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Save yourself before you rent from this property management company. Sandra, a representative, advertised a 3 bedroom (+ gardener included) home on Craigslist. I met her to look through the home and only saw 2 bedrooms. I asked here where the 3rd bedroom was and she showed me to a large room connected to the kitchen area in the back of the house. She kept up a good conversation and even proceeded to tell me about her boyfriend infecting her with genital warts. After applying, I was told to meet her back at the office. Once there she gave me a list of rules and told me to just sign the last page and I could sign the lease the day of move in. I did and never heard from her again. Well she called me once to tell me I was accepted. After her call, my employer called me to let me know they had just received my request for employment verification. I was surprised I was accepted before she completed the checks. Time came for me to move in and I still could not get through to her. I finally went to the office on the move in date to sign the lease and happened to bump into her on her way out of the office. She was too busy to sit with me. She found my file and said, "Oh you already signed the lease." I asked when and she said the day she had me sign the back page. I then had to sit in the office, waiting for them to go pick up keys to the property from some unknown location, until an hour before closing. I was horrified watching four different clients come and go with complaints. One client had been sitting there since 9 am waiting for his keys and it was 4pm. Finally I got the keys. I rushed to the property having a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked around the house and everything seemed ok although none of the locks had been changed. I noticed a new door had been added to the 3rd bedroom off the kitchen. I opened it by the door handle but there was no key to lock double-key sided deadbolt. It was a little cold so I went into the back bedroom to close the windows. All the blinds were closed so I opened them to close the windows and to my surprise there were no windows. She advertised the property on Craigslist as a 3 bedroom and on the company website I found out it was listed as a 2 bedroom + a bonus room. It was not a "room" at all but a porch with screens. Now I'm stuck in a lease from this horrible company and can't sleep in my "bedroom"/sunroom. I don't know what will happen when winter comes but I did purchase a firearm. And to top it off, the owners/gardener or friends of the owners live directly across the street. They walked over my mailbox key and pop up whenever they want. My first day home I pulled into the driveway to all their kids in the yard, hanging off the fence and had to step over cups of drinks all over the front porch while they were "gardening". A nightmare!
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We are military and scheduled to move in tomorrow morning. Picked up our keys and... OMG... a complete mess! They NEVER answer calls or meet with you and have little miss sunshine for a receptionist. Today was the beginning of a NIGHTMARE! Last week (after we signed our lease... in a room alone with no one to help with questions) we questioned the readiness of the house for move-in and were told to "stop driving by" it was illegal and we were trespassing! LOL...
I have lived in an apartment "managed" by Utopia Management for 5 years. I only stay there as, although its on the edge of a very bad area, it is also a short walk to a nice old neighborhood that my wife like to walk in.
Let me list my complaints and experiences.
The root of the problem is that the building is 50 years old. And Utopia does very little to keep the building from falling more into disreapair. Its more of a neglect problem with this company; they just don't care.
True, its the building owner's job to approve improvements, but Utopia is not proactive at all, and drags their feet to do anything for you. They only care about the owner.
When I moved in, the original Fridge and stove were still there, I have managed to have both replaced over the 5 years, but it was a major hassle in both cases. In the case of the stove, it was leaking gas, and I was told by a Utopia rep that it was not their problem and that I should call the gas company. After numerous calls and emails to Andrew Schlesier, Utopia's VP, I finally got it replaced and the leaking gas is no more.
I guess I'd have to say that I'm just so resigned at the treatment I have received living here. Worn down by the disrespect and negligence. I've begun to hate myself for subjecting myself to the cruel treatment.
I could go on and on about the problems, about the rep lying to me after my TV blew up and refusing to admit that the electricity had been at fault, I could tell you how they forgot to pay the water bill and I went two days without a shower without even an apology, or about the hole in the roof that they have avoided fixing, or about how the building hasn't been painted in ten years, or how the windows are so old they don't work, or how when a window broke due to the broken window frame, I was told to fix it myself, or how their was a druggie living in one of the garages under the apartment for a year and Utopia barely did anything to get rid of him dispite him defaulting on the rent numerous times, or about how the middle apartment almost burnt down due to an electrical problem, or how the middle apartment was broken into and everything stolen because the bushes were so untrimmed that the theif could hide in the bushes in order to break in.
But it really comes down to disrespect.
The last place I lived, the landlord was so pleased that he gave me my full security deposit back after 2.5 years. He said the place looked better than it did the day we moved in and was sorry to see us go.
No doubt when I leave this place and the Utopia SLUMLORDs behind, they won't say anything, they'll just send me a bill for all the things that were wrong with the place the day I moved in.
I call the company Distopia, for DISrespect and the Dystopic experiences.
They raised the rent recently, they raise it every year.
Military families beware! My husband and I used Utopia for two years while we were away on an overseas tour. Long story short, our beautiful condo was returned to us looking like a Motel 8! Utopia, our PROPERTY management company failed to uphold their end of our contract (returning our condo in the same condition and returning keys & garage door openers). After failing to return any of our calls, e-mails, or registered letters, we contacted the San Diego Better Business Bureau. When Utopia finally did respond, they suggested that we sue the prior tennants for damages- they were not liable.
After trying to resolve our issues through the San Diego BBB for nine months, we took them to small claims court and won. Sadly, their compensation didn't cover half of what we had to fix and restore. I can't believe that the San Diego BBB still has them listed as one of their accredited businesses.
I went to view one of their apt in Mission Valley and the place was so filthy that there were gnats and bugs swarming around the kitchen. I asked the agent who was showing us they place if they were going to clean it before leasing it and she responded "probably not, but you can ask them". I called to inquire about a different property they have in mission valley and they give me different responses every time. This company is shady from my experiences so far.
This company is the absolute worst. Avoid it like the plague. Absolutely disgusting ethics. Won't give you you're deposit. Treats you like ###. On Christmas my townhome almost burnt down from faulty wiring in the heater. They never fixed it, they sent out one person to look at it and never addressed it. I chased them down for months and instead of fixing it they chose not to renew my lease. Originally I was told water was included when looking at the property and again when I called to verify before signing. At the lease signing they used a "blanket contract" and I asked them about the water. clearly documenting my confusion on the contract and was once again told it was included. Two months later our water was shut off (with 3 children in the home) and they refused to honor their word and we were footed the $500 bill that clearly could not have been accumulated in 2 months. Now my deposit is owed to me and instead of handling it, they told me to contact the owner, that it wasn't their issue. I have never even made contact with the owner before. I made my check out to UTOPIA. My contract was with UTOPIA. Absolute ### lords. Trashy employees who do not care about the tenants. I wish I had read these before I signed a contract with them.