In addition to the problems before, I was moving out and asked them what I needed to do (roommate was staying). They told me to email them and they would send me the document to sign and send back to them. I emailed them twice. No reply. I left the country and have been out of the country a few months. My roommate stayed past the lease date and they evicted me... while I was out of the country. I just learned about it. My mom received the court summons after it already went to court (I had my mail forwarded there since I left). Edit: they may have corrected the problem most of the way, dealing with it currently read more

Definitely 0 stars. Listen to the 1 star reviews you see because it is completely accurate. The management changes every year and it's never someone that knows what they are doing or has the authority to do anything. Maria or Mary or something, weren't in the office during posted business hours, takes more than 48hrs to hear back and they will not handle issues until they are make the time to handle it. I had felt so neglected and pushed aside when I stayed here (paying over 2.5k). Hallways are nasty smelling like garbage with flies and gnats all around. Being near BART/AC Transit is one of the main positives along with the maintenance crew, they may take a decent amount of time to get to the problem but at least they handle it unlike the actual office staff. read more

Not good tonight someone pounded on my door and ran . Lots of strange noises when I arrive home .my dog is always whining and acting scared read more

I've been here over a year. It's not worth living here. - I called security once saying I hear screaming and domestic violence. He told me to call the cops. So he ain't helpful. - There are often screaming at night time if not running around and screaming in daytime. I hear parties and big gatherings from the start of the pandemic. - There is often one if not more dogs constantly barking during the day and it's annoying. - We got a pay the rent or leave notice once despite us paying rent on time every month since we got the automatic payment set up. They apologized for the system not working but they said they'll always post the notice without checking in with you. - My friend told me that their elevator has been out since Christmas 2020 in their building. In our building, the elevator has been down for several months. I pray for the folks who got mobility impairments. They can't leave their rooms. - There is no recycling room. There is just a trash room. They kept evading my emails about this. Their trash room is overfilled and they don't empty the dumpster enough to keep it from getting too full. - The fire alarm goes off at random times because folks are smoking. You can smell the cigarette smells even near the front door. - There is often incessant beeping near the front door and I don't know what that alarm is for. - They don't care to change the light bulbs and some floors and the area near the gym has dimming lights that keep flashing and it's irritating to look at - They changed the locks to the gym and you can't use it. - I kept trying to add my friend to the lease since my housemate up and moved a day ago. The apartment manager has yet to email me back. It's been several weeks. Be warned if you break your lease, you lose any entitlement to your security deposit and pet deposit. I don't even know why my past housemate had to pay $500 for the pet deposit since it's $500 for two pets and she only has one. Also in the common bathroom, there kept being flooding issues and the maintenance manager dared accuse us of the flooding. It wasn't till I found out what was wrong with a gasket it got resolved. But it can take them several months to fix big issues unless you're very persistent. Plus the new shower they replaced got scratched up by the maintence crew so it just looks ugly despite it being new. The maintenance crew even scratched up the common bathroom toilet. There is still weird glugging noises from the toilets and weird white foam coming up. Despite their multiple pipe projects, it hasn't made it better but worse. There are multiple construction projects and they don't inform you. You're lucky if they post on your door the day before. I scheduled a door paining on Friday and the construction crew painted it on Tuesday. I was attending a virtual memorial service. I had to call the construction company several times and they didn't help nor did the apartment manager helped. Also like others said the packages go missing often. They have closed the mail room. They have Amazon lockers but I've received no email saying the delivery person uses them. Plus they charge you for using these lockers. I haven't moved since I'm tired of moving. But my friend already left and another is planning on leaving. read more

Del Norte Place Apartment Homes - Trash room is always too full. - Apartments Near Me - El Cerrito, California

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Great place to live! I'm on the first floor near the office and my apartment is remodeled and being on the first floor I feel like it's convenient and comfortable! Bart is a hop skip and jump away and Grocery Outlet, Safeway and Home Depot are within walking distance! The office staff Tom and Jazmene are very friendly and responsive!!! read more

