Do not rent from Steiner Realty in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - three years of disrespect and disgrace

[illusionofjoy]

It was on July 2^nd that I posted what would be the final infamous "countdown" entry warning people not to rent from Steiner Realty if they were planning a move to Pittsburgh. At that point, I and joi_division had known that we'd be leaving our now former place of residence before our lease expired for a whole week. However, altering the countdown would have "spilled the beans," so to speak. Besides, it was a countdown until the lease expired, not when we were leaving anyhow.

Steiner Realty (who recently put up a website which I refuse to link to) owns properties throughout Pittsburgh proper as well as the surrounding suburbs of Sewickley, Swissvale, Edgewood, Avalon and my residence of Mt. Lebanon. They rent out apartments as well as posting sales and rentals for townhouses and single family homes. The corporation is owned by namesake Casey Steiner, a man with whom I have spoken with on only one occasion - a call which occurred with much calculated courtesy after I had composed and mailed a letter stating that all communication was to be in written form.

Frankly, if I am to judge by the letters we did receive from Casey Steiner over the three years Joi and I were renters of his property, I would have to judge him to be a dispassionate man with a callous disregard for the needs and comfort of his tenants and a love for little more than money. In the first two years that Joi and I lived in the property located at 119 Baywood Avenue in Mt. Lebanon, we received letters from Steiner stating that they were going to save energy by turning down the heat from the radiators (tenants did not have control of the thermostat) and that if a tenant felt cold it was "suggest[ed they] wear a sweater." Due to this stinginess, I spent three years sitting at my computer during the winter months wearing a fleece pullover, my hands freezing.

It would take way too much time and "column inches" to delineate every infraction and act of disrespect committed by Steiner and his surrogates, however the main reason Joi and I decided to leave - and then further decided to break our lease and leave a month early - was Steiner's blatant disregard for privacy and personal property.

Throughout the time Joi and I lived in the Baywood apartment, maintenance men would come and go as they pleased, often entering our unit with very little notice - if any at all. Often either Joi of myself would suspect that someone had been in our apartment because something had been moved or broken. One particular incident stands out where Joi discovered a bottle of her makeup she thought missing had actually fallen on the floor - this discovery only occurring after she had found several shards of glass in the most painful way possible. If the maintenance men deigned to leave a note, it was always under the pretence that there was some "emergency which required immediate attention and entry into your apartment." There seemed to be a lot of "emergencies" at Baywood.

While Joi and I tolerated this behaviour, we were far from pleased with it. Numerous requests to Steiner to improve their methods of notifying tenants when maintenance was to occur were flat-out ignored. Furthermore, we noticed that workers tended to cut corners and use - to put it politely - "bargain" materials when performing their jobs. We were not filled with confidence by the way Steiner's staff was comporting themselves. Still, we put up with it - for far too long - until something was stolen from our apartment.

The item in question was prescription medication. Not content to just steal a couple of pills, the perpetrator nearly emptied the bottle. As far as I'm concerned, intent to sell could be the only reason for such a blatant and obvious grab. As there was no sign of forced entry on the door, an inside job (the maintenance men have access to keys for every unit in the building) was the only conclusion we could arrive at. Worse yet, when Joi called Steiner to report the theft, she was initially mocked by one of their staffers, who even went so far as to tell her that I was probably the one stealing her medication. It took more than one call to get in touch with a staff member at Steiner's offices who took the complaint seriously and treated the situation with the gravity it deserved. They changed the locks on our apartment.

Meanwhile, Joi filed a police report regarding the theft but decided not to pursue an investigation. The officer whom we spoke to seemed disappointed that she didn't wish to have an investigation done, and even went so far as to say, "we're very interested in any drug-related crimes; Mt. Lebanon is the centre for Allegheny Countie's narcotics investigation unit, you realise." Joi was unmoved, feeling that an investigation would have done no good - it wouldn't recover her pills at any rate.

In the course of filing the police report, the officer asked who we were renting from. When the name Steiner was mentioned, his face betrayed feelings of disgust. "Oh, you have some stories about them," asked Joi. While we are certain he did, his wasn't at liberty to divulge any of them. From here on out, the abuse and incidents perpetrated by Steiner and his associates would only increase in frequency and absurdity.

