Apartment Review for Fairfield Lakes - Dayton, OH

My husband and I lived there for 2.5 years, and it was horrible. Like many others, we were lured in by the cheap rent and largish apartment; also, like others, we regretted it. In general, the management SUCKED, the maintenance was inefficient, the complex was always noisy and filthy, and the apartment itself was disgusting. We only stayed that long because we were poor college students who couldn't afford moving expenses.

Within a few weeks of moving in, there was a small grease fire in a neighboring apartment. Maintenance had gone to the other units on the floor (the half basement level) and opened the windows to air them out--WITHOUT PUTTING AN ENTRY NOTICE ON THE DOORS. When I arrived home later, I found that the windows were all open, and my windows had NO SCREENS. I panicked because a) I thought someone had broken in, and b) my cat was missing. I called for the cat, and thankfully she hadn't gone far, so I got her back. It didnt look like anything had been stolen or even touched, so I called up management just before I called the police, and sure enough, maintenance had been there, not a thief. I was furious that they had left my screenless windows open on the first floor and that they had entered my apartment without leaving a note for me.

About 2 years after we moved in, my husband had a car that had lots of problems, including leaky tires. We came home to find a notice on our car that it would be towed if we didn't fix the flat tires. We fixed them, moved the car, removed the sticker (which had NO INFORMATION ABOUT CONTACTING MANAGEMENT), and considered the matter closed. Two weeks later, we came home to find the car gone. We called the management and were told that the car was towed because it was not in proper working condition. "We know it had, past tense, problems, but we fixed them. Why did you tow it now?" "When you signed the lease, you agreed that any vehicles would be in proper working condition at all times." "Yes, I remember that, but at the time that it was towed, it was in proper working condition." "When you signed the lease, you agreed that any vehicles would be in proper working condition at all times." "So, does that mean that if a car has problems, you are allowed to tow it at any time after that, even if the problems have been corrected?" "When you signed the lease, you agreed that any vehicles would be in proper working condition at all times." Gaaaaah! When we called the towing company, the guy said, "Yeah, I remember that. It was marked to be towed because it had flat tires, but they werent flat when I got there. I told the lady in the office, but she told me to tow it anyway." What is THAT about??

The last straw came in the summer of 2003. The couple living upstairs always had these violent, screaming fights, and finally the woman got tired of it and took her kid and left. The guy was a druggie who couldn't pay rent on his own, so he got evicted shortly after her departure. In "revenge," he turned on the washing machine connection and broke off the handle before he left. My husband woke me up at 7:45 on a Friday morning because there was a leak (more like a waterfall) in the utility room. He tried to move things we didn't want damaged, and I called the office. It opened at 8, so I thought someone would be there, but no one answered. I ran to the office and knocked on the door, but again, no one answered--even though I could SEE THEM through the WINDOW. They finally responded to us after 8, and we told them we had a major leak and needed somebody there pronto. We ended up with more than 2 inches of standing water through the utility room, living room, kitchen, and hallway before they got the water shut off. In all that time, the manager NEVER came by the apartment to see the mess--it was only the maintenance guy. It was the biggest mess I've ever had to deal with. My husband spent the morning helping the maintenance guy get stuff cleaned up, and I spent the morning calling friends and family to see if someone would take us in for the weekend. They had to pull up part of our carpet and bring in 2 industrial fans to dry it out, and the carpet cleaner told us not to stay there because the fans could not be shut off or else the carpet and padding wouldn't dry properly. I went to the office to see if we would be reimbursed for a hotel or have our rent adjusted to reflect the fact that our apartment was unlivable for those days. She told me that if I wanted to be reimbursed that I would have to contact the resident who had caused the leak because Breckenridge wasnt responsible for the damage. What kind of customer service is that? Also, the same day, the guy who had done this was sitting on the steps of the next building over--he moved in there with his buddy after he got evicted. I was livid to see this guy still on the grounds, so I went to the office and told management that he was still living there in a different unit. They...didn't really care.

Our apartment was a mess after that. The carpets and/or padding started to mold, as did the base of the walls. It was stinky and musty, and I stayed sick from the time this happened (June) to the time we finally moved out (end of August). I complained about the mold; they came out, wiped some bleach on it, and painted over it. I complained that WATER had been running OUT OF THE LIGHT FIXTURES AND INTO THE BREAKER BOX AND VARIOUS OUTLETS, so I didnt want to plug anything into that part of the apartment; the manager told me, "Oh, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, just go ahead and use the outlets." I called Connor & Murphy to complain that we lived in a disgusting, musty apartment, that I was concerned about the mold and electrical system, and that I was pissed that management seemed totally unconcerned about it; the manager responded by threatening to evict me for violating the pet policy. Yeah, I was, but I had had the extra cats for TWO YEARS, and the maintenance guys would PET the cats on the rare occasions that they showed up, so they knew about them the WHOLE TIME, and FURTHERMORE, the cats were terrified of the flood and the fans, so they hid in the closet the day of the flood and maintenance NEVER SAW THEM THAT DAY, so the whole pet policy thing was nothing more than retaliation for calling Conner & Murphy. Within a week, the cats were out of the apartment, but nothing changed. I told the manager that I was pissed because she was pushing the pet thing not because I was in violation but as revenge, and she said, no, they didn't know about the cats till the flood. LIAR. I talked to a health official from the city of Fairborn to complain that the apartment was moldy, and she told me that it would only be a serious problem if the mold was in the walls, but the apartment complex would have easily found that when they checked in the walls after the flood. I told her they never checked for that (again, I addressed this concern with management and was told not to worry about it, she was sure that there wouldn't be mold in the walls--what, she had X-ray vision?), and she was shocked--checking for mold like that should be S.O.P. after a flood like that. Not at Breckenridge, apparently. Rather than resign our lease after that, we spent all our money on moving out, which we couldn't really afford to do, but ANYTHING was better than that place.

I would NEVER recommend Breckenridge to anyone. In fact, I wouldnt recommend ANY property owned by Connor & Murphy, not only because the apartment manager sucked, but also because no one from C & M followed up with me after I called them. I just cant say enough bad things about that place, and I cannot recommend strongly enough that people avoid that place!!