Too expensive and too restrictive.

Lived here long enough to see my rent double with the next increase, which is why we decided to bail. Despite long tenure I still had to contact Arnel Management on numerous occasions to get my deposit back and even then, I only managed to get a third of it. Cleaning expenses they said... yeah, right. Arnel is a greedy and borderline criminal company.

1 bedroom started at $700 in 1998, is now $1400.
Water supply is a big problem. Interrupted too often because of "slab leaks." Hot water is not hot, and at night they apparently turn off the central heater altogether.
Water is supplied by Pacific Water and Power, an Arnel owned utility management company that abuses its position to threaten tenants with eviction upon late utility payments.
Grounds are horrendously over-watered. There are puddles in the walkways and the lawns are slippery death traps. Drainage does not work appropriately.
Roaches and rats.
All-female management since 2006; generally unprofessional and intimidating.
Vacated upstairs one-bedroom apartments near the office become models. Traffic on the staircase increases ten-fold.
Casa Madrid is a training school for new staff. Turnover is horrendous.
Criminally high late fee of $50 is applied on the fourth day of the month plus $10 for each additially day late. This will come off your deposit if you refuse to pay.
Mandatory renter's insurance, everyone knows this is a RICO racket, property owners are supposed to be insured for their structures, why force tenants to pay for it'
Parking is a nightmare. 1 carport is assigned, and one "first-come-first-served open space." Good luck finding a space after 5 pm. There is NO parking for visiting family or friends. I had my car broken into several times. No compensation from Arnel. To add insult to injury, they are very quick to tow vehicles. If your car breeaks down, repair it fast or it will disappear overnight one day. I lost a car that way and did not have enough money to get it back in its current non-monving condition. (fee would be $350) In the end the resident towing company illegally converted ownership, sold it as scrap and sent us a bill for $1200 storage fees. Indeed, even though we never asked them to take the vehicle in the first place.
A garage costs extra. $100 per month.
Arnel does not like its apartments to be too goodlooking and cosy. Every year they cut back trees back to almost unregnizable stumps. Consequently, the summer sun bakes apartments into the high 90s forcing one to run airconditioners continuously through the night. Hedges and shrubbery are completely defoliated each spring often just before they bloom.
Secrity gates and fences added in 2002 as panic reaction to 9/11 attacks but electronic keypad to enter access code disabled in 2006, forcing all to drop shopping bags or other luggage to fumble with keys to open the heavy main gate.
Privacy of pool area eliminated summer 2008; all trees around the perimeter were cut. Unlikely excuse was "drug use."

--- While not all of these complaints are serious enough to take the company to court over, they are too numerous to ignore. Many other problems exist with this complex that escapes my mind at present.
I am glad that I am out of there.

User Responses
From: GeorigiaGirl	Date: 04/18/2009
Ughh I feel ya...I live there now and HATE IT!
From: hatesarnel2	Date: 04/25/2009
have you read all the posting on craigslist that i guess an angry former resident left about their security deposit not being returned to them.
From: casamadridsux	Date: 05/07/2009
ive lived here for a year and im moving out at the end of may and i CANT WAIT!! I dont know how many times ive slipped on the wet walkways. our cars have been broken into several times, our tires were slashed. the women in the office are all -------. roaches everywhere. water is shut off constintley. the trees are always being cut down. the pool has no privacy anymore. its just all around the WORST place to live. no wonder it has a 4% recommendation. and if we dont get our security deposit back WE ARE taking them to COURT!!
From: jmecat17	Date: 09/15/2009
You have my sympathy. Sadly I lived there also, and when I was able to flee, they found all sorts of made up damage to my apartment and charged me $1300.00. The management stated I paid the rent 20 minutes after 7:00. They claimed they slipped my check under my door. I think I would have noticed that. 3 days later I had a "3 day quit" notice because I didn't respond to the "check under my door". My neighbor crawled over our balconies and went into my apartment and stole my left over items on the first night I was moving out. I had a bot placed on my car tire by the parking enforcement co who stated they didn't recieve my registration check that I mailed them and they refused to refund the money. After that received 2 tickets in my assigned parking. NEVER any parking. It was a nightmare..

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