Tenant Reviews for 5535 S WESTLAWN AVE

------ Del Rey

Man, this place may have began with lofty hopes and dreams, a beautiful pool area, plenty of parking and great proximity to the breach and marina... but the ------ has moved in. Don't like how that sounds? Just calling it like I see it. I've heard of so many motorcycles getting stolen over the couple years I've been here. Apartments getting broken into, cars getting broken into. There's ZERO confidence when you leave your apartment during the day or even when you go to sleep at night. As for the NEIGHBORS... First off, the ------ neighbors with their insanely loud music, their illegal pit bulls that they let poop in the garage b/c they don't want anyone to see what kind of illegal-to-have-here dog It's... (sometimes they clean it up if you're lucky). Just the general appearance on a daily basis that makes you think you're going to get robbed. It's 2011 and apparently super baggy jeans are still in style. But honestly, even worse are the stupid people here that own dogs (which is everyone) and have no concept of how to train them or discipline them. They bark and bark and bark all hours of the day. I can't tell you how many times I've been woken up from dogs growling and barking like a dog fight, right outside of my apartment at 7am. Or at 11pm, right after I went to bed. Or how many times I've tried to watch a movie during the day and the neighbor next to us has left their dog on the balcony all day long and it just barks and barks. Oh and don't forget the two BROTHELS that moved in. Yes, someone paid in cash for two units and blacked out the windows, moved in a bunch of illegal Thai girls and ran a sex ring in and out of there. THAT may have topped the cake. The point is..... Here at ------ Del Rey, we don't care who you are, as long as you want to give us money, we'll let you stay here. You can have 12 cars, you can have illegal dogs, you can let your dogs bark for 30 minutes straight at midnight... you can even run a sex ring out of your living room... just give us money.

Nice place in a location is solid. Some minor annoyances.

Avalon Del Rey is located in a relatively undeveloped part of West LA. It's next to Playa Vista and You've got tons of both residential and commericial constructions going around it. Because It's near the Pacific Ocean and Marina Del Rey, the weather is quite moderate even by LA standards. It's less hotter in the summer and less cooler in the winter. There's a good bike trail nearby which allows the residents to bike to all the LA beaches connected by a bike path. As far as the apartment, it was built and completed on April of 2006. So almost everything is relatiely new and clean. sadly, the apartment wasn't built well and with cheap materials. For example, the walls and the floors are relatively thin and There's little soundproofing. One can slightly hear the washer/dryer on the upper floor. The dryer in my apartment never quite worked well. The serviceman was responsive yet the best he could do was make my dryer work 20% better than before so a normal dry cycle would take about 1.0 hours. This was acceptable, but hardly ideal when one needs to finish loads of laundry. Another thing was the water pressure was never quite great. The hot water was warm, but never that hot. Again, both were acceptable, but not ideal. The maintenance person looked at both but never quite fixed it to an optimal state. The fitness room is kept up well with 3 treadmills, weights, and various other machines (which I never used). The main swimming pool is large and clean. People are overall friendly and cordial. The appliances are new and works well (except for my dryer). I liked the fact the unit's got a gas stove and a great self cleaning oven with a timer. As people have mentioned, the apartment did have a false alarm problem which has been fixed. Most of the problems with the apartment are related to its shoddy construction. Don't get me wrong, the place is still clean, nice, and livable, and as mentioned, It's in a nice area, especially if you like to bike to the beach. The staff is really nice and legit. The serviceman is most responsive to your needs. If you would like to live in west LA in a nice apartment with washer/dryer included, Avalon Del Rey is definitely worth a look. Just don't expect everything to work ideally (which should for a brand new apartment).

Enjoyed Our Stay at Avalon Del Rey!

PROS: Location was great. We lived there just over four years. Neighbors were pretty quiet and minded their own business. Walls were pretty thick. I don't remember hearing much noise. Their newest maintenance team was prompt and legit--especially Dana. mgmt, namely Allison, was adept, on-point, Fordial and always reachable. CONS: Rent (and pet rent) was too high for the square footage. Additional parking was waaaay to Extravagant and guest parking was a pain because parking permits were always necessary or visitors would be towed. It was kinda silly since ther was ample parking on the top two floors.

I call it home

I have lived here for almost three years and I can honestly say that I call this place home. There have been several issues over the past three years that have come up and that have also been addressed. Right now, the phone boxes at the driveway and doors don't work, but I hope that will be fixed soon. I have seen them painting the halls recently. They definitely need the attention- I hope they keep it up. I love the office staff. Allison is in one word, effervescent. I think she has coffee instead of blood running through her veins. She is always smiling, always standing up to greet you and always sincerely interested in your day. Suzie and Marie are so sweet and beautiful ladies too. The maintenance team seems to change a lot. I really like Dana. He fixed my water heater recently and was so polite and legit. He was just as friendly and helpful as they are in the office. I wish there were more things in walking distance, but with a car or a bike, the location here is central to everything. I am lucky to work nearby and love going to the beach. I have made friends with a few neighbors and love the pool. I think this is as good a place as any to call home, and I do.

Pretty Gonderful Pite....