This will be the last place I would recommend. I am a resident here for one and half year. I have my parking spot which was occupied by others. I had no other choice to park nearby my slot for half a day then my car was towed for no reasons even without any notice. What made me more exhausted and frustrated is that I did not get any reimbursement or explanation so far but had to pay more than $500 and spent a whole afternoon from my work to get my car back. Moreover, my car's window has been broken for more than 2 times at the parking lot that the apartment did not take care either. The safety and management will be the major concern before you choose. Previously they will notice the resident of the parking issue beforehand, but now they make a 10-min call problem into $500 issue, which made me extremely frustrated and exhausted since it also took apart my whole afternoon from my job. read more

I live here and Its horrible DO NOT MOVE HERE. I plan on moving out asap because there's always a fire in the staircase and that someone always pulls the fire alarm when there's no fire so it's hard to know if there's a real fire or if someone pulled the fire alarm for fun ! DO NOT MOVE IN they don't seem to care at all! I coughed so much because of all all the smoke that came from a staircase fire yesterday! Did management apologize ? NO And there's no security or cameras so anyone can get it. Also here's been times when random homeless people knock on my door. read more

Del Norte Place Apartment Homes - Aftermath of the fire - Apartments Near Me - El Cerrito, California

I was a tenant of Del Norte Place from February 2018 until August 2020. The benefits of living here are that you are within walking distance of the BART station and major bus lines as well as Safeway and Walgreens and some decent restaurants in the little retail area below the apartments. It's a decent spot to live if you don't have a car and need to be close to the amenities. However, the disadvantages of living here certainly outweigh the benefits. Similar to the review by Jay M. on 3/7/2020, the management company is unnecessarily difficult to communicate with. Their responsiveness to tenant issues has really gone down hill since the start of the COVID pandemic. Due to accessibility and safety concerns as well as financial impacts of COVID, my roommate and I asked to break our lease early and sent them multiple lease termination notices to the leasing office email inbox letting them know that we would be moving out by the end of August 2020. It seems like they don't have anyone working on-site in the office because they did not respond to our termination notice until we PRINTED OUT A PHYSICAL LETTER AND SENT IT TO THE OFFICE WITH A RETURN SIGNATURE REQUIRED VIA CERTIFIED MAIL. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. Under normal circumstances, an early lease termination will cost you the equivalent of two months rent ($5400) + rent through your lease termination date. They don't offer any reasonably priced month to month leasing options even for financially responsible tenants so you will be locked into a year long lease. My roommate and I got out paying less because we consulted a lawyer and threatened to sue them. Other words of caution: - the accessible push button on the lobby door is always broken even after repeated maintenance requests - the elevators are always breaking down for multiple hours. Phone calls to the emergency maintenance line go unanswered. The most recent elevator issue took them 12 days to resolve - your packages will constantly be stolen from the lobby or magically "disappear" from the package room because there are no security cameras anywhere - Fire alarms continually go off during the night and no one ever leaves their units because the pranks are constant. We would all die in actual fire - constant rotation of managers: in my 2.5 years there, we interacted with at least 5 different staff - COCKROACHES: we had an ongoing cockroach issue that they were slow to resolve A two bedroom here will cost you $2900 with utilities...run don't walk to a better complex! read more

BE AWARE. DO NOT GO HERE. The staff used to be nice but they are now very rude, unprofessional, and drive you crazy every time. I lived there for more than two years. 1. Do not even think about getting your deposit back if you are moving here 2. Packages get stolen all the time, so you are forced to send to the leasing office.... but they are never there. When you finally catch them, you have to wait every single time. 3. Bikes within the complex (behind locked doors) get stolen all the time, this happened twice for me 4. Some staff are ok, but some are extremely rude and impossible to work with, to a degree that you won't care anymore & eventually move out 5. Your rent will go up crazy every year. I lived there for little over two years and i was the second oldest tenant on the entire floor. I suspect it was due to increasing rent. 6. Dogs get noisy and some are aggressive. My dog got bit within the complex. 7. FLEAS. My unit was professionally treated four times, and I did DE treatment multiple times. On top of all this, I vacuumed and washed everything every day. Flea issues remained. I eventually had to live somewhere else for couple months as I am not too keen on getting eaten alive. Fyi- I never had flea issues before moving here or after moving out. I suspect that the fleas were coming from another unit. 8. And ants. This was gone after professional treatment but I wonder if it came back to that unit by now. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT MOVE HERE. YOU WILL THANK ME FOR IT. read more

