The Villas At Rancho Palos Verdes

I have lived at the Villas for 10 years and I have seem several resident managers come and go. Summer Waters has done the most outstanding job of them all since she has come to this position. Our entire property has gotten upgraded i.e. buildings all repainted, many units have been redone to bring them more current, landscaping is beautiful. It goes to show 1 person can make a difference. Thanks to her and her team; I hope to stay here another 10 years!

The property management team has really stepped up! Thanks to Summer, Stephen, and their teams there is better organization, more efficient communication, and a real effort is displayed to make The Villas feel like a community.
I appreciate the continuous improvement to the property’s landscape and hope to call this place «home» for more years to come!

Positives: The location of the apartments is outstanding – next door to Terranea Resort and 100 yards from the ocean. The views from our balcony are amazing as well. We were blinded by these views…
There are some nice amenities. The workout room is nice.
Maintenance is good and usually shows up quickly to take care of issues.
They also allow pets which is difficult to find in this area. We also have a washer & dryer in the unit.
Negatives: We showed up to do our walk-​through the day before our move in. We were told that the «carpets were wet» and we would not be able to enter. (What?!) That was a red-​flag and wished we had insisted on viewing the apartment.
We showed up the next morning to pick up our keys. The carpet was cleaned but that didn’t stop the PEE marks and the smell from coming through! And it got worse by the hour. It was so GROSS! The movers had already loaded the truck (3 bedroom house worth of furniture) and were on their way! We paid them close to $ 1500 for the move and had no choice but have the furniture come in. The smell of the pee was so awful, I could not even sleep in the bedroom. After several complaints to management and to corporate, they finally agreed to change out the carpet – which our furniture in the unit. It was an awful, stressful experience. I should have pushed for compensation.
There wasn’t proper ventilation in the bathroom, so was constantly fighting mold on the shower ceiling and walls.

No.
Just no.
I’m sorry guys. I moved here with my mom because it was such a beautiful view of the ocean. And coming from Las Vegas, it’s a breath of fresh air. But HOLY S**T I HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH A BAD SPIDER PROBLEM. Seriously, every week was a new fresh brand of hell. My worst encounter was that I was laying on my bed watching Netflix on my laptop and a spider just decided to take a stroll ACROSS MY PILLOW 2 CM AWAY FROM MY FACE. I have woken up with numerous times with bug bites. Lets not forget the mosquitos. I loved the outdoor feel of this apartment, but I never realized I had to live with the insects. Earwigs in all the kitchen drawers, spiders on the ceilings, and mosquitos buzzing around your head at night.
Get this. I called their maintenance/​front office/​whoever it was (it was a while ago) and asked them for the umpteenth time to come and spray. (They came so many times I lost count.) This time when I told him it was spiders, he said that they need the spiders because they eat the other insects.
Hold up… there’s more bugs??? No! The fact that he didn’t come spray BECAUSE it was spiders disgusted me. Spray for all of them!!! I’m not trying to feed the spiders!
Also, they have stray cats. This is not a bad thing. I LOOOOVE cats. Especially little baby kittens (: and they had a few of those. They would follow us around the complex area and were so friendly and so use to human interaction that we could pet and play with them. But God forbid if we try and feed them. The office said that we weren’t allowed to do that. They even called my cell one time and asked me to confirm if I had blonde hair, to which I said yes, and then she proceeded to say that she had photo evidence of me feeding the cats and if I don’t stop they will evict us. Like, are you serious? I’m just suppose to let them starve? Those cats where the ONLY good thing about the villas besides the view, but you get tired of that after a while. Yay. The ocean. What’s new? You cant even get to it. The lady in the beginning said there was beach access but we never found it. It’s just a cliff. And the «beach» is sharp rocks.
Anyway, the apartment was poorly built as well. We had a crooked ceiling. I felt sick every time I looked at it. And the drawers didn’t even fit in properly in the kitchen and the cabinets were crooked. My bathtub too was always getting water damage for some reason. If your BATHTUB gets WATER DAMAGE, you need to rethink how you put this apartment together. I was always embarrassed to have friends over.
And if you hate stairs, just forget about it.
There’s so much more but this is all just from my experience. I know my neighbors are quite happy with their set up, so its up to you if you want to take the gamble. You might be happy with it or you might get dealt the hand we were dealt.

CAUTION to anyone considering renting from The Villas– they may raise your rent to the maximum of 20% without any negotiations or care for the tenant! Thou they have two of the same units empty plus many other apartments empty they are raising our rent $ 400.00. We have lived here for two years and last year they were willing to negotiate to $ 120.00 which is a total of $ 520.00 in two years– Totally nuts!
I have never lived in RPV and had no idea LA rent controls laws do not apply. This has put us in an awful position, we are forced to move not to mention my father passed away the night they left the notice at our door. I have never dealt with such awful people and I feel for anyone that has to!!! Shame on them!

A huge thank you to Summer and Joanie for assisting us finding our new home. Summer is an excellent Community Director and is one of the main reasons we decided to rent at the Villas. Her professional demeanor and superior service are exceptional. Joanie patiently took us to see several models and answered all of our questions. I have recommended the Villas to several friends as a result of this management team.

