All 25 tenant reviews.

“I lived here for almost 2 years. On the positive side: the maintenance workers are incredible. Very kind and helpful. The tenants typically keep to themselves and are reasonably friendly. Some need to pick up after their dogs. On the negative side: the safety issues are not quickly addressed. Parking lot lights will be out for weeks and the "security gates" are out dated and often broken, left open. Cars are regularly broken into, with a lot of police activity. From SWAT being around my building at least twice to almost weekly posts of tenants reporting police activity. I've read female tenants stories of being physically assaulted with AVA not having video from their broken cameras. My first week there, reports of a naked man walking the floor below us. My last week there, another naked man on the roof. I used to say that living there was like a mid level motel during spring break. But this is Los Angeles near Hollywood. With over 10,000 units, it's almost like a little city. Then I became aware of only 1-2 guards at night. They are under staffed with limited knowledge of the complex. It took over an hour and several phone calls/text for a guard to meet me at my parking space as he was lost and turned around. Fortunately it wasn't an emergency. With no onsite emergency contacts, (besides the guard shack previously mentioned) during a huge brush fire I was connected with a call center in some other state. They knew nothing of the complex or what was going on. After that I would only contact local authorities. I was waiting to write my review until my deposit was returned. Almost 2 months later I finally received an "itemized" invoice with photos from another apartment. So now to small claims court. They are not honest, nor honorable in practice. Every time someone moves (I have screenshots of at least 3-4 other previous tenants going through this right now) it's $500 for a new stovetop, they ignore rent control rules and California law hoping people will pay and go on.”

“??PLEASE READIf you are considering living at AVA READ…I currently live here. Another case of big corporations buying properties and doing minimal renovations, installing the cheapest appliances and cutting back on almost everything. I have lived here on 3 separate occasions and currently live here. The first time it was under the old owners, second time under Ava and was decently priced because of the pandemic at 2200 for a 2 bedroom unit. However I was scammed when I moved out and was not given my security deposit back even though I left the apartment literally perfect and had a cleaning crew hired to help me that day. I appealed the decision and it was upheld by Ava (big surprise because they are the judge and juror) Currently, I am in an identical 2 Bedroom unit for $2700 (500 more than my old one) for no reason other than AVA hikes the prices by 20-30% at a time to make the most profit. As of now I know neighbors paying even more. AVA does not include any utilities in your base rent and seems to overcharge regularly for the ones they include in your bill as separate charges. This extra cost can add up. The security is a huge problem, with cars getting broken into and occasional dangerous situations occurring, yet the private security team spends their time lounging on their phones and driving around in golf carts demanding that people at the pool area show their keys while we are in the water clearly without keys. Parking is limited and they ignore guests using our reserved spots but occasionally will tow. I personally was towed for no reason and could not get the money back. $400. My car was vandalized and cost $1000 to fix and they offered no help looking at security footage unless police were involved which I have asked for and LAPD has ignored my case. Lastly, they refuse to update the signs to more clearly show guests where they can park, which is very specific spots or parts of a lot. It’s near impossible to receive deliveries from DoorDash or Uber because of this mess and the fact that only 1 of the three entrances has a person for guests. Most of the time people arrive at the wrong gate and food and deliveries get thrown over the fence every day. The poor maintenance team is working 12 hour days and always stressed. You now can’t even call the leasing office because it now lets you leave a voicemail only and the team will call you back another day usually. (Usually 2 days) The sprinklers go on every night and half of them are broken and spray directly onto the pavement the wrong direction wasting incredible amounts of water. This is all I can think of off the top of my head and I hope AVA gets the message that people are getting fed up throughout the community.”

“I want to thank Angel Tech3 in maintenance for fixing the problem I had in my kitchen. Angel was very polite and professional, showed up right after 12:00 p.m as I requested. Angel found the problem right away and had it fixed . Toluca lake avalon maintenance team are great and reliable. Want to also give a shot out to Steve from maintenance for helping me out with my previous situation just like angel reliable and very professional”

“Steve Sheldon continues to deliver TOP QUALITY maintenance service on a consistent basis. I can always count on Steve to attend readily and promptly to any and all of my maintenance requests--be they large or small, whether pertaining to my own apartment unit or to a common area. Steve is highly competent, always patient and attentive, and genuinely kind.”

