Tenants demand answers from management company
Truman Fuller, 75, has lived at The Gardens at Overton Place for three years. In that time, he’s dealt with a constant stream of roaches, despite his own attempts to keep the infestation at bay with every trap and poison available for purchase.
The infestation was significant enough that Fuller lost a fairly new 55inch television to cockroaches that burrowed into the electronic and laid eggs. Repeated calls to the company that managed the apartment complex, Makowski, Ringel, and Goldberg, went unanswered, he said.
Fuller lived with his partner of eight years, a woman named Kathy who was at the end of a years-long battle with cancer and COPD. The couple arranged for home hospice care; Fuller traded out a queen-sized bed for a twin bed so he could fit in the room next to Kathy’s hospice bed.
Kathy’s death, Truman said, was inevitable.
On Feb. 23, a routine night that would have Fuller awakening every few hours to check on Kathy, the inevitable moment arrived. Kathy had died, as expected. What wasn’t expected, Fuller said, was finding the person he loved, freshly deceased, and covered in cockroaches.
“That’s when I really lost it,” Fuller said. “I called and called and called corporate. To this day they haven’t called me back.”
As Truman talked to The Commercial Appeal on March 15, there was a knock at the door. A pest control technician had arrived to spray the apartment, less than 24 hours after The CA reached out to MRG for comment.
The technician moved Fuller’s refrigerator and began to spray. He checked for other possible nooks the cockroaches could utilize as a breeding ground and told Fuller he needed to identify the cockroach headquarters.
“They’ve never done that before,” Fuller told The CA. “It’s usually that someone will come in, spray two spots at the most, and then leave.”
Living conditions, move-out fees rank top among issues experienced by former residents
experience
apartment is one of the more extreme examples of neglect and associated consequences.
Roach and rodent infestations, shoddy repairs, and what former residents describe as “predatory” fees are consistent issues identified by mostly former residents hailing from a majority of the 28 Mrg-operated properties, which, according to MRG’S website, total roughly 4,500 apartment units.
But the struggles with vermin and roaches are widespread across the majority of Mrg-managed properties both recently built and decades old, according to an organized group of both current and former tenants. And it’s just one issue among many that has spurred action among former tenants.
Residents have also reported varying degrees of neglect that result in substandard, and potentially hazardous, living conditions.
MRG’S top executive responded with a general statement about the company’s commitment to resident safety and clean living conditions.
“We are committed to ensuring safe living environments for all our residents. It is critical that we work collaboratively with residents to ensure that their homes are clean, safe and offer a comfortable place for their daily lives,” said Jimmy Ringel, the company’s chief executive, said in response to The Commercial Appeal’s questions around commonly reported issues.
When Grace Hugueley moved out of her apartment in the St. Regis building of Midtown Place, it was to escape what they described as a “hell-hole.”
In Hugueley’s apartment, The Commercial Appeal observed paint and plaster crumbled from walls. Cracks spiderwebbed across walls and ceilings, and an untreated leak left a part of the ceiling bulging and brown. Large rats seemed to be conferring with one another at the bottom of a building stairwell.
Huguelely said, at most, calls for maintenance resulted in a fresh coat of paint over spots with clear water damage.
The St. Regis building is one of the older buildings managed by MRG. County records show the building was in existence by the late 1930s (an exact year of construction wasn’t available).
Those who have resided in an old Midtown apartment building know these buildings can be prone to vermin and the wear and tear that comes with age.
But residents at newer properties managed by MRG have also reported problems of decay and infestations.
From March of 2017 until May of 2020, Jennifer Smith lived at The Signature at Schilling Farms. She described consistent mice infestations and shoddy construction. She often heard vermin moving in the walls of her apartment. On one occasion shortly before moving out, a camera set up in her apartment recorded what she said was the entirety of a visit from a pest control technician.
The technician walked into her apartment, placed a business card on the counter, and then left without spraying
pesticides or leaving traps. Eventually, Smith would purchase her own traps.
Whenever there was a heavier rain, she said, water would eventually start seeping from the walls into the connected garage of her apartment. County records show The Signature was built between 2013 and 2015.
On the air vents inside the apartment, she said, what appeared to be black mold was growing on the grates. A maintenance technician’s response, Smith said, was to clean the vents but nothing else.
When Smith was leaving The Signature, she knew she had to schedule a walk-through with MRG. According to her lease, a move-out inspection and walk-through must be done in order to essentially contest any fees the company might charge for cleaning and repair.
