octavia hills association

[jam84]

Hi. My roommate and I are looking to rent in the Queen Village area and we were wondering if anyone has rented from the Octavia Hills Association and if you were happy with your experience with them.
Thank you for any insight.

[loveisnoise]

Hi. My roommate and I are looking to rent in the Queen Village area and we were wondering if anyone has rented from the Octavia Hills Association and if you were happy with your experience with them.
Thank you for any insight.

Simply, they are scumbags. The property manager for them was just fired and evicted from the premises for falsifying documents and doing all kinds of trickery in an attempt to get rid of tenants who have been there for more than a few years so that she could double and triple rents. The association did nothing, and even rewarded her, until they became liable for her illegal actions.

Several tenants have been asking me for help in dealing with their nonsense.

[radiocolin]

DO NOT RENT FROM OCTAVIA HILL.

My girlfriend rented from them for a year in Workman Place on S Front St. The property manager is a nasty, vindictive bitch. She's the type that when you call with a problem, she needs to berate you for something.

Classics included when my girlfriend called about a clogged bathtub and was told her dogs were killing the grass and were banned from the yard (this was right after the first massive snowfall had finished melting, so the grass was deadso from being buried under snow).

Then, she would get an electrical shock if she touched her fridge and stove hood at the same time. The property manager told her this was because her dog's water bowl was too close to an electrical outlet, I **** you not.

They sent an electrician who didn't speak a word of English, and she had to demonstrate the shock because he didn't understand that he couldn't feel it with his shoes on. After he claimed to have fixed it, he wouldn't check it himself. He hadn't fixed it. This took weeks to resolve.

The heat would cut out for no reason, the smoke detector in the basement gave a constant low battery chirp for the entire year she lived there.

Another tenant accused my girlfriend's dog of attacking her, except the date she referenced was a date the dog was with her ex in Jersey. The property manager wrote in the letter with the security deposit that "it was best for all involved that [she] found a new place to live."

Do not rent from them, ever.

Simply, they are scumbags. The property manager for them was just fired and evicted from the premises for falsifying documents and doing all kinds of trickery in an attempt to get rid of tenants who have been there for more than a few years so that she could double and triple rents. The association did nothing, and even rewarded her, until they became liable for her illegal actions.

Was this a recent development? Has Beatrice been tossed out?

[loveisnoise]

Holy crap radio... I know who your girlfriend is! hehehehe Stories like this are too common.

The lady who lived next to your girlfriend that was a teacher and had a kid... she was evicted for 'complaining too much'. hahahaha She had the thermostat in her unit, and Beatrice would just walk in at any time and lower it.

Yeah-Beatrice was supposedly pulling several tricks and got caught up in her own b.s. There was the two guys who lived in the middle south west house that was separate from everyone. The one guy was a writer and his boyfriend a bartender. They've lived there for around 20 years or so. Beatrice wrote and forged a document saying that they agreed to leave in ten days but never left. She then took that document to court and tried to get an eviction order. Somehow the wrong paperwork got sent to them and they found out about it. That started the beginning of the end for B.

Then, supposedly, she started screwing with the people who are dog watchers, which I think your g-friend had an issue with. They lived there for damn near 30 years. B supposedly did the same thing with some questionable paperwork and all hell broke lose. All the tenants got together and began raising hell. Since one of the boardmembers and realtors lives in that courtyard, I think the yelling and near physical incidents with Beatrice became more than obvious.

There's a ton of stories about her that are amazing. At one point, without anything being in the lease, she was telling people that they had to pay to replace the refrigerators.

And then there was the incident with the dogs... I don't even know what happened. The various people would let their dogs randomly let their dogs loose in the courtyard and problems happened, and I'm not even going to get into that nonsense. After the incident, though, yeah-all of a sudden they were expecting $300 deposits or something like that for pets who have lived there for 15 years... and then an added $50 or something like that to the rent for each pet every month, and she was trying to predate it to the beginning of the lease and saying people owed her 1000's of dollars. F that noise.

So, yeah-apparently she was fired and evicted from her place since she also lived in an octavia hill rental.

DO NOT RENT FROM OCTAVIA HILL.

My girlfriend rented from them for a year in Workman Place on S Front St. The property manager is a nasty, vindictive bitch. She's the type that when you call with a problem, she needs to berate you for something.

