Are there any good apartments in Phoenix!? & Lease Breaks...

[britann23]

Howard Roark- I also feel that there are laws against what they have done. I found these two bits of Arizona Resident's Rights through the website: Arizona Tenants Advocates & Association - Renter & Tenant Rights - Break Lease Contract :

The premises must be fit and habitable, and in compliance with local codes affecting health and safety.
A.R.S. §§ 33-1324(A)(1) and 33-1324(A)(2)

Every rental involves the implied warranty of habitability, which, as public policy, supplements provisions of the landlord-tenant act.
A.R.S. § 33-1303

The manager, who works for a large property management company, must be aware of this but perhaps she believes that I am not or is trying to take advantage of us. Although I signed a contract with her I still have rights that protect me even above an agreement they determined for us to sign. The girl who rented our apartment said she would get ahold of us again before she left the office until Tuesday but she failed to contact us back and the manager is also gone all weekend. We were promised a bomb today but they decided that can wait. How convenient for them. Also convenient for them is that everytime I have emailed the office they call us back. I email everything they say to me and everything that we say to them verbatim, even knowing that I will not get a response in paper. I also take pictures of every single roach and feces pile that I find and all of the filth left behind that they did not clean. They have also received a copy of every single picture. The renter of our apartment sat in the office today and directly, verbally stated the apartment is uninhabitable then emailed the manager today in front of us and the manager emailed her back with the statements listed in the last post. I would LOVE to get a copy and intend to finagle that as well. A lawyer would be amazing help right now but I am doing the best I can with what I got. Well see what comes Monday and in the mean time I am going to educate and prepare myself!

[Howard Roark]

Originally Posted by britann23

Arizona Tenants Advocates & Association - Renter & Tenant Rights - Break Lease Contract :

The premises must be fit and habitable, and in compliance with local codes affecting health and safety.
A.R.S. §§ 33-1324(A)(1) and 33-1324(A)(2)

Every rental involves the implied warranty of habitability, which, as public policy, supplements provisions of the landlord-tenant act.
A.R.S. § 33-1303

The manager, who works for a large property management company, must be aware of this but perhaps she believes that I am not or is trying to take advantage of us. Although I signed a contract with her I still have rights that protect me even above an agreement they determined for us to sign. The girl who rented our apartment said she would get ahold of us again before she left the office until Tuesday but she failed to contact us back and the manager is also gone all weekend. We were promised a bomb today but they decided that can wait. How convenient for them. Also convenient for them is that everytime I have emailed the office they call us back. I email everything they say to me and everything that we say to them verbatim, even knowing that I will not get a response in paper. I also take pictures of every single roach and feces pile that I find and all of the filth left behind that they did not clean. They have also received a copy of every single picture. The renter of our apartment sat in the office today and directly, verbally stated the apartment is uninhabitable then emailed the manager today in front of us and the manager emailed her back with the statements listed in the last post. I would LOVE to get a copy and intend to finagle that as well. A lawyer would be amazing help right now but I am doing the best I can with what I got. Well see what comes Monday and in the mean time I am going to educate and prepare myself!

There you go! I think you are on the right track! I wish you the best and keep us posted! I rent two apartments. One in Phoenix and another in a different city. The one in the other city is where I rented two times before in the last nine years. This third time that I'm back the amenities have become stricter. I am aggravated about it. But they warned me about it before I signed. Nothing I can do. But I at least gave them a piece of my mind: returning resident - loyalty. And they take some of my perks away. It is a complicated situation I don't want to discuss further for now. But it is rotten of management.

[ivanabacowboy]

Brittann23, I lived there fairly recently-I left early 2011. It has gone up that much????

[britann23]

ivanabacowboy- Yes the cheapest rate for a one bedroom apartments is $775/month. It seems rent went up significantly everywhere in Phoenix in the last few years. The one bedroom our friend used to rent a year ago went from being $630/month including pet rent for a full grown 70 lbs dog to being $665/month with pet rent for the same unit with our full grown 18 lbs dog.
I wonder what the cause was for such large rental price increases?

Another thing I have read about is utility increases, that water and electric are extremely expensive. We are going into only our first week here. How much are these bills typically? Were terrified to run the AC because we have heard of bills being $160/month.

[autism360]

The people that walked away from their upside down homes moved into the rentals causing a drop in supply and a large increase in rent btw 90% of apartments in Tempe do not have washers and dryers inside the apartments because they were built when it was a normal thing to use a laundrymat.
If you break the lease you will not be able to pass the credit check to get into a nice apartment so you should get the complex where you are at to let you out of the lease. You may be able to get out of the lease legally because of health issues I would also call the city and and see if they will help.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by britann23

ivanabacowboy- Yes the cheapest rate for a one bedroom apartments is $775/month. It seems rent went up significantly everywhere in Phoenix in the last few years. The one bedroom our friend used to rent a year ago went from being $630/month including pet rent for a full grown 70 lbs dog to being $665/month with pet rent for the same unit with our full grown 18 lbs dog.
I wonder what the cause was for such large rental price increases?

Another thing I have read about is utility increases, that water and electric are extremely expensive. We are going into only our first week here. How much are these bills typically? Were terrified to run the AC because we have heard of bills being $160/month.

I don't rent apartments, but I don't see that increase as that extreme, at about a dollar a day.

A/C cost can vary a lot. If you are not on the top floor or on the end of a building, that will help. The power company may be able to give you some data on past use. You may also be eligible for one of the time of use plans which help with costs. Don't keep the AC turned off altogether out of fear of the cost.

Water costs vary a bit depending on what city you are in. I don't see the cost of water as that high. The larger part of my bill comes from sewer and trash charges, which come on the same bill. Not sure if that's how it works where you are.