To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this complaint letter to address certain issues that created what I consider unlivable conditions at my previous residence.

From May 8, 1998 until March 2002, I resided at Parkview Apartments, 19925 Lorain Road apartment #6, Fairview Park, Ohio, with my wife and my daughter. Parkview Apartments have a total of 10 suites.

We signed a lease with Dan Hasely of Ohio Sunset Properties on May 8, 1998, agreeing to pay $485 per month for a period of 1 (one) year. Per our lease, we also paid a $510 security deposit and a $200 "pet deposit". We were supplied with a garage space and assured that we would be given a garage door opener once it was located (apparently it had been lost). Let it be noted here, that after repeated requests, Dan Hasely never performed a "move-in inspection" with us, and to this day, the lost garage door opener has not been found.

Shortly after moving in it became obvious that the ceramic kitchen sink had been spray painted to give it a clean, white finish. After a few months of use the finish began to peel and flake. To this day we have to pick flakes of paint out of our dishwater when doing the dishes.

In March of 1999, Dan Hasely informed us that he was selling the complex and we would be contacted by the new landlord shortly. Dan wished us well and effectively washed his hands of any further problems with the building or suites.

Nearly a month later, we were contacted by Dale Phillip, the new landlord and owner of the condominuim complex next door. We were assured that while his intention was to eventually tear down our apartment building and build condominiums, that time would not be soon and he would give us plenty of warning ("three months") should he decide to do it.

Since that time we have had virtually no end of problems in our apartment. Some of the highlights follow:

March 4, 2000

Our neighbor called East Ohio Gas to report a "funny smell" coming from our adjoined laundry / boiler room. East Ohio Gas responded and determined that the smell was coming from our boiler. It was also noted that our hot water tank had an undersized TPR valve (temperature relief valve) and was in violation. East Ohio Gas then "red tagged" our boiler and hot water tank and turned them both off - leaving us with no hot water or heat. Upon contacting Dale Phillip we were asked if we could just turn the equipment back on after East Ohio Gas left the premises. When I disagreed with this approach, it was suggested that we call an HVAC service to make the repairs and then take the cost off of our rent. Not having that kind of money to spend - I contacted a private repair person that I know and the repairs were made to East Ohio's specifications. Nearly a month later, our landlord sent qualified repair personnel to our apartment and completed the repairs. During the same time period Dale's brother Steve came by to inspect our boiler problem. During inspection he "adjusted" the drain valve on our hot water tank. It began to leak. He assured us he would return to fix the problem he had created. As of today - the hot water tank leaks about a quart of water a day and I have to keep an old pot under the valve to catch the leakage.

Also during this time it had come to our attention that our downstairs neighbor was, for lack of a better word, quite vocal at night when she was visited by her boyfriend. Often times the commotion will wake us from sleep. This is an apparent violation of ORC 5321.05, paragraph 8: Obligations of tenant:

[Tenant shall] (8) Conduct himself and require other persons on the premises with his consent to conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb his neighbors' peaceful enjoyment of the premises;

Trying to approach this diplomatically, I wrote her a letter excerpted here:

…With our suites being laid out the same way, we can hear any loud noises coming from your bedroom quite clearly. We were not able to sleep last night until just past 1:30am and then were awakened by your alarm this morning. This is not the first time for either of these occurrences and we're hoping that by writing this note we can bring this situation to your attention. You have made your feelings quite clear when you felt that we were being too loud, and we hope that this note can serve as the same purpose.

Her response came two days later when she pounded on our apartment door and threw the crumpled up notice into my living room and proclaimed that we cannot tell her what to do in her own apartment. Dale Phillip was approached about this behavior and his response was that he "didn't want to get involved". This behavior continues until today.

