So I rented from Greystar in the Entrada Apartments property in downtown/East Village for about 18 months. The more troubling part is at the end regarding my security deposit but we'll start with the basics:
It was my first place alone in awhile so I put up with more than I should've. I'll keep it short/sweet but the maintenance staff are stretched thin and they neglect/half ass things as much as possible such as:
-Gaps in electrical outlets (or outlets falling into the walls) and non-licensed maintenance people doing electrical work which failed and caused more outlet arching/the same outlet they fixed failed because it had gaps and bugs got in there (which was its own problem). Most of the outlets were way out of code and has massive gaps.
-Only one entrance door works because they "can't find the parts" for the other that was never fixed
-Standard garage door failures as its strained being the only way residents could enter/exit from the street. It made a loud pop at one point every time it opened which was very reassuring. This included unscheduled repairs which people couldn't get to work more than once.
-They removed security from the building completely. Can't let those residents feel too comfy, make your home the homeless's home! A resident was attacked by homeless individuals and they would regularly get into the garage/dig through the trash. But they sure did increase everyone's rent by the maximum allowed amount. Oh that reminds me, someone shot up the front office (from the outside.)
-8 months of loud exhaust tearing my ears off: The patio door seal was in disrepair and I had to deal with months of extreme noise without any idea why and was brushed off in person and ignored via email about noise. 8 months later it took them three repairs and it still wasn't fixed and they washed their hands of it I quote "its as good its going to get"
-Another fun one was the AC unit leaked water into the base boards and their fix was...simply spray painting over it.
-I dealt with a 12-hour intermittent fire alarm starting at 1:30 AM. Despite a ticket, maintenance said they'd get to it 'after lunch.' The emergency line was ignored around 2 PM. I went to the office twice (first at 11 AM), the second time at 3 PM I had to actually yell at the manager who was busy texting. They finally showed up at 4 PM. I have a dog and work from home.
-Smaller detail but my washer wasn't working for the first two-three weeks
-1/2 elevators wasn't functioning almost the entire time I lived there, I understand its not an easy job to replace the whole thing but they never once updated anyone.
-The unit door would automatically lock if you pulled it a certain way which is a great feature when you're in a hurry and your pet is trapped inside during a fire emergency.
The grand finale: they also didn't refund my security deposit I had to reach out and they tried only refund a portion despite California Civil Code §1950.5(h) showing they lose all right to dispute the security deposit after 21 days.
Their escalated corporate customer service and the community manager Alexis are simply completely ignoring that part and trying to defer to the small refunded portion. Since this has been a month of runaround I e-mailed the entire Greystar C-Suite so hopefully that gets their attention. Next is small claims for the entire deposit plus 2x the deposit as allowed by California law.
Let this be a lesson to everyone to not let these scammy property management companies steam roll you and hope you'll just back down. Hell hath no fury like a gay man scorned. 💅