Complaint Review: Angel City Properties LLC - Van Nuys California

I came across this report by "abused tenant" and all I can say is I had a totally different experience.  I lived in this house for 2 years, and I found the managers of this property to be both friendly and professional.  I experienced two minor maintenance issues while living there, and both where handled promptly within 24 hours.

In the case of an electrical short, which admittedly I believe I cause by overloading one of the outlets, I let them know about it at around 3pm, by 4:30pm they had an electrician there to inspect everything, and by 5:15 the issue was resolved.

I am not sure what abused tenant is referring to when they mention "chores" as part of my lease agreement, I was asked to rake the grass once a week, and water the plants and flowers around the perimeter of the house.  This seems reasonable to me when you are renting a house as opposed to an apartment.

Anyway I just wanted to share that I had a very good experience renting this property, and the only reason I am not there now is I moved back to Pheonix to care for my elderly parents.

If you're looking for house in a quiet neighborhood, I can definitely recommend this one based on my experience.

Well, if anyone's still reading this I believe my point has been proven.  If you rent this house you can expect a similarly lengthy e-mail on a pretty regular basis.  They'll use an excessive amount of words to justify and spin why they think you should be repairing their house and eventually you'll just give in, hoping it'll shut them up... but it won't.  They're sharks and the more blood there is in the water the hungrier they'll get.

The decision is up to anyone who reads this post, rent it or don't it's up to you.  Just know that they'll act like your best friends as long as they can get something from you.  I'm done with this now.

I recently became aware of this report, and as a co-manager of this property I would like to set the record straight. First I wish I had known about this false report much sooner so that I could have addressed it sooner and perhaps prevented
some of the damage that has been suffered by the other innocent business owner who has responded to Abused Tenant's post.

I find it quite sad that in this case (4 motnths after the Tenants moved out) where someone was merely asked to be accountable for their actions, and asked to honor their agreements and commitments, that they instead chose
 to deflect and attempt to distract attention away from their failure to fulfill their obligations by falsely accusing us of lying, harassing, and scamming them.

I will address each point brought up by Abused Tenant, but first let me simply state that I have ample documentation in the form of over 150 dated and time stamped before and after photos, as well as over 90 minutes of before and
after video, along with the signed rental agreement and countless email communications, that clearly show the truth of the situation.

I am happy to share this with anyone who may be considering renting this property in the future, and is interested in knowing the truth, rather than relying on the unsubstantiated ramblings of a former Tenant who considers being asked to do what they agreed to do abusive.

Everything that I do with regard to this property is in strict adherence to the laws of the State of California, as well as the regulations and ordinances of the City and County of Los Angeles.

Now let me address the points that have been raised. For convenience and clarity, I am  including Abused Tenant's original comments below. Under each comment is my response.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Rented this property a while back and was continually lied to, harassed and scammed.  First off, the land lords/owners of the company live next door but won't tell you until you have already signed the lease. 


MY RESPONSE
Abused Tenant talks about being continually lied to, harassed, and scammed and yet the one
example he gives is that he didn't know we live next door.  From my perspective this constitutes neither a lie, harassment, or a scam.


The fact of the matter is that we do not go out of our way to hide this information, we simply choose not to freely share it. Our reasoning for this is because believe it or not, there are some unbalanced people in Los Angeles looking to rent. We would prefer that these people not know where we live, should their application be rejected. It is simply a precaution.


ABUSED TENANT WROTE
About 2 months into the tenancy the plumbing under the house burst, dumping waste under the entire house.  Not only did they blame us but they also tried to say that we had to pay for it ($3,000!!), even though the pipes were clearly old and broken down. 

MY RESPONSE
This is a complete misstatement of the facts. At the time in question which was three months and one week to the day after the Tenants moved in, my co-manager and I were preparing to leave on an extended trip of more than a month. Four days before we were to leave my co-manager asked one of the Tenants if everything was ok. He responded that everything was fine, except for some smell. Upon investigating the smell, my co-manager was nearly knocked out by the stench that was coming from beneath the house (through the crawl space in one of the bedroom closets) Three different plumbing companies were called immediately to assess the situation and to give estimates for the clean up and repairs.

