ComplaintsforEquity Residential

• Initial Complaint

  08/24/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our apartment has a dysfunctional a/c unit since we moved in and it has not been replaced.We moved into our current unit in April 2020 for our 3rd year at *********. Our first complaint for the broken a/c was on 8/18/20 and maintenance provided a temporary fix. That kept things going until 9/3/20 when we had to request maintenance again for a temp fix. Since it was fall we were told the unit would be replaced in the spring.When spring rolled around our we tested our a/c at the end of March getting ready for the hot season and it didn't work. We requested maintenance on 3/29/21 and instead of a new unit, they provided a temporary fix. This happened again on 5/23/21 and again on 6/29/21. Both of these times they were able to provide a temporary fix within a few days until now. Our most recent request was 8/16/21. Our apartment has been almost uninhabitable for 9 days now. It's literally too hot to **** or open the blinds and my wife has been working from home in the dark.

  

  Business response

  09/09/2021

  The residents put in a couple of tickets for their A/C. The team found the evaporator coil was leaking and could not be repaired in June. We ordered the coil over 8 weeks ago and it was on backorder. We provided them with 2 portable A/C units while they waited for the coil. The portable A/C units could only be installed in the loft area so the apartment was unable to cool efficiently. We reached out to other contractors and they had the same issue getting the part. Ultimately, we replaced the entire A/C unit last Saturday 8/28 and the A/C is now functioning properly.
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/24/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Equity residatal has property in Woodland Hills called Bella Vista Apartment. We moved in in March and moved out august 5 due to unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the apartment complex. There are mice all over the apartment and dog f**** and urine. This led to my newborn to have rashes and a slip and fall right after my surgery. I complained to Bella vista with not much assistance. I had to move out and break the lease due to continues issue . It was agreed upon that once moved out our apartment would be put up for rent right away so we do not have to pay for vacated apartment for long. We vacated the apartment on august 5 and the apartment was to be put up on rent by the 08/12. I keep checking the status of the apartment and they keep extending it further by 2 weeks. When I call to ask the reason why I do not get a response from them. They keep expecting me to pay for a vacated apartment and extending the move in date for future potential resident.

  

  Business response

  09/09/2021

  We are sorry to hear about your experience with us. We strive to provide our residents the best living experience possible and do whatever we can to assist our residents in addressing any concerns that arise. If you have any issues regarding pests in your apartment, we kindly ask that you bring those to the attention of our staff so they can address these issues immediately. We do not see that this was ever reported or were not able to identify any signs of this when you vacated the apartment. We are a pet friendly community and apologize if pet owners are not being responsible and picking up after our furry residents however we have staff available onsite each day to monitor and clean the grounds. If an area needs to be cleaned due to any kind of pet waste that was left behind, we encourage all residents to please contact the office as you have so we can ensure a clean community for everyone. Residents do have the option to break their lease early and can either choose to pay a settlement fee or pay accelerated rent to do so. As we have discussed with you, all apartments are made available to rent as soon as we receive notice. Make ready dates can vary based on the date someone moves out and our maintenance schedule as well as vendor availability but all apartments are moved into as soon as possible for our new incoming residents. Estimated schedules are put in place when notice is given but we understand adjustments may need to be made based on the condition of the apartment when someone moves out. As we have discussed, there was not a two week adjustment made from 8/12 and your apartment was re-rented and re-occupied less than 3 weeks after you moved out. If you have further questions regarding your move out or statement of deposit, please contact the office at ******************.

• Initial Complaint

  08/20/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The issue is that the fire alarms constantly go off at these apartments & the staff has no plan in place for how to handle this situation. This is important because there have been several false alarms, lasting several minutes on end. This team lacked professionalism is all areas when the alarms were going on and what is supposed to be understood as an emergency (meaning they did not take anything seriously).*************************** has promised to improve their communication with residents during these false alarm situations, and I strongly believe their team needs to be trained on the seriousness of these situations, how to handle residents who are panicked/upset, and they need to develop a system for communicating with the residents considering this happens SO often.It would be ideal if they could fix their systems but I understand there are factors there. I would like to hold this business accountable and know what system/training they are going to have in place for the future.

  

  Business response

  08/27/2021

  
  
  To Whom It ************************* you for reaching out to us regarding this inquiry. 
  
  Our life safety fire alarms are in place and routinely inspected on an annual basis to ensure that they are working as intended. In addition to the required inspections, we also have a vendor that monitors the alarm system, so that when an alarm is triggered, someone from our team is notified, in addition to the local fire department.
  
