There is nothing on the lease about not accepting cash payments. Everyone uses the drop box because no one is ever in the office except for at random times. Except for when I signed my lease, no one is ever there when I stop by. Some tenants were paying with checks/money orders (there are 4 buildings with 3 floors in each, 10 units on each floor), so obviously they were having regular deposits in the bank. But based on what they said in the mass letter they sent out, a lot of tenants were paying with cash. None of us had been told that it was not permitted. The leasing manager told me when I signed my lease that cash payment were just fine, so I would assume she told everyone else the same thing. Honestly I think she got away with it for so long because she was the highest up in the chain in terms of on-site management. The company that owns Nantucket also owns other high-end apartment communities around Madison, and their management office is elsewhere. Sounds like no one ever looked over her shoulder or double checked the books. It's tax time, so they probably went in to look at things and audit everything, and found the massive discrepancies.
They said they have no record of ANY payments from me. They have my name and info so obviously they have record of my lease at the very minimum. My "missing" payments include my security deposit ($415), December's rent ($835) and January's rent ($835). That's over $2000 that she pocketed in 2 months, just from me. There are at minimum 120 tenants here (not including all the units with multiple leased roommates), and some of the units go up to $1300 per month for rent (deluxe 2 bedrooms), so imagine if she was pocketing 1/3 or even half of all those payments every month. She was raking it in. According to their letter, she was removed from the property and promptly evicted from her apartment here. I would assume they are pressing charges since it such a huge financial loss.
I have all the e-mail messages recieved from her as well as all the ones I sent. They confirm when my payments were made and that she recieved them. I also have 2 witnesses, my boyfriend and his roommate, as they paid their rent the same time I did. This is just stressing me out big time, thinking that someone stole my hard-earned money that I struggle to get together in order to keep a roof over my head, and that there is very little way to prove it. Ugh. THIS is why I never discuss anything related to money/business on the phone or in person -- I want written proof of EVERYTHING. I try so hard to believe that most people are good, and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I have been trying so hard not to become jaded and negative. But after constantly getting let down, disappointed, broken-hearted, and financially devastated, I think I just need to start distrusting everyone I meet and keeping everyone at a distance. This is why I don't spend time with many other people, and stick to animals. Animals don't lie, cheat, steal, backstab, break promises, or use you.
