Three and a half years ago, when I moved to Utah, I did a massive purge of my life.  I went through everything I owned and either gave away or threw away about 90% of it.  It was tough, but necessary, and when it was all said and done, it was worth it.  So many things you own have less value than you believe.  My move to Utah went smoothly, and part of that was due to the fact that I got rid of the clutter.  I moved only the essentials.

Fast-forward to now.  I’m moving again, only this time it’s just a couple of miles down the street.  Trading my severely overpriced, super-ghetto apartment with its gang shootings, exploding units, and the occasional drug bust for a slightly less ghetto apartment, which is much cheaper and a tad nicer.  I’ll tell you, you just never realize how much stuff you have until you need to move it.  Somewhere, somehow, over the last three years, I’ve accumulated a whole bunch more junk.  How did this happen?  I was looking over my various piles today wondering where some of it came from.  Why did I buy this?  Did someone give this to me?  Did fairies break into my house and leave these here?  How does this happen?

And just how does one move a Lovesac anyway?  These things are huge, and not only are they heavy, they are Volkswagen-sized shifting blobs of heavy, never allowing you to actually grip them or heft them in any way.  Egad!

Somewhere, I acquired a 25lb block of WED clay.  I assume it was one of my projects that I had passionate interest in for about 10 minutes.  It’s sitting in my closet now, waiting for me to move it.  What on earth am I to do with it at my new place?  A huge, grayish block of dirt.  As if there wasn’t enough dirt already, now I’m gong to pack some up and take it with me.  Wonderful.

I think the heaviest thing I own must be the two boxes of books I moved earlier tonight.  I put them on a dolly and took great pleasure in dragging them down the stairs of my old place.  BAM!…BAM!…BAM!… went the dolly-load of heavy book boxes on each stair, whilst I gleefully chuckled at the displeasure of the neighbors.  I can’t wait to move my washer and dryer for that very same reason tomorrow.

Comcast, being an evil and horrible corporate entity of such magnitude that they could make Hitler cry and Dick Cheney piss his pants, informed me that they need to send a technician to my new apartment to hook up my Internet connection.  I cordially pointed out that I already had all the equipment, and I’m quite smart enough to connect a coaxial cable, and all I wanted them to do is change the address on my account.  No no no, they exclaimed, with the voice of Satan, we simply must send a technician to your apartment.  Will next Wednesday between the hours of inconvenient and never be ok?  Next Wednesday?  Are you serious?  You want me to go without Internet for three days?  You must be on crack, you vicious bastards.  All I need you to do is change my address.  How hard is that?  I decided to take this opportunity to change my service to Quest, seeing as how the switching office is right across the street from my new apartment, so I know the connection will be optimal.  I went to the website and got all the information, then realized that my new apartment doesn’t have any phone jacks!  How the hell am I supposed to get DSL service without any phone jacks?  It looks like I’m stuck with Con-Cast for the time being.  I hate them so much.

I’ve found that I like my new place a little better each day.  It’s quieter at least, and I’ve come to find that I’m not the only white person living there, as I am where I live now.  I have nothing against any other people, but come on.  Is there only one song that every single Mexican listens to at 197db every day?  And how is it that the rims on your hoopty-ride are bigger than the actual tires?  And just how many people live in that one-bedroom anyway?  Was there a sale on wife beaters last weekend?  Not trying to sound racist, but sometimes it’s just too easy.  And I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.

Anyway, in a couple more days I’ll be moved in, and I can put this old place behind me.  Another in the long list of apartments I’ve rented over the years.  I won’t miss it.

Now, off to see how loud my stereo can go before I disconnect it!

Many of you are aware of my current predicament with the apartment management where I live.  In the course of 2 years, my rent has increased by almost three hundred dollars.  This in itself is a travesty, but the worst part about it is the fact that my latest increase came with no notification at all, which is in violation of my initial lease agreement, and Utah state law.

I’ve written a letter to the management company for the apartment complex.  I’ve detailed my issue and asked for a response.  I’m blogging this today as an additional method of exposure, in case my letter falls on deaf ears.  Please feel free to comment and pass the information along to others, so that perhaps other people won’t be subjected to this kind of treatment in the future.  The Internet is one of the methods we can use to stop this kind of corruption, and I intend to use it.

Thanks.

I hope that this e-mail gets to the right people, but please pass it to the proper department if this isn’t the correct channel.

I have to state a complaint.

I’m a resident of the Brighton Place apartments in Midvale. I’ve been a resident here since November of 2005, and I can’t say that the experience has been all that great. My problem is the ever-increasing rent. When I moved here, my rent was $549 per month, a bit high considering the neighborhood, but at least fairly reasonable. As of this March, my rent is $830 per month. This is almost a $300 increase over the course of two years, and that is absolutely ridiculous.

