Burnham Apartments

Stay away from this rental company!
I rented a 1-​bedroom on Park Ave in Portland from 2÷11−8÷12, in two apartments.
My first apartment was filthy when I moved in, joints on the window sills when I moved in, unpainted, not the best neighbors (lots of parties and fights in the building, especially on the front porch, which was just outside my apartment. I also had people standing by my bedroom windows at night, smoking, doing drugs, one break-​in attempt, so I asked to move upstairs to another unit in May, which they let me do.
I moved into that apartment and had to clean it myself. No painting, no cleaning (not even the bathroom), the floors in the hall were all torn up (they gave me floor polish and told me to do it myself). I did what I had to do, stayed there, but then things got worse. Someone in the building kept breaking anything I put on my front door (a tap light, holiday decorations), stole shoes in front of my door, and then my neighbor decided one night to threaten to kill me (he was mentally ill and thought I was gay, which he thought meant he could bully me). The police had to be called, the super of the building was very supportive, but it took several weeks to get him out, in which time the police had to be called many times, super as well, and there were altercations in the hallway, banging on my bedroom walls.
In those ensuing months on the second floor I also dealt with a shower that was falling apartment (from poor design), ants all throughout the apartment, other bugs in the bathroom, lights frequently out in the hallways, poor care of porch and sidewalks in the Winter that made passage difficult at times (I fell several times on the icy stairs), the smallest stove I have ever had to work around.
In July of 2012 I decided to move and made 6 attempts to reach the super, who was away due to a family emergency (which I didn’t know, and there was no building coverage during those 2 weeks), when I finally reached him he told me I had to contact the building’s owner, not the super, to let them know, which was the first time I had ever been told to contact the owner: I didn’t even meet him when I looked at the apartment, put down my deposit, signed my lease, moved in, or paid my rent. There was some wrangling over what my official move out date could be (although I didn’t have a lease, still I was able to give 30 days notice, left my apartment immaculate, and requested my deposits back, which I was promised would be sent to me in a month. I sent an email and communicated with the super every month for four months, always with the promise I would get my deposit back, but it never arrived. Eight months later I attempted to serve the owner so I could take him to court to get my deposit back, but the papers were sent back to me «Return to Sender» (yes, he denied receipt of the papers), and since I don’t have an address other than a PO Box from him, it is now almost three years later and I still have not gotten my deposits back.
For a place that puts you through the works in order to get approved to live there, the building on Park Ave was poorly cared for, poorly managed, there are lots of shady characters who end up getting apartments there, and if you want your deposit back you should NOT expect it.
Do not rent from them unless you are really desperate.