LaToya Samuels
Philadelphia, PA
4.0
Avg Score
–
Years Avg Stay
950
Avg Rent
–
Recommended
Wouldn't recommend.
Posted 3 years ago
Landlord took 70 days to replace a fridge that was leaking across the kitchen floor and spoiling food. Windows that were supposed to be done before we moved in during May are still not done in late January of the next year. We informed her of squirrels getting into the roof space and in our walls and she let us know she didn't think it was a problem, until they chewed through the wood to get into our pantry and food. She often takes weeks to respond if she responds at all. The contractors she hires to fix things are unreliable and either never show up or show up hours late - their fixes often don't work and have to be fixed again. We haven't had a single repair that was taken care of within a week or without having to follow up at least twice.
- 0
Pleasant, but unreliable
Posted 4 years ago
LaToya is a very nice person, but a terrible landlord. My friend and I signed a one year lease with option to renew 7 months ago. Since we've moved in we've had a number of problems. 1) Communication. It is often difficult to get a hold of LaToya. If I text her or send her an email it often takes a few days for her to respond. It's not uncommon to have to wait a month for her reply - once she went on a vacation and didn't inform us, only replying to our emails weeks later. 2) Repairs. It is very difficult to have anything properly repaired. She clearly cuts corners on most things in order to save money. She repainted before we signed the lease but it was a shoddy job - there are drops of paint everywhere on the floor and clearly no painters tape or other boundary was used between areas like wall and ceiling. a. When we first moved in the key to my bedroom didn't work so I was locked out for 2 days - her way of "fixing" it was to have her husband come and literally knock the knob off with a hammer, scoring the door pretty badly. b. Our apartment doesn't have central AC so during the summer our kitchen would get around 90-100 on a daily basis. The fridge was very old and had a bad seal, so in the humidity and heat it would leak water all over the kitchen floor and our food would spoil days, even weeks early. It took 68 days from the time of initial contact about the problem until we got a new fridge - and the replacement was half the size of the old one, without notice. She clearly shopped online for "refrigerators under $500" without measuring the old one first. c. The windows of the apartment are terrible - inch wide gaps between the rails, between the sashes and sills, and since we've moved in 2 windows we opened in the heat now refuse to close. Before we signed the lease there was a verbal agreement (terrible mistake) that she would replace them ASAP. We signed on May 3, it's now October 1, still have the old windows. Our ACs (and the old fridge) ate up our electricity bill, and now they're going to eat her heating bill. d. After receiving the replacement fridge, my roommate and I put our feet down. We sent an email with a detailed list of 4 problems that still needed repairs. The light in the stairwell won't turn on (try navigating those at night in the dark), our front door gets so stuck that it feels like the loose knob is going to come off every time you have to force it open to leave for work in the morning, there are squirrels living in my roommates wall, and the windows. We have yet to hear back about any of these problems, and the lease prevents us from performing any repairs ourselves. 3) As the weather gets colder we're waiting to see if the heating will work sufficiently, if she fixes the windows (at least so they'll close), and if she'll get back to us on any of the other problems we've informed her of.
- 0