We rent a duplex from this company. Several years ago, we rented a unit for a 3 year period. Due to paydays bring every two weeks on Fridays, we had to occasionally make arrangements with the office to pay after the 5th of the month. We did this for 3 years with no problems. We had no complaints with MONTARA at that time.
We moved back in last year. On 2 occasions we had to make the late payment arrangements. Both times, they asked us to drop a letter by the office promising payment on our payday. A new management company took over the units in November. We called to make arrangements to pay the January rent a little late. They had us drop off the letter and there were no problems. We called the office to inform them that we would pay this months rent on the 13th. The person at the office told us to submit the letter and that was all. On the 5th, we dropped off the letter. On the 6th, we had a 3 day eviction notice taped to our door. We went to the office to speak to someone. We were told that the only person we could talk to was "Kim". Kim was unavailable. We asked for a phone number and the girl at the desk refused go give us one. She then dialed Kim on her cell phone and handed the phone to my wife. Kim explained that, although we had never failed to pay our rent on the due date or the 2 arranged late dates, we were in violation of our lease agreement. My wife explained that this had never been an issue before and Kim told her that there was nothing she could do about it. Kim stated that we would have to pay $120 dollars for them to consider delaying the rent. Kim said that this was "Corporate's decision." My wife asked for a number to corporate and was Kim refused to give it to her. Kim stated that she "answers directly to the president." My wife asked again for the corporate contact information and Kim refused. I then got on the phone with Kim. She argued with me for a few minutes and then she explained that she was busy handing out 80 eviction notices and did not have time to talk to me. She then hung up on me. We asked the girl at the desk for the corporate contact information and she refused. We had to empty our savings account to pay the $120.
I should also mention that the A/C in the unit, that appears to be almost brand new, does not cool the unit below 74 degrees in the summer. The maintenance people and an A/C servicing company worked on it and it didn't help. The carport on the unit leaks water through it in 3 different places. We mentioned this when we moved in almost a year ago and have called several times since then. Nothing has been done.
If you are moving to Topeka, Kansas, I would suggest staying as far away from MONTARA LEASING as possible. They are located south of Topeka, across from Forbes Field.
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