LANSING, Mich. — Paige Finch says she was laid off over a month ago, but like everyone else at the beginning of the month has to pay her rent.
She says being unemployed makes that more difficult, and that her leasing office has been no help.
"I was honestly livid last night when I got the notice to pay rent," said Finch, "especially with the fact that no apartment is actually allowed to evict any one of their tenants."
Finch was laid off early in the coronavirus pandemic, so she's gotten out ahead of some of the problems others are dealing with right now.
She's got her severance, and was able to file for unemployment.
"With the COVID-19 pandemic, what we've received in the last week are three notices, most immediately was the rental notice that said on April 1st, rent is still due," said Finch.
The notice asks tenants to pay rent online and says anyone with unemployment issues should contact the leasing office.
Finch says she's tried.
"We can't get online, we can't call in person, so we're all struggling to discover what's next."
She says another one of those letters said the office was doing what it could to prevent the spread of coronavirus but Finch says they they haven't been taking care of their property, or cleaning it.
This, despite the complex being pink-tagged by the City of Lansing in January.
"They have not been doing much work at the complex and we haven't received a lot of communication, so it's very difficult to understand what we need to expect here," said Finch.
And she says she wouldn't be surprised if a few more notices appeared on tenant's doors.
"There's nothing to say they will not supply eviction notices," Finch said.
According to the City of Lansing, places like Autumn Ridge can ask for rent, but if you're withholding it legally, you're not required to pay it.
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