Part of my rent is because I am month-to-month. There is a penalty associated with this, apparently, of $100. It used to be $50, which was incredibly high to begin with, but DOUBLING that penalty Is outrageous. I can understand charging a little extra per month in lieu of a contracted lease, but a HUNDRED DOLLARS? I would sincerely appreciate some sort of explanation on how you can justify that. It makes no sense.

Beyond the month-to-month penalty, my rent increase is still absurd. However, it is what it is. However you justify that sort of rent, considering the nature of the market right now and the average prices of rentals around the area, is completely beyond me. I accept it as reality however, so I’ll deal with it.

What I won’t accept however, is the fact that my rent was raised with NO PREVIOUS NOTICE. The rental agreement that I signed when I moved here, which according to the property management, still has an effect on my tenancy even though I’m month-to-month, states that you are required to give me 30 DAYS NOTICE in the event of a rent increase. THIS WAS NOT DONE. Utah state law says that landlords are required to give at least 15 DAYS NOTICE. In effect, the management of Brighton Place has violated state law, and the terms of my previous lease agreement.

I went into the office to protest, of course. The explanation I got was that my rent amount is based on the market value of the apartment, and because I am month-to-month, my rent is based on this amount and can be raised at any time accordingly. That’s all well and good, but you are STILL REQUIRED TO GIVE ME NOTIFICATION of this. Once again, this was not done.

Since Brighton Place has violated the terms of the initial agreement, I feel I am no longer bound by it. I will be moving as soon as possible, and although management will be given notification, it may or may not be 30 days.

As I stated, I hope this complaint gets to the right people. Please notify me if there is another channel I should be using, or if there is a dispute to my complaint here. I would like to work this situation out amicably, but I feel I’ve exhausted my resources.

Thanks for your time.

Any thoughts on this?  What are the odds that I even get a response?  Does anyone else have experience with this kind of thing?  I could use some advice.

FOLLOW UP:  The e-mail I sent bounced back to me.  The e-mail address they have posted on their website isn’t even functional.  Further proof that this company is only interested in scamming people.

FOLLOW UP 2:  I filed a report with the BBB of Utah.  Whilst doing this, I noted that Wasatch Property management has the wonderful score of D+ in regards to their company’s reputation among businesses.  Why am I not surprised?

Saturday morning was quite the experience.  I had gotten up early (for me) because Sra and I had planned a hike in Bells Canyon in preparation for our big climb of Mount Olympus next week.  Like always, I stumbled groggily into the bathroom to take my shower, when I heard a loud BAM!, followed by a couple of smaller (but equally loud) cracks coming from somewhere outside.  My first thought was that the neighbors were shooting each other again, and at 8AM on a Saturday morning, that was just plain rude.  Subsequent screaming and shouting from the vicinity of outside somewhere further cemented this opinion, and I figured since it was none of my business, I’d just finish my shower and go about my day. 

My second thought, as I was soaping up, was that those cracks sounded pretty loud for gunfire.  Are the neighbors using shotguns this time?  That’s horribly insensitive to people who are still trying to sleep.  No, those blasts were too loud for guns.  Something’s up.  I toweled off and investigated.

Upon stepping out to my balcony, I saw about 100 people milling about and staring at a spectacle which took me a minute to digest.  The neighboring apartment across the pool from mine was gone, and in its place was a massive fireball and a thick cloud of black smoke.  Oh God!  The neighbor’s freaking apartment exploded!  I couldn’t believe it.  I just stood there dumbstruck as the Midvale fire department pulled up and finally justified the purchase of their humongous new ladder truck. 

It didn’t take them too long to put it out, but I think that’s because, at my count, there were nine fire trucks, from all the neighboring cities including Sandy, Murray, West Valley, and even South Jordan, along with various ambulances and support vehicles, and numerous cop cars in every corner of my apartment complex.  Firefighters were running everywhere, and residents (and now former residents) were just walking around in a daze.  Like me, they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.

Since I couldn’t get my car out, I walked down to the 7/11 and had Sra pick me up there for our hike.  We were both rather taken with the events of that morning, and couldn’t stop talking about it for a while.  Our hike took all day, and when I got back I grabbed my little camera and walked over toward the site of the destruction.  The area was roped off of course, but there was a news crew there doing a story.  I felt bad snapping a picture with all the (former) residents poking through the ashes of their (former) possessions, but I did manage to grab one blurry one.

The good news is that no one was hurt.  From what I understand, two teenagers went around the apartments banging on the doors and getting everyone out before the buildings went up.  They probably saved several lives by that quick thinking.  The bad news is that 35 people are now homeless and 13 apartments were destroyed.  The building itself will have to be demolished, because the fire marshal says it’s not structurally sound anymore, and as of now there’s still no known cause.

A pretty sad way to start the weekend.