My boyfriend and I moved into the 213 S. Bandy Ave Apartments in West Covina at the end of January. We were told that because of an adverse credit report we would be required to give a $700 security deposit rather than the "standard" $600 deposit.
Upon our move in we were asked to do a walk through with the manager to make sure that everything in the apartment was satisfactory. During the walk through we agreed that everything looked good. A week later the toilet began to leak causing the cheap linoleum flooring around the toilet to come up. We notified our manager and she said she'd send someone to take a look at it, but she never did. The floor started to rot and the bathroom started to smell like mold. We finally got a hold of the Pama Management maintenence line, only because we recieved a letter in the mail from them stating that our rent was going up! It took them two days to complete the job.
When we gave our months notice to the manager there was no problem. We moved out on our scheduled day and returned all keys. We were told that our security deposit would be delivered to our new address within three weeks. On the third week I called Pama Management to find out the status of the return. They told me that it was in the mail. I attempted to confirm the $700 amount but the representative said he didn't know what our return was for and if I had any discrepancies to "give me a call." Well two days later I recieved the deposit as promised but was shocked to find that instead of the $700 dollar return we got back a measily $411.04 back. When I looked at the move-out report made by our apartment manager she claimed that our cielings and walls throughout the entire apartment needed to be repainted $145, that the smoke detector and batteries needed to be replaced 13.95, that the apartment needed cleaning $30, and that total labor for this would be $65 totaling 288.96.
My boyfriend and I agreed that the carpet needed a shampooing, but disagreed with the report about the rest. Most of all with the claim that all walls and cielings needed to be repainted. We were in the apartment a total of 8 months, never smoked or did anything that would damage the ceiling or paint. I called the Pama Management representative and though he advised me to give him a call if I had any discrepancies, he now claimed that I should call the manager because he had nothing to do with the move-out report. So I did as he advised and called the manager (Maricela). She (Maricela) also claimed that she had nothing to do with the report. After this I attempted to speak with Mike Nijjar. The receptionist claimed that he was never there and or hard to get a hold of, also he doesn't take calls because his workers handle all of his business for him. When I got back on the line with the Pama Management representative he let me know quite simply that he was the highest I was going to get, it's not possible to speak to Mike Nijjar. I wonder why???
So even though neither the Pama Management representative nor the apartment manager could justify any damage done to the apartment, my boyfriend and I are forced to pay for these alleged "damages". The Pama Management finished up with this statement: "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you but this is what we are going to do." Our manager added, "Anywhere you go, you're never going to get your FULL deposit back."!!
Before you rent an apartment make sure you look up who manages it and make sure that it's not Pama. If it is Pama, we advice you to keep looking, keep looking.
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