Review History for anonymous

Nice place, poor management

I moved to 1520 Magnolia early in 2005. I was drawn to the fact that the area is nice, the apartments are nice, and the location is close to Research Triangle Park. Overall, I liked living the apartment. However, I ended up moving out because the management was poor and offered unreasonable pricing. When I first moved to 1520 it was under different management then it is now. At the time I first moved the management staff was very helpful and offered a good discount on the apartment. Additionally, I was able to negotiate the washer and dryer into the lease for free.<br><br>When it came time to renew my lease the apartment complex had come under new management. When I went to renew the lease the new Manager Mr. M******* offered a rent increase of nearly 10% of the lease. (They do this all the time because they know how much it will cost you to move). With a little work I was able to negotiate a reasonable lease price with Mr. M. When I signed the new contract it EXPLICITALLY stated that everything in the original contract remain unchanged unless clearly stated otherwise. That means my washer and dryer were to remain in the newly negotiated deal.<br><br>Fast forward a few months later. Right before my new lease was to kick in I got a letter from management along the lines of "We are sorry to inform you but we did not factor in that you had a washer and dryer in your original contract when we renewed your lease. You have two options. (1) Pay an extra $30 a month or (2) We will remove the washer and dryer when the new lease begins". Apparently management had difficulty understanding that one party can not unilaterally change a contract. Management had a tough time coming to terms with this. I had to provide a letter stating how legally they had no right to charge extra for the washer and dryer and show how it was part of the contract. Again, after some work they decided to let me keep the washer and dryer at no extra cost.<br><br>After this episode I decided I would move out when my lease ran out. It happened that my lease ran out in July, and since it ran out in the middle of July I had to pay a prorated fee for the month. When I calculated the rent for July I did it as "27/31 * My rent". Management, however, said the price "27/30 * My rent". I went to the office and reminded them that there are 31 days in July. They told me that they always prorate assuming a 30 day month. In return I told them that I would pay the fair amount, prorated at 31 days and that they could do what they wanted. Heck, I only lived in the apartment for 28 days in February. Maybe I could have paid "28/30 * My rent" for that month! Again I won the battle with management with a little bit of work. But for them to be so unfair, stubborn, and unreasonable on how prorating works is ridiculous. And their practice of prorating on 30 days is against the law.<br><br>And now I'm very thankful to be out of 1520. Like I said, the apartments themselves are reasonably nice. However, the management staff will try to take advantage of you at every turn. Mr. M and Mrs. M talked to me in condescending manners and like I was a child. Since I'm a young professional they wrongly assumed I would not be aware of the law, aware of my rights, or that I would stand up for what is right and fair. I would suggest that you not move to 1520 Magnolia until management has changed (or that you get everything clearly stated in writing and have a friend/family member that is a lawyer).