655 Kelton Ave.
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Based on 27 Users
3.0
/ 5
How noisy the apartment is with 1 being quiet 5 being very loud.
1.8
/ 5
How clean the apartment is with 1 being very dirty and 5 being very clean.
1.1
/ 5
How responsive the landlord is with 1 being unresponsive and 5 being very responsive.
2.8
/ 5
How spacious the apartment is with 1 being very cramped and 5 being very spacious.
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Laundry
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Trash
PHOTOS
FLOOR PLANS
2 bed
2 bath
Monthly Rent: $3400 - $3700
Reviews (27)
2 of 3
I lived here in 2004-05 and in 2014 writing a review because of how terrible it was to live here with this property manager/landlord (Eugene Theodorescu) from hell. Back then I was paying $1,400 for just myself. I have always yearned for a place to write about how terrible it was here.
1. Firstly when looking this place I was initially interested as I was in a rush in the fall and this place had openings (its because it sucks). Firstly he demanded an initial cash deposit of $200.
**Now as a lawyer I know this is an ILLEGAL practice (Civ.Code Sec 1947.3). Just an example of the shady things Eugene does.
2. MONEY MONEY MONEY. He would take 2-3 weeks to deposit my rent check. I always feared he would claim it was late so he could charge me late fees. Second even after agreeing on the rent he argued later it wasn't enough. Third he demanded a $200 initial cash deposit (illegal as cited above), fourth he withheld most of my security deposit and took almost a year to refund a fraction of it. He automatically withheld $400 of security deposit for "repainting" unit. Another illegal deduction and substantially late. I left the place spotless. I should have sued but was too busy with law school.
3. NO GUESTS ALLOWED!!!!! - Regularly would expel my friends from the building when they visited. NO ONE CAN VISIT YOU HERE BECAUSE Eugene Theodorescu WILL KICK THEM OUT, tow their car, etc. NO SUBLETTING ALLOWED MEANS he thinks all guests are either criminals or people subletting.
4. HE HAS NO RESPECT FOR PEOPLE. He banged on my door and was HOLDING MY (short) friend's shirt collar and said "Is this THING your friend!!" I was flabbergasted at this asshat. He did this to people who visited me. He acted like he was arresting people for coming to see me. I had to escort people from the front door to the stairs to avoid the elevator and his office.
5. NO PRIVACY. I told him to stay out of my business one day and he waved his arms yelling at me some non-sense of how privileged I was to be renting from him (not in the slightest). I FELT LIKE I WAS SNEAKING INTO MY OWN APARTMENT TO STAY HERE just to avoid this guy's insulting and aggressive attitude. He also threatened to evict me, ruin my credit, keep my deposit, etc... I went to campus legal aid and then gave 30 days notice after he made all these threats (he acted like I had nowhere to go). AFTER THAT HE AVOIDED ME!!! GUY IS A STRAIGHT COWARD!
6. DO NOT BELIEVE THE MISINFORMATION. He played the part when I first came there but was dictatorial right from the start when we talked numbers. Some other Arab at the door told me it was a great place and that Eugene was such a great person! LIAR! Must have been this guy's family member...
8. NO TV, MUSIC!. There were many vacancies in August because this Eugene Theodorescu is a straight ass-hole. I watched a DVD one day and he banged on my door and yelled at me to watch the movie with headphones!!! blar and some other shit about it being too loud.
9. If you live by yourself and don't watch TV or listen to music you can stay here with no problem. Helps to be an Arab as that Arab I saw the first day had such nice things to say about the place, he apparently hated everyone else.
BTW Eugene Theodorescu if you read this. Give me back my money!
Decent apartment. Not the place for you if you ever plan on listening to music or having more than one or two friends over because the landlord will come over and be a complete jerk about the "noise". I highly recommend living some where else where the option of socializing is acceptable. Friends just aren't allowed at this facility. For the money you can find a much better place.
I was introduced to this place through my roommate's acquaintance. Because she had already been living here and knew us personally, we were allowed to take over her lease at the rate she had ($1200/2 people, 1 bedroom) with some pieces of furniture left behind for our use (a desk, mattresses, TV, TV stand). The bedroom more than comfortably fits two mattresses and two desks, and there is one closet with sliding doors (quite spacious) and one walk-in closet.
Subletting wasn't and still isn't allowed, though how much Eugene, the manager, actually cares is an unknown. I think he only cares if you're a terrible tenant. My roomie and I got by subletting the first part of the summer because we were quiet, clean, and generic-looking Asian girls. (We have a theory that he likes Asian girls, because he perceives them as docile and submissive and therefore less of a liability.)
The girl who lived there before warned us that Eugene would crack down on any sort of social gathering and threaten to expel us, but that's never happened. I've gotten in trouble once or twice with my neighbors for being loud (as in, they just pounded on the wall on their side), but never has he come up to yell at us or threaten us. And we've been loud before, though we've never thrown parties here out of fear of those threats. Also, especially through the 2012-2013 year, there have been really loud tenants who never seem to get in trouble. We're talking music with heavy, pounding bass that rattles the walls/ceilings late at night, people having very loud conversations on their balconies, people thinking they can practice singing at 8 in the morning, etc. I've taken to yelling at them from my own balcony to get them to shut up, but I've never gotten in trouble either. I'm beginning to think Eugene just invested in a pair of really good noise-canceling headphones or some earplugs, and now he just don't give a shit as long as you pay your rent.