Classics included when my girlfriend called about a clogged bathtub and was told her dogs were killing the grass and were banned from the yard (this was right after the first massive snowfall had finished melting, so the grass was deadso from being buried under snow).

Then, she would get an electrical shock if she touched her fridge and stove hood at the same time. The property manager told her this was because her dog's water bowl was too close to an electrical outlet, I **** you not.

They sent an electrician who didn't speak a word of English, and she had to demonstrate the shock because he didn't understand that he couldn't feel it with his shoes on. After he claimed to have fixed it, he wouldn't check it himself. He hadn't fixed it. This took weeks to resolve.

The heat would cut out for no reason, the smoke detector in the basement gave a constant low battery chirp for the entire year she lived there.

Another tenant accused my girlfriend's dog of attacking her, except the date she referenced was a date the dog was with her ex in Jersey. The property manager wrote in the letter with the security deposit that "it was best for all involved that [she] found a new place to live."

Do not rent from them, ever.




Was this a recent development? Has Beatrice been tossed out?

[Sycamore]

Phil Harvey of Harwin Homes owns a reasonably priced, dog friendly rental units at 249 Queen Street with a little yard out back. I lived there for over a year and had no problems, but mice.

Contact Us - Salter Mews

[radiocolin]

Hmm loveisnoise, do we have fewer degrees of separation than i think? How do you know her?

[yeesi]

My experience (as well as several of the other tenants in Workman Place) was nothing but problems, problems and more problems. Besides having to deal with the incredibly rude property managers and inadequate maintenance staff I was overrun by mice, faulty appliances and a leaking roof.

It took over 6 weeks to get my phone number added to the gate directory so I could buzz people in rather than walking out to the gate every time I had a visitor. One particular tennant let her nasty little dogs run loose inside the gates--they constantly tried to attack my dogs (who were always leashed as it is a city law as well as a stipulation of the lease) and nothing was done about it. When I complained I was told that they couldn't enforcethat rule and then I was retailiated against by her (Beatirce Ryan, Prop. mgr.) by her sending me a letter saying that I was no longer allowed to use the fenced in yard area in front of my apartment (that was written into my lease as a shared yard by my 3 unit building only) anymore because my dogs destroyed it. Actually, it was dead due to the 7 feet of snow we had that year, duh.

Meanwhile, when summer came, the yard was overrun with grass and weeds up past my ankles--actually, up to my calves--because they never cut it. In fact, in the lease it specifically states that management is responsible for all the grounds but when I called to inquire about when the grass would be cut Beatrice told me that I had to do it myself or coordinate with the other two units in my building to do it. When I pushed back and mentioned the lease she then threateded to tear up all the grass and put down mulch--when I said that I'd love that she hung up on me.

When the maintenance staff actually comes out to fix something they are incapable of communicating effectively (as the one main guy barely speaks English), showing up on time, sticking to appointments or actually being able to fix something! I got immediate and total push back any time that I called requesting that the grounds be maintained or for any number of things that had broken. For over a month the heat didn't work--it was about 60 degrees in my apartment. After I had called SEVERAL times and finally got to speak with Beatrice she yelled (that is totally her M.O.) again and told me that she would pull out the central heat and put in individual heaters and we'd all have to pay for them ourselves (the building has central heat which is included in the rent).

I couldn't touch my refrigerator and stove at the same time with out getting a large electrical shock for more than a week and the "electrician" couldn't seem to fix it. Each time he said he fixed it, it wasn't actually fixed (Mind you, he wouldn't actually test it himself, I had to take off my shoes and touch both to see if I got shocked. He would stand there in his rubber soled shoes and touch both and profess it to be fine). He actually didn't shut of the power before he started working on it and touched the gas line to the refrigerator and blew a hole in the gas line and sent up a fireball in my kitchen--I was there I saw it. He did this twice! I finally got a hold of Beatrice again questiond if the "electrician" she sent was actually licensed. She went ballistic and called the electrician and told him that I threatened to sue him. I know this because he confronted me about it that afternoon when he was back for the 4th time--it was extremely unplesant. Each time I had to take off work to be there. It was awful. I have dogs and was fearful that at any point in time something might spark and set the place on fire--Beatrice said that it was my fault because it must have happend because my dogs splashed water on an electrical outlet. What a crock of sh*t!

