This is about the most horrible landlords myself and other tennants of theirs have ever experienced!
Last March, we moved to Arizona from out of state. We found this tresgeckos place on craigslist. Mark and Kris Gregory, who are husband and wife run this business. Also, Mark Gregory is a broker for ReMax and does this on the side. The unit we were renting is actually owned by his brother Ernest Gregory who is the owner of Nevada Dreams LLC and Mark and Kris who own Tres Geckos actually manage the property for him.
Now that has been explained I will go step by step what I went through while renting their unit in Arizona City.
We arrive in March, turn the key to our new place, and its completely unlivable. The floor was only half tiled, marijuana was all over the counter top (seeds, stems, joints the whole 9 yards), there was no toilet, no bathroom sink, bare wires hanging out of the walls, two celing fans were broken, no screens in any of the windows, no blinds, broken bedroom door frame, rusty holey tub infested with bugs and one very angry tile man who had been unpaid and was threatening to bust up the tile with a sledgehammer and have these landlords taken out by the Hells Angels.
We ended up in a red roof inn that had someone else's pubic hairs in all the towels and was infested with crickets. Now I will be honest, this fee for the red roof inn was taken off of the rent for the next month since I had already put my deposit and paid for March in full.
When the place was finally ready for us and we moved in the neighbors next door immediately began to mooch off of us. It is a duplex, and they were always waiting for us. They pretended to be friendly, but after we stopped helping them financially they got physically violent and made threats as well as harassed us. The cops were involved, I got them on tape, they plead guilty, agreed to pay a fine, restraining orders issued, they're on probation and agreed to leave the state. Prior to their guilty plea they moved out. Mark Gregory lied to me saying he evicted them, but they actually left on their own.
Before they plead guilty they were not showing up to their pretrial hearing and were on the run, and seen in the area we lived.
Throughout all of this, the unit we rented was still unfinished and developing more problems. It took us two months to get our blinds which we had to install ourselves. The AC unit had serious issues, was 27 years old and my electric bills were $400-$500 per month. The bedroom door frame was never fixed. The tub was resurfaced and the holes plugged with putty, but it began to peel again. The bathroom sink also peeled and clogged up the pipes behind the wall on a weekly basis which we fixed ourselves. We never got screens in the windows so we could not open the windows when the AC unit would break down because we have a small child and kitties. The celing fans were never fixed in both bedrooms and remained unusable. The place became infested with scorpions and roaches and out of pocket we had to pay for granules to attempt to get it under control but it didn't work.
The landlords lied about how far out in the boonies this place was, told me it was 5 miles from Casa Grande. Its 15 miles to Casa Grande where the nearest grocery store is. They said we had a walled in backyard with a mountain view. It had a little section of block wall, that was only two sides on the carport and the view we had was the back of a convienence store. The list goes on and on and the landlords always promised to fix things and never did. I have over 100 emails between myself and them.
When new tennants moved into the unit next door after the meth addicts moved out, the landlords told them we were nuts, to stay away from us, that they lost their last tennants because of us, to park out front not in the carport, to walk their dogs out front not out back and to avoid us as much as possible. Talked all kinds of slander about us like it was our fault they didn't screen the previous tennants next door. The guy who lived there before had a criminal record a mile long for selling meth both in AZ and in CA and had served a total of 15 year prison time. Yet I was supposed to be the crazy.
When the legal thing with the previous neighbors was coming close to an end I became pregnant, needed a bigger place, did not feel safe having my child in a scorpion infested unit or with the previous neighbors lurking around the alley behind the house and I decided to take Kris and Mark up on their many offers to let me out of my lease without any penalties and the return of my deposit. I have several emails from Kris Gregory stating all I had to do was show my unit to prospective renters and I could get my deposit back.
I gave my 30 days notice like I was supposed to, and a week into that 30 days the AC unit's turbos blew out in a sand storm pouring gas all over the roof, the condensor sparked and blew and the whole thing exploded and caught the roof on fire. I had to go to the emergency room, have 4 breathing treatments, had to take Ativan and am still on an albuterol inhaler to this day from the smoke damage. I have never had asthma in my entire life, and I don't have it now, but have never had to have breathing treatments or an inhaler before. I talk on the phone full time for a living and this is interferring with me performing at my job as well.