“i am very pleased with the facility but most of all with the maintenance staff who keeps my building clean. ISABEL is the staff whom i really appreciate for her time and work that she provides with a big smile and good sense of humor to brighten my day”

“dont live here. these people just straight up rip you off. the leasing office is the least helpful place ever. the place is rampant with thieves who stole from me and the office refused to take responsibility or contact insurance even though i had home and theft insurance through my lease. dogs take shits in the walkway to your apartment. it is a nightmare to park and get into the complex and an equal nightmare to order any food or anything. there are like 4000 units there and everyone thinks they're moving to paradise because of the pool that is mostly closed because of the pandemic. (you have to be on a waitlist). when i had questions i would call the leasing office, no one would answer and no one would return my calls. when i moved they refused to forward any of my mail to me. i'm dead serious there are literally gang members living here. they steal vehicles--someone got shot in one of the garages (none of which have cameras) like 5 years or so ago--look it up. who knows why the leasing office won't investigate or take seriously any of these thefts because the conglomerate ava wont devote any resources or money to figuring that out plus they want to damper publicity. this place is so shady. it feels like your living at the headquarters of a ponzi scheme. i wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who work there were in on these robberies. i only lived at toluca hills but i bet this goes for all ava properties. this place is meant to seduce you with how it looks, get you in, and then once you're in they stop giving any ---- about you. they know you won't renew your lease. they just want new people to rip off. these conglomerates dont care about you. my toilet stopped working because of some construction upstairs, i called maintenance and they handled it 4 days later and paid the maintenance guy by making my rent higher that month. anytime i tried to talk about theft at the leasing office, the people there would avoid me and tell me to call the home insurance support #, who referred me back to the leasing office. everyone there is lazy and unhelpful and possibly criminal. i just don't understand why they lie to my face and purposefully neglect their tenants unless they have a multitude of things to hide!!!!!!! honestly this is a job for the authorities. this is the worst ------- place i have ever lived in.”

“I do not advise families with children to move. In this complex, dogs are better treated than children. We have been living for half a year and our child cannot play and run normally at home. Constant calls from the Leasing Office with the threat of contract violations due to the stomping of a child. The child is already afraid to walk normally around the house. If you do not want to constantly worry that your child can run through the apartment, it is better not to move here. In the leasing office, employees do not know the California law that children can run and make normal sounds in their apartment. And neighbors from other apartments where there are no kids making parties until the morning, and the leasing office does not tell them anything. Have pity on your child and do not move to this complex where the rights of children are discriminated.”

“If you are even thinking about living here, please for the love of God reconsider. We have had two issues of bee infestations in this building. Despite the fact that I am allergic to bees, the building offered no assistance until I demanded to be reimbursed for the time I had to stay at a hotel during the infestation. The conditions were not livable. The maintenance and emergency lines were unresponsive. It has been FIVE DAYS since we first reported the issue (for the second infestation) and have still yet to have an exterminator come. The first time I even heard back from them was after demanding the reimbursement. Each time we called we were told that a request would be put into maintenance. When I was communicating about the hotel stay, I was told the issue was never reported, and that it had been resolved in early June (referring to our first infestation). This place is absolutely ridiculous and exceptionally negligent.”

“I used to love living in this community when it was Oakwoods. It wasn't perfect, but it felt like a resort. Fast forward to Ava taking over with months and months of horrific renovations. People have been displaced or forced to live like "they are going camping." Pipes burst weekly leaving us with no water. There is loud drilling, holes in the floor. Management is now rude and unprofessional. They just expect all the residents to go with the flow and pay to live in a construction site. I have never felt so disrespected as a resident. It's sad because it was a beautiful property and it's now starting to look like a college dorm run. (well it will when the construction is finally done. It's already been almost a year with no end in sight). There is trash and cigarettes everywhere. Maintenance requests take days. Parking has become a nightmare. My apartment isn't even much nicer after the renovations. The over door is too big to open my top kitchen drawer. They wrote this off as a "design flaw." Pet are traumatized. Residents are traumatized. Do NOT live here.”

