Submitted by munch524 t3_ypjvlg in jerseycity

Hi y’all. We’ve rented this house through Dixon Leasing for like six years now. Honestly they’re usually fairly quick about these things, but at this point it has been a dozen phone calls and emails and I literally can’t get in contact with one single fucking person.

When you walk out of the house, there’s a little balcony-ish thing that is rotting. The support on the side is slanting, there is vines growing through, we share it with the house abutting us. They’re worried too.

I’ve called Dixon Leasing, they no longer have an actual receptionist so it just goes to voicemail. I’ve left voicemails. I’ve emailed my property manager. I’ve submitted request after request. I’ve emailed the general info address. Radio silence.

I’d be ready to say fuck y’all, let it rot then, if it wasn’t going to also badly affect the neighbors who are super sweet. I don’t want them, or anyone in my house, getting hurt.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a next step?

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pitpatpit t1_ivjk8dy wrote

Contact the city’s office of landlord / tenant relations https://www.jerseycitynj.gov/cms/one.aspx?pageId=9290189

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percbish t1_ivjz6f7 wrote

Yes! I had issues with my neglectful landlord and had the city apply the pressure. The day after I called, an inspector came out and cited my landlord so he was forced to address the issues in my apartment. I also let him know in writing, that I wouldn’t be paying rent until everything was resolved (the inspector said I was justified in withholding rent). I can say a month later, everything is 100% better. OP please contact the city and they will inform you of your rights as a tenant!

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[deleted] t1_ivkdv5c wrote

Dixon Advisory, the parent company, collapsed and ruined the lives of many Australian pensioners. They were recently fined 7.2m in Oz for recommending their own product, the real estate investment trust, to their client's whose pension funds they were managing. The collapse was blamed on Dixon here in JC. The trust allowed Dixon to provide in-house services for themselves at a mark-up of 20% which led to the creation of Dixon Projects, Dixon Security etc. People on this end were creaming off the money. Alan Dixon took a $17m payout and disappeared, as in his current location is unknown, just before the collapse. The Dixon properties were recently slated to be sold to another large landlord at something like an 11% discount on their value. The deal fell through and Dixon announced they'd be raising rents and cutting costs to survive.

Now imagine how the recent double whammy 3rd and 4th quarter tax increases scale, they have 100s of million dollar properties and have already implemented or factored rent raises.

It would be ironic, after having been shown such favorable treatment from the city, that property tax would sound their death knell.

TLDR - Your roof isn't getting fixed.

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bodhipooh t1_ivkh9hs wrote

Well, we seldom agree and often clash, but you are 100% on the money here. The only thing you didn’t mention is that it was heavily rumored that Fulop's delay of the reval right after getting first elected was actually a "payback gift" to Dixon Leasing, as delaying the reval ensured they enjoyed another two years of lowered taxes on what was a burgeoning real estate portfolio. And, this being Hudson County and JC, instead of avoiding truly awful optics with additional questionable moves, Fulop doubled down on the relationship by having Dixon renovate his home in the Heights, and then the one in RI, under reportedly questionable terms.

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munch524 OP t1_ivm2zar wrote

You are a wealth of unfortunate information. Thank you. Sort of in poor taste for them to not send out a Dixon Newsletter informing tenants that Mr. Dixon is halfway to sunny Mexico with 17 million and they’re on the brink of collapse, no?

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malcior09 t1_ivk6ri1 wrote

Had my roof literally cave in and flood my apartment last year because Dixon didn’t respond to my requests to repair a leaking roof, so I wouldn’t hold your breath unless it goes catastrophic. They didn’t do anything until there were three inches of water on the floor and a three foot hole in the roof. Also didn’t have heat or hot water for three weeks in the winter with no response from them. Threaten to not pay the rent as per another comment, that’s the only thing that worked for us.

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blucifers_cajones t1_ivko2s3 wrote

I rent through them as well. Coincidentally, the New Jersey Democratic Socialist party came by my apartment because they have been helping Dixon tenants form up and organize. Apparently other Dixon tenants reached out to them to help with tenant rights issues. It might be worth it to reach out to them (in addition to going to the City) to see what they know or can help with.

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HappyArtichoke7729 t1_ivjm49r wrote

Bet they notice if the money stops showing up

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hohokev t1_ivjonxj wrote

Exactly this. Just threaten to stop paying rent and they will reply

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HappyArtichoke7729 t1_ivjrvhx wrote

"Hi, if you don't respond by XXXXX then the rent payments will start being deposited in escrow until such time as you open the communication channels or litigation has commenced"

Bet they respond. If not, FUCK EM

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hohokev t1_ivjyidh wrote

I did this during my last lease when we were told there would be washers/dryers in the basement the week after we moved in but 4 months later, nothing had happened. Suddenly, soon after we stopped submitting rent, the machines "arrived". Ended up saving some money at least!

