Landmark Equity Management

Sherman Oaks CA

Consumer Complaints & Reviews

Jack of Hollywood, CA on Feb. 13, 2004

I have lived in their Hollywood Hills apartment complex called "Whitley Heights Regency" for about 8 years. Whitley Heights is a historical zone and home to many celebrities. Landmark Equity Management is the 3rd owner since I have lived here. What was once a glamorous apartment building is now a slum in a glamorous neighborhood.

I live on the top floor and the elevator has been out of order over 4 months and has a very sketchy past. About four months ago Landmark decided to make all the tenants vacate the parking garages.

This is in violation of zoning ordinances and had a severe impact on the celebrity homes in the area so the city has forbidden them to rent any apartments until parking is restored.

The approx 40-unit complex now has only 10 paying tenants left, but it appears that Landmark won't give in until the last of the tenants gives up and moves out. As this is a rent-controlled building, the last few of us are not going to give up easy. At this time my apartment has no heat, no air conditioning, no parking, the water is brown, I have to keep buckets under all of the sinks to capture the sewage that leaks, the electric won't sustain the dishwasher and microwave at the same time, the swimming pool is unsafe to use, the elevator doesn't work and I live on the top floor and am recovering from open-heart surgery.

They have illegally increased my security deposit three years in a row and have not paid the interest owed to me, but the LAHD closed my complaint because in 2 years they were unable to contact the building owners. (They must have the same number I have.) The Department of Housing has referred my latest complaint to the City Attorney who is evaluating what legal action is warranted.

Since my apartment was declared to be 40% uninhabitable a few years ago and I was given a 40% rent reduction for 8 months, I have had to keep an attorney on retainer to respond to their harassment. During the time I had a personal injury lawsuit pending for an inury I sustained when the elevator did not stop level, the harassment was unbearable. I was served with a 24 hour notice to enter my apartment on a daily basis for several weeks. They used my balcony to store tools and materials. They walked in and out with buckets of smelly, hot tar. They walked through my apartment with heavy lumber to saw (using my electricity) and left the door open so my pets could get out. They even left the door standing open while they went to Home Depot for materials.

At the same time, the lock on the front door didn't operate nor did the lock on the elevator lobby door in the garage and the garage gate was broken in the open position. Basically my apartment was open to anyone in the city of LA.

On July 4th 2000 I was the victim of a home invasion robbery because the building is insecure. I glued the door and doorframe back together and am still waiting for the repairs.

When I complained to my city council representative that my roof was leaking, Landmark repaired it without asking me where it was leaking. I wonder how they knew where to find the leak? There is a 1' x 1' hole in the bathroom wall from a repair they made two years ago. I had to bring my city councilman to my apartment because my toilet was out of order for 7 days. The problem was that someone had put pieces of wire down the vent shaft. The roof is locked and only accessible to Landmark personnel. What does that tell you?

My neighbors had a similar problem when "someone" put a beer bottle down their furnace chimney and nearly asphixiated them. They had to be resuscitated by paramedics. Several tenants had their tires slashed before the garage was vacated. One of my cars had all four tires slashed. I have seen, heard, and continue to experience horror stories about this landlord no one would believe.

Bethany of Sherman Oaks, CA on Aug. 19, 2003

Management failed to clean my apartment prior to my moving in, including cat urine stained carpet. Advertised security doors do not lock. Mail is no longer delivered to our building due to vandalism of the mail box area. My toilet backs up, my refrigerator does not work properly, and the pipes under my kitchen sink are dislocated (rendering the sink useless). No one from Landmark returns my calls regaurding these problems. Surrounding areas such as outside grounds, lobby, garages, and elevator are filthy and littered with trash. These areas are never cleaned.

Water damage to personal property in kitchen and bathroom due to faulty plumbing. Items in refrigerator have spoiled due to units failure to keep temperature constant. Possibility of mail being stolen due to unsecure mail facilities. Personal cost of cleaning out the apartment after the previous tenant. Personal inconvenience of dealing with units such as refigerator, kitchen sink, and toilet not working properly.

