Living At Santa Monica

Doesn't Recommend

Sara B.

Joined 2 months ago

While nothing is ever perfect when you are renting, this is by far the worst rental situation I've encountered.

Pros:

-Location

-Newer units

-Washer/Dryer in unit (a big deal for Santa Monica and what sold me initially)

-Very friendly and attentive sales team that gets you to sign your lease

Cons:

-Paper thin walls/ceilings

-What seems to be almost monthly 2am fire alarms in my building

-Fire doors that close your car in the underground garage for hours and hours after a fire alarm. When the early evening fire alarms hit, there were at least 3 times my car was locked down there for the night and I was unable to get to my evening plans, despite several calls in to the office and maintenance.

-You pay a lot for very little amenities and when your lease is up, the rent is increased substantially

-I received a '3 days to pay or vacate notice' without any real explanation and was told that for the next 2 days the person that I needed to speak with was 'unavailable to talk, but that it seemed like this was a system error.' In the mean time I was worried for 3 days they were going to lock me out even though I was current and on time with all my payments. They are classy like that when dealing with problems and you constantly get the feeling that they just hope you'll pay any vague charges they give you without asking more questions. It's probably how they make their money.

-A VERY difficult to access management team

-Constant emails, many along the lines of 'our rent payment box was broken in to recently, if your rent was stolen you are responsible' or 'we are doing some more work, please move your car/take out your window screens/turn off all your large appliances/etc to help us out or we will hold you responsible.' These were all only mildly inconvenient but they add up over time so that you feel like you are paying a lot to constantly do their bidding.

-Most of the buildings back up in to alleys so you wake up to garbage and delivery trucks every morning. I've lived in big cities, I can handle that, but the alleys are very restrictive and at times get blocked by delivery trucks, rendering it impossible to get in or out which can be frustrating depending upon the time of day.

All in all, the negatives outweighed the positives for me.