Kris and Mark told me that they were unable to replace the AC unit sooner because legally they had to wait until American Home Shield Home Warranty Company would replace it. I know this is B.S. Because I've dealth with American Home Shield before. They won't replace it until something catastrophic happens. Kris and Mark should have replaced this unit prior to it exploding and injuring me. I just happened to be sitting right under the vent where the main handler was.
Fortunately my husband and son were in other rooms and did not get sick like I did. After the AC blew up, being Mid July and the temperature was soaring in the 120's and Kris Gregory left me 2 messages saying it would be a week to ten days before they could get another unit in there, for me to move out early into my new place, and "that is just how these things work", there was nothing she could do.
So I did get to move into my new place early, sick as a dog from my breathing problems, coughing up blood, in the soaring heat moved my entire family out of there and into the new unit in one day. I missed a lot of work due to the illness and the move, had to take out a payday advance just to afford the move since I just paid my rent in full for this dump, and wait a couple more weeks just to be prorated the rest of the money from that month.
The one person who wanted to view the unit while I was still living there wanted the unit ASAP Kris said in both phone and email, which I have saved everything btw... And I wasn't ready to move at that time, I still had my 30 days and the AC was still at the time functioning. I still however offered to show the place to the man, even though I had worked a double shift and had no sleep I told Kris, just ring my phone until I wake up and I will show it tonight if he wants to see it tonight, otherwise tomorrow would be better.
Well at the time of the walkthrough, I was given a check as a refund for the rest of the month since I was unable to stay there, and then told I'm not getting my deposit back because I broke my lease for no good reason, bla bla bla. Mark Gregory actually got nasty with me when I defended myself letting him know I have several emails and phone messages saved of Kris saying I would be getting my deposit back. He said to me that I refused to show the place which was a lie and I have proof of that.
He then told me that if he rented the unit out right away he'd give me some of my deposit back, and that if its not rented by September I will have to pay the remainder of the lease. He got so ugly with me he actually started screaming at me "YOU DON'T WANNA MESS WITH ME ON THIS, DON'T PISS ME OFF I'M WARNING YOU" going on and on. Fortunately, I had my audio recording device with me and got him on tape saying these things to me. He literally threw me and my son out.
Of course I have not recieved my deposit, I plan on going to court over it and I am filing this report in hopes of an attorney wanting to take my case. There are not many attorneys who serve my area, which is a problem and I will be taking this to court and representing myself very soon if I don't find one. We are in the middle of nowhere, no store, no gas station, no nothing.
Since I have moved, I have recieved a nasty email from Kris accusing me of showing links to her ads to her current tennants. She was mad because she's advertizing these units as being for rent when people are living in them both on her website and on other sites like craigslist and backpage. I actually did not do this, one of her tennants was here using my computer when another tennant in the same town sent over the link.
Then I got a nasty message from her saying she has the FBI after me for this, trying to ruin her business and that I'm harassing her on the internet. She threatened to persue me legally, bla bla bla. I also saved this message on tape.
Personally I think she and her husband are both nuts! The brother who owns the property is nuts too saying we were not allowed to put the AC below 80, which we abided by, because in AZ you can't get AC to go lower than that. PLEASE! That is b.S. My new place I keep it at 75 with no problem what so ever and my electric bills are less than half of what I paid out while living in Kris and Mark's dump.
I also hope to God this gets out enough where I can save some families from renting from these people. The world, especially people wanting to rent in Arizona City have a right to know what these landlords are all about.
You should hear the horror stories from their other tennants, both ex tennants and current tennants.
Oh and BTW, Mark Gregory told everyone who lives in the Quadplex he owns on Lynx Rd that I sabatoged the AC unit, got another tennant of theirs who never pay their rent fired from their job, that I was crazy and fled to Wyoming. None of which is true. I even called the AC company and asked the guy if there was any sabatoge even possible and he said it was absolutely ridiculous for Mark to be spreading those lies about me, and that the home warranty company would not have even replaced the AC unit if that were the case, that it was old and blew up... PERIOD! This is a small town and lies are being spread about me by these landlords.
Do not rent from them!
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