Kismet Property Management

Merton Manor Apartments 197 N Merton 38112. Major bed bug and cockroach issues untreated.

I live at the Merton Manor Apartments. They were sold and placed under Kismet in April. It is now July.

There is a massive bed bug and cockroach infestation here. Kismet does not communicate with the residents at all. If you are not home when they finally decide to do something, it won't get done because maintenance and pest control do not have keys to the units. In other words, you can beg for your maintenance request, but won't even be told when it may or may occur and maintenance and pest control do not have keys to the units. A ton of things are not getting done because of this stupidity.

They have some ghetto woman sitting in the office for as little as ninety minutes a day. She doesn't walk the units with pest control or maintenance or anything. She's running game and getting some unethical breaks on things from Deborah. Trash.

Kismet has over 800 properties and Deborah is apparently the property manager for them all. They have a skeleton crew for maintenance and an ignorant pest control service. Kismet is garbage.

The person who bought the property lives out of state. I looked it up. Kismet has a $25,000.00 a year management contract with this person. They have not done one thing which the reality company who sold this person the property said Kismet would do.

This is a 62 unit tiny apartment complex. Kismet has run it to the ground in three months. They should be ashamed! I have neighbors breaking leases left and right.

My best friend died while alone in his apartment. He had no close living relatives in this country; closest relative is an aunt (his mother’s sister) in France who speaks no English. The lock was off the door in order to gain access to the apartment. After his body was removed, the police had the lock replaced in order to secure the place and kept the key.
Due to my friend having no close next-of-kin in this country, a letter was sent from his aunt granting me access to his apartment and his possessions in order to help probate his estate. The letter was translated and given to the police.The police gave me the keys to the apartment. I began the difficult chore of boxing and moving my friend’s things, cleaning up his apartment, and storing his things for his aunt.
After several days, and with no warning, the locks were changed on the apartment by Kismet. Over the next 2 months I contacted the Kismet office several times. I gave them the letter from his aunt, the same letter that the police saw when they gave me the keys to the apartment. In one conversation with Deborah: 1.) my character was defamed and accusations were make about me trying to steal from my friend’s apartment, 2.) I was told that the contents of the apartment would be moved to storage until all the legal things could be worked out between his aunt and Kismet Properties, and 3.) she also said that his things could be put on the street like trash.
I was fine with his things being placed in storage; least everything would be secure until while waiting the estate to be settled and the apartment could be rented. I was, also, fine with his things being placed on the street; I could then load everything into a U-Haul, and the apartment could be rented. I understood that Kismet and the owner were losing money on rent as long as my friend’s possessions were still in the apartment. It was my desire that the apartment be cleared as soon as possible so that it could be rented.
I continued to keep a watch on his apartment. At one point the framed picture that hung above his fireplace mantel was found outside the apartment propped up against the outside wall of the building in the rain. I left the picture where I found it; it was gone the next time I checked on the apartment. I could tell from looking in the windows that the curtains were being moved and things were being moved around in the apartment. All this told me that the apartment was not secure, and that Kismet was not trying to protect my friend’s interests / things.
During this time I was also trying to get legal help. Dealing with three lawyers in two countries is not an easy thing to manage. It is very time consuming and confusing process. It was difficult to even get a local lawyer to handle the case. It took a month of legal work just to be able to have his body cremated.
Last night I drove by the apartment to check on my friend’s things only to discover that the apartment is now empty. According to his neighbors, earlier in the week, Kismet removed all of his things; placing everything on the sidewalk… like trash. Kismet did not call me so that I could pick up his things once they were put out. Kismet did not contact his aunt. As far as I know, my friend’s possessions were probably placed on the sidewalk then picked over by neighbors / Kismet employees, and what was left was then removed by the trash collector.
This whole process has left me feeling sad/helpless that my friend’s life and things were so disrespected. Not only am I dealing with the loss of dear life-long friend; I have had to deal with rudeness from Deborah on several occasions, being called a thief, being lied to about the disposition of the contents of his apartment and now essentially the theft of his things. These actions of Kismet show just how little they care about their renters and how little they care about the owners they represent.

Kismet has been managing my rental properties for about past 4 years. Over this time we continuously requested that they obey by management agreement and obtain approvals for any expenses over $200 as depicted in agreement. Their maintenance fees were extremely excessive and never produces any receipt. Just $150 for this $1500 for that etc. So beware before you hire them that you will most likely be taken advantage every chance they get. I have never seen such costs for maintenance as these people charged us. Consider yourself warned and best of luck.