The Plaza at Forest Hills

My husband (29M) and I (26F) moved in to the apartment in 2022 and have since lived here four years. We moved in with our two dogs, which was no issue at the time. In the early years, there were minimal issues - we received complaints about our dogs barking from the building manager during times that our dogs were with us/not home, ordered to move cars during every snowfall with no designated area to re-park in the meantime without earning a ticket (told to “go grocery shopping” when this was brought up with no concern for my remote work schedule), the maintenance schedule for “annual” inspections was rather relentless and certainly more often than annual (or at least disorganized as all inspections could have been consolidated to one day/week per year). Then, things got worse. They changed from pet-friendly to cats only, and began treating dog-owners like filth. Slowly, they took away freedoms like certain doors, garbages, and even going so far as to ordering dogs of all grass surrounding the building (an impossible feat, especially since the only dog-friendly garbage can is on said grass). The staff were also rude about our dogs during routine inspections, saying they weren’t contained when they were. When this was proven, there was no apology, they simply said they would redo the inspection the next day (inconveniencing us again). When we finally had enough and requested to leave, we were told we would have to pay nearly $5k in a lease break fee, despite the lease at the time not having anywhere near the pet stipulations the building has now. On top of this, they are trying to enter our unit early to get a head start on repairs/etc even though the lease break fee is several months’ rent and our unit should not soon be rented out. I am already dreading what they will surely say to refuse us our damage deposit. As good, longterm, and loyal tenants putting up with the several hundred dollars in rent increases over four years, we were treated abysmally.