ceiling. We just noticed this today. (I included the attached photos)
Noah's: The crack you are seeing in the ceiling is a settlement crack, there really isn't any concern unless for some reason you see it getting larger or think something other than settlement is causing it but from the look of it that's what it appears to be.
Me: Regarding the ceiling, we did notice a smaller crack a while ago. We did some research and saw that it was probably a settlement crack. But the larger crack appeared overnight, the night before last, and upon further research appears to potentially be a cracking/falling ceiling seam and/or drywall tape. We are by no means experts, so just wanted to bring this to your attention since it did get larger. If you think the best course of action is to wait and see, we can do that. Please advise.
Noah's: Yes, please monitor the crack, you probably don't want the contractor to repair if we can avoid it due to COVID and the mess that will be made to correct it.
Well the "settlement crack" led to the ceiling collapsing, thankfully no one was in the bedroom at the time. We asked for Noah's to help us clean and pay for an air purifier (I offered to send photos of the damage) and Noah's response was: "Thank you for your feedback. You don't need to send me pictures, however, you will want to contact your renters insurance company to make a claim on anything that was damaged." They never offered to help us with anything or to make sure that we were healthy and safe even though there were insulation particles all over the room. They put all the burden on us. To me it was just another drastic occurrence in an otherwise lack of care for the health and safety of their tenants.
We moved out as soon as our lease was up. I am not expecting a response, nor do I need one. I just felt like I never got any closure from this issue that led to so much angst and stress, and this review is all I could do. I hope it can help someone else.