All of the plumbers that came out agreed that this was not something that had just happened, but likely had been going on for months, and was not the result of old and broken down pipes.

We never told the Tenants that they would have to pay to repair the pipes. We did say that we
felt they should share some of the responsibility for the cleanup, since they waited so long to let
us know about the smell, and as a result the clean up was much more extensive than it would have been had we been notified immediately.

They even admitted that guests had often inquired about a smell when visiting, and yet the Tenants
remained oblivious. Apparently they truly believe their sh**t doesn't stink. In the end they were never asked to pay anything for the cleanup or the repair.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Also, we had no plumbing for over a week and had to use their bathrooms next door. 

MY RESPONSE
Because we were leaving on a trip, we hired someone to stay in our house and make it available to the Tenants 24 hours a day, until the plumbing in the rental property was repaired. We told them to use our house as their own including showering, washing clothes, cooking etc. While this may have been inconvenient, it hardly constitutes a deliberate attempt to harass and scam the Tenants.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Later on more problems with the plumbing arose and again they tried to blame us even though the
plumbers said the problem was caused from the plumbing being so old.

MY RESPONSE
The second plumbing issue occurred nine months after the first, and toward the end of the Tenants lease. The Tenants were never blamed for this particular issue. The plumbers said you can either snake the line once a year, or replace the pipes.

Most companies probably would have opted to snake the lines once a year until forced to do something more. We chose to spend in excess of $10,000 to put in completely new plumbing going from the house to the city mainline.

At this point all of the plumbing underneath the house and all the way out to the city mainline is new within the past 18 months.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Also, they insisted on monthly "inspections" to make sure that we hadn't done any damage. 

MY REPONSE
This is not something we require of all Tenants, however we specifically requested it in this instance. The fact is this was part of a compromise on our part for allowing the Tenants to have a German Shepard inside the house.

We were not crazy about this, but we were assured by the Tenant's the dog was harmless, and would only be allowed in the back part of the house. If they did not want to have
the German Shepard in the house there would have been no need for the inspections. It was their choice. Regardless, they were aware of this before they signed the lease and moved in.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Not to mention that they'd constantly stop by, without notice, to give us chores to do around
the property.

MY RESPONSE
First of all, because we do everything in accordance with the laws of the State of California, we never entered the property without proper notice. There is no law prohibiting us from stopping by, and we would not have had to stop by if they were fulfilling their obligations to rake the
yard once a week and keep the property free of debris (what they call chores) as required by the lease they freely signed.

We often allowed six to eight weeks of neglect of these fundamental obligations to transpire before
stopping by. It was not a daily or weekly event as one might assume when Abused Tenant says they'd constantly stop by.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
In the end they ended up taking money out of the deposit ($800) because the house was "filthy",
even though we did everything they listed on the pre-inspection list, and thoroughly (and I mean thoroughly) cleaned the entire property. 

MY RESPONSE
As I mentioned in the beginning I have over 150 photos and 90 minutes of video that clearly show that what Abused Tenant is claiming here is false. First of all the $800 that was with held from the Security Deposit was not just for cleaning but also for repairs for damage cause by the Tenants. There were deep scratches is several sections of the wood floors that a company wanted to charge $4,000 to repair.

Also the yard had not been maintained in months and needed to be seriously worked on for a day and a half to bring back to the level it was before the Tenants moved in.  Additionally there were oil stains in the driveway resulting from a non operating vehicle that was being stored in direct violation of the lease. Finally there were gooey substances that had to be chemically removed from several window frames, and the fireplace.

If Abused Tenant actually believes he thoroughly cleaned the entire property why did he
beg me to let him stay past midnight after the lease had ended so that he could continue to clean the property. It doesn't add up.

Apparently they believed they could neglect cleaning and maintaining the property for a year and
miraculously make the property presentable with one day of work. This is clearly a demonstration of their immaturity and lack of experience in renting a four bedroom two bath house with a huge yard.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
They could have hired a cleaning crew for less but instead they cleaned it themselves and charged us for the labor and costs (They named their own hourly rate for cleaning the house).  We thought about taking them to court to get our full deposit back but just didn't want to deal with them anymore and decided to cut our loses.  But, no one else should have to deal with these people!

