Alton Woman Loses Deposit for Apartment

ALTON – A woman in Alton encountered a problem after she left a deposit on an apartment she was interested in renting, but changed her mind due to appliances in the apartment being in bad condition.

The problem was that she never signed a contract.

Monica Tatum and her five kids were sleeping in her car a couple of weeks ago.

She had given an $800 deposit to an apartment complex in Alton.

“The apartment was never livable. When I got my electricity connected, I noticed the A/C wasn’t working. We didn’t have a refrigerator, so she brought us one. We let her know it wasn’t working,” Tatum explained the problems she ran into with the apartment. “And then we let her know that the water heater wasn’t working.”

That was when Tatum decided she had to find a new place to live. She wanted her $800 back.

Tatum has the receipts for the money she paid, but signed any paper work to hold the landlord responsible.

“She never gave me anything. No verbal agreement. No written. Anything,” said Tatum.

The Better Business Bureau explained the importance of signing a contract to avoid a situation similar to Tatum’s.

“Without a contract, without any legally binding document that protects the consumer, that protect the business, there isn’t anywhere for this consumer to go other than what she’s already done,” said BBB President Dolores Salinas.

Salinas told CHANNEL 5 NEWS when anyone doesn’t have a contract, the deal is not as concrete and they don’t have any assurance.

“It’s very important that consumers take time to check out the reliability of a business before they do business with them,” added Salinas.

Tatum filed a police report and a claim with the small claims court.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Los Arboles Apartments - 17 Photos - Apartments - 201 4th St, Del Mar, Del Mar, CA - Phone Number

8 201 4th St Del Mar , CA 92014 (858) 481-9585 Been here for 5 months now. These are definitely old apartments; the floorplans aren't modern or laid out super efficiently. But if you want to live within line-of-sight to the ocean, this place is as affordable as it gets. The manager is hands-down one of the nicest dudes I've met and has been extremely accommodating to us. Although the property is old, it's clean and decently kept up. The pool and hot tub are nice. We're on the 2nd floor in a corner unit and it's been very quiet for us. We haven't had any issues with bugs or vermin of any sort; in fact, we keep our porch door wide open all day long so our kitties can get some fresh air. This results in maybe 1 fly per day inside. There are surfer trails very nearby that lead down the cliffs for beach access. Bottom line, if you're looking for luxury, don't live here. It's too old to ever be luxurious. But if you're looking for line-of-sight to t
Read more

Charlotte affordable housing forum raises possible solutions

There’s a big demand for more affordable housing in Charlotte, where rents and home prices have shot up much faster than wages over the past few years. Many of the apartments being built now target more affluent renters, waitlists for housing vouchers are long and starter homes are snapped up almost immediately. So why aren’t developers building more affordable housing ? That was one of the main questions at a candidate education panel hosted by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association on Friday, where about two dozen candidates for Charlotte City Council turned out to learn some of the basics on a complicated subject. “ Affordable housing is one of the topics you’ll talk about a lot,” Bryan Holladay, who supervises the group’s government affairs outreach , told the candidates. The subject is an alphabet soup of acronyms (like NOAH, or “ Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing ”) and overlapping terms and definitions. Sometimes when people say “ affordable housing ” they mean go
Read more

Parents of Student Murdered by Maintenance Man Sue Apartment Complex

He pleaded guilty to murder late last year, now the case of a maintenance worker who killed a Blinn student is back in court. The parents of 20-year-old Jenna Verhaalen are suing the Bryan apartment complex where she was killed. Verhaalen was strangled at the Autumn Woods Apartments in 2008, by 27-year-old maintenance worker Jeremiah Rosser . The suit claims Autumn Woods ignored complaints made about Rosser. Specifically, a complaint they claim Jenna made to Rosser's boss, when he entered her apartment while she was in the shower. The suit alleges the complex's negligence led to Jenna's death. Attorneys for Autumn woods said management had no reason to believe Rosser was a risk. However, that's not what the complex's corporate office told News Three in 2008. Back then, a spokesperson said Jenna complained to the maintenance supervisor about Jeremiah Rosser , but never filed a complaint with the office. Rosser quit his job at Autumn Woods several day
Read more