Neither my roommate or I have ever had a bad experience with Eugene. Does he have favorites? More than likely. We're probably two of them. He's always all smiles with us, and he never fails to fix problems in our apartment promptly. Not that this means our apartment is GREAT, because it's still pretty nasty. There's some kind of mold growing on the bathroom ceiling, the carpet, even after it's been freshly cleaned, is still sketchy-looking, the mirrors are cracked, the paint job is terrible, there are water stains in our ceiling from that one time the floor above us was leaking (it was a situation requiring strategically-placed buckets)... Also, the main elevator breaks frequently. There was one time it was broken for most of the quarter. This means you have to take the stairs, which are nowhere near the elevators, or you have to walk up the ramps to get to the second level of parking, and from there you can take the garage-level secondary elevator to your floor.
The trash rooms smell rank, but that's expected. Lots of people are super lazy and just leave their trash bags just sitting on the floor instead of putting them down the trash chute, which probably contributes to the smell. The washers/dryers charge $1.25 each, and occasionally a washer will break and just be sitting full of water for a whole day. Unpleasant.
One parking spot is free; if you want a second one, it's $50 for the month (IIRC; we only had one car between the two of us). Tandem parking.
We never had any issues of possessions being stolen. I have suspicions that some of my neighbors might have been stealing my packages, as I've had more than a few of them go missing after obsessively tracking them online, but I've never confirmed this, so who knows? Sometimes Eugene will actually open up your front door and drop the package off right inside your apartment, though he'll do this after knocking/ringing the doorbell a dozen times. I'm not sure when or why he does this, as the USPS/UPS guys will usually leave the package on the shelves in the mailroom or outside your front door.
Do I recommend this place? Mmmnnnneh that's hard to say. I would have really hesitated to rent out a room in this place if it had been over $600/person. Seeing people post about prices like $750/person or more make me cringe. For that kind of price, you should just live south of Wilshire and deal with the terrible bus schedule/distance.
ALSO, before I forget: I currently live in apartment X16 (I'm pretty sure this applies to all apartments, 116/216/316/416), and there are NO WINDOWS, just one balcony. Our balcony is maybe a little bit bigger to compensate, but it doesn't beat having natural light. It also faces the inner quad area, so you will hear everything (and it will be amplified by the walls) if the other apartment faces inward as well.
Is anyone planning on leaving their apt in this complex for the 2013-2014 year? My roommates are looking for a 2 bedroom with a monthly rent of 2200 or 2300. Please email me at ericamendez42@yahoo.com or text 3106993043. We are looking to stay over summer (2013) as well
Eugene, the manager just ruins your whole college experience. it doesn't matter if you respect him, get him gifts, or talk to him politely! he will find a way to hate you and yell at you in front of everyone. He has no logic and can not handle a professional conversation.
I would rather live way far from UCLA and pay much more rent just to avoid Eugene being around.
The apartment is also very unsafe. They stole 2 of our bicycles while it was locked in the garage plus broke our car glass one time and stole our stereo system. not sure if that's something the maintenance people do or not.
Don't do it! you will regret it!
DONT DO IT!!!
Eugene Theodorescu, the maneger, used to come to my door because he heard music while walking by, in the middle of the afternoon and preceded to chew me out for a half hour while im trying to apologize and stop talking to him. definitely disturbing more neighbors than any music. He has threatened to make it so i can never rent anywhere again, to get me arrested, and basically make my life a living hell until i move out. i think he might be insane...but no matter what its not worth it.
oh and never got my deposit back. pool on the roof kinda sucks, used to be half full most the time i tried to go in. he chain smokes right by the lobby so it smells of smoke, kinda gross.
if you done have any friends, hate music, and tip toe around this would be the place for you.
my friend just brought up eugene and i realized i never wrote this review. there you go. you've been warned
Hey Everybody!
Just wanted to let you guys know that I am super happy with 655 Kelton. What would you expect from an apartment?
*Affordable rent: I am paying only 1500 for 1 bedroom apartment.If you check the other places around you will see it is more expensive.
* Maintenance: Whenever I have a maintenance problem it gets fixed right away.They even changed the light bulbs several times.
* Friendliness of the stuff: The manager is not the nicest guy in the world but he really takes care of the building. However, the manager's manager Eva is very helpful and nice. Believe me,She is reasonable. If you think the building manager Eugene is to hard to communicate, Eva is always available for you to listen to your requests about the building.
* Bad reputation: I see that some people put bad reviews about 655 Kelton, however I think that it is unfair. If you look at the big picture in these comments, you will see the real story behind it. It is either a party animal who is not tolerated in this building at all. People who want to move in to this building need to know that this is a quiet building. To keep a building this quiet next to the crazy fraternities is a hard job, but they succeed it.
If anybody has any questions or comment about the building please find me on facebook and I will get back to you right away.
Thanks
