Our experience at Berkeley Heights was terrible. I originally was shown a model and the exterior of the apartment we were to rent. We specified that we needed an apartment with as few steps as possible and were shown a unit with just six steps to the front door. We were coming from out of town and I called twice to the management to ask if all was OK with the rental. Both times we were told every thing was fine. When we arrived during the December storms and power outage we signed our lease agreement and noted that the incorrect apt number was on the lease. It was then we were told that the apartment we had agreed to was not available. The only option we had was a lower apartment with a full flight of stairs. Because we had no other place to go we took the apartment.

The apartment was in very poor condition. The floors were dirty, the carpet was very dirty and had fleas. It took three months of begging to get rid of the fleas. The dryer vent was unattached and because the management gave us the all of the apartment keys it took two months to get that corrected as we were in and out of town. There was trash in our stair well, trash outside the unit which included abandoned child car seats, bottles, cups, two window screens and an assortment of other things. I asked repeatedly for this to be cleaned up.

Management did not correctly explain how we would be charged for utilities. When we asked about this the manager was very rude and said we should have read the rental agreement. Water was usually $56 but on our last month there jumped to $99.76, so that when our rental refund was computed we owed them money! Often the assistant managers seemed to know little about how to remedy issues and the manager in charge was often rude.

As we were out of town often I really did not feel comfortable complaining about anything until we moved out and found a much better place to live.

User Responses
From: seattles	Date: 08/05/2007
nothappyrenter62, For starters in December during the storms there were no power outages so please don???t embellish the conditions, as I still live in this wonderful community. In the State of Washington if you submit a written request to the have broken or unlivable conditions remedied in your apartment,and they are not addressed within 14 days, the Landlord, Tenant laws allow for you to have them fixed, and deducted the cost from your rent. If you were out of town so much written communication is your best documentation. A begging phone call is not the legal way to remedy a problem. It sounds to me like your were not very prudent by not reading your rental agreement thoroughly. It sounds like ???being out of town so much??? you probably should have just stayed in a motel. Always remember the old adage buyers beware. Had this been me, I would have felt misrepresented and not accepted the apartment, additionally I would have stayed in a motel, started looking for a new apartment community, and sued Berkley Heights for damages. Remember ignorance is no excuse for mistakes that you make.
From: nothappyrenter62	Date: 08/18/2007
I don't know where this person was in December, 2006 but there were power outages from Portland to north of Seattle. While there were no outages at Berkeley Heights, in some areas outages lasted two weeks. The hotels were filled to capacity with locals who had no power, we had no place to go. This responder is correct, begging phone calls are not the way a problem with an apartment should be solved. The first time I reported the problem in person to office staff the problem should have been solved. The whereabouts of a tenant should have no impact on the maintenance of an apartment. What a remarkable response from a seemingly disinterested party.

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