How a Sarasota apartment complex left a 89-year-old woman on the brink of homelessness

Monday morning she had a home. By dusk, she'd be counting down the hours until her eviction.

Eighty-nine-year-old Edith Marcus was called by a leasing consultant at The Reserve at Palmer Ranch Apartments in Sarasota who informed her that a place would no longer be held for her  — 72 hours before she was set to move in.

After a day of back-and-forth with The Reserve's corporate office, Marcus and housing advocates at Gulfcoast Legal Services were told she could move in, but that corporate would no longer accept her pending emergency rental assistance from the county: up to $1,792 per month.

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The Herald-Tribune obtained documents that relay a messy anecdote of renting in Southwest Florida's cutthroat market: tenants strung along by leasing companies with confusing, and sometimes ambiguous, requirements. 

"She did everything she was supposed to do," said Robin Stover, the deputy director of housing for Gulfcoast Legal Services, a nonprofit legal aid organization. "They wanted more requirements, asking for more, and more, and I think it's outrageous. I'm so mad."

Review of reversals

A June 28 letter from The Reserve welcomed Marcus to the apartments, listing her move-in costs and expected monthly payments.

On June 30, Marcus signed a lease contract with The Reserve showing a lease start date of July 14.

On the evening of July 11, Marcus received a call from Katie Dominguez, her leasing consultant for The Reserve, telling her she was ineligible despite her signing a lease two weeks prior.

"She called me after 5 p.m. and said I can't move in, and I was shocked," Marcus said. "She said management said it was because (my previous) landlord did not send in papers with my credit background and rental payment history. And that that was one of the criteria."

Nowhere in the 46-page lease agreement is there listed criteria for an applicant prior to move-in, nonetheless directions demanding a previous landlord send in a tenant's credit and rental history verification after already being accepted.

In a July 12 email, Stover said that Marcus' previous landlord never received a physical form requesting such information, but immediately went to the Gulfcoast's offices to complete the request for verifying her rental history when contacted by Stover.

In response, The Reserve's leasing office said they emailed the rental verification to Marcus' landlord a week prior and that they did send a physical copy. They also wrote that they have had "countless" conversations with Marcus, her landlord, Gulfcoast, and Marcus' case managers for the county's emergency rental assistance program.

The Reserve leasing office and its corporate owner, Strategic Holdings LLC, did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment for this story.

"We truly could not have done anything more than what has been done in order to help Edith provide the information we require from each applicant," the leasing office responded over email to Stover. "There is no breach in contract between us and Edith. Edith has not taken possession of the apartment and no lease has begun. Edith is an applicant who did not meet our rental criteria, unfortunately."

Phillip Heller, a housing navigator and paralegal at Gulfcoast Legal Services, said if the requirement does exist for all applicants, it should have been confirmed prior to Marcus' signature.

"If they did need to have it, and they made a mistake and signed a lease before getting it... that's on them. If your employee made a mistake — too bad," Heller said in an interview with The Herald-Tribune.

Marcus, also on the call with Heller, responded in a discouraged tone: "What now?"

'Too old for that place'

Marcus wonders whether her rental assistance was part of the problem. She hasn't been funded yet, but Stover said her emergency rental assistance application is in process and all indications are that she will be approved.

The Reserve at Palmer Ranch Apartments has worked with Sarasota County's rental assistance program before.

"I don't know if there's a change of heart or what. I couldn't even hazard a guess. I don't know what's going on in their minds," Heller said.

He said that he had a conversation with The Reserve's property manager, Johna Desrosiers, about corporate policies.

In an email, Heller explained that when he offered Marcus' bank statements for the past six months, Desrosiers would need to "run it by 'corporate' but that if she made an exception to policy ... that she could lose her job."

"When you have a good credit report ... a negative finding from the court reporter about evictions, and six months' worth of bank statements ...  You have enough proof to conclude (Marcus) is a good-paying tenant," Heller said in an interview.

Marcus also said that when Dominguez called her to inform her that she could no longer move in due to ineligibility, she abruptly told her that she was maybe "too old for that place" and that she should look for homes catered to seniors such as a senior living facility.

"I may be old, but I'm a very active person. I don't know what that has to do with it. I have no idea why she mentioned age. I thought that was very uncalled for and very discriminatory," Marcus said.

Multiple emails and calls for comment from Dominguez or The Reserve about this comment were left unanswered by the time of publication.

Marcus' current landlord expects her gone by Friday. He previously lengthened her stay by two weeks but won't grant any further extensions.

If her landlord formally files an eviction notice against Marcus, the case will remain in legal record forever — staining her otherwise flawless rental history.

Marcus is mulling over her choices: go ahead and settle into The Reserve after days of uncomfortable conflict, or wait to find another home that will accept her rental assistance.

Stover said Marcus feels "freaked out" by the insecurity.

"It's a big decision to make. It's a matter of putting everything in storage, breaking up my life completely, and taking a suitcase with some clothing. It's a very difficult situation and something I shouldn't have to be put in at this stage in my life," Marcus said, who turns 90 next month and is seeking treatment for back pain — another mark of how the week has impacted her body and spirit.

"I'm just beside myself. I'm like a homeless person."

Stefania Lugli covers a little of everything for the Herald-Tribune while pursuing stories on institutional accountability. You can contact her at slugli@heraldtribune.com or dm her on Twitter at @steflugli.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota's Palmer Ranch breached lease with an 89-year-old tenant