I left a review 6 months ago and honestly NOTHING has changed... Well except a property manager has left (Terminated or Resigned) That I'm unsure of, but honestly the current asst manager in the office was the better of the 2. However, If you STILL decide to move to this complex after all the HONEST tenant reviews... I advise you not to take a unit below the 4th floor. If you're okay with your upstairs neighbors stomping , and fighting above your head at any time of the night (which is also why I'm currently up writing a review at 11:40 PM) then you'll absolutely love this place. The floors are remodeled but it's linoleum not wood flooring on top of nothing to absorb the sound. I have 2 months left in my lease and I am ecstatic to leave this place and NEVER return. Parking is horrible still... even after supposedly changing EVERYBODY'S parking spots with a same day notice. I was literally told around 12 pm last week or so that my parking stall was changed effective immediately, elevators still have issues, walk ways near parking are still poorly lit with too many dark points to have along a Bike/ Bart trail through it, key fobs barely work, laundry room floods, dryers barely dry clothes... I said it before I'll say it again Cheap , Poor Upgrades. Looks nice til you move in. You can complain to the office and corporate... There's nothing they can or will do and before Maggie responds as she's required to... I've complained to both management and corporate and they can't do a damn thing. So just stop. read more

Recently toured apartment for future move. Tom, the property manager answered all of my questions and you can tell he manages the complex very well, which is important to me. Will be putting in an application for future move. read more

I lived at the complex from 2013 to 2014. The location was convenient, like walking distance to ECDN BART, Safeway, Starbucks, Home Depot, ECDN transit center with buses to connect to Downtown Oakland, Downtown SF, Downtown Richmond, Hilltop, Hercules, Vallejo, Napa and Fairfield. The building looked ok and was decent. Plenty of awesome ground floor. There was a pretty nice bike path. Now for the worse parts. The rent was way too high for a military Veterans disability and retirement income. There was no adequate bicycle locker or bike parking and I wasn't going to track road dirt into my apartment unit. I would lock my bike on the first floor bike shelter, but it was inadequate, the bike rack wasn't tall enough to reach the bike frame, so the bike thief would trespass and use an Allen wrench and take out the front tire and steal the rest of the bike. I resorted to taking my bike to the third floor and locking it on the fence railing, at least no one in management complained. There were numerous occasions where cars were getting broken into at the back parking lot. There was BART train horn noise, it didn't phase me. The gym wasn't adequate for the work out program the physical therapist assigned me. At that time there was an out of control homeless camp a block away. Before I left, the apartment complex wanted to raise the rent from 1700 to 1900 for the one bedroom, so I left. Kind of explains why I left the Bay Area. If the complex only charged 1/3 of my income or low enough to deal with the crime problem, I would have stayed. Suggestion box: 1. Think about humans (tenants) first instead of cars first. 2. Reexamine the parking demand and reduce the apartment parking area and redevelop it as commercial retail and a lot a few Zip Car spaces. The two grey spaces that doesn't contain the elevated BART right of way needs to be build with more housing with ground floor retail, and build it as tall as possible; there is a housing shortage in the Bay Area, so building more housing would help. As Jane Jacobs stated, diversity of land use is great for a community. 3. In the bike parking space, replace the racks with real bike racks, similar to ones at Berkeley City College and 12th Street BART. 5. Replace the rest of the first floor facing streets with ground floor retail. 4. Widen the sidewalk along the San Pablo Avenue. 6. Improve security of the building, to ensure cars don't get broken into and bikes don't get stolen or parts picked off.--paying 1700 for a one bedroom at that time was ridiculous for the criminal activity around the neighborhood and complex. 7. Adjust the rent to the tenant's 1/3 of income but no greater than listed rent price; economic diversity gives character to a neighborhood is great for a community. 8. Lobby the City of El Cerrito, City of Richmond, and Alameda County to place the homeless residents living on Eastshore Blvd in housing or long term care and remove them if they don't accept such services. Tenants don't have time to lobby the local government due to being too busy working to afford the rent. 9. Get rid of the grey space in front of the ground floor retail and make that a green space and cafe space. When the location remains a grey space, it makes car break-ins more convenient for the thieves. 10. Buy out the blight across the street and build more housing with ground floor retail. read more

