It's a scam. Don't rent from "Westside Habitats". The property manager ghosted us after we submitted our application and paid for the application fee. She showed up a few weeks later saying she was away (for several weeks) because her family member died, and told us that we were only eligible to rent a unit with a lower rent (a few hundreds lower than this unit's rent).

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Maria is bitter, spiteful, rude, and predatory. Quite possibly the worst landlord I’ve ever met. If you ever get a chance to speak with her just make sure you are right with God, cause that’s what it will take to remain civil. Promise she lucky I found Christ. With that I leave my final statement... F*** you Maria

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Having just moved out of this apartment I can give you my fresh insight into this apartment. The building is pretty cozy and very close to campus and in a very quiet and nice part of Westwood. However, dealing with management was one of the most difficult parts of living here. Management is extremely unprofessional, condescending, and simply rude to its tenants from this building and their other buildings.
Management always delayed any repairs in the building and always threatened to charge its tenants for repairs (illegally). Damages were not even due to negligence but rather just normal wear and tear. There is a lack of organization within their office and it quite difficult to reach the proper person.
Management is VERY predatory towards students and WILL try to rip you off if you let them, DO NOT LET THEM! Know your rights when trying to get your deposit back and they will have no choice but to obey the law, trust me. They thrive off of first-time lessors and will take advantage every time they can.

Management lacks transparency, i.e they initially wrote a lease agreement indicating they would pay for electricity, which they later revoked AFTER we all signed it and moved into the apartment. When we expressed our concern and confusion management told us we were very lucky to be in this apartment because of the price and in a very threatening tone (get used to this) wrote to us the following:

"Again we apologize for the mix-up, and as soon as our office realized - we sent over a new lease. As a courtesy, we are willing to give you $100 off next month's rent.

This is not a game to us and if you do not feel comfortable signing this new lease, we understand if your group would like to move out and find another place to live.

Thank you for your cooperation."

My favorite part is "like to move out and find a new place to live". Again, this new lease was dropped on us AFTER we had moved in. Please be careful if you are considering this property. My advice to you if you do proceed with leasing here are the following:
1. Read your lease agreements and highlight all the important details
2. Keep a copy of all your emails with management
3. Contact student legal services if you need to **when
4. Do not let them bully you into losing your money, you have rights and they will not do anything if you can point out which laws they are breaking.

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Lack of professionalism within the management team is the main culprit for the low review.

It all started with their inability to produce a contract without having to re-do it later for “mistakes” that should not have been there in the first place. If they’re going to use a condescending tone when communicating with the tenants via email (probably because “they’re students and don’t know what they’re doing”), they should at the bare minimum be able to produce the right contract at the beginning and set an example.

A broken washer machine (there’s only ONE for about 6 units) was left like this for around a month; even after notifying management. The fire alarm of one unit was left without proper inspection and kept emitting an alarm for days before management finally sent someone to fix this after being notified.

Communication with management is a BIG issue when it comes from the tenant, but they again hold a condescending tone when they’re the ones addressing (expect a bonus on unprofessional tone when the next apartment hunting season begins!).

The parking structure of this apartment is incredibly annoying to get in and out of due to its poor design. It is very possible to deal damage to your car’s paint if not driven carefully. In an emergency scenario, it would be more helpful to just park outside than inside the premises.

When it came to returning the security deposit, management did not comply with California Civil Code 1950.5(g)(s). This meant that the security deposit check came with a VERY professional delay of 9 days after the legal timeframe for this to be done had expired.

Pros? Centric to UCLA and Westwood.

If anybody is interested in this apartment (which I do not recommend), know your rights as a tenant and do not come expecting professionalism from management.

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For those of you, apartment surfing Ill provide a shortlist of Pros/Cons of this place and then you can decide if its a good spot for you or not:

PROS:
- Good location to school and Westwood

CONS:
- A month late on security deposit return (we threatened legal action because it was 9 days late according to state laws)
- Unethical management - They updated the lease after we signed the original lease - when we expressed anger in it they used our low rent price and lucky living situation against us
- Slow management - the washing machine was broken for OVER a month although we notified them of the issue early on
- Management is a team of liars - READ AND MEMORIZE your lease! On more than one instance they have tried to lie to use. For example, the lease said that we are responsible for electricity and garbage - but we were charged for electricity, garbage, AND waste.
-Extremely rude management - everyone is on a power trip
- Facilities are not up kept
- Cockroaches in apartment

Final say: Roxanne is the person you'll be talking to throughout the apartment searching process. She seems to be in charge of all the operations. Although management may seem nice and friendly at first- they DO take advantage of students by lying, power abuse, and overall arrogance. Did not have a pleasant experience with Roxanne and would not recommend this apartment to anyone.

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