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[deleted] t1_ivjwvhn wrote

They’re dear friends of the mayor and have done all 3 of his houses. Call his office and ask him for the hotline.

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Ilanaspax t1_ivk32qy wrote

Maybe they are too busy building Fulop’s fourth house?

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FParker82 t1_ivkdnch wrote

I rent through them too. Seems like they laid off a bunch of their property management department, perhaps even beyond that. We didn’t even know our property manager and her boss were gone until we finally got a message from the now general property management email address. Did you submit a work order request through the tenant portal or email the general property management address?

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munch524 OP t1_ivm453v wrote

I submitted like 4 work orders through the tenant portal, I emailed the general property manager, their maintenance specific email, my own property manager, and the guy above her.

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FParker82 t1_ivmac9p wrote

Call it in as an emergency. The # is (855) 559-5525.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson t1_ivkpynp wrote

If Dixon is as big a mess as indicated downthread, you may be on your own here. If you wanted to get it done instead havin git collapse while you're sending messages in a bottle, you could hire a contractor yourself and withhold the cost from the rent. As long as it's meticulously documented, including the log of attempted contacts, you should be fine.

Or you could withhold rent and put it in an escrow account. That will get their attention. I think that the Housing Court even manages escrows, but I don't really know.

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substandard_ t1_ivl7y33 wrote

Yikes. Rented from them before they went bankrupt and after. Pre-bankruptcy they were ok afterwards, not so much. I imagine they’re down to a skeleton crew so maintenance isn’t a top priority. Best of luck.

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elseworthtoohey t1_ivlcfvr wrote

Place your rent money into court or in your attorney's trust account. When they sue to evict, file a habitability defense. Be sure to bring pictures of the damage to court when the matter is scheduled for trial. You should also contact the city's code enforcement department.

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deereverie t1_ivls6e9 wrote

Ask your neighbors to report it on SeeClickFix so that it gets more attention. They'll go to the owner on record to fix it

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freestockadvice t1_ivpikm3 wrote

I live in a Dixon managed unit as well in the Heights. 2 bedroom 1st floor/basement apartment in a 2 unit building. Dixon owns the whole building and rents the top two floors as a four bedroom unit to a group of young guys above us. All nice and designed with modern taste in mind which we liked, but after a couple months of renting the issues "between the walls" so to speak started to show.We've wrestled with water seeping into the home through exterior walls/flooring and window units, which then lead to ants, entering the home through the softer material and cavities. I'm a very aware and observant tenant and always reported issues immediately, but my property manager simply stopped answering us sometime during the summer. That led us to withholding rent due to the water and pest issues but more importantly the disrespect in blatantly ignoring us for WEEKS. After awhile we were finally notified that they are going through a "transitional period" at Dixon and that our previous property manager was no longer with the company. This was during the time I started reading about Dixon bankruptcies overseas and putting two and two together myself. Someone named Tim Coates who seemed to be high up at Dixon got back to me and addressed the issues only once a different issue presented itself. A pipe bursted above our stove and started to collapse our kitchen ceiling and damaging all the cabinetry. It was shitty living through the repairs (took about a week) but glad it was addressed and fixed and has been fine since.However between then and now I have started to see mice/rats around the exterior of our building. Obviously reported that as well and they'll send an exterminator in an appropriate timeframe who sprays and recently put out traps but won't address the main issue or really communicate with us tenants in detail about what's going on with these homes. The cavities in the exterior walls. They invite the water, insects, pests, etc that create compounding issues.Dixon bought up a huge portion of the cheap buildings when they could in Hudson County and in NYC, put a modern "luxury" coat on the interiors but never addressed the actual foundation of these homes and those issues present themselves eventually and Dixon doesn't want to pony up the necessary investments to actually fix them. They are grossly overweight in the amount of properties/units they own and manage, and the quality of management reflects that. And FYI, an exterminator filled me in on some extra tea on Dixon while they were spraying for pests at my place a couple months ago. Dixon only had something like 30-40% of tenants actually paid their rent during COVID. Dixon eventually took them to court but lost and had to swallow all of that missed rental income. I was one of the tenants that always paid on time throughout and will most definitely use that information as leverage once my lease expiration comes up and comes time to potentially renegotiate or walk depending on what they offer. Which will likely be a substantial increase for every and any tenant they have.

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munch524 OP t1_ivpjp81 wrote

What I’m hearing is that I should not have bothered paying rent during Covid. Oof. Sorry you’ve had all these issues. My first apartment was a Dixon one too in 2014 and honestly, I’ve always had issues here and there but they always responded promptly. The weird thing this time was that, I submitted the roof thing, silence. Then our basement began flooding… they had someone there 12 hours later. That contractor told me “by the way, they know about the roof falling and someone will contact you shortly.” That’s the last I heard. He wasn’t even part of the Dixon company, it was a subcontracted guy.

Idk. Obviously we won’t renew our lease in June I guess lol.

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