Another Greystar Victim

Although SeaSol’s fight with Greystar, over their attempt to rob some of our members, ended in victory in August 2015, Greystar continues to prey upon thousands of tenants throughout the U.S. This is the story of another Greystar tenant, in her own words:


I moved in to Oceano Warner Center after being lied to that this was a Non Smoking Property.  It appears from old Greystar notices they have been unable to keep this bldg a Non Smoking property going back to 2013. And if that is the case they need to tell tenants PRIOR to moving in. 
 
I found out during my move in that the couple underneath me smokes. While it was brought to management’s attention nothing was ever done and to this day they still smoke.
 
Since the first week living here neighbors would approach me with their stories of hating Greystar and the property manager.  Their calls to management were not answered, maintenance would quite often have to make 2 trips to your apartment to get things fixed and an overall incompetence was noticed by many.  At first I thought they were off but when you hear the same story over and over you start to pay attention. And when you start to experience the same incidents you realize it’s not the “nutty” tenants it’s GREYSTAR.
 
Going back to 2013 Greystar was deceiving tenants and prospects abut a broken Jacuzzi during tours and in CL ads.  A week wouldn’t go by when someone wasn’t complaining about the never ending broken Jacuzzi.  I decided to call Building and Safety and low and behold the permit to fix the jacuzzi (which was foolishly built on non-compact soil) was only pulled in Feb of 2015 (attached.)
 
So basically they deceived 100’s if not more knowing full well that in fact the Jacuzzi was not going to be complete “in two weeks” rather it was almost 2 years.  Why lie?  What is the point in manipulating someone into their home knowing full well the tenants will get angry and want to move?  I guess the answer is they do not care because they will then charge you thousands to move out.  And this brings me to my desire to implement…a Renters Lemon Law — if you are going to lie to a tenant you better pay for that tenant to move out. 
 
One weekend a faulty sprinkler went off destroying the property of 5 apartments.  Management claimed there was a fire but the Fire Department confirmed there was NO fire.  I then demanded inspections (turns out they had never been done before) and in November of 2015 they finally had their FIRST “Annual Inspection.” 
 
My story gets worse and worse as after I contacted the owners, TIAA, the harassment escalated.  One Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the pool and a maintenance guy walked up with a running hose and dropped it into the water – maybe a foot from my body.  It was clear that it was meant to get me to go away and so that’s what I did.
 
Up until recently the pool was filthy every weekend – when one complained about the filth their excuse was that the cleaning crew only comes 3 days a week.  But they have staff that walk by the pool every day – would it have killed them to use the pool fork? Even with the staff living on the property there was never any pride in ownership.  After months and months and months of complaints and photos being sent to TIAA they seem to be making an effort but I think it’s short lived – and when I leave it will go back to the way it was – because most here don’t even know who the owners are.  No point in cleaning if the owners can’t get weekly updates.  Ya know?
 
They have tried to pay me to leave but I love my home. Why don’t they leave?  I mean even the owners confirmed there is 65% turnover every year.  Why is that?  When they realized they couldn’t buy me off they served me with a Non Renewal. I will fight it on principle alone.  It’s odd how many women across the country receive Non Renewals from Greystar – one wonders if there is a pattern. I literally have never heard of one man receiving a Non Renewal.  Thankfully Fair Housing is looking into it. 
 
As though I had not been through enough…their tow company (they need one due to our parking spots being taken every week) gave my home number out to a male tenant and what did Greystar do?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  
 
The scariest part of all of this is two weeks before they served me the Non Renewal a gal contacted two banks I bank at and pretended to be me on recorded calls. Both accounts accessed were only used for rent checks and the calls (5 in total) were made Nov 13th – Nov 20th.  The caller was dumb enough to ask if my rent check had cleared and knew the exact dollar amount of my rent only known to my landlord.  They then proceeded to ask about my opening and closing dates, my balances and where my money was coming from.  Scary does not even begin to describe what I was feeling when i found this all out.  I will let your readers (and a jury) connect the dots. My file is supposed to be protected by Greystar.  CA law states that you are not allowed to use a tenant’s information for nefarious reasons.  Doesn’t seem like Greystar (nor TIAA) care what the laws are. 
 
It’s so hard to grasp how TIAA, New York Life, Blackstone and TruAmerica are in bed with this company who charges monthly fees not in the lease, does not return security deposits and engages in false advertising – not to mention FRAUD by impersonating a tenant. On a human level I honestly don’t get it.  I am in for a long drawn out court case but I certainly can’t allow anyone to impersonate me and get away with it.  And when will it end?  They have my social security number, my drivers license and my date of birth so essentially they will be able to find me regardless of where I am living.  It’s a scary thought and somewhat stifling to be on the opposing side against companies like Greystar and TIAA.
And to realize all I did was demand that a so-called “luxury” building be kept up and that Greystar no longer engage in false advertising.
Well it could be worse…I could be one of the Berkeley victims.