The Bona Venture

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Christina Cardona Students say owners managed the Fifth Street Apartments at 61 1/2 N. Fifth St. poorly.

"We arrived at the apartments, and they were disgustingly filthy. There was garbage everywhere, holes in the walls. No one had been in them since the previous tenants moved out."

Senior Craig Lorei encountered this scene upon arriving at the "Fifth Street Apartments" at 61 1/2 N. Fifth St. at the beginning of his junior year.

Lorei said the housing company that rented the house to him ignored him and his roommates' repeated calls for repairs.

"The entire year any problems we had were ignored, as were most phone calls," he said. "The company was just so dysfunctional and unprofessional."

The Cattaraugus County Web site identified Allegany Properties, Inc. as owners of the property.

When Lorei and his roommates were looking for a house for their senior year, they found the Sick House at 46 N. Seventh St.

"We were upset when we found out the same company owned it because we were very frustrated with them," he said. "After a lot of debating we went through with it because that house was much nicer and a lot bigger and we liked the location."

Two weeks before Lorei and his three roommates were supposed to move into their house, they received a phone call from their landlord saying the company went bankrupt and that they would be unable to rent the property, Lorei said.

"I called a few days later to inquire about getting my deposit back but that call went unanswered and never returned," Lorei said.

According to Lorei, two of his roommates drove to Allegany after the phone call and looked for a new house. They ended up finding one bigger than the one they originally wanted.

"We lucked out," Lorei said. "It was just so frustrating."

Lorei and his roommates learned a lesson from the whole ordeal.

"From our previous experience with this company we should have never rented a house from them again," he said, "even if it was the house we really wanted at the time."

Allegany resident John Walsh, who helps maintain properties in Allegany his wife and son own, said tension between landlords and student tenants can develop when either side is negligent in maintaining the property.

Walsh described his worst experience as one that was rare but nonetheless disheartening.

Continued...

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