Smith emailed and called to schedule a walk-though and received no response. Eventually she moved out, her then-partner filmed his own walkthrough in detail.
In spite of the company’s non-communication, Smith was hit with a $1,511 move-out fee and sent to MRG’S collection agency, Absolute Recovery Services.
Smith had pets, and typical wearand-tear damage including a broken cabinet door. She almost agreed to a payment plan until she talked to a former Signature neighbor. The neighbor said the company attempted to charge
him the exact same move-out fee for very minor damages. This, Smith said, prompted her to fight back.
Ultimately, Smith settled in-court with Absolute Recovery Services. Video evidence helped persuade the judge, and the amount owed was reduced to $700 — fees for a broken cabinet door and rugs in need of cleaning.
Ringel responded to inquiries about repairs and infestations with detailed accounts of service dates and company policies.
In Fuller’s case, Ringel said, there was regret at the additional distress caused by roaches crawling over Kathy’s body. He also described remediation efforts for both infestations and repairs as ongoing.
A few snarls, Ringel said, prevented timely remedies in Hugueley’s case. Supply chain issues dogged attempted repairs, he said. Ringel said Hugueley was not always responsive to attempts by the company to set up repair times via email. Hugueley denies this and points to archived emails as evidence.
In Smith’s case, Ringel disagrees with the notion that Smith was overcharged for wear and tear, and provided photos as a rebuttal. Those photos showed damages exactly as Smith described them.
Sending Smith’s debt to the company’s collection agency, Ringel said, oc
curred after she did not make a payment towards the fees charged. This corroborates what Smith described as a decision to push back. Ringel also confirmed the company settled with Smith in court for a much lower fee.
“When residents do vacate apartments with either owed rent and fees, physical damages to the apartment, or both, we do have the legal right to pursue restitution for balances that our firm is owed. In some cases, such as Jennifer’s case, attorneys are able to work out a settlement,” Ringel said.
Residents initiate organizing for accountability
Anecdotal accounts from former residents and MRG’S detailed responses to these accusations corroborate details between the two parties more often than not. But perspectives between what is acceptable and legal differ wildly.
There is one certainty — enough former and current MRG tenants are angry enough to organize. By all indications, former tenants are only getting started in these efforts to push for accountability for what these tenants call “slumlord” practices.
The Memphis Tenants Union — formed during the pandemic as an organizing tool against landlords not honoring eviction moratoriums — has been spearheading organization efforts. The union does so on behalf of older residents that may be scared or without resources to hire lawyers, or “folks who just don’t have the support or resources to fight back,” according to former MRG resident Paige Lemen.
Emails show the Memphis City Council has received the petition, signed by at least 90 former residents. It’s unclear what response or intervention the city could provide, if any.
But Lemen, and Memphis Tenant Union member Alex Uhlman say the need for intervention is dire.
“We heard from so many tenants at MRG properties about the chronic lack of maintenance, rampant eviction filings, and a laundry list of exploitative practices from management,” Uhlman said, adding that “MRG’S tactics are representative of larger trends in rental housing.”
The issues with MRG are occurring in a state that is more friendly to landlords than tenants, according to Uhlman. It’s also occurring in a city that is facing a shortage of affordable housing and policy that complicates the addition of more affordable single-family and multi-family housing units.
Robert Knecht, the director of Memphis’ public works division, stressed the importance of tenants calling code enforcement, each and every time someone encounters a hazardous living condition.
“We have to have our systems in place,” Knecht said. “Somebody has to call us and say, ‘Hey, I’m having a problem with this place.”
Further intervention in unjust evictions is something beyond the reach of public works. But, Knecht said, there are desires within government to institute more mechanisms that would give renters a path to recourse or mediation.
On the county side, he said, Judge Bill Anderson would like to see the creation of a housing court. On the city side, Knecht said he and other city officials would like to see the creation of a landlord registry, a list that could provide “a more capable methodology to communicate more effectively with owners.”
The latter solution, Knecht said, is contested by the Tennessee Renters Association.
Amid the nuances of how renters are empowered or exploited, the formation of the Memphis Tenants Union and the speed with which former MRG tenants are organizing suggests renter’s rights is an issue in Memphis that will continue to gather steam.
“Tenants have decided that they are fed up, and something has to change,”uhlman said.
Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal who covers issues tied to access and equity. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.