These people will take legal action and extort your family with their month to month contracts after a year lease.
They will raise rents without compromise and have every legal right to raise it 20%. They have raised our rent 15.5% without any negotiation.
The management is being unreasonable about how we were to pay for late fees. We were served with a type of eviction that allowed them to accept rent only if we accepted to leave.
The management seems nice but behind the curtains is low wage misery with high paid lawyers ready to overwhelm and stress you and your family out all under the disguise of a community. These people are not worth your time. Its a fantasy ghetto.
Giving no reprieve for families that move in during peak seasons. They are raising rents so apartments can go vacant. Their policies make no sense. I wish we would have never moved to this apartment.

I recently had the pleasure of touring The Villas located in Rancho Palos Verdes with the help of Tiffany Ming. Tiffany, the leasing agent, was generous with her time. I was so excited about the prospect of living at The Villas. What drew me to the complex were the upgrades, the view, minutes to the beach and to the Terranea Resort. What a lovely complex. The screening process was needless to say extensive and challenging. I shared the pains with the other prospective tenants. Finally, I received an approval but unfortunately, my roommate got a job too far to make the drive.
I commend Tiffany and Summer for their patience with me during the process. I would have loved to call this complex my home. I will miss seeing that lovely view.

Steven is in charge of all maintenance at The Villas, and is incredibly fair and reasonable. He is attentive to maintenance requests, and my needs are fixed in less than 24 hours. He and his team are one of the reasons we elected to renew our lease.
Summer is a very involved manager, and responsive to all resident concerns. She’s been a welcome change to our living experience; it’s refreshing and comforting to my family knowing that she’s running things.
The Villas gets four stars instead of five because there’s not much effort to retain residents with two year leases, or rent hikes of less than $ 200 upon renewal. That’s not Summer’s fault of course, and I know that’s one of the items she’d like changed as well.
We’re happy here at The Villas!

Thank goodness for the new manager, Summer! Since she’s been onboard, things have definitely improved. As an example, we had an ongoing issue with our kitchen sink, which was never addressed, despite many requests over the course of a year. One call to Summer and we got a new sink!
Yes, the plumbing is turned off more often than we would like, but this is to address the antiquated plumbing, so hopefully once that has been replaced, this will be a non-​issue.
No place is perfect and I really dislike the rent hikes (I’ve been spoilt by rent control from the Bay Area), but hopefully things will level out, so hardworking families can continue to live here, as this is our home. I don’t think huge resident turn-​over bodes well, when trying to create a harmonious community. I think happy residents is key and I’m under the impression that this is the goal of Summer and hopefully the property owners are on the same page.
Maintenance team is top notch and response time, under Steven is excellent.
Again, no place is perfect, but I’m willing to pick my battles and overlook something’s, as the good definitely outweighs the bad.
Finally, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the few extra touches, like a rose at our doorstep, on Valentine’s Day! Little gestures of appreciation, towards tenants, goes a long way.

i called the villas and was talking to them about the reviews i had read here on Unilocal they did not want to talk about it only said so you had a change of heart thank you and hung up wowwwwww you would think they would want to try and make things more clear and say its under new management but no he hung up on me that right there proves that this place is still in bad shape

WORST MANAGEMENT. 1 star for the view & dog friendly. The management here is horrible. There’s vandalism, constant water shut offs, and lack of communication from manager: Olivia. If there is a maintenance issue, she will not communicate the issue to the maintenance manager, but she will make sure that her apartment has up to date features & constant maintenance up keep. We have been waiting for our lease to end to get out of here.

So I wasn’t aware that I am not allowed to quote a collective view so here is just my own. Do not recommend renting at The Villas, I was messed around, given different quotes, lost apartments that were held for me. Even the day before moving my fees went up $ 1000 so we had to step away. I didn’t want to be so specific here on this review but have been told by Unilocal I need to, they must have complained, who knows, actually don’t care to know. So in actual fact it looks more aggressive which wasn’t my angle. In correspondence I was confirmed information then had it unconfirmed despite having as I said these things in writing. I would ask several questions and only one would be answered. There is no fridge in the apartment and not all have laundry appliances. I had no accommodations on how I could manage deposit to move in yet other places went above and beyond to try and help us. I got instant approval at other places yet it took forever, weeks, with Villas. I’d turn up to view as arranged and the lady wouldn’t be there or the time on the door was incorrect for return. Some of the balconies are like post boxes, they are very dark apartments unless you are on the outside. No dog areas. Access for moving in is not great on most of the apartments, lots of winding walkways, steps etc. No lifts in most of the buildings. It is a very old and dated facility, didn’t feel clean. I was shown an upgraded apartment but only difference was black appliances, it was the worst apartment I looked at. I get the ‘I’m not allowed to quote who lives here’ but other places were happy to tell me there is a mix of families and animals which was all I wanted to hear. It was very quiet and but too far from most shops. I was offered storage and when I said yes straight away, they then said oh sorry we just gave the last one out and there is a waiting list. Well why offer me one then!!! That is basically how communication went for us. Olivia is the most competent individual but I do not wish to discuss this any further, it’s just too draining to deal with the Villas. I just don’t want other people being blinded by the location of the ocean, we nearly were.

