The Landing at Jack London Square Apartamentos

Avoid this complex and Essex Property Management at all costs. This property is barely managed - all they are willing to do is collect their rent and inflated utility costs. They did just paint the place, but they consistently ignore all tenant concerns including safety and livability issues like smoking lingering into neighboring units, car break ins and thefts, pets defecating on residents door mats, mail room break ins and mail theft. There is no on-site management so good luck getting any... help after your move in. We dealt with 8 months of non-stop second hand smoke in our main bedroom up until we moved out ahead of schedule. Then they claimed that they resolved it within a few months - lies, it was never resolved. Then they tried to charge us back rent for moving out early after they agreed to release us from our lease. Stay away! Lee mas

Packages get stolen more often than not, the train is very loud, management is unresponsive, and amenities often need maintenance. The stairs are a pain when you're injured and or have a disabled or elderly guest. People's cars have gotten broken into, tires have been slashed and some cars have even been stolen off the lot. You can hear shootings outside at night, fights break out in the parking lot and glass shattering from cars being broken into on the street. It's a very unsafe environment... and you'd think being behind a gate would filter out some of the mayhem but security is slim to none and management does nothing to help rectify an issue. The rates are low for a reason--not worth it at all. We just moved out and it's the biggest relief to not be living there anymore. Lee mas

I spent 6 months at The Landing and left with a bit of a negative impression.

The Good:
The apartment was big and cozy. I got a discounted rate for 6-months, so it was affordable when I stayed there. The interior was nice and the floorplan was good. Maintenance seemed responsive to issues.

The Bad:
The train across the street is extremely loud, and it comes at all hours of the day (3am, 4am, 7am, etc.). Now that I've moved I realize how terrible the sleep I was getting actually was. It's... also a pain that the property is on the other side of the train from the highway. You do have to deal with getting stuck waiting for very long slow trains to pass by sometimes when you're trying to leave or get home.

Management (including the person in corporate I dealt with) seemed to have a high turn-over rate and a combative, accusational attitude. They didn't seem to be anyone you could trust or rely on. When I moved in, there was damage all over the apartment. A drawer was barely intact, the garbage disposal had a bad leak, the dishwasher wasn't even hooked up (but you could turn it on and water would spew everywhere). I noted everything in my walk-through checklist and took pictures. Then of course when I moved out I was accused of causing the same damage and not only did they charge me my whole security deposit, but they said they were being lenient due to all the damage "I" caused. When I sent them photos from my walk-through, they accused me of being dishonest and not taking the photos when I moved in. They also kept treating me like I was just trying to haggle and they were only apologetic because they had to be.

I don't really think this place is worth the high price, but then again nothing really is in the Bay area. If you do move here, try to get a unit as far away from the train as possible, and don't trust management. Lee mas

We are not off to a good start at The Landing at JLS. We moved into our apartment in less than 24 hours of receiving our keys. We had no reason to believe our unit wouldn’t be move in ready. The model apartments we looked at were clean, so we trusted that. The first thing we noticed was a strange adhesive on the hardwood floors. We thought maybe it was a wax that needed to fully dry. However that was not the case. This was the most problematic, because we had to shuffle things back and forth in... order to clean and move at the same time. We could not reschedule our movers. Other issues we had were
Missing light bulbs
Missing microwave vents
Dirty washing machine and Dryer
Dryer had a missing foot
Knob on washing machine was not working
Missing shelf in cabinet
Food stains under kitchen cabinets
Dirty Stove and Broiler
Dirty Dishwasher that still had food remnants
Pet hair found on multiple surfaces, especially on and around the windows and on the bedroom shelving.
Shelving was dirty in the bedroom closets.
Carpet had what looked like pet urine.
We submitted our 48 hour check-in list of issues. We emailed management at least 20 photos documenting the dirtiness. Management is slow to respond. They seem to be out of town on the weekends. Management seemed very on top of things until we moved in. We were only offered a cleaning and a wavier of not having to clean when we move out. That does not compensate us for the time and money we lost fixing our new home to basic cleanliness. We are beyond frustrated. Management even acknowledged that they did not do a walk thru before we moved in. When you move into an apartment you expect it to be clean. Especially during a global pandemic, where your home should be your sanctuary. We have been expressing our concerns for weeks with no real resolution. It’s concerning, their lack of interest to help tenants. Lee mas

I have lived here for 1.5 years. In the time I've been here, I have seen them raise rents exponentially for new tenants, and now they plan to charge for parking and remove guest parking (two things that were initially included in the rent). There are tons of nicer, newer apartment complexes around the area with better prices and accommodations. The only thing this place has going for it is the pool, and they'll probably start charging extra for that too.