Geraldine of Sherman Oaks, CA on Aug. 11, 2003

I've lived in one of their apartment complexes in Sherman Oaks for over a year. Within this time, we've had three different managers with no improvement evident in the way the place was run. The building was filthy and unsafe. I had my car broken into, CD player and CD collection stolen. The manager just said they were not responsible for such things. Half the time, the laundry facilities are unkempt and the machines are out of order. The garbage chutes on each floor of the building are disgustingly dirty and present serious health hazards.
Along the perimeter of the building, outside of the upper garage, homeless people who participate in drug use and trafficking have decided to squat, often using the building's walls as their toilet facilities. I have a bathroom sink that has not been running in two and a half months. I've called and spoken with the maintenance coordinator over the phone (her name is Lyn) to have the problem taken care of and each time she promised that it would be taken care of within that week. Needless to say, I still do not have a working bathroom sink.
They allow pets in the building; in the elevator one can smell the stench of urine and other noxious pet odors. My mailbox has been forced open at least five times this last year alone. About three months ago, the new manager, Nestor embarked on a project to "clean up" the building and cleared out vacant apartments, storage and common areas. Unfortunately, when that was all done, there was no place to discard the enormous amount of rubbish so they ended up in parking stalls outside of the upper garage. The businesses around the building complained and so did the rest of the tenants, but it took the company 3 months to finally rent a large enough dump receptacle to contain all the trash. This big, view occluding, unsafe container is still where it has been for the last two weeks. People have had near accidents trying to drive out of and through the little alley where it seems to be permanently stationed.
Two weeks ago, the latest manager quit, so the building is even filthier than usual. We have tenants who engage in screaming fests along common areas, playing their stereos or entertainment systems full blast at ungodly hours. There's no one monitoring such occurrences. I feel threatened and unsafe in this building. So I am bailing out. I will be turning in my letter to inform the company that I am vacating my apartment from hell.

I am forced to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions despite the fact that I religously pay my rent of $925/mo to keep up my part of the lease.

Tanoa of Los Angeles, CA on Sept. 27, 2002

I rented from Landmark based on information received from Westside Rentals. I relocated from New York and had to have a place to live. The picture of the property that was listed as being in Los Feliz was in fact in Little Armenia. The property shown on the internet was in fact the building next door not the apartment I thought I was getting.
I had an in depth conversation with Srboui Petrosyan of Landmark and advised her that I required a certain standard of living. One which was clean and safe in a quiet neighborhood. Srboui confirmed that "all of Los Feliz was great" The picture depicted a well manicured lawn, trees and beautiful bushes. When I arrived from New York I found a dead lawn with sparsely spaced tufts of grass, animal waste and trash everywhere. The place looked as though it had not been worked on in years. Additionally, when I went in the place was filthy.
I took possesion of the property 8/15/02 as I was told it was such a hot property I would not stay on the market until 9/1/02. I arrived on 9/5 to find that the apartment was not painted, there was food remaining from the prior tenant in a filthy refridgerator, The bathroom still had toiletries and was absolutely filthy. In addition the blinds were broken, the air conditioner did not work, I had no access to the garage that came with the apartment, two screens to the front windows were ripped, no blind at all in the kitchen and fungus was and still is growing in the shower.
I immediately contacted Landmark and was told by the leasing agent it was not her job. I was successful in rectifying some of the issues however I still have a number of items on my list outstanding.

I must move. I do not sleep at night. The economic consequence is I must now fight them in court and find a new place to live. The financial ramifications will prove to be significant.

