Continued from review posted before this one:
Now, let's move on to the Robinsons themselves--this actually has a lot to do with the renovations they are currently doing on Woodcraft Manor.
Like I said, when you first meet the Robinsons, the impression you will get is that they are trustworthy. And it's true, the lease they offer their residents reads a lot better then those typically offered west of Hoover, and definitely west of Vermont.
My issue, however, is how they are currently treating their tenants. What the Robinsons fail to understand is that they are not granting us a privilege by allowing us to live there, what they are doing is providing a service.I'm sorry, but rent at this house comes at a premium, and this is not the way I expect to be treated.
They have been renovating this house over the course of our entire lease. This was not disclosed to us before we rented. If they needed a year to renovate the house, they should've planned to rent it at a significant discount--any reasonable landlord (I know there aren't many of those in the USC area) would not expect to be making a profit while renovating a property. Any reasonable landlord would be thankful for any income he/she could get from a property while renovating it, and hence would offer discounted rent. None of the tenants I've discussed this with would have agreed to pay full rent if we had known about the intended renovations. This includes the painting throughout the fall and the current kitchen renovations that I previously mentioned.
With the kitchen renovations--according to Jim Robinson, the renovations are being pushed through now because he has heard our complaints about the kitchen being too small for the house. I'm sorry, but how does the kitchen is too small so there is no common space so in the future you should keep the living room as a living room and not rent it out as a bedroom translate into, yes, please, rip out my kitchen and flood my house with workmen every single day for several months all while charging me and my housemates a ridiculous amount of rent?
The renovations started during spring break, when a new tile floor was laid. To be fair, the Robinsons did give us the option to not have the renovations done at all--however, they only asked us after we pointed out that not being able to use our kitchen at all for several days was a big deal to those of us staying the house over break. They told us that there would be two "phases" of remodeling--the first one, to be completed over break, was the laying of the new floor. The second would take place in May, after finals, and would include major demolition. We assumed (as you probably just did) that that meant that they would not be working on the house BETWEEN spring break and May, and hence begrudgingly agreed to the work. There have been people here EVERY DAY since the very first day they started. Mr. Robinson did tell us that we could request they stop--but asking them to stop would mean that our kitchen gets left looking like a construction zone. Indeed, the tile floor can't be finished until the last stage of demo. It's awful having people you don't know working in your house every day, using power tools, making dust and fumes--it's stressful. As students, we want privacy, we want to do our own things, and be left alone. This is absolutely impossible.
Any reasonable landlord would be bending over backwards to keep his/her tenants happy while they are putting up with this--instead, the Robinsons act like they are doing us a favor by letting us live in Woodcraft Manor. The Robinsons approach every tenant and every property with the attitude "It's my house, you're just living in it." Well, it may technically be your house, but it's supposed to be my HOME. That's WHY I AM PAYING YOU. The Robinsons fail to understand that. A good landlord should get any necessary work done quietly, quickly, and with as much attention devoted to the tenants needs as possible. He or she should not take advantage of tenants with self-serving actions (i.e. renovating the house so they can charge EVEN MORE for rent in the future while still collecting full rent from people actually living there). The Robinsons fail to understand that tenants are clients, and they have to treat them with respect. If I hadn't signed the lease without knowing about the renovations, I would have absolutely taken my business elsewhere.
Long story short, I (and almost everyone else in my house) regret leasing from Robinson residences, and you will too. They don't take advantage of you in the same way other scummy landlords in the area will (i.e. they won't outright misuse your security deposit, unless you count charging for routine maintenence), but they will scam you in other regards. Buyers, beware. read more