In addition to everything else (and there were several other things that I haven't relayed here) there were mice. Lots of mice. The hallways were never swept or cleaned, snow was hardly removed nor were trees trimmed. Many times I'd be walking my dogs out through the yard and a branch from one of the dying trees in the center of the courtyard would fall quite near me and the dogs--I called about that too to no avail. Actually I'm pretty sure that a branch hit one of the neighbors children while he was playing in the courtyard. Trash was piled right in front of the entry gates to the complex and sometimes not taken out regularly.

More than once I was threatened by the property manager to change the terms of the lease--which is clearly illegal in the middle of the lease--but she seemed to think I was some kind of idiot and continued to make threats and be combative when any call was made about problems at the property. She even sent me letters saying she had changed the lease and her new stipulations would apply from then on out--she is a psychopath, I swear it.

Octavia Hill Association as a whole is an uncaring slumlord type of establishment and the Propery Manager Beatrice Ryan is the WORST!!!! No phone call with her was ever pleasant. She screamed at me every time and was always retaliatory for every request I made. My neighbors all had similar experiences.

My advice--move along and pretend this place doesn't exist.

[Eastcoast]

Sheesh, OK octavia hills is dead to me.

As an aside has anyone ever met a "Beatrice" that wasn't batsh*t crazy?

[fillayallday]

wow i'm so glad i didn't move there...and you're right i don't think i've ever met a Beatrice who wasn't absolutely out of their minds.

[fillayallday]

In my opinion though! I have Queen Village Management as our property manager and my landlord Cliff is the nicest guy. And Dorothy who works for QVM couldn't be nicer. We have a great and relatively cheap house in bella vista and i couldn't be happier with it.

[loveisnoise]

Hmm loveisnoise, do we have fewer degrees of separation than i think? How do you know her?

I was one of your girlfriend's neighbors! hehehe

[petunialovespop]

Beatrice is totally insane. I do not live in Octavia , yet, Beatrice has terrorized our block with her insane behavior. I have had to call the police on 5 occasions. Beware of her.

[loveisnoise]

Beatrice is totally insane. I do not live in Octavia , yet, Beatrice has terrorized our block with her insane behavior. I have had to call the police on 5 occasions. Beware of her.

Do tell! (you can leave out any identifying details).

I know that her dogs are beyond problematic in the neighborhood, while she thinks she can do no wrong.

[goobee2]

Who is Beatrice? I live in the neighborhood and walk my pup and have not a clue who you are talking about?? What kind of dogs does she have? I want to make sure I stay away from the wadadoo...

[catmom3]

You definitely don't want to rent from Octavia Hill. When I was younger, my friend lived on Beck Street ("Little Beck", on the west side of 2nd St.) and the tenants had problems with the association. That's going back over 40 years. Looks like things have not improved at all.

[loveisnoise]

Who is Beatrice? I live in the neighborhood and walk my pup and have not a clue who you are talking about?? What kind of dogs does she have? I want to make sure I stay away from the wadadoo...

She was the property manager for octavia hill properties, but she is now fired.

[goobee2]

ok, so i dont have worry about any issues while walking the pup...

[Kobe&Sparky]

I know B from the dog park. She doesn't go anymore but she has (or had, not sure if he's still a live) a large male unaltered black lab. I can't remember his name, but it was something weird.

I will be honest, I have never had any problems with her (or her dog), but I can tell she's not all right in the head. My husband used to work at Lickety Split (4th and South) and she apparently used to come in sometimes for lunch, I guess. We've had drinks w/ her before at New Wave (unplanned, just kinda sat next to each other) and she was generally pleasant.

I think she could care less to talk to me, but more interested in my Scottish hubby. Regardless - I've kept my distance.

Just don't make eye contact - just like you pretend the guy who lives around on Catherine next to Dmitiri's isn't sitting on his front stoop....or in his pickup truck...or cleaning the street corner.

QV is full of crazies...

[Sycamore]

I think she could care less to talk to me, but more interested in my Scottish hubby. Regardless - I've kept my distance.

Who can resist the accent? In light of this information, I conclude she must not be totally out of her mind...

[loveisnoise]

Who can resist the accent? In light of this information, I conclude she must not be totally out of her mind...

I told her to kiss my arse a few times, but she didn't respond in such a switten way. Shame.