SRM Urban review: Renter safety and comfort

I have lived in an SRM building for nearly 5 years now. In my time here, most of the communication I’ve had with management has been in connection with repair needs. To their credit, the repairs are usually good. What they are absolutely abysmal at is anything in terms of negative tenant interactions.

1) I was dog sitting and the pup was attacked by an off leash dog belonging to another tenant. Our property has a “strict” on leash policy. I broke up the fight, and there was only a small amount of blood shed by the dog I was dog sitting. I had a witness to the situation, and she gladly provided a statement of her account of the situation. SRM did nothing to rectify the issue. I did, however, receive communication that I was to remove the dog I was sitting, or I could leave myself. They said they also told the other owner the same. Would you believe that neither he, nor the dog left? In fact, he cried and begged me to change my statement so he wouldn’t have to leave. Then, when I refused, he told SRM that my dog bit him! She didn’t, of course, but the issue was already ignored. For months, that same dog would run around off leash in our community yard, and I had to halt my income stream because I knew the dogs I sat were at risk.

2) there was a resident who always came home very late, very loud. It’s not great, but it’s not a danger to us. However, his actions became more erratic and it came to a head when he attacked a neighbor on the property by barging into his home. A fight ensued in the hallway. There was blood on the walls and on the floor from the injuries sustained by both men. The erratic neighbor then went on a racial tirade at 3 in the morning. After 20 minutes of yelling, he then grabbed a handful of rocks and proceeded to attack the other neighbors car. The police arrived and took the attacker into custody. I told SRM about his changing behavior leading up to the event and they essentially said “we can’t do anything”. It was only after his attack and arrest that he left. Wether it was by choice or not is up for speculation.

3) I was stopped by one of my neighbors while walking home the other night. She asked if I lived in 2011, to which I responded “yes”. She then proceeded to tell me that she thought my building was being tagged by two teenage kids who stay at the building. I have a camera in a front window because of porch pirate problems, so I checked the footage and saw they were hiding in an area in front of the property that is not intended for foot traffic. I noticed that one of my other neighbors found reason to walk by the area multiple times to investigate. Whatever they were doing, they didn’t want people to see. I went out to investigate for myself and found some food and wrappers left in the area. This property has had and continues to have pest problems, and loose food will only make that worse. I picked up the trash and headed toward the trash can. At that moment, one of the teenagers walked out of the front door. I asked “is this yours?” To which he responded “nope. Why are you in my face, bro?”. I asked again “are you sure this isn’t yours, because I saw you back there”. He responded “whatever, bruh” and walked away chatting on his phone. About 10 minutes later, a knock at my front door. I expected this to be an inquisitive parent. It was the other teenager. He asked “why are you messing with the homie, bruh?”. Not recognizing him, I asked him to identify himself to which he responded “don’t trip, homie. Don’t trip, homie”. I noticed that he kept touching his wasteline, and my first sense was that ge was carrying and waiting for an opportunity to brandish a weapon. I again asked him to identify himself, tk which he responded, “[censored] you, [censored]” and walked inside. Maybe 5 minutes after that, a heavy bang at my front door rang out. I opened the door to see that someone had thrown a mostly full bottle of Gatorade at my front door. They spent the rest of that evening occasionally looking at my front door, flipping off my camera, and throwing gang signs. I called the police to let them know things were strange and felt unsafe. I emailed SRM and let them know what had transpired. That was two days ago. Since then, there has been a general sense of unease settled in my mind, and I worry that this hasn’t resolved itself. I have called SRM 8 times so far today, with no answer. Being a USMC vet, maybe I’m more sensitive to looming danger. Who knows? What I do know is that I don’t feel like my home is secure and the serenity it’s meant to provide has dwindled dramatically since the incident

3) not me, but another tenant told me a night mare story before he moved out. His toilet was having problems flushing so he told the management. They sent a plumber and found nothing overtly wrong with the toilet, and closed the ticket. His toilet began to flood and overflow the next day. There was feces, urine, tampons, toilet paper, and anything else that was spewing up from the sewer all over the floor of his apartment and the walls of his bathroom. He came home to his two dogs wading through this mess. He told the management and they said they’d fix it. Two weeks of staying in a hotel later (of which, only a few days were covered by SRM) he returned home to a mostly clean home. His apartment still reeked of raw sewage and there was still sewage in many cracks a crevices of his unit. It was so bad that he decided to eat the cost of breaking the lease because he didn’t feel safe in his own unit. SRM never offered another cleaning crew or any kind of correction. Abysmal service fora fairly pricey place to live. BEWARE