Coleen of Barstow, CA on Sept. 26, 2002

I've been living in this rooming house called Valley Lodging House since December 2001. The building is 80 years old and needs some work and there's been problems with workers, managers and some tenants. But nothing like what happened when the building was sold to Russell Associates and Landmark took over management. Due to their lack of maintanance, the type of riff raff they allow to hang around and the incompetence of their workers all the plumbing is clogged and leaks. There is little if any hot water. THe electricity gets overloaded and goes off frequently. Cable is included in the rent and they've disconnected it twice. THere are cockroaches and other bugs.
The wood inside the building is rotten and the adobe is cracked and crumbling. They have made no serious repairs to those items yet did the usual slap on a coat of paint thing and installed some ceiling fans. They are bigots and have insulted every race and gender of person here. They've sexually harrassed me. They've worked all night frequently keeping me awake. They pile up garbage everywhere.
They let in a bunch of gangsters from LA, excons straight out of prison and drunks and tweekers. THe homeless drunks and similar types party in the stairwells all night long, camp on the steps and in the bathrooms and vandalize the place. There are homeless, excons and drunks hanging out by my door and window and they never fail to bend all the way over to look in my window.
The shared bathrooms are always falling apart...the sinks leak and are falling off the walls. The toilets are clogged daily. The showers leak and don't have curtains. There is graffitti on the wall. There are no garbages. There is human excrement of all types all over the fixtures, wall and floor as well as garbage. The yard and laundry room and hallways are the same way.
I have sent 6 written complaints to LEM and made numerous verbal complaints. My complaints began with the contract they presented which in a nutshell causes them to waive all responsibilites and us to waive all rights. SInce I didn't sign it as it was they started threatening to lock me out. I paid the first half of July's rent, deducting for a lack of hot water. Armen scribbled out the memo of my check and cashed it. Rather than disuputing or trying to resolve this they proceeded as though I paid no rent at all. Armen tried to lock me in my room July 9. When I refused to come out he tried to lock me in. A neighbor called 911 and they stopped him.

In the past two months it's been made clear to me that no one cares if I sleep or eat or am safe or can go to a doctor or surgeon or have my civil rights respected. Now I'm being evicted and will end up homeles. This thing with LEM was the last straw.

Laurie of Burbank, CA on Feb. 28, 2002

I formerly lived at 5341 Loma Linda Avenue. Not only was I required to put $2,355.00 down for the aprtment before move-in. That is illegal to charge more than 2X the rent in the state of CA. The rent was $750.00. We had many problems including falling ceilings, rodents, water problems, and maintenance that was never finished. I have resorted to Small Claims Court and won the jusdgment of only $550.00 and have not received it in 6 months. In CA small claims does not promise you will receive this money.

The ceiling fell in from an earthquake. And was not fixed for 3 months and I was still paying full rent without use of a shower or a toilet. Water damage to furniture and the building was not kept up. I have reports from the fire department, health department. There were also mice and roaches throughout apartment. Also, a broken water pipe underneath the building that was never fixed and made the water stop up repeatedly.

Lisa of North, HOLLYWOOD on Feb. 28, 2002

They tried to lease me an apartment with faulty plumbing. I didn't realize it until after I signed the lease. Before I took possession of the apartment I called the Mgmt company 4 times to report the problem, but nobody called me back

I finally got a call back 4 days after I was to move in (only because an attorney called them to get my deposit back). They told me the problem was fixed the day I was to move in. That was a lie. I had gone to the apartment just the day before and nothing had been fixed (they hadn't even cleaned the apartment from the previous tenant).

Then they called the attorney (friend) back to say that the maintenance people were just out there and everything was fixed. I drove immediately out to the apartment and NOTHING was fixed. They just keep lying to me and threatening to sue me. (this place was totally misrepresented in the ad) the so-called laundry facility has no floor and a filthy black (from dirt) sink.

They're trying to rent another unit in this building that's torn up I'm sure they're giving the same speech they gave me to the prospective tenants: "Oh, we're fixing everything up, it will look perfect when you're ready to move in."

I'm out at least $925 for the deposit. They're threatening me saying that I have to pay the $850 per month for 12 months or they'll sue, I can't even sleep

K.R. of N/A, N/A on Feb. 28, 2002

I moved into the apartment at the end of last year, the bathroom needed some repairs at the time of move in, which I was told would be completed in the first month, also they said that the flooring in the bathroom and the kitchen would be replaced. None of this has been started as of yet ( 8 months later ).

