Let me first start off that the apartment premises look very nice from the outside and that the apartment when we moved in looked great. Too bad it was all for show and completely fell apart. I always wondered why the previous tennant moved his whole family only after staying here for a year. I did the same :( It's customary in Los Angeles to included an asbestos waiver when you sign a lease. This is to protect them against being sued from having asbestos in an old building. After reading my list of bad marks, you be the judge of how much asbestos you are being exposed to in this place.

1) Water faucets pour out brownish-red rusty muck that smells and tastes(yes, in desperate times of dehydration we have partaken of the brown kool-aid) so bad that the pets wont even drink it.

2) leaks everywhere that leave your apartment smelling like mildew. Faucet knobs come loose often and I had to break out the toolbox and tighten them. Shower would not completely turn off costing us higher than usual water usage charges.

3) When we first moved in, the apartment smelled pretty horrible, but it was masked by a new paint smell. the place was fine until the paint smell went away and the true horrible odor was uncovered. I don't even know how to describe it other than a chemical smell that you can't get used to, and doesn't smell healthy at all. I'm not sure what asbestos smells like, but it could be the source.

4) Toilet pipes in the guest bathroom rusted solid and rendered the toilet inoperable. The toilet previously made a horrible hissing sound all the time. We basically gave up on using our second bathroom at all.

5) PHONES! There were FOUR phone outlets in our apartment. Only ONE of them worked and that was only after we had the phone company's technician come over about FIVE times to troubleshoot and fix the only one he said was repairable. The other ones were due to trouble in the wiring behind the wall and the technician said it could get very expensive to fix those, and would most likely come out of my pocket. Needless to say, my wife and I were without a working phone for about a month. This didn't help things much since my wife was looking for a new career at the time and potential employers couldn't even get through to her.

6) This is actually related to #1 but we washed our dishes by hand because the dishes from the washing machine would have some really nasty residue on them no matter how many cycles we ran them. I think this is due to the rust and other sediment in the water. Washing them by hand, sometimes we would be paranoid enough to boil rinse water and pour it through coffee filters onto our dishes. (This was only when the water was really really reddish-brown).

7) This was never really a concern of mine, and those who have lived in near or around the hood know what I'm talking about, BUT, if you have been buttered up by the nice things that Madrid Apartments are saying about the surrounding area please keep in mind that while the people here are very friendly (not openly though), these apartments literally brush the outskirts of Inglewood. If you don't mind the sirens at night, the occasional sounds of gunfire, or intense drug-induced arguments on the street (or parking lot, for that matter) outside your window, then ignore this item.

8) Landlords Don't Care unless they feel they will be liable for something. Even then, it's rough to get them to jump for you. Leaky water heater, sure perhaps they'll fix it. Rust water, or leaky pipes. Better go down to your local do-it-yourself store and buy some tools and guides.

9) parking used to be a total nightmare, but I think the city forced them to clean that up and cars are forced to go one way in this VERY TIGHT partking structure. If you are leary about parking in a tight space, then I recommend you leave this place alone.

10) NOISE. Believe it or not, the airplanes are not the major source of noise. It's the traffic outside, people playing their music in the parking lot REALLY REALLY LOUD, and the fact that the apartments are right next to a hotel where the truck docks are right outside your window. Nights I have to raise my tv volume to combat extremely loud music from the truck area, people cursing at eachother, or even some really smart guys working on their truck with powertools (LOUD!) at like 3 in the morning. Complaints didn't do anything and the cops would rather not touch this place. They have lots of real crime to deal with in this town, so they won't really heed your noise complaint. In fact, I had one guy laugh at me over the phone telling me to move (so I did). heh.

I'm sure there are a multitude of other things that I could complain about, but those are the major ones I think. Our quality of living was only improved by the nice men and women from various places like the cable company and phone company who tried very hard to fix the problems(with very little success) that we were having with our wiring at no extra charge.

Whatever you do. Please, if you are willing to spend a significant amount of your hard-earned money (and in California managing your money is a SCIENCE!) on an apartment, DON'T spend it on a slum like this. While this is certainly not my worst living experience, it has been for this kind of money. It truly is a rip-off. Remember. Don't get suckered into their pretty fixup when they try to get you to rent. I guarantee that it will fall apart soon.

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