We have lived at the Villas for 3 years. The location is amazing. Located next to the Terranea Resort, it’s like living on vacation! We live on a quiet floor with spectacular views. The management staff here does a great job, both Olivia and Stacey are professional yet very personable and always make you feel that they care. They have gone above and beyond to help us resolve any issues that have come up and have exceeded our expectations. We can say the same about the maintenance staff. If you are looking for a beautiful location and a well managed building, look no further!

Olivia and Stacey went out of their way to make sure we were happy tenants. They are always walking the property to make sure everyone and everything is up to standards. No problems at all so far! I love where I live.

Great view, cool temps, by the water. Can’t complain.
The staff is great (Olivia and Stacee) have been very responsive on our maintenance requests amongst other things. Maintenance staff is great.
I actually had an issue with our move out last month– Talked to Olivia, and worked things out.
Nice job

Location is amazing.
Staff is friendly and tries to help you.
Maintenance staff is also friendly and always says hello.
Overpriced for the living conditions.
Low quality products installed in every room so things are always breaking and i have mold in the kitchen and bathroom though they tried to get rid of it and carpet gets dirty really fast.
I can hear the neighbors above and below me all the time and from outside every night even after 10pm and the security is suppose to help with the noise, aren’t they? I can hear people in the townhomes screaming and yelling sometimes until 1am.
I write this review to hopefully help better this community and let those interested in renting here know what they are getting themselves into– I wish I had this information before I moved in.

Spectacular views, fresh/​clean air, quiet community, parking, spacious and clean 1 – 2 apartment layouts. Dorothy Lee, who showed me around the property, was super helpful and down to earth. I wouldn’t mind calling this place home.

We’re a military family with two dogs, and we’re giving The Villas 5 stars, because they are EXACTLY what we were looking for… as most military families will attest, it’s difficult to pinpoint a good location for a new assignment when you’ve never been to/​visited the target site, and taking an entire family for a house-​hunting trip is just not feasible sometimes. We found the Villas online by first starting research on school zones. Palos Verdes Unified School district is one of the best in California, but also in an affordable area for renting. We lucked out… now that we’ve been here for six months, and seen what else the area had to offer (between here and L.A. Air Force Base), we’d still pick The Villas if we had it to do over again.
We moved here in October and caught a nice break on the rent because it was the off-​season. Our apartment is around 600 feet from the coast, and there’s a really nice running trail that takes you past the cliffs with a fantastic view of the ocean, and a nice little grass park that is always clean and never busy. Two minutes by car and you can get to a handful of beach parks (rocky beaches AND sandy beaches) with tons of starfish and anemones.
About the apartments themselves: some of the units are older, and not painted with designer colors (which was fine by us). The units are so big inside though, much bigger than some of the other apartments we compared when we were comtemplating this move. We’ve always lived in a house (we still own our last house from our previous assignment) so this is our first experience with apartment-​living. It just seems too easy, sometimes. :)
The maintenance crew keeps the grounds in beautiful shape, and they’re really nice guys (just yesterday one of them took the trash bags right out of my hands and hauled it to the dumpsters to help me when I had my hands full). The staff keeps the pool and the heated jaccuzzi meticulously clean… there’s a tennis court over the garage (that part is really neat!), and a patio, as well as a BBQ area. Nice parking set-​up. The management is always friendly, and super-​helpful, but they don’t bother us unless we come to them needing something. Any maintenance repairs needed can be arranged by submitting a request online (can’t get much easier than that!), response time so far has been short (within a day we’ve gotten a call to arrange a time, even though our requests were non-​urgent.
The neighbors we’ve seen are all very nice, keep to themselves except for a friendly «hello» as they pass…
We haven’t had any problems with noise between the units on the sides (the walls must be really thick), but the ground floor –tenants (the single-​bedroom units are underneath the two and three bedroom units) may hear footsteps from the apartments above, especially with kids upstairs.
Each unit has a pretty generous back deck, big enough for a table and chairs, or a lot of toys, separate from the neighbors space.
FOR MILITARY FOLKS MOVING HERE: The drive to the base is about 14 miles, but it’s a good 45 minute drive. 14 Miles near L.A. is a lot different from 14 miles in a small town or medium sized city. On the plus side, you can take the route along the coast, through the little beach towns, and never have to hit that monstrous 405 Freeway. That will mean something to the folks coming here from other bases where you don’t see monster traffic.
So in summary:
Highly-​rated schools in this area
Affordable rent (with your BAH)
Spacious Units
Great Views
Easy drive to the Base (compared to taking the 405)
Safe neighborhood
Friendly management
Pet-​friendly
We’ve checked out some other apartments now that we’re here in person and know the area a little better… and we’re still very happy with the Villas, and plan to renew our lease. Even though it’s a 14-​mile drive from the base, it’s worth the trade-​off for the safe neighborhood ($ 2 million dollar homes and golf courses!) but still a place where a regular (not rich!) family can feel at-​home.
We love it here. :)