La Barcelona

The apartment complex is 50 years old and has been very poorly maintained by a long series of owners.

1. The roof leaks. Before the last rainy season all of the tenants were told to have buckets ready. You should purchase a number of large plastic sheets and cover computer equipment or any other belongings that you cannot afford to lose before every rainstorm.

2. Termites: Both this building and the building next door are infested. They swarm for one month a year and – even if you keep... your windows and screens shut at all times – hundreds will get into your apartment. They will not damage your belongings but they drop their wings and crawl into everything so you have to shake out your clothes, look into cups before pouring yourself coffee, etc. I once found over 200 crawling around in my shower.

3. Water. 4-6 days per month you will probably not have more than a trickle of water. 10+ days a month the water will be cold. So many tenants filed code violations with the county that they eventually came in and yellow-tagged a bunch of apartments. If you are considering renting an apartment, you MUST test the hot water between 530 and 730AM and between 7 and 9PM or you may find that the plentiful hot water the manager showed you at 2pm has become a trickle when you want to shower before going to bed.

4. Appliances. My dishwasher didn’t work. My fridge was on its last legs. The cheap oven bounced around by 50 degrees. Bathroom fan didn’t work. Landlord refused to fix anything.

5. Townhouses: For the 4 summer months the third-floor temperature during the day will hover between 90 and 105 degrees. These are your bedrooms. You are NOT allowed to install an air conditioner in any of the windows.

6. Internet: The local provider will only sell you a high-speed package but the box on the street has a note inside that says, “Maximum speed 14Mbps” due to the distance from the hub.

7. Theft: cars in the back parking lot are regularly broken into. “Video Surveillance” signs are fake.
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