MY RESPONSE
California law allows Landlords to have employees perform the work on the property and charge a reasonable rate for the work performed. The truth is if we had hired professionals to clean the house, do the yard work, and make the necessary repairs to the wood floors, etc the Security Deposit would not have covered the expense, and the Tenants would have owedadditional money.
 
In the end they received over $1700 of their deposit back, which would not have been the case had we hired independent professionals to do the work.

The real reason Abused Tenant did not take us to court is that in court, unlike this forum, you actually have to be able to prove what you say, and Abused Tenant simply can not do that.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
I could go on and on and on and on about the many abuses of the tenant/land lord relationship and the constant attempts at scamming but you get the point. 

MY RESPONSE
Abused Tenant has clearly demonstrated that he has no problem making unsubstantiated claims, so I have no doubt that he could go on and on and on, and if you have been paying attention, you do get the point.

The point is Abused Tenant s one of those sad individuals that refuses to be accountable and
accept responsibility for their actions and/or lack of actions, regardless of the contracts they sign or the promises they make.

We take our jobs very seriously, and do everything in accordance with the laws of the State of California.

ABUSED TENANT WROTE
Do Not Rent This House.


MY RESPONSE
If like Abused Tenant you; Don't honor your commitments Refuse to be held accountable and take responsibility for your actions and inactions Think that agreements you sign really don't apply to you Then please take Abused Tenants advice and do not rent this house.

If on the other hand you appreciate; An older home that has new plumbing, a new roof, and new central air and heat
Landlords that actually give a d**n and respond quickly if and when a situation arises Landlords that prefer you to simply fulfill the obligations of the lease rather than having to stop by and give you chores A quiet friendly neighborhood.

Then, your application is most welcome, and you will undoubtedly have a different/better experience than Abused Tenant.

Baskin Robins has 33 flavors because there isn't one flavor that everyone will like. There are a lot of rental properties available with lots of different landlords. There's something for everybody.

Abused Tenant assumes everyone likes the same flavor he does. This is a free country, you are free to choose your own flavor.

I applied for this property but something didn't feel "right" about it, so I opted to keep looking. I was doing some research and came across this report. I was told that the people showing the home were property managers that worked for Angel City Properties, a real estate company that owned the home. I found information on city data that supported this, so I applied. The application said Angel City Properties LLC on it as well. Additionally, like the original poster, I could not find a website for this company or any information about it except this report and the information saying they own 15829 Haynes Street. http://www.city-data.com/los-angeles-county/H/Haynes-Street-20.html

I wanted to post this as both an acknowledgement to the original poster that they saved at least one family from what they went through (thank you *smile*) and to present the information that doesn't "add up". The "property managers" told us that the Angel City Properties LLC was a company out of Nevada that owns properties in the LA area. Mark, if this is your company then I would recommend investigating why someone else is using your company name to conduct business and/or to purchase properties...??

I also found information on los angeles block shopper that shows the "property managers" that showed the property as the owners, oddly one is listed as the buyer, one as the seller. The whole thing seems rather sordid. Looks like my instincts were right on this one.

I have to say I am somewhat concerned that I filled out an application with all of my information, but I already have a fraud alert on file so hopefully this will protect me from anything untoward.

I apologize if any of your clients think that this post relates to you.  To be clear: THIS POST IS REPRESENTATIVE OF 15829 HAYNES ST. IN VAN NUYS, CA and the people that are claiming to be "Angel City Properties, LLC".  I googled the company before I posted this and no website or company information came up so I didn't know that there is another "Angel City Properties"

Unfortunately RipoffReports won't let me delete this post, but hopefully your customers will see this response and know that this post does not represent you.

This report is mistakenly ruining my reputation.  I am the owner of Angel City Properties located in Los Angeles County.  My business has nothing to do with this house nor do I even know this renter. The business legal name is the one that was registered with the state government. Please remove this article ASAP. If you have any questions please contact me.