Changing the locks does little good when maintenance men have access to copies of all the keys and those same men were the prime suspects for the theft. Furthermore, Joi and I discovered were the spare apartment keys were "hidden." Anyone wishing to clean out every single apartment at 119 Baywood Avenue needs only to enter the building by the right-hand door (it won't be locked). From there, one will see a set of stairs leading to the basement; at the first landing there is a door on to the right with a hole drilled out where the lock should be. This door leads into a storage room where every single key for every single apartment in the building is "hidden." I post this not to encourage criminal behaviour - which Steiner's staff already seems to have cornered the market on - but as a warning to anyone thinking of renting from this company. I do not know how the other properties are secured (if at all), but if 119 Baywood is any indicator, anyone renting from Steiner should be greatly concerned about their personal security.

These thoughts were at the forefront as Joi and I trudged through what would become the final year of our tenancy at 119 Baywood. Once it was revealed that anyone just walking off of the street had access to the entire building, we did not feel one bit secure where we were living. The seed had been planted and had germinated into the idea that we needed to get the hell out.

Between the time of the initial theft (Autumn of 2007) and our recent move, we eventually came to the conclusion that Steiner was actively trying to drive us out of the building. We lived on the third floor and somehow a mysterious leak developed in the ceiling of the second floor, which required several "plumbing inspections." It was after I played in Albany followed by Burlington that I was home for the week. During that time, a maintenance man came to the apartment claiming he needed to fix our toilet. I foolishly acquiesced, despite the fact that nothing was wrong with the toilet and kept an eye on him as he muddled about in the bathroom. I'm still not sure what he did to the toilet, but it never flushed properly after it was "fixed." Yet another quality job by the staff of Steiner Realty.

"Plumbing inspections" became the raison d'être for entering the apartment with little or no warning. After one such "inspection," Joi received a belittling phone call at work which was followed by a condescending letter from Casey Steiner himself. In both cases, we were told that during a "routine plumbing inspection," it was discovered that our apartment was "excessively dirty" and we were to clean it at once and notify Steiner as to when we'd met a set of conditions delineated in the letter so that he could inspect it again.

This letter was a blatantly insulting pile of hyperbole, the existence of which alone violated three terms of our lease. After dressing us down for being the most slovenly people to smudge the face of the planet, Steiner went on to accuse us of wasting utilities, for which he claimed we owed him a fee of $100. Allow me to point out that wasting utilities was impossible for us, as running multiple appliances simultaneously caused the circuit breaker to trip. Furthermore, it would be asinine to accuse us of wasting water as we were not the cause of the alleged leak on the second floor nor could we control our radiators aside from turning them off completely. The letter concluded by stating that if we didn't comply with Steiner's demands, he would refuse to renew our lease.

At this point, Joi and I decided that Steiner had actually done us a favour in forcing the issue; we took our cumulative dissatisfaction with our living situation and decided to move out. I immediately wrote a reply stating that the "issues" he mentioned about cleanliness were overblown and that we would not submit to an inspection as if we were living in some military barracks. I went on to state that we refused to pay any fees for allegedly wasting water or electricity, as they had furnished no proof that our usage of said utilities had actually increased this year as opposed to the prior two (to say nothing of the fact that it was either impossible or not of our doing in regards to "wastage"). I also told them that all communication was to come through me and that any calls to Joi would be considered harassment - not only that, but I would only be accepting letters so as to have a physical record of the communication. I concluded by stating, as politely as possible that Casey Steiner was a shitty landlord, a cheap bastard and a fucking crook. Not only was our privacy being constantly invaded by his company, our property damaged and our property stolen - now Steiner was trying to intimidate and extort us!

It was not long afterwards - three months before our lease was set to expire at the end of July - that we received a notice of "non-renewal" from Steiner. We gleefully signed it, saying "good riddance," however Steiner made it obvious in the time we remained there that he wanted us out sooner - though he never came out and said it directly.