I have been living here for over 18 months. The entire time, even through some staff changes, we have been treated extremely well. Maintenance requests when rarely needed are fast and thorough. Logistical office questions are answered quickly. Now, they are giving this place a facelift which will only solidify my family staying here for the foreseeable future. read more

Seem the property is under new management, I have received updates of upcoming projects and my work orders and issues are being dealt on the same day or the next day. The leasing staff was very helpful with my relocation from Bogotá to the bay area. The maintenance team has been very helpful too. read more

Terrible apartment building. When things go wrong they take forever to fix it. Management every 3months. Once one manager team leaves, and the next comes in they does not update the other(new) team. read more

Del Norte Place Apartment Homes - The fire happened in November, and they still haven't fix the stairwell upstairs and downstairs. They attempted to put caution tape - Apartments Near Me - El Cerrito, California

Just moved in. The property's location with respect to Bart and Safeway is a big plus. The leasing staff was very helpful during the process and the manager José was very responsive and helpful with all of my questions. read more

The maintenance is very helpful. Work orders are taken care of fast by experienced staff here.

If I could leave zero stars, I would. The property manager ashli is NO help what so ever. refusers to answer any questions let alone never even answers the phone for the past months that I've tried calling. Every time I have spoken to her she just talks over me and gets loud refusing to let me ask any questions before screaming telling me to leave the office. she gave me a sticky note with an email to contact but when I asked for a number or person to talk to above her, she yelled "Google it and get out of my office!!". sad part is this is my first time renting so I am having trouble knowing all my rights and it is clear Ashlii is taking advantage of this fact. all in all, all I have wanted was to just ask simple questions but never realized having questions for your apartment manager would be this difficult. If you are considering staying here, DON'T. read more

This review is for the shopping center itself, not for the housing, and it's a weak 3, more like 2.51. I have eaten at several restaurants in the complex over the years and what I most dislike is the bathroom setup. In general you have to leave the restaurant to find them and even in dry weather I find that unpleasant. In the rain it would be dreadful. So I often avoid eating at the restaurants here because of that, although I'm currently curious about Taste of Ethiopia and will probably try it eventually, even knowing about the bathroom situation. read more

I was a resident at Del Norte Place for a year and a half. The location is great, but the management company leaves much to be desired. THEFT: Within 1 month, an arsonist set fire to the laundry room twice, someone broke into my car (and 6 other cars in the apartment complex's parking lot), and my bike was stolen from inside the locked courtyard. The only response from the front office was "sorry to hear that." There is a courtesy patrol in the evenings, but it seems far from effective. POOR MAINTENANCE: The response to maintenance issues was generally quick (within 2 days), but I often had to re-submit issues 2-3 times before maintenance would truly fix the issue. As one example, my ceiling was leaking when it rained, and the repairman supposedly fixed it twice before a third (actually effective) repair weeks after the initial problem. POOR MANAGEMENT: When attempting to negotiate my lease renewal with the regional manager, he failed to return several phone calls and voicemails I left him. I had no choice but to sign before my renewal deadline. After I signed, the manager was then suddenly available to speak with me. In another case, the building's fire alarms were malfunctioning and would go off many times in a row. Sometimes, this happened for more than an hour at a time. Other times, it happened at 3 or 4 am. The issue was not fixed for at least 2 months. Management clearly fails to respond to such issues within a reasonable time frame. read more

I came here to attend a baby shower that was held in their recreation area. It was very spacious and nice with a couch and full kitchen for use. They have extra foldable tables and chairs in the closet for use. There's also a male and female bathroom inside for convenience. Del Norte Place is located right next to the Bart station and in walking distance of many other restaurants and shops. Seems like a nice living location in the Bay Area, especially if you didn't have your own transportation. read more