“I highly highly recommend to look at other apartments and to NOT rent from here. There are many negatives about this property and i will list them in details here. 1) The parking situation is an absolute nightmare after about 9pm every single day. When you first tour the property with the leasing staff, they will sell you on the fact that theres plenty of parking and even over-flow parking available but that is simply a lie. After about 9pm it is impossible to find parking near building Y or just about anywhere until near building A. There are just too few spots and too many cars here. For the past 3 months ive been having to park in A and walk over to Y where i live. Its been miserable and the leasing office wont do anything about it either. They cant even give me a ride on one of the golf carts to go get my car from A in the morning or from A at night to get back to Y. The office is somehow always "understaffed". 2) The leasing office is the most incompetent group of people i have ever dealt with. Look at the countless reviews of negative experiences with the staff and you'll see a similar theme. They are constantly understaffed and you often wait like 20 mins just to get a package from the office cause no ones available to help you. 3) There is constant construction and water shutoffs since ive moved here in feb 2017. At least twice a month there is a water shutoff for a whole year and a half now as of this writing (aug 2018). How is this happening? Why are the construction contractors so incompetent that they're constantly having to shut the water off to fix something? Its not worth the rent here to have to deal with water being shut off multiple times a month and that too for an entire day. If you work from home this place is an absolute nightmare. These are the major pain points about this community and the sad thing is that the management office does nothing to address these. They just reply saying they'll "talk to the team and see what can be done" then thats about it. I highly highly want to reiterate you look away from this property when renting and find another place. I know i will be moving after my lease is up 100%.”

“I sold my house because I was getting too old for the maintenance requirements (I'm over 80) and decided to move into a community where most things were taken care of, and Toluca Hills AVA filled the bill. Also, I'm a director, actor, and teacher in the world of entertainment. I'm delighted to find that AVA is filled with working actors and students, so it's nice to mingle with them. And not to forget Olivia who is the go-to entertainment director here. She is extremely helpful and knowledgeable.”

“*UPDATE* I spoke to the customer service representative named Gill who compared the protection of residents' cars in a gated community, with security and security cameras as the same as being at a grocery store. Can you believe that? A place people live at has the same policies as a grocery store parking lot. I could understand his stance if there was only street parking, but this is a gated community with security cameras and security guards. My car has been in two hit and runs since living here and I was only lucky to find who hit my car the first time without any help of the community's employees. Gill even suggested that I leave the property if I am so unhappy. I do not know how this guy has his job. He also accused people complaining of the numerous problems with the apartment complex as only being in it for money. I cannot believe how rude the employees of this place can be. I only talked to him to find out who is higher ups are and after arguing with me for half an hour was I able to get the information from him. Sorry folks, but if you have problems here the customer service representative won't even help you out unless you get into a heated argument with him for half an hour first. ___________________________________________________________ Before considering moving in, I strongly recommend you watch this news report about the apartments: The leasing office has some of the worst employees. Their behavior and respect for residents is at the equivalence of children. They also have security that is practically worthless. Two times my car has been hit by residents. Luckily, the first time, a resident witnessed who hit my car and pointed them out to the security and I. The second time, I was not so lucky. Nobody saw anything and there was a giant dent on the side of my car. The only thing the security guards are good for are towing vehicles. Other than that, they can't even stop the people openly smoking crack in public (yes there have been crack pipes discovered laying around the structures). I imagine this is due to the fact they only have 1-2 security guards monitoring a place that can house over 1000 people. They do not even have security cameras in the apartment complex in case something does happen. For a place that is re-branding themselves, things only seem to be getting worse. Remember, this is same apartment complex that had a murder in it's parking structure (it was a known Armenian gang-banger). The people they accept to live here are not always great people neither. Residents frequently like to watch TV or play music until 4AM (or all night into the morning in the worst case scenario). Before renovations, residents also got free breakfast on Sundays and rent was much cheaper. These perks no longer exist. In less than three years, the total rent of my 2-bedroom apartment has gone from $2200 a month to $2800. I do not recommend this apartment complex to anyone, especially families. Children should not be exposed to this environment especially since they still have asbestos in the walls.”

