I've lived at Westside Villas apartments for 5 years and this is my week living there. When I first moved in I loved the place, until management secretly changed our policy and started charging us for water, sewer and trash. The amount they charge seems arbitrary and unmetered because there are months I will be gone from my apartment and yet my costs are the same if not more for water, sewage, trash.
They have raised the rent by no less than 10% each year, with the first year raising it by 12%. They have never cleaned or replaced the carpets in my unit. After telling us we could put our satellite on the roof they made us take it down and place it on our balcony which is now over-run by trees, and they refuse to have the trees trimmed, thus making it nearly impossible to watch TV now.
The walls are like paper and you can hear the neighbors above and below you. My neighbor above me thinks he's an American Idol and sings at god aweful hours of the night, and his girlfriend's dog barks insistently. And if you live on the street facing side of the building, you'll hear the traffic as if you were standing on the road.
And unless you are running air conditioning constantly you'll find that you're either too hot or too cold in the apartment as the windows do nothing but keep the bugs out. This winter my room has felt like a meat locker.
Neighbors in my building are generally reserved and keep to themselves, we had a students move in a few years ago and common areas became targets for USC/UCLA feud pranks and vandalism. The students have since moved.
Management accused me of disturbing the peace and they placed a note in our records and on my door, but I was not even home at the time the complaint, nor was the origin of the noise ever confirmed to be originating from my apartment unit. When I confronted them about this notice that was left on my door they told me that there was nothing they could do to remove the record and if it was falsely filed then all I could do to not be cited for disturbing the peace is for me but to complain about any other neighbors that may be making the noise. I don't know how I would do that if I'm not physically at home, and even if I was, they expect me to rat on my neighbors that aren't disturbing me.
The final straw was 2 weeks ago when I came home to find my 5 lbs dog in my bathtub with the shower door closed and my bathroom door closed. She was partially wet and very scared. I called the mgmt to find out about any maintenance crew entering my apartment and they denied it and then asked if it was possible that my dog did it on her own. My dog is 5 lbs and is not even tall enough to reach the top of the tub on her hind legs! Even if she could jump in, there's not way she could have opened the sliding glass door jumped in and closed the door behind her. The mgmt associate I spoke to told me that it was probably a weird coincidence. No one else has the keys to my apartment other than my wife, my roommate and myself. My roommate is a animal lover that often volunteers for PETA and my dog is kept in my room during the day with the bathroom door closed. I honestly believe Westside Villas was lying about entering the apartment.
Overall, Westside Villas buildings are like Hollywood sets, they look good out the outside but there's nothing behind the exterior, it's all a facade. Management care only about making money and they would rather force you to move after a year and have your apartment available for months on the market than try to keep you as a long standing tenant.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/31/2009
if it is such a terrible place to live why have you been there 5 years??
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/06/2009
I too think its funny that you lived in a place you detested for so long. I don't know who was working for management when you lived here but the two employees that are there now are so nice. I have such a different experience and just renewed my lease for another year. All I know is that this is the best place I have ever lived in. When I have a problem, management has been extremely helpful.

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