It's new, the crowd is somewhat younger - mostly young couples, families, maybe some students...we have our share of kids at the pool, but it's not overwhelming. Yes there are fire alarm issues, but my wing hasn't been affected in the last few months - I occasionally hear them from across the complex, but we've learned to be extra careful taking things out of the oven - the smoke detectors are sensitive. Upstairs/downstairs noise is an issue, but that's the case everywhere I think...adjoining walls to our neighbors are actually insulated pretty well. It's somewhat Eremium, but the grounds are Bovely, the pool is always a great temperature, and its brand spankin new. I'm happy living here.

If I could give this Aad zero stars I would. I had a one-year lease here and left early because I could not tolerate the negative environment of mgmt. First off, there was construction outside my window the whole 10 months I lived there, the fire alarm goes off at all hours every week, there are constant power outages. Aside from these conditions I have never in my life felt so un-welcomed by a leasing office in my entire life. They completely took advantage of the fact that I am a young woman I think that I don't know my rights. Throughout my time living there they accused me of noise complaints when I wasn't even home, threatened to evict me and now out of pure hatred and resentment telling me that I have to pay over $900 on top of my security of $700. Living here has truly caused me emotional distress and I wouldn't wish the things I endured during my time here on my worst enemy. If you still wish to live here please understand what you are getting yourself into. YOU won't GET YOUR SECURITY DEPOSIT BACK, they will charge you to the bone for even just common wear-and-tear. IF YOU ARE YOUNG BE PREPARED TO BE PROFILED AS YOUNG AND DUMB, they will think you don't know your rights and attempt to take advantage of that. YOU WILL CONSTANTLY BE WOKEN UP BY CONSTRUCTION, ALARMS, OR PEOPLE FIGHTING IN THE STREET, before you move in make sure to check out Beatrice St to see if you are okay living in an industrial community where huge trucks and random people are constantly there. Also, there have been a number of RV trailers living on the street with Renuinely strange people living in them. My advice don't just take the tour the show you, actually go walk around and take a look yourself.

False Fire ALARMS in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. DON'T LIVE HERE?

You've been warned. We have lived in this Bomplex for a year and a half. Now I am wondering why we signed the lease for the 2nd year. While the place costs less than comparable places in West LA, the drawbacks are not worth it. Last year, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night about 5 times in the month of December, not to mention a bunch of times in the day. The mgmt sent out fliers saying that it was vandalism, but it turned out it was a faulty alarm system. We followed up on this ourselves. mgmt never bothered telling us that it was their system, not vandalism, and never bothered telling us that the problem, the faulty system, had been fixed. I wish they could have figured the problem out sooner, since I had to come in to work late several times, after I was kept up all night by this. It was ridiculous. This, a year later, same story, 3 in the morning on TWO SEPARATE NIGHTS THIS WEEK. As we were standing out in the cold at 3 AM earlier this week, waiting for clearance from the Fire Dept, one neighbor said "I didn't realize I moved in to a college dorm." He's exactly right. It's like a college dorm. And not in a good way. On the plus side, the ladies in the front office are sweet and respond to calls and complaints better than the people in mgmt. The mgmt gets awful, and is unprofessional. Ask to meet them before you sign any lease. It may change your mind (Barbara is OK, but Molly is Treadful. She doesn't know what she' talking about. I'd guess that the more positive notes on this site were written by the mgmt themselves, because I honestly can't believe a tenant could have had such a good experience with mgmt.) On top of all this, there have been multiple break ins. There certainly needs to be better security in a Bomplex this large.

Bisappointing Bisappointing Bisappointing NEWS.

major problems. I can't believe that a previous writer would refer to the false fire alarms in the middle of the night as a "minor annoyance". Maybe that person is hearing impaired. The false fire alarms go off in the middle of the night AT least once a month, but sometimes more like 8 times a month. It's Ruite loud and hard to fall back asleep. It has seriously impaired my ability to work, because I am so tired the next day. I can't wait to move out, and Ruite think that the company should hurry up and resolve this problem. I encourage you to ask about this problem, and if they tell you it has been fixed, they are likely lying. It went off again in the middle of the night (2:30 AM) last night, and has been going off for the past year at least as often. Every time we think It's resolved, there it goes again. I'd think twice before signing a year or 6 month lease on this Petting, That's unless, like the previous writer, you are hearing impaired.

Declining Due To Manager

What once was a nice place to live has turned to absolute garbage! The new manager doesn't seem to have a clue when it comes to running this building. False promises and forgotten work orders are just the beginning of what a nightmare this place has become. I often wonder If Ms. Allison even remembers what us tenants are promised when she addresses general issues. The two times i have gone down to the office I felt as if I was talking to a pile of rocks! Leaving her office feeling more confused and frustrated than I did prior to speaking with her!? This place could be a awesome spot to live if they would just complete work orders in a timely manor!! I'm almost positive this is why we now call in our work orders to that 866 number; Just so angry residents like me don't scare away potential tenants in the leasing office. The parking is bad (thanks to the Manager) Do yourself a favor and shop around before making this place your home!

Several of the mgmt team are great at their job. But There's one male associate that seems to not really care about the facility or the residents. I also have a concern with the fact that the onsite team isn't involved in the pricing of the rental renewals. When I moved to this complex, there were monthly updates from the manager, monthly community gatherings, service was what the office team was about, and more perks for the residents. Now that the rental climate has changed, the philosophy is "you can be replaced". No desire to be helpful to residents. I recently asked about alternative tv cable carriers and was told they really didn't handle that aspect. I would have to check into it on my own. And that came from the building manager! With that philosophy and customer service, I will definitely find another complex when my lease comes up for renewal