PDX 4 Rent

I responded to some of Michael Morelands ads. None of the units were the same as advertised. For instance there would be features in the ads like a fireplace for example but when you get to the unit there is no fireplace. He even went so far as to show pictures of a fireplace even though he knows it isn’t there! Square footage was consistently listed as about 30% larger than the actual size of the unit. On top of this, his rents are way over market price even had the ads been honest. It’s amazing to me that someone would so blatantly mislead potential renters and expect no one to notice. I guess that way if someone rents from him he knows they are easily deceived which seems to be what he looks for in a tenant.

I’m hoping this review will help to inform other renters that are thinking about renting from Michael Moreland. This man is literally one step above a slumlord, so renters BEWARE! I’ve been renting for almost 10 years now and have never had an issue with any of my landlords. To start, the apartment seemed great and well maintained when we first moved in, but after living there for a while, we noticed a ton of horribly done cover ups and slap stick jobs around our apartment. Water damage under the walls, walls crumbling when we tried to nail anything into them, 10 or so layers of paint on the walls, constant mold in the bathroom, squeaky and crappy built-​ins and kitchen cabinets, and on and on. Within the first week our hot water went out. He fixed it right away, however, 6 months down the road when our gas was leaking, the gas company came out and found our new water heater to be installed completely NOT to code. He red tagged it and we had to get it fixed. Next, our fridge died, and he immediately brought in a new one, however, he purchased one with the wrong door hinge forcing us to squeeze between the fridge door and counter to get to our food whenever we opened the door. Not to mention, his crew royally scratched up the kitchen floors and back door when they installed the fridge. The last, and major issue I have with him, is what happened when it came to moving out. We wanted to do a walk-​through with him on the day we were actually moving, however, he was too busy with his 8+ other properties to meet on that day. We had to meet the day before with boxes and furniture still in. He was two hours late, which was not uncommon, did a 5 minute walk-​through and said everything looked good but he wouldn’t know about the floors until we had everything out. We weren’t worried because we had taken great care of the apartment. Three weeks later, we get our deposit early (which is awesome) but it was $ 350 short. In the breakdown, he had charged us $ 300 to completely reseal and redue the floors. WHAT?! I was furious. There was no way! It took me a couple of days to cool down, because again, I’ve never had any issues with a landlord and have always received my deposit back in full. Once I called him and told him my concerns with resealing the entire floor on our dime, he claimed there were two scratches. TWO scratches! I asked him for pictures and a receipt for services. At first he wouldn’t respond about the photos, but at the end of the conversation he magically remembered taking photos. He then texted me images of EIGHT scratches that were close up photos of wood floors. Even with the eight scratches, that were all extremely light scratches and could have been sanded, buffed and sealed separately, how could I prove that they came from our apartment? It’s also now been three days and I’m still waiting for a labor receipt. All in all, we decided to not fight him anymore because it was clear that he’s a dishonest and money hungry bastard and we’ll never get our deposit back. So instead, I’m hoping to help prevent and inform others before they decide to rent from Michael Moreland at PDX 4 Rent. I would highly advise against it!