September 19, 2000

I left a note for our "maintenance man" Tony, informing him that our toilet handle was leaking. About a shot-glass full of water was leaking on every flush and it was evident that the handle needed a replacement valve or gasket. . The evening of the 19th, I stopped and knocked on Tony's door to ask if he got the note and whether he would be coming up to look at it that night or not. He responded no, that he would order the part (which he had not seen, but I feel I described the problem well enough to trust his judgement) and would come by within the next couple days. On Saturday, September 23, Tony knocked on our door at about 8:00pm and said that he had the part and was ready to fix the toilet. Upon inspecting the toilet however, it was evident that Tony had ordered the wrong sized part and would be unable to fix the problem that evening. After we thanked him for at least stopping by, Tony agreed that he would pick up the correct part himself and would be by Monday "after 7:00pm" to fix the problem. Monday and the rest of the following week came and passed without a visit or word from Tony. The following Monday, October 2, we wrote another note to Tony asking if he would at least give us some idea of when he would be able to make the repair as the problem was growing increasingly worse. Again - no response. It should be noted at this point, however, that Tony was indeed home throughout this entire period, as evidenced by the daily routine of exceedingly loud stereo playing. But that is another issue entirely. Finally, on Wednesday, October 4, I phoned Dale Phillip from work to discuss the above situation. Upon hearing back from him during the morning of October 5, I felt assured that the problem was at last nearing a resolution. After hearing nothing from anyone for the remainder of the week and weekend I took it upon myself to drive to Lakeside Supply and purchase and install the toilet handle repair kit myself on Monday, October 9. Total cost: $1.87. Total time: 16 days.

June 2001

On June 13th our toilet stopped flushing, so my wife contacted the new maintenance man, Ken to repair it. Upon inspecting it Ken was unsure to what the exact cause was but, had tried to repair it using parts from the toilet in the vacant apartment number 3. Ken thought that he had repaired it but, unbeknownst to him it once again stopped working. After looking at it when I got home from work and diagnosing the problem I then contacted Ken and explained to him what had caused the problem (bad flush valve) and what parts would be needed to repair it.

On June 14th Ken brought the new flush valve by and informed me that he did not know how to repair the toilet. I repaired the toilet myself.

Also during June of 2001 our downstairs neighbor erected a 7 ft "privacy fence" in the common yard outside. Previous to this she had dug up and placed cement blocks to make room for an outside picnic table and chairs for her own private use. Effectively, she had taken over ¾ of what was a fairly small outside area to begin with. We had also placed a picnic table in the yard but never designated it as private - other tenants were welcome to use it. The fence was upsetting because it was placed strategically between her table and ours on what we had considered common ground and effectively cut of any light that we could get from an outside lamp post in the evenings. Dale Phillip was contacted about this disturbing development and assured us that he would speak to her and have her take it down. As of January 2002 it still stands.

November 2001

Our refrigerator broke down. Saturday morning, 8 am, I noticed that the refrigerator was warm and the ice cube trays in the freezer held only water. I called Dale Phillip to ask about the possibility of getting a new refrigerator. It was determined that I should get one on the refrigerators in one of the vacant suites since it would be the fastest solution. Dale assured me that he would contact Ken and he would be by soon. Around 12:00 noon Dale called. Ken was with him and would be returning to the property shortly. Did I have a dolly or some other method of moving a refrigerator? I did. In the end, I wound up assisting Ken at around 3:00pm in removing my old refrigerator down two flights of stairs and dragging the replacement unit back up the same two flights. The replacement unit was disgustingly filthy. I spent about an hour and a half cleaning the unit with my own supplies. In then end we lost about $30 worth of food.

January 3, 2002

The clothes dryer in our shared laundry / boiler room broke down. Both our next-door neighbor with whom we share the facilities and ourselves placed separate calls to Dale Phillip asking that the dryer be repaired. On January 7, 2002 a repairman, apparently contacted by the landlord, showed up and assessed the repair. Once he determined what would be needed he stated that the repair would cost $210.00. He asked who would be responsible for payment. We responded that the landlord should pay the repair costs. Since he had no authorization - yet another call was placed to Dale Phillip. After discussing the issue with the repairman, Dale declined to pay for the repair, leaving us with no dryer. An agreement was apparently reached that the repairman would come back again on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 and complete the repairs and Dale would arrange for payment to be made. On Tuesday, the repairman showed up and asked if anyone had come by with a check or money order. No one had. After further discussion, our neighbor ended up paying the repairman out of her own money on January 11, so that we could get the dryer fixed. Total time: 8 days.

January 8, 2002

During the early morning of January 8, 2002, my wife was awoken and kept awake from 2:00am to 3:00am listening to the escapades of our rather vocal downstairs neighbor.

February 2, 2002

My wife and I were awoken at 5:00am by our downstairs neighbors television. Apparently she has a television in her bedroom and tuned it to CNN at an objectionable volume level from 5:00am until about 5:45am. The early hour notwithstanding, we heard her turn the volume down to answer a phone call. Shortly thereafter she turned the volume back up to what I consider an unacceptable level. We were unable to get back to sleep after this incident.