“The place is old. And expensive. I have been a long term tenant at this property. The good news is that it is conveniently located. And the grounds are lovely. The bad news is The water mains break often, leaving tenants with no water for hours or days. The apartments also do not have enough electrical sockets for the numerous electronic devices we use today. Parking is a nightmare after 8 PM throughout this huge property. The place is huge. There are over 1,100 units in this property. There are few/no sidewalks. If you have kids, that can be a serious safety issue. Many residents walk the dangerous roads inside the property, sharing the road with vehicles. This apartment complex, via Oakwood, also caters to hundreds of college students on an ongoing basis; it's like a dorm! It also functions much like a hotel, allowing people/tourists to stay here for only a few days. There are constant noisy move-ins and move-outs. The clubhouse amenities, such as the gym equipment and computer room, are old and often do not work. The tables and chairs in the clubhouse activity rooms are banged up and badly deteriorated or falling apart, giving these areas a third world look and function. Avalon offers free wifi in the common areas here but it forcibly and suddenly disconnected me every 60 minutes. The property is currently undergoing a massive long term down market renovation in 2017, making it inconvenient and noisy for tenants. The front desk employees are very nice and want to help but often they can do little or nothing for tenant issues, based on all the restrictive corporate rules and poor, or nonfunctioning, services and amenities. This place is not luxury apartment living. I rate it 2-3 stars. For the above reasons, I would not recommend Toluca Hills Apartments by Avalon for upscale apartment living. There are newer, and better places, to rent in L.A.”

“I have been here almost a year now and can't wait to move out. Living here is like living in the school dormitory. I think almost the entire student body of the New York film school lives here. I understand for many of these kids is the first time there lived under own away from home and they have a lot of pent up energy to burn. The apartment doesn't force a 10 o'clock quiet time. But you can bet there will be loud noise up until 9:59pm everyday. There is literally no parking here. Many of the parking spaces are marked compact but I guess no one can read because the spaces are full of full-size cars pickup trucks and SUVs and vans. You better get home early if you expect to have a space without walking a half-mile uphill to get your apartment. Always a carpeted and I do not think they've been updated and clean since the 1970s. There is pet urine feces and vomit stains everywhere. If you're 20 years old and just want to party all the time this is a place for you. If you're working professional over the age of 30 stay away.”

“URINE WAS ON THE TOILET SEAT WHEN I FRIST MOVED IN! Management should provide new toilet seats--not old scratched up ones with urine on them. Walls and windows are so very thin. I am on the top floor, and I hear doors SLAMMING ALL DAY LONG, car doors shutting and starting outside, whenever someone turns on their water/ plumbing/pipes, people talking, etc. It feels like they are in the unit with me. There are no sidewalks anywhere, and it is very dangerous. Nothing is in walking distance. You would not want to walk anyway because Barham Blvd is a dangerous, nightmarish highway of hundreds of cars zipping by at 100 mph NONSTOP. Appliances are a bit outdated--but I guess you get what you pay for with that one. Also, there is no Wi-Fi in the common areas / lobby. In this day and age? Really? The offices and front desk close by 5 pm--so there is no one manning the front desk if, for example, you left your key and locked out of your unit, or have a question. I do not like that the bathroom sinks are in the middle of the bedrooms--makes me feel like I'm in a cramped hotel room instead of in a real home. I also do not like the dirty tile on the counter tops--dirt remains stuck in it from years. Also, you cannot use a credit car for the washer/dryer in the laundry room--you have to buy a laundry card--which is in another building somewhere obscure and unknown--and no one is at the front desk to help you find it, if it is after 5 pm. The toilets/ plumbing are bad and slow. -I NEVER got my maintenance problem fixed of needing to add extra blinds--people can see into my unit. -The staff girl had an attitude with me on the phone. I think her name was Tonya. Another staff girl had an attitude with me, as well, claiming she had to help someone else. Just rude and annoying.”

