Friends of The Convent House Apartments

I was a tenant of 1901 E. Lombard — I moved out in September 2015. The landlords are completely absentee. Don and Velma are in their 80’s. They live about 40 minutes from the property. Their daughter Jan «runs» the property from Chicago. Just to give you an idea of how the building’s managed, at one point they had me (the tenant) showing my own apartment. Frustrated with the situation, I got into a rather heated argument with Jan on the phone. I’ll never forget, she said to me, «You expect me to call my 80 year old parents and ask them drive all the way down there? (to show the apartment) Ummmm… YES! They’re the landlords. THAT’S precisely what landlords do.
In a nutshell, that’s what you can expect from the Convent House.
Don and Velma would start these never-​ending and bizarre text-​message chains with all ten tenants — reminding us to (among other things) take out the trash (a service they were too cheap to provide.) Generally, one of more weak-​willed tenants would drag all ten trashcans up the stairs and to the curb. Instead of coming to the property for mandated inspections, they’d insist that tenants make themselves «available» to inspectors on week days. I can’t recall how many times I had to take off work for said inspections.
The building is 100+ years old and the half-​assed renovation is becoming more and more apparent. The day before I moved out, I found black mold behind a wall-​mounted shelf. They claim to have delt with the issue prior to the new tentants arrival… but I’m relatively sure they did nothing to remedy the issue.
The real kicker came in the form of my security deposit refund. Several days ago i received a check for ¼ of my deposit. They cited a «cleaning fee, stove cleaning, floor damage, and a broken disposal.
Cleaning fee — I spent an hour and half cleaning my apartment prior to leaving. That night I had been texting back and forth with Jan. I mentioned that I had been at the apartment all night cleaning, to which said «Thanks but I have already scheduled a cleaning professional to do the transitional cleaning.» Landlord may NOT us the tenants security deposit to cover the costs of ordinary wear and tear.
Broken disposal — The disposal NEVER worked and most likely caused the leak. They were fully aware of the fact that it didn’t work prior to my move-​in — they conveniently forgot said defect upon my move date.
Floor damage — the floor damage (to the cheap linoleum flooring) was caused by a slow leak under the sink /​behind the wall. It wasn’t visible to the naked eye. There was a 2×2′ area affected.
Stove cleaning — That’s normal wear and tear. The small silver dishes that sit below the burners had become tarnished from use. I looked it up on amazon — they costs $ 14.99 for 4. I was charged +$ 50.
Don and Velma are wolves in sheep’s clothing. That sweet elderly couple that I met at my lease signing wound up the antagonists in my 18-​month nightmare novel.

I was a tenant of this place for 6 years and most of it was out of desperation while finishing my PhD. I would not recommend this place. Below is an itemized list of the problems I personally encountered over the years.
Pre note: I’m going to start by saying that the building had 100+ building code violations at the start of 2015. They raised rent in all the units to cover the expenses. The unit I paid for was originally in the 800s but is now listed in the 1000s… absolutely do no pay that much for this place. Seriously, there are so many options on craigslist for equal or better value.
1. The landlords — Retired and incompetent. While I’m sure they would make nice relatives, they are too old to be handling this complex. Nothing is ever fixed, they barely return calls, and half the time they forget to fix what they agreed to the day before. Their daughter and son-​in-​law manage the building from another state. They attempt to save money by having budget handy men carry out repairs for AC/​Furnace/​Fridge issues… which often times require professionals. It’s an absolute nightmare if anything doesn’t work properly.
2. Heat — The place is poorly insulated. The windows have significant gaps and are not double panned. Furthermore, my unit (as well as two other units I know of) had significant heating problems and they don’t attempt to fix them. On average, during the winter when my heat worked somewhat, the warmest I could keep my place was 62 – 64 and it ran my bge bill between $ 198 -$ 285. Factor that in for your winter months. Summer bills were between $ 65 – 180 for about 74 degrees.
3. 1 working washer, no working dryers — There are 2 washers and 2 dryers — only one washer works consistently and you have to run the one semi working dryer twice to get your clothes dry… expect to pay about $ 4.50 per modest load
4. Building vents aren’t maintained — The whole complex is interconnected and the unit vents spit out black dust due to lack of maintenance.
5. Trash — The trash is actually comically bad. The units used to have individual cans that they were responsible for but the landlords repeatedly changed the system (currently cans A B and C for 10 units. Appointed cans were not distinguished). Also, no single individual appointed for trash removal. We have had build up of trash, maggots, and rats in the past due to lack of turn out and pick up.
6. Cheap repairs or no repairs — My fridge, toilet, and furnace were all broken and none were repaired despite several phone calls and promises. After the water bill (which tenants pay) was astronomically high and there were several complaints, they decided to repair toilets (apparently several units had running toilets…)
7. Random visits — Several units can attest that we have about 2 – 4 random visits per month. Usually, this stops during the winter months.
8. You are responsible for your garbage disposal. Regardless of how old it is, if it breaks, the lease says you need to replace this at your own expense. I would negotiate this point when signing a lease (if you are daft enough to sign one after this review).
9. Security gate key pad randomly breaks. The keypad is great 80% of the time… but if it’s below 15 degrees or if it has rained for more than a few hours the circuit shorts and locks you out. I have been locked out several times. The key pad is fine once it warms up or dries out but can leave you locked out if none of your neighbors are home.
10. They try not to pay interest on your deposit. MD law states they owe you 3% simple interest on security deposits. Just be aware of tenant rights if you decide to rent here because they will manipulate the system as much as possible.
It is close to Hopkins hospital and that was the only real appeal it had to me. After moving, my current landlord and place are a dream and I cannot believe I tolerated this place for so long.
I would advise against this place if you are looking for a long term option (2+ years).