  With that being said, when the fire alarms are set off during our office hours, our team's first priority is to assess the emergency and where it is coming from, which is why we do not answer phones or emails when the alarms are going off. All residents have been told that they should treat fire alarms as a real emergency, until they hear otherwise. Once we have confirmed that there is no real emergency, we will send out an email and/or text message. If the alarms are happening after office hours, the fire department will need to respond accordingly. Typically once they have verified there are no issues, they will disarm the alarms. 
  
  Previous fire alarms at The ****** have been disarmed for various reasons. Some of those involve residents setting them off (smoking in stairwells, opening front doors when smoke detectors are going off from cooking, someone pulling the alarm levers, etc). But other times, it can be mechanical system related, like it was a few weeks ago. The elevator machine room's temperature became extremely hot because the air conditioner shut down; therefore, setting off a "burning-like" smell that triggered the alarms, as it is intended to do in case of emergencies.  
  
  We cannot guarantee that the safety life system alarms will not be triggered or armed going forward. However, our team is trained to respond as needed during business hours, and we will continue to communicate with our residents when these events occur. 
  
  Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns regarding this matter. 
  
  Thank you for your time. 
  
  ***************************
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/04/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bella Vista Apartment Comples (Equity Residential) refuses to fix our air conditioner unit. It has been over 3 months with this issue. Temperature in our apartment is reaching the high 90's.

  

  Business response

  08/06/2021

  Thank you for sharing this information. We treat A/C calls as an emergency and respond and address them immediately. We have a service team member on call 24/7 to respond to any emergencies that arise. We would not allow our residents to go without some form of cool air in their home a day yet alone 3 months. This issue was regarding the efficiency of the A/C unit and the time it takes to cool down. When we experience temperatures in the high 90s or higher, we encourage our residents to not allow their A/C to get above 78 degrees to allow it to cool down in a reasonable amount of time. If an A/C is left off and the inside temperature is above 85 degrees and the exterior temperature is above 95, it will take much more time to cool down. We have responded to the residents' requests, and did not identify any issues of no cool air. The issue was the time it took to cool down, however each time we responded, the A/C was off which would cause the A/C to work longer and harder to reach the desired temperature. 
  
  

  Customer response

  08/07/2021

  The a/c unit never cools down below 81 degrees. My wife and I have turned on the unit when the temperature was 81 degrees last Saturday at 10 am and at 4:30 pm.the temperature was still 81 degrees inside the apartments. Last week your company even refused a portable a/c unit for our bedroom. They simply said no, we had to sleep ok the floor in our living room in 92 degree weather. At 5 am after a long night of no sleep, I opened our balcony doors and bats came in and started flying around our apartment. It is inhuman to deny a tenant that pays rent on time every single month in the amount of $3,100 a portable a/c unit. The front office is extremely unprofessional and rude, yet we have continued to pay our rent and fulfilled our contractual obligations while your company for 3 months has failed to fulfill theirs.

  

  Business response

  08/16/2021

  We completed additional modifications to the A/C unit in the apartment. We have spoken with the resident and they have confirmed everything is now working as intended. Thank you.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/30/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have lived in The ********** at ********************** in ******* for under 90 days and Im requesting to break my lease due to the unlivable conditions that I am being subjected to on a daily basis. The management company took 48 hours to get back to me regarding my concerns and has offered completely unsatisfactory solutions to the many problems. They are refusing to let me out of my lease or compensate me. - The management is horrible. - They denied me an accessible parking space despite me being disabled which is illegal.- My apartment is unlivable due to excessive heat. There is no AC port, which means I have to cover my only windows to run A/C which is mandatory to live in this apartment.- I am unable to use my phone in my unit because of horrible reception which is unsafe for a disabled person.- They are charging me a premium for this unit, the patio, and den, which I cannot use. And more.

  

  Business response

  08/04/2021

  Once this was brought to management's attention, via the email sent to resident relations, we offered to investigate the problems with heat in the apartment. We have a meeting scheduled with our facilities director tomorrow morning at 6 am to see if the solution we've come up with will suffice for this resident. When offering suggestions on how to overcome her many issues with the building and, she refused to acknowledge any of them as solutions. The resident was also provided the document to request a reasonable accommodation for the parking space and we are awaiting a response. She has since provided a letter from her doctor to our RM and he is working with our legal department to allow her out of the lease without a penalty with this letter. 
  
  

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