The maintenance team here is fantastic, but that is the only good thing about living here. I lived here for one year and it was the worst rental experience of my life. First, the management team changes every couple of months and there is no consistent person working at the front desk, which means no one knows what is happening in the community. Not only that, but the people who work here are very rude to residents and truly do not care about improving the resident experience. I felt so unsafe living here, with my car getting broken into and finding homeless people sleeping in the stairwells. The emergency patrol that you pay for does not answer nor will they return your calls. The elevator is frequently broken. I have received the most unkind emails from the staff here, especially Gabby. They do not take noise complaints seriously nor do they care about resident safety. The team that manages this property is so incompetent they often don't respond to emails. When moving out, they also charge you for a professional cleaning fee even though it is not in the lease and even if the apartment is clean. Please save your time and money and do not live here, the team that manages this property is truly horrible. read more

To start, I will mention that Yvonne is nice and tries to help, and the maintenance crew are friendly. Now to the very real issues I've experienced here: Service Requests: - When I moved into my apartment 2 years ago, the first time it rained I realized the rain gutters in my building are completely rusted and deteriorated. My patio isn't completely covered by a roof so the gutters were leaking massive amounts of water right into my patio. All the water that is collected from the building's roof ends up dumping right into my patio, causing flooding that will get into my living room if the water is not collected in buckets and emptied into a sink. I submitted a request 2 years ago and was lied to by management when they said they will fix it within a week - what actually happened is they marked the ticket as "work done" and have ignored my follow up emails and notes since then. This would be unacceptable anywhere else, but it's not even the worse part. The fire alarms: Oh, the fire alarms. They go off literally every.single.week. Sometimes even twice a day. It's awesome when you have work at 7am and the fire alarm goes off at 4am and stay on for 45 minutes. It got so bad that people don't even leave their apartments anymore when it goes off. And the fire truck now takes it's time getting here as they've learned to ignore this building's alarms Does management realize how dangerous that is? What if there's a real fire? They do, and don't care. All they do is keep promising "they've installed new fire alarms" and keep sending extremely inconvenient (and poorly written / rude) notifications that they will be entering our apartment while we're at work to inspect them. I don't like people entering my apartment when I'm not around because I have a dog, and this has happened 3 times in the last couple of months. Security is a joke: Living so close to BART is definitely convenient, but homeless people keep breaking into the building and one of them has started fires in the stairwells in more than 1 building. There was a huge burn mark on the stairs, and the stairs smelled like burnt plastic for over a month, until they changed the carpet. Someone also broke into the laundry room and set off the fire alarms there by smoking. Parking: They had a simple project in the parking lot and kept messing up the scheduling. They asked everyone in all buildings to move their cars for an entire day - do you know what it's like to have to find parking on the street around here, especially when all your neighbors had to do the same thing? They did this to us 3 times in 1 month! Packages: On top of that, if you order alot of items online, the packages are constantly held hostage in the office until someone is there to hand it to you. They sometimes just leave a sign on the door and leave for a few hours 'doing tours'.. Just look for another place. There are many better options and some are even cheaper. I renewed my lease so I wouldn't have to move again and am experiencing instant regret as I woke up to a flood in the patio that I had to clean up before I go to work... read more

This place is horrendous. DO NOT MOVE HERE. It didn't start off that way as you can see in my past reviews. The office staff is absolutely atrocious. They are rude, dimwitted and have some of the worst customer service I have ever witnessed. Rude, arrogant, defensive and trashy. The office staff come off as Jerry Springer guests in every possible interaction. I can't count the number of temps they have had running things. It's constant turn around. There is no point in complaining- I have contacted their corporate office several times and nothing was offered to be done. Yvonne has some serious mental issues. The apartment is severely overpriced for the area. I cannot wait to leave. The water basically does not work in the kitchen and yet the maintenance guy has come by 3 separate times to 'fix' it. At this point I can't cook since it's impossible to clean the dishes thanks to the low water pressure. My partner and I had to purchase a UPS post office box because I can't count the number of times we haven't been able to get our packages from the office (the postman drops them off there no matter what if they don't fit in the tiny mail slot unless its Amazon). Their hours are unpredictable and rarely anyone is there. They lost a package of mine that was randomly found 6 months later when I pushed them to find a new one. One time they gave me another guy's package. Most of the time they claim a package is not there until you push them to look harder and physically follow them into the mailroom. It's completely unacceptable. The security is a joke- the lights around the building and in the back parking area are routinely out and it's not a safe area after dark. The last and most ridicules thing they did was post flyers all over telling all residents to move their cars and find somewhere else to park for 2 days while they repaint the parking spaces. There is basically no street parking- never mind for 500+ residents! It was cancelled the day of- after everyonw had to move their cars to who knows where- thanks to rain- so apparently they will make us do it again! The last time this sort of thing was asked of us was years ago and they provided the lot across the street for everyone in the meantime. This is how little they care. Do not move here- you will deeply regret it. There are so many other options. read more