The frequency of the "plumbing inspections" increased and when Joi or I were off from work, we'd often hear someone trying to enter our apartment without knocking first (for this reason, when we were home, we always kept the chain lock on the door in addition to the deadbolt). Our discomfort was increasing and I think this constant psychological warfare was a major contributing factor in my visit to the emergency room with chest pains not long ago.

The infamous Steiner countdown had less than a month to go when one of his staffers pushed us over the line from waiting patiently to "getting the hell out of dodge." Two weeks ago, I had called off from work because I had a doctor's appointment. After I got home, there was a knock on the door. One of Steiner's maintenance guys was coming to "inspect the plumbing."

"There's a leak coming from the ceiling on the second floor," the man said, "I need to go into your bathroom to try and figure out where it's coming from." I let him in and kept watch as he stood in the bathroom for approximately ten minutes, looking around as if staring at the walls would reveal the cause of this alleged leak. After vacantly looking around the room, he turned to me and said "I'll be back in thirty minutes" before leaving the apartment.

He returned two hours later, a bucket in hand with a spackling tool and a set of rags. These were not implements for repairing leaking pipes. I asked about the leak as he walked into the bathroom. "Oh, the leak," he replied, "yeah, it's either coming from the sink or the toilet."

"So, it's not coming from the tub now?" I asked.

"Er, no…anyway, I'm going to fix your wall." I just stood and looked at him. The wall in the bathroom above the shower was mould-damaged, a condition that neither Joi nor myself could beat back and we had given up, as it became obvious that the underlying problem was the result of yet more shoddy Steiner workmanship. I continued to stare at the dirty little man standing in the bathroom, reeking of incompetence. He finally broke the silence: "err…I don't have to fix it, if you don't want me to."

Fixing the wall would only benefit the new tenants for as long as Steiner's shoddy workmanship lasted. "You're right," I said, "I don't want you to fix it and I think you should leave. We'll be moving out in less than a month and you can fix it then. Right now there's simply no point in doing it."

"Okay, dude," the man said as he left. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being called "dude?" It is right up there with someone greeting me by saying, "hey guy." People who do this deserve to be punched.

I called Joi at work and told her want happened. She was livid and we both agreed that this was the final insult - it was imperative that we move out as soon as possible. Joi and I had already found a new apartment to move to with a landlord willing to hold it until our lease with Steiner expired. They were more than happy to allow us to move in "early." The movers had no trouble rescheduling either. It was all set - instead of our original departure from Steiner's hell-hole on July 30^th, we'd be leaving on July 3^rd instead.

On an expedited schedule, much of our packing consisted of throwing our worldly possessions into boxes, with minimal labelling to be discovered years into the future. July 3^rd and as the movers began to load the truck, Steiner's goons could not resist dropping by.

Wearing official-looking shirts emblazoned with the Steiner logo on the breast pocket, two men using "command presence" walked up to our open door. "Is there a tenant in 6A," one of them bellowed. Joi and I both walked out. Joi's parents were there as well, and her father approached the man. "Yes, we've here," Joi said.

"We need to inspect your plumbing," one of the goons said.

"You can't go into the bathroom," Joi replied, "the cat is locked in there." For the move, the front door was wide open and we needed to contain our cat while the movers did their job - the bathroom was the only logical choice.

At this point, Joi's father stepped in. "You know what," he said, "they're moving out - they'll be gone by Monday, you can do your inspection then."

"Oh," the goon said, "they're moving out?"

"Yes, they can't wait to get out of here," Joi's father deadpanned.

The goons left and the movers continued with their job. By the evening we had completely removed ourselves from Steiner's property.

I have barely touched on every reason that we despise Steiner Realty and do not recommend that anyone rent from them, however it all boils down to the fact that they have no respect for their tenants. Casey Steiner is only interested in making money from his properties and I feel sorry for whomever moved into the apartment that Joi and I used to reside in. Three years paying rent to Steiner Realty is three years too long. We have no delusions that we will get our security deposit back from Steiner (we had grave doubts that we would have received a refund even if we hadn't left early), but one more month of harassment and insecurity would have likely done us in. As far as Joi and I are concerned, our dealings with Casey Steiner and his shady company are over. There is no reason we should expect to hear from them ever again.

In conclusion…

If you are in the market for an apartment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or it's metropolitan area, do not rent from Steiner Realty!

Our lease has expired.

Comments

[journalismgirl.livejournal.com]

Very, very, interesting. I seriously looked at them when I moved here.

The big thing that stopped me was that they not only required my SSN on the application (which I could understand, as it's needed to do a credit check), but they also wanted my bank account numbers. There was absolutely no way that I was going to give a company my SSN and bank account numbers. They would have no need to have my bank account numbers. (My current management company wanted to know my balances, which while slightly disturbing, wouldn't allow them to commit identity fraud.)

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

They took our social security numbers and ran a credit check, but didn't ask for our bank account numbers. I would have found that highly suspicious as well. Still, it doesn't surprise me that they would try and pull such a stunt. With many of the letters they sent over the years, I began to suspect that they were making stuff up to try and pull one over on the tenants.

[slinkybetty.livejournal.com]

I think the best way to go is to rent privately. That is, if you can find someone trustworthy (a friend of a friend's aunt or something). I've always rented privately and have had only one bad experience. Renting from your evil ex's troll of a grandmother is never a good idea anyway...

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

There are many private renters in Pittsburgh (Joi was renting from one before we moved in together), however we've yet to find one in our neighbourhood. Aside from that, many of the companies in the area seem to be owned by families who have been around a while. The representatives for the new company we're renting from, Meyers Management, were very personable and understanding about our circumstances.

[http://users.livejournal.com/deaddreamer_/]

I'm just glad you guys are out of that shit hole. Theres no fucking excuses for the way they treated you let alone stealing from you and teh frequency of these "plumbing inspections" do the fucking job right the first time and they wouldn't have to keep doing inspections. Ugh what a fucking bunch of assholes. I'll def. advise people to stay away from steiner realty. Hope you guys love the new place and that it goes a lot better than the previous!
<3 Criddle

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

So far, so good. It is my goal to warn others about Steiner's business practises, if the way he managed our building was any indication as to how he manages his properties on the whole. Honestly, I'd love to see a Post-Gazette article stating that he had to file for bankruptcy - just desserts, you know.

[awibs.livejournal.com]

Are there no state or city sanctioned tenants rights where you live?

Several of the things you mentioned are utterly illegal in Chicago and grounds for both withholdance of rent and termination of lease.

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

There are, but neither Joi nor myself can afford to mount a lawsuit.

Former resident of 119 Baywood

[(Anonymous)]

I found your post very interesting in that I also used to reside at 119 Baywood Ave and my apartment was robbed in January of 2007. Having been in the real estate business for several years I was aware of the proper procedure. I contacted the police to file a report and then contacted my insurance company. There were no signs of forced entry so I did not contact the landlord. I was embarrassed having thought I somehow forgot to lock my door when I left that morning. The lock was always tricky so I used to turned the handle and push to insure it had in fact locked. I was running late that day and thought maybe I didn't double check that the lock caught. After reading your post I am seriously wondering if I had locked my door and the thief had keys. Upon inspection of my apartment I found that the kitchen door to the back hallway was unlocked and the chain was off. Whoever was in my apartment had obviously come in the front door and exited through the kitchen door. I had not once opened or unlocked this door and am sure it was secured when I left. I had a much different experience with the police. Their take was that I was some sort of druggie who was falsifying a report for insurance purposes. Or that I had druggie friends to whom I provided access to my apartment. The officers did inform me multiple times that "drugs" were the main concern in the area. They made no mention of additional situation relating to Steiner but maybe I was one of the first people to have this problem. I hadn't had trouble with the maintenance staff entering without my knowledge unless I just didn't pay close enough attention to notice they had entered. The description of a "dirty little man" does not fit the maintenance person who used to work in my unit. He was tall and thin and always looked clean cut. He used to leave a note to let me know he had been there but only for services I had requested. I'm wondering if they took on new personnel who took on new items courtesy of my apartment.

FYI

[pjvj.livejournal.com]

This is my daughter, whom I mentioned in the Pittsburgh LJ community post that you posted the link to this entry in. When I read your story here I was floored that it was the same address and sent her the link to this post.