Equity Residential

This Business is a ripoff
I was living there for 6 years payed in full.
every year when I renewal the lees they never clean my place (carpet) I asked and they say NO.
in the time the I was living there they come to fix the wall with different color of paint and they say don't worry about it.
when I moved out the send me a bill of painting the wall cleaning the carpet and moving things out from the place (there was nothing there I moved all out)
they have the power of going and report you to the credit if you don't pay them.
they abuse the power they have to steal money from you.
don't go and live there they charge to much and give you nothing for your money.
2 off my cars were broken in and they didn't care
please don't give the Business and I hope the will lose there Business
THEY LIE ALL THE TIME

We have reviewed your the [redacted] file for apartment ** with move in dates of 1/15/10 - 8/7/10, as well as their second apartment, which was...

a transfer mid lease to apartment [redacted] on 8/7/10. Upon moving to apartment [redacted] a new lease started from 8/1/10-8/6/11. 
We see that the [redacted] reported some issues tied to the smell of smoke in their first apartment.  As they indicated, they were permitted to transfer without having to the pay the required fee as a customer service gesture.  However, with respect to their early termination of the second lease, there is no evidence that an agreement was made to release them from their lease obligations.  As a result, they were charged for rent until the apartment was re-occupied, consistent with the lease agreement.  They were charged the remainder of December, all of January rent and pro-rated amount of through the new move-in of February 19th.   Additionally, they were charged for damages to the apartment in the amount of $185.After applying the deposit to the charges, the balance due is $1977.81. 
We have not found anything to support the fact that there was any issue in the [redacted] second apartment or any basis under which we would be required to release them from their lease obligations.  That said, as customer service gesture, and in an effort to resolve this matter fully and finally, we would be willing to accept $1280 . Upon receipt of payment, we will remove the balance from Collections.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/08) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted]-Digital Reputation
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@eqr.com
[redacted] was released from her lease and returned possession of her apartment on 6/29/2/15. A released and acknowledgment was signed by...

the resident and management.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/07/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Regional manger was much more responsive in handling the issue and did not act blind to the situation at hand.
Brought in 2nd pest control company for consulting.
Was released from lease on 6/29/15.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/19) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted]-Digital Reputation
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@eqr.com
The balance was recalled from collections and has since been paid by Ms. [redacted]. As such, we consider this matter closed.

ACH [redacted] adjustment was posted on Aug 19 2016. It normally takes 72 hours for funds to be refunded. Community manager has been in contact with Mr. Immel regarding our policies and other concerns.

Management company will charge you refundable deposits at move in and then refuse to give them back, claiming they were nonrefundable fees.

We disagree with Mr. [redacted]'s overall characterization of the community and our team.  We believe that the charges that were assessed against his deposit are fair and well...

documented.  Nevertheless, as we offered previously, we are willing to and have already waived the charges in the amount of $118.71 associated with the painting and carpet replacement as sign of good faith.  The utilities, which are billed in arrears, remain due.  We trust this will resolve this matter fully and finally.  Thank you

Summary: I would discourage anyone with other options from renting at Lincoln Heights or from Equity Residential, even if the other option costs more. Our apartment turned out to be very poor value for money. If you have no other choice, as was our situation, use this review to understand the full picture going in.

My fiancée and I lived at Lincoln Heights for about a year and a half in 2014 and 2015. We chose it largely out of necessity. We were not ready to buy a house but had to accommodate a dog that could no longer live with family. Very few landlords will accommodate a dog of his size and breed, forcing our hand.

We were optimistic moving in, though. The staff were friendly and it seemed like a nice apartment with nice amenities, including a gym, in-unit washer and dryer, central air conditioning and natural gas heat. The Red Line was only three quarters of a mile away. It seemed like a fine landing spot until we were ready to buy. This did not prove to be the case for the following reasons:

1) Location. The T is within a mile, but it is not a particularly comfortable walk because of heavy traffic and the need to cross one of the most horrible intersections in Greater Boston at Centre Street and the Burgin Parkway. The T bus line that runs along Centre to the T (Route 238) is always packed past capacity at rush hour. Also, it’s on the Red Line, which in 2015 was suffering from continuous maintenance issues and was well past capacity at rush hour. There isn’t much around the complex besides a few cheap eats but walk around the area at your own risk, especially if you are alone and female. Women will be accosted. The City of Quincy generally was filled to the brim with unpleasant people who drive like its Mad Max. The negativity is palpable and gets to you.

2) Maintenance. Not terrible, with particularly good response in emergency situations, but very much “do what must be done and no more”. This attitude caused numerous problems during our tenancy. The in-unit hot water heater let go out of nowhere one day, causing days of disruption to replace the tank and deal with the flooding. The air conditioning unit turned out to be old and worn out. It failed during the hottest portion of summer. We had to hope that the repairs held because maintenance was pretty much barred from replacing units wholesale. Faulty work on the exhaust ducts for the laundry machinery led to hot, humid air from other people’s units blowing back into our apartment. It took weeks for the problem to be identified and resolved. Finally, poor maintenance on the landscaping (combined with tenants being lazy and not disposing of garbage correctly) led to a rat infestation late in our tenancy. I will, however, give the complex credit for excellent snow removal during the Winter of 2015.

3) Neighbors. Remember the rat infestation due in no small part to lazy trash disposal? One will have bad neighbors everywhere, but in a complex this dense you’ll have a lot of them. We had no end of trouble with other tenants “walking” their dogs off-leash, creating potentially serious conflicts when they ran up to, and in some cases outright attacked, our own dog. The complex was unwilling or unable to doing anything more than a strongly worded email, despite this being a clear lease violation. My fiancée was verbally harassed while running within the complex, as well.

4) Move-out. At the very last day there was yet to come. We paid pet rent of $55 a month for the entirety of our lease. Before moving in, this was explained as compensation for the extra wear and tear pets had on the units and on the community areas. Not so when we left. We were charged to replace the carpet (which I would hope was being taken out anyway due to rat droppings from the previously mentioned infestation) due to “pet stains”. When asked about the pet rent, the new explanation was “for the privilege of having a pet”. Could I have corrected the pet stain? Maybe if their representative had shown up for the pre-move out walkthrough they insisted on scheduling (and I stayed home from work for) and told me about it before I was turning in the keys. Oh, and they mailed my residual security deposit to the wrong address. It took six weeks to get my money back.

Did they do anything illegal in any of the above? No. It’s fine to try and maximize revenue, but these guys to it to a fault. It leads to a bad experience for tenants and will bite them one day when the tide turns in the Boston rental market. Take our experiences to heart and be on the leading edge of the trend by avoiding Lincoln Heights if at all possible.

Mr. ** completed an application at The [redacted] to be added as a roommate to an existing apartment. All of our apartments here at the [redacted] are already...

pre-wired with an alarm system. We require all of our residents to pay a monthly monitoring fee, which is included in the lease agreement. This fee was disclosed to Mr. ** at the time of application.We have verified that the alarm company is licensed and have provided the phone number of the alarm company to Mr. ** so that he could reach out to them directly with any questions.We see no legal basis in which we would be required to refund Mr. ** the application fee.Thank you.

Please formally submit your concern and wish to speak with upper management by completing this resident relations form: http://upload.equityapartments.com/

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/17) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted]-Digital Reputation
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@eqr.com
"We have taken Ms. [redacted]'s complaints seriously and investigated her claim that her neighbor is smoking a controlled substance...

that is causing her and her daughter to be sick; however, we have not been able to substantiate her allegations. In addition, Ms. [redacted] has not evidenced her claim that she and her daughter were ill due to a condition in the apartment. However, since Ms. [redacted] has indicated how unhappy she is living at the community, as a courtesy, we have offered her the opportunity to vacate the Premises by July 31, 2015, without penalty. We believe this should resolve the matter for Ms. [redacted]."

To Whom It May Concern,On October 5th, Ms. [redacted] sent an email through our resident relations link...

that was, in turn, sent to the community manager to respond. Ms. [redacted] is disputing the late fees that are being charged as a result of not submitting payment when due on the 1st. We do allow a grace period until the 3rd. However, in-person payments must be received by the close of business on or before this date. This requirement is clearly defined in Ms.[redacted]’s lease. Though she stated that she has never been late before, it is a result of multiple late payments that Ms. [redacted] must now make her payments in person with certified funds. Ms. [redacted] slid the check under the back door of the office after 9:00 am on October 4 and after the office had already opened.This explanation was provided to Ms. [redacted]. She was not satisfied with this response and sent a second email to our resident relations link. Upon receipt of the second email, [redacted], Regional Manager from our corporate office responded to Ms. [redacted] reiterating our policy concerning payment and late fees.In previous instances, Equity Residential and the staff of [redacted] Square have discussed our late fee policies with Ms. [redacted] and have credited over $100 in late fees in good faith to Ms. [redacted]’s account. In fact, Ms. [redacted]has paid her rent late 7 out of 11 months she has been a resident of [redacted] Square.Ms. [redacted] was charged a late fee consistent with the terms of her lease.

Thank you for your inquiry. Our initial understanding was that your mother wanted to be added to an existing lease with another resident at the community and that the existing resident would eventually be moving out. Your mother would then be the only person on the lease. Since, based on our...

criteria, she did not qualify on her own, it was necessary for her to have a guarantor for the lease.Both she and her guarantor were charged a $50 application fee. This fee is charged to all applicants and guarantors which cover the costs associated with the screening process for each individual. The amenity fee, which is charged in connection with the use of our amenities, is also charged to every resident, The $200 lease administration fee is charged in order to recoup the costs associated with making changes to the lease and the administrative process involved to administer those changes.Note that all of the charges that were assessed are permitted under local law and were fully disclosed prior to application. As a result, we see no legal basis under which we would be required to refund these amounts. Nevertheless, as a customer service gesture, and since the existing resident is now remaining on the lease, making the guarantor unnecessary, we will refund the application fee for the guarantor's application, as a credit to the account.Lastly, please note that while a large payment was made towards the rental account, we continue to receive monthly rental payments via the resident portal, resulting in a credit. Please reach out to the management office to go over the account.Thank you.

Our management team at [redacted] worked with the resident and this has been resolved.

We are in receipt of the customer’s complaint that was filed with the Revdex.com in regards to some monies that...

remain outstanding regarding their prior tenancy at [redacted] apartments. The customer entered into a fixed term written lease agreement that went from February 17, 2016 through May 17, 2016 at a monthly rental rate of $1738.00 per month. At the inception of the tenancy the customer paid a security deposit of $99.00. The customer voluntarily vacated the premises at the end of the lease term and upon receipt of the keys [redacted] performed a move out inspection of the premises. An inspection of the premises revealed damages beyond reasonable wear and tear that were caused by the customer. A statement of deposit was sent to the customer as required by the Massachusetts security deposit statute with an itemization of damages along with a breakdown of the charges which ultimately resulted in the customer owing $817.10 to [redacted] apartments. At all times [redacted] has complied with Massachusetts laws governing the customer’s tenancy. The customer’s allegations that the apartment was not maintained or managed properly are not supported by the facts or evidence and are, in our view, unjustified. All documentation and invoices were sent to the customer verifying the monies owed and the costs incurred by [redacted] apartments to make repairs to the premises so that the apartment could be re-rented.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely, [redacted]

Please see the attached Lease. Note that $200 deposit and rent is paid. The leasing company arbitrarily charged an additional $50 amenity fee, which was paid once. They also charged $100 application and $200 lease admin fee, these charges should be refunded immediately. thanks

Please let us know what specific Equity apartment community you are referring to. Thank you.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 17, 2014/05/20) */
We apologize that Ms. [redacted] is upset. We were able to provide photos of the walls which were badly stained and parts of her kitchen that were not cleaned, as required by our lease. We did, however, negotiate lower charges and refunded...

much of the cleaning charge. Ms. [redacted] was in agreement with this and she actually received a refund of her security deposit. We consider this matter closed.

Our experience living in the equity residential [redacted] has been horrible. They are understaffed and the staff they do have is not qualified to run an apartment complex. We have had numerous issues during our time there.
1) Our floor was damaged the day we moved in. It took 10 months to get replaced.
2) No one enforces the clean up after your pet rule. We constantly find dog feces in the dirt in front of our balcony.
3) The grounds around the complex constantly have trash and other debris around.
4) The management staff is slow to respond. We have escalated issues to the Area Manager and have never received a call back.
5) The maintenance staff is incompetent.
6) The upstairs neighbors walk with lead feet and have no consideration for us below them and the management staff has done nothing to help.
7) We received a hate note on our balcony and had to file a police report. Again the management staff did nothing.
8) The neighboring kids are so loud, that we can hear them with all windows and doors shut. Again, the management staff has done nothing.
9) The neighbor kids like to play in the parking lot. This has gotten better after we confronted the parents. Again, the management staff has done nothing.


I would never recommend living here to anyone.