The apartment was to include a stove , microwave cooker, oven and a refrigerator.. I did not receive the refrigerator until the end of the second month.

All of this I can live with. The apartment complex has now gone into 'REAP' by the city of Los Angeles, and my rent was reduced by 20%.. so this made me a little happier. Yesterday I received a notice of eviction, "Three days to pay rent or quit" ... They are telling me it is for nonpayment of rent for the beginning of this month, 'June'.

So I checked my bank records today, to find they had received and cashed my rent check for the month on the 9th.

They are still demanding that I pay the full amount and not the deducted total advised by the City as well as a late fee and extra charges of 'one time fee for maintainence'

Ken of Long Beach, CA on Oct. 11, 2000

Where to start? We took a very nice apartment and signed a lease with these people. We signed the lease (big mistake, once they've got you you're dead meat) and then, based on assurances given, went back and listed all of the things that were wrong. The shower was hazardous, the hot water faucet in the bathroom was stuck closed, there was garbage in the kitchen cupboards and the place was generally filthy.

Like your other complainant, we refused to move in until the place was cleaned up and the problems fixed. They came in and did clear out the garbage and partially repaired the other problems. Based on their assurances that everything else would be taken care of, we moved in (even bigger mistake). We found out from the other tenants of the complex that Landmark is unethical and dishonest in the extreme. The building across the courtyard has some serious structural problems and the only way anything got fixed was because the building inspectors were out every few weeks to inspect. Two days before they were due, there would be a flurry of minor repairs and cleanup done. That's the only way the repairs were made in our apartment.

The common areas were never cleaned and the only time the lawns were mowed was just before an inspection. One of the things we asked to be repaired was our garage door. The automatic opener was broken, and instead of repairing it, they disconnected the door from the motor so it could be operated manually. They installed no handle on the outside nor did they install a pull-down rope on the inside. As a result I had to jump up and grab the door to pull it down. The inevitable happened. I jumped up, pulled down the door and it came crashing down on my head giving me a mild concussion and a bone-deep gash on my scalp that took 23 staples to close. Landmark had been asked on numerous occasions to repair the door but never did so.

I got a job 60 miles away and had to move half-way through the term of our lease. Landmark agreed to re-lease the property and dinged me $500 for their "expenses" in doing so. They raised the rent, which scared most of the prospective tenants away, and when they did find someone to take the apartment, we had four days to find a new place and move. It is now thirty days later and it goes without saying that Landmark has not returned my deposits nor has it refunded the 15 days rent that had been prepaid for the month we moved out.

The physical toll, noted above, was a mild concussion and a gash in my scalp that required 23 staples to close. They have failed to return one-half month's rent and my deposits totalling $3,187.50. In addition, I was threatened with a 3-day notice if I did not pay for the 3 weeks that the apartment was uninhabitable so I paid about $650 for that. The emotional toll on me and my partner has been tremendous - a panicked trip to the ER while I bled copiously, always wondering what new thing they would do to screw things up.

Benjamin of Sherman Oaks, CA on Aug. 9, 2000

I signed a lease August 3rd and moved in Aug 4th. The central a/c was not working, the underground parking security gate has been broken since March and the security door has been broken for several months. On August 9th I went to work to find my truck door open with the cd player and cb stolen out of my truck. The truck was locked and had a "club" on the steering wheel. The thief had open access to parking structure because of the broken gate.

The maintainance person told me that I would receive a call from the a/c company to schedule an appointement. So far I haven't received a call at all and we have been in the middle of 105 degree heat wave and I dont have any a/c. To top it off the apartment was never cleaned or touch up painting done before I moved in. The building has trash built up in the hall ways and is never cleaned. I don't know what to do. Can some one please help me and tell me what recoarse I van take?

I don't feel safe in my apartment which is supposed to be in upscale area of the Valley that charges high prices for rent and I do not feel that the unclean conditions warrant $875 in rent a month.