“I am leaving this review to address the management & staff at Oakwood Toluca Hills. I've lived in this apartment complex for over a year now, in 2 different units, and I have nothing but praise for this hard working team. The 2 times I did have issues affecting my living situation, they were due to outside parties not involving the apartment complex or management. While in neither scenario were the Oakwood mgmt or apartment complex at fault, the front office staff and the manager, went above and beyond to assist me in both situations. They were fast & efficient at addressing the issues, and most of all, they were understanding of my situation. I've rented from many properties and landlords across states, and have never had a team and manager so helpful to their tenants, when they technically did not have to do anything. I truly feel the support and appreciation from the manager and his staff at Oakwood Toluca Hills, and I will continue happily renting from this property.”

“I lived on the first floor in building K and my apartment was robbed, other than that this was a awesome place to live! Being so centerlized between Burbank and Hollywood gives the feeling of living in a smaller town with easy access to the city. Traffic on Barham is a nightmare, consider adjusting errands/work schedule so you do not have to drive on Barham around 5pm. Plan to park (at the top of the mountain) if you arrive late in the evening. The pool/hot tub is a great place to meet neighbors especially after dark. The landscape is gorgeous and the amenities are great, I would recommend this apartment to anyone new to L.A just tighten up on your security and try to live on a higher floor. The reality is you are living in a city and crime happens everywhere you just need to be smart. Welcome to Hollywood......”

“They know only one thing how to make fool to innocent people..when they will introduce,that time they are very nice.After few days they suddenly changed. they don't listen your request anymore and that time they forget how to talk with their customers..rude, abusing language......”

“During my stay, when I first tried using my dryer, it produced NO heat. I had to wait 3 days before a maintenance person looked at the dryer. The very next week, the circuit board malfunctioned and got fried. I was told it would take 2 more days before the appliance could be repaired or replaced. UNACCEPTABLE!!! For the money, you deserve better! So yourself a favor and stay elsewhere!”

“Let me start by saying that I stayed at Oakwood Rosslyn, VA for about two months until I couldn't take it anymore. The building is the ugliest structure in the neighborhood, circa 1960, dark depressing brown. The lobby looks deceptively OK. Inside the apartments, it is just as depressing as looking at the building from the outside. I have no complaints about the neighborhood (extremely convenient, lots of restaurants, close to metro, dry cleaners, Safeway, 15 minute walk to Georgetown, etc...). Mind that it is in close proximity to a fire station, but it wasn't an issue for me. I lived in a one bedroom, overlooking the front of the building. The vertical blinds are very old and kept falling out of their holders. I tried to fix them myself but they kept falling out. When I requested service on that, they came and did the same thing I did: put the parts back in and they fell out after ten minutes. So, when you close the blinds there were gaping holes and the light from the street went in. Then, there was the issue of plumbing. It was maddening. I made service requests 2-3 times a week. I had a problem with every piece of plumbing in my apartment. They came to me on Thanksgiving and told me not to use the kitchen sink until further notice (the notice came the next day). The furnishings are old and out of style. Not clean at all. I was very squamish about sitting on stuff. So I brought some cover ups from home for the couch and the armchair and covered the chairs with towels. Now, regarding the reception team... terrible customer service (the maintenance people are actually nice and even though they slowly fixed my plumbing problems for good on maybe the tenth call, at least they tried and they responded quickly), but I mean the people at the front desk. Not nice at all. One time I was so frustrated with my plumbing situation that I asked them to move me to a different apartment and the girl at the front desk said that will charge me 250 dollars for within Oakwood move! I inquired whether it would be better for business if I moved out altogether on account of this problem and she gave me a "You have to do what's best for you" response (which actually I did, thankfully). The gym is a joke. It is small, has two treadmill machines, and there's no place to sit down on the floor to stretch. The wireless internet is slow and unpredictable. The phone I was afraid to touch, because they said it was free for like 20 mile radius. It is ridiculously expensive. I was at $114 a day housing allowance and they made it look like they were doing me a favor by taking me in. Most people there are actually State Department employees and I know that they pay a lot more than that because the State Dep has some kind of a contract with them. It's ridiculous! They are robbers. I would never recommend it to anyone. If you have other options use them first. Leave this as a LAST resource only! And in the end, they gave me a 10 am move out deadline. Even hotels give you more time to pack your suitcase and in this case you have to pack months and months of your life. So realistically, you have to move your stuff the night before.”

“A. The windows are SINGLE pane glass and almost all sound gets though. Remember folks, this place is mainly for child actors. Its LOUD. Oakwood should take some of that "high occupancy" money and invest in some insulation and 3 pane windows. B. Security does practically nothing to contain the noise at night. If you are by the pool and hot tub area's, you can hear people talking until 3 am. It sucks. If you call them, they WILL respond quickly, but they are not very pro-active. C. Nearly impossible for a guest to find your unit. The property is HUGE. They have almost zero markings on parking lots, yet assume every guest can find the letters on the buildings. NONE of my guests can find my unit. The actual units are very spacious and nice, and the location is superb. However, they really need to care more about the resident experience. Oakwood could be fantastic, but they really need to reinvest some of all that money from "Near Full Occupancy" back into the bldg. Temporary housing is very rare in LA, so the fact they have high occupancy means ZERO accept they have a great location. Most people only stay very short term.”

“Where to begin? We rented a 2 bedroom for a whopping $1,799. We soon realized that the street noise was so loud, that it literally sounded like the cars were driving through your apartment. They would be honking and going crazy after about 5pm on the weekdays, because Barham Blvd gets backed up about 5 miles from people trying to drive from Burbank to Hollywood! Good luck trying to get home that way! Once, it took me about 30 minutes to get home, and I was only a few blocks away. The traffic is insane!! You have to drive through Burbank, and come the back way on Forest Lawn drive. There were always loud car accidents, cars blasting their radios, and honking horns. The windows are really thin, and the originals from 1960. You would think they could afford to put soundproof windows with over 1,000 units all paying an arm and a leg! One day I went out to my car, to find that it had been towed, because they were repaving the parking garage. I called the leasing office, and they claimed they had put notices on all of the cars the day prior. They charged over $200 for the tow, and guess where they towed it to? Another parking lot inside of the apartment complex!! Hello??? WTF? They would not tell me where my car was, until I paid for the tow. I wish I had known where my car was, and I would have just walked over to it and drove away without paying them for the tow! The only good thing was the maintenance guys. They came immediately to fix any problems. Except for one tiny issue with the dishwasher. The soap dispenser would not open during the washing cycle. I had to call them 4-5 times about the issue, and they kept telling me it was my fault, and that I must have been filling it up with too much soap. Hello?? Also, we were on the top floor, and every single day there were kids and people walking up on the roof. I kept calling security to tell them to get the people off of the roof! It sounded like they were going to fall right through the ceiling, and you could hear every single foot step. Security said they would keep an eye out, but it never stopped. They said they have to keep the roof access doors unlocked at all times, for Fire Safety reasons. My neighbors SUV was broken into, and they stole the back seats out! They have no security cameras, except for the ones watching cars coming in and out of the entrance gates. On hot days, you will NOT be able to find a seat out by the pool either. Oh, and the gyms always smell like nasty B.O.! One more thing, about once a month the hot water was broken. I had to go all the way to take a shower in the gym! It was so gross! Once, a pipe broke, and all 1,000 units were without water for about four days!!!!!!!!!! They offered no compensation! My neighbor was so upset because she needed to take a shower! At least I had another place to go to take a shower! Wow!!!! I would say to avoid this complex if you can! Also Beware, Laundry cost money, and you have to walk all the way to the leasing office to refill your laundry card. People have stolen my laundry if I left it in the dryer, and people will take your clothes out and throw them up on the counter. There are also wild coyotes wandering around the parking lots at night!”