We are set to move here in April, so I'll be sure to update this as time goes on. :) When we went to view the place, we weren't expecting much. My experiences with East Bay Apartment Complexes have always been "meh" The viewing is typically short, and you're pressured into signing a lease for fear of losing it in the housing crisis. This was not the case AT ALL at Del Norte Place. We arrived early to check the neighborhood out. Literally next to Bart, Safeway next to that, Dollar Tree, Walgreens, iHop, Jack in the Box, and much more within walking distance. Downstairs of the apartment buildings are a few restaurants, an optometrist, a dentist, and a law office. There's even a strip of grass at the back of the property, so I won't have to go too far to walk my dog before bed (AND they have poop bags available, so I'm covered if I happen to forget to bring one down!). I really cannot say enough about the location. Due to the unit being occupied, we were unable to see our exact floor plan, but the unit we did see was spacious. I wasn't a fan of the handles on the cupboards in the kitchen, but that certainly wasn't a deal breaker. The patios are really gorgeous! The building has laundry room and a gym available 24/7! I have never lived in a complex that had these open beyond 9, so I am stoked about this! Nichole, the assistant manager, was really one of the biggest selling points of this place. Honest, entertaining, friendly, and a great sense of humor. While chatting with her in the office a few tenants popped by to say hi. Literally just to say "Hi Nichole, how are you? I brought you some food!" It really speaks volumes about the relationship the staff must have with their tenants. There was no pressure from her to commit right that second and though she had the next two days off, she gave us her cell number to reach out if we had any questions while we mulled it over. After our tour, we went out to lunch and everyone agreed that this place would be our new home. I did some online research to make sure the location is as good as it seemed and we applied online the next day. Nichole assisted us through some technical difficulties when applying and even did a 3 way call to share the great news, "You're approved! Welcome to Del Norte Place!" Our move in date can't come soon enough! read more

I have lived at Del Norte Place for 5 years. During this time, I have experienced several management teams come in and out. For some time, it was like a revolving door, just people doing their time before something else. There was no personal engagement or communication between management and tenants. We, as a community, felt just like tenants. At least 16 months ago, Jose Espinola { Community Manager} and Christopher Trujillo{ Assistant Community Manager} joined the team. Since their arrival, personally, I have seen tremendous improvements around the property. Broken elevators have been replaced, external and hallway painting has been done, landscaping work , and many other improvements to the property. Above and beyond all , when you walk into the office, they know your name. That's awesome. Before this team, living here was convenient; close to BART, Safeway, Grocery Outlet, etc. Now , thanks to Jose and Christopher, living here is home for me. read more

I lived here from June 2012 until June 2013, I absolutely loved it and I wish I would have stayed. Pros: Not overly expensive for bay area living. Fitness center, garden, and parking included in the rent. Right next to Bart. right next to a bunch of food places, Safeway, Walgreen's, and Dollar Store. Staff was extremely nice including front office, maintenance, and security guards Con: neighborhood was sometimes a little sketchy read more

Forget your deposit if you are living here! We moved out a couple of weeks ago and had the worst experience while moving out. We spent 5-6 hours cleaning our apartment and asked Yvonne from apartment office to come over and help us with move out procedures. 1. We had someone from apt office over for review 2 weeks before our move out date and got a review that there are some patches on our carpet. We found them and cleaned using carpet cleaner. There was no other thing told to us. 2. On move out day, a lady named Yvonne came.She saw the apartment being cleaned. Our drip pans in kitchen needed replacement and we told her that upfront. Even though we spent hours to clean our apartment, she asked us if we cleaned it or ask any cleaners to help us clean it. We said we cleaned it and thats when she told us we needed to get it cleaned from a cleaner. Then she started pointing out small flaws. She had a sheet in which each room is listed and then divided into sections of that room. For ex: for kitchen- the sheet had sections like fridge, sink etc. now she said the sheet had too small of place to write anything in front of section and just marker as 'Not cleaned' even if there is slightly more improvement needed for that section. 3. For bedroom she pointed some patch that me or my husband couldn't see ( I have a 20/20 vision). She asked if we put any furniture close to that wall. Well, we didn't and we couldn't. There was heater on that wall. You basically can't put anything that touches that wall. Same went on for everything in the kitchen. We argued because she marked just "not cleaned " to all rooms. 4. We gave up and just asked us how much they will deduct and she made a calculation and told 360 out of 400 dollars. That was shocking! We told her its unfair for people who keep the apartment neat and this basically means we shouldn't have cleaned the apartment. She said yea, you guys should have checked with apartment office before. When we asked why all these points ( about cleanliness) not given in the review, she had no answer. When she couldn't find any point to reply to our argument, she just stormed out of the apartment. Yes, STORMED OUT, saying we can return the keys if we want or they will put that too on our move out payments. Well if you can't answer the questions of residents, there is no excuse for storming out or being rude. 5. Anyway, we went to office and reminded her that we are breaking lease and the fees are not displayed on our account for lease breakage. We went there to give her the cheque, to which she responded saying you are breaking the lease, what kind of deposits you are expecting back? We told her calmly, that we gave enough notice and we know the lease breakage charges and we are here to pay it off. And those charges are not deposit, they are one month worth of rent. It was their duty to put it on our account. They didn't. She had no idea until we reminded her. She checked the system and confirmed but didn't appreciate or said anything that it was us who reminded her and they didn't put anything on account or anywhere. 6. We finally got payment settlements and yes, it was what she told us. I have been staying in US for 5 years and stayed in different parts of CA and other states in US. I have never had such a humiliating move out experience. Also, all the time we got some or all the deposit back depending on "how clean" the apartment is while moving out. Most of the apartments I have lived in are better than Del Norte in terms of management and cleanliness. Some of them are "luxury " apartments. Del Norte has done this to couple of other residents who left the review on yelp. Please read them before deciding to move here. We moved out because of job change if I will ever decide to move back in El cerrito, I will definitely not live here and won't recommend this place to anyone. 5. read more

Pros: - next to the del Norte bart station - maintenance is good at responding to work requests (Update: I still stand, if not even more strongly, with everything I said below. I specifically adding 2 additions and 1 update below) Cons: - (addition) been here a year now (thank god we're leaving!), and in the year I've been here, the fire alarm in this building has gone off at least 10 times with no real cause at all. Sometime in the very early morning and sometimes late at night-- and no one seems to care enough to fix this issue. - washer and dryer doesn't work. Majority of washers leave clothes completely soaked. All dryers take 1.5-2hrs (I've had 3 hrs before) to dry clothes - been here 6 months and still have no gate security code - dishwasher was leaking and was only finally replaced after several work requests were submitted - toilet was leaking for 2 months when we first moved in - heater is broken - (update) front office service is 2/10. One lady in particular is the worst, but she will appear very nice at first to get u to rent and as soon as u're locked in, she will change-- she lazy, completely unprofessional, and pain rude 95% of the times when I've encountered her. - the MG management group that manages this building doesn't seem to care. I've reached out to them about the issues above and they said they will reach out but never did. - (addition) reached out to MG management as the person/their "business owner" below asked me to, and no surprise there. That was all fake. All for show. Nothing was done and no real response was even provided. Their attempt to even pretend to care is ridiculous. I really want this place to work out but the experience here has unfortunately been one of the worst. Additionally, every tenant I've talked to is unhappy here and just sticking it out until their lease is up. Do not rent here. I would pay more for better sevice read more

Here's a fun game to play: Sort the Yelp reviews for Del Norte place chronologically, newest first. Then look how the reviews change over time. You'll notice that pre-2017, this looks like a place where human beings might choose to live. From any point then on, it appears that the complex is an absolute nightmare. As a resident for years, I can assure you that the complex is indeed an absolute nightmare. My lease is up in several months, and I'd rather stab my eyes out than renew it. I signed up for Yelp just to write this review: Whatever you do, DO. NOT. LIVE. HERE. You might say "but it's so conveniently located near BART!" This is the only reason why it may be tempting, but it is absolutely not worth it. Here's the other side of the ledger: 1) The management staff. These are some of the most awful, toxic people I have ever dealt with in a professional capacity. There are maybe one or two permanent staff members, both of whom make it repeatedly clear that they are only interested in starting fights with their tenants. Yvonne in particular is incredibly rude, and uses every single request, no matter how minor, as an excuse to start a defensive, hostile fight. I honestly think she has a mental illness. Other than them, there are approximately 3,892 temporary workers that MG Properties hires because they are too cheap to actually train permanent workers. These people are nice enough, but have absolutely no idea what they are doing, because they are usually here for two weeks or less. Half of the time, no one is actually in the office, because they don't hire enough office workers to maintain the property. 2) Security. Over several years of living here, we have had homeless people break in, pulling fire alarms, and setting fire to the stairwell. One day, someone actually just took a dump at the bottom of the stairwell, and it took almost 2 days for someone to clean it up. The cars in the parking lot often have their windows broken. Despite the absolute fury of the tenants over these incidents, the management staff made no effort whatsoever to apologize to their tenants. Doors to buildings fail to lock fully when they close. Solution? Rather than simply get someone to fix the door, they put up signs telling everyone it's their duty to make sure the door fully locks behind them. Right. That's going to solve the problem. They have hired some security staff to patrol the building at night, but on multiple occasions I have seen them just sitting on the first floor smoking pot. Expect to have your car broken into. Expect to wake up in the middle of the night repeatedly to pulled fire alarms. Expect management to blame you for all of this. 3) Packages. Like normal human beings, the office staff used to receive packages, then put notices in your mailbox so that you might, you know, be aware that someone tried to send you something. When you went to the office, they'd happily take the time to get your package for you. Now, no such system exists. You have to now guess whether or not you think a package may have arrived for you. If you go to the office to retrieve it, someone is there to help you maybe half of the time at best. If they're there, they are usually visibly annoyed and sometimes actually rude about having to get up and grab the package for you. Several times, they have simply lost my package, then "found it" at a later date. If you receive a lot of packages, and are stupid enough to move in here at this point, I'd recommend just getting yourself a PO Box. 4) Fleas and ants. The buildings are regularly infested with them. They don't care. This problem never goes away. 5) Management staff. Yes, it's here twice. I cannot highlight enough how incompetent and rude these people are. The rest of this complex could be a paradise, and I'd still give it one star and recommend everyone against living here, simply on the weakness of the management staff. They make you feel like you are inconveniencing them by paying them nearly $3000 a month for the pleasure of living here. Most of the new residents over the past couple years have been international students. This is because 1) they are the only ones who can afford the increasingly outrageous rents, and 2) they are apparently the only ones who don't read the reviews on this site and others. I feel bad for them, but at least they're only here for probably a year or two. Finally, I'd just like to recommend ignoring the woman who responds to every negative review on here with a form letter about how much they care about these reviews, and how much they want to improve everyone's experience. MG Properties does not give a shit about their tenants. It's honestly an insult to see these replies by someone pretending to care. If you care, you'll fire the current management staff, and replace them with competent, mentally stable people who are not temporary workers. But you don't care, so you won't. read more

I would be leaving a more positive review if I wasn't so shocked when I received my "itemized security deposit letter." After spending three hours cleaning my apartment when I left (I will post some pictures), imagine my surprise when I was charged $270 for carpet and apartment cleaning. When I moved into my apartment in August 2016, I didn't move into a clean apartment. Even though I had a delayed move -in, upon inspection with one of the property managers she seemed surprised that the apartment was not adequately cleaned. She told me she would send cleaners, but she never did. I cleaned myself. I am just astounded at the blatant way in which Del Norte Place already plans to take your security deposit. If I knew I would be billed for cleaning I obviously wouldn't have wasted three hours. There is absolutely no way that someone needed to do $270 worth of cleaning on an already clean department. I'm so disappointed with the management of this property. I just moved from an apartment complex in Rochester, NY where I did similar cleaning and received my whole security deposit back. This is just a terrible way to send off a good tenant. read more

They did not show up for walk through that was scheduled when I was moving out of the apartment. Then they took $157 for "painting" and extra recycