Everyone tries to find the best deal they can when looking for apartments close to UK’s campus. There have been recent debates focusing on how many students can live in a house and whether students are disrupting local areas. But who’s out looking after whether students are living in safe conditions? The responsibility is left up to word of mouth and apartment review sites online.

Well, I’m writing to the Kernel to try and save future UK students from the hell I have been living in since October. I live off Hagerman Court in one of the houses that have been chopped up into two separate apartments. The management and maintenance companies that take care of these properties are the worst I have ever experienced since living in Lexington. I have had several water leaks, a cracked ceiling and walls, cabinets falling off the wall, the hot water barely works, and because of shady construction, there are holes large enough under the baseboard for large insects to crawl through.

I live in a one bedroom apartment, and my heating bill this winter totaled over $250 a month. The response from maintenance was a month wait for water leaks, and they told me the cracks were just how the building was made. Any complaints taken to the management company are dealt with by giving you the number for maintenance and telling you it is not their concern.

After the rain storm at the beginning of May, I had two inches of standing water in my living room, with more coming in. Maintenance was called for four hours before they came, and I found out that since my gutters had not been cleaned, water started pouring through my floors. It was the Sunday before Finals Week, and I had to spend hours trying to keep my things from being ruined.

I just want to spread the world of a management company trying to take advantage of students near campus. They provide below-optimal housing and horrible service after you have signed a lease.

Lyndsey Eldridge

political science senior