MICHAEL BATTERSBY

My Mother contacted Michael Battersby to assist her in finding a tenant for an empty apartment in her home. MIchael completely lacked professionalism on all levels. He was disrespectful, rude, and a bully to my Mother (who is elderly). He was also extremely insulting constantly saying very unpleasant things to my Mother about her available apartment. The fact is, the apartment is immaculate, sunny, with an updated kitchen and bath, and gorgeous hardwood floors. Michael on numerous occassions told my Mother her apartment was ugly. I felt that Michael also tried to take advantage of my Mother by insisting that she pay the full fee (1 month rent) otherwise he would not represent her. I recognize that the owner paying the full fee is not unusual but I felt that MIchael saw an opportunity to make a few extra bucks. My Mother was pretty anxious to rent -- this was all a new experience for her. Michael's behavior showed that he was more interested in the tenant needs/wants than my Mother's -- instead of trying to find a balance for both parties. Everything with him was from the tenant's perspective. Michael never considered my Mother as part of the equation. When a potential tenant was found -- Michael submitted to my Mother an incomplete application form. He also told my Mother that he spoke to the prospective tenants current Landlord; Michael spoke to the Property Manager not the owner. I spoke to the Property Manager that is how I know he was not the owner. Michael also made it difficult for my Mother (and me) to meet the prospective tenant. Scheduled meetings with the prospective tenants were constantly changing and in fact MIchael would only schedule times that were convenient for the tenant without giving thought to my Mother's time/schedule and my work schedule. Finally, Michael attempted to have only one of the two prospective tenants (roommates) meet my Mother and tried to pressure my Mother to agree to accepting tenants before she/us met them. Michael in his frustration ultimately decided he no longer wanted to work with my Mother. I didn't have faith that Michael Battersby was working on behalf of my Mother's best interests.

He was very nice, but we found out in after moving in that he purposefully and along with the landlords who rented us the apartment misled us. We are not from New England and have always lived in apartments heated by gas, not oil. The apartment we live in (that he rented to us) is heated with oil. When we inquired about the difference between the cost of gas and oil to heat the apartment, he said he wasn't really sure if there was a difference, but reassured us that there was nothing to worry about. It was not 100% honest but wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that we found out after we moved in that the previous tenants had moved out because the costs of heating the particular apartment were prohibitive and that it cost between $800-$1000 PER MONTH to heat the apartment we moved into. Three of the seven radiators don't work, there are not storm windows on many of the windows, and the system is so inefficient as to be considered at least semi-broken. Certainly, it is the landlord's responsibility to fix this now, but the real estate agent should have informed us of the reasons the previous tenants moved out, and that the heating costs for this apartment are particularly high. Instead, he reassured us that it would be just fine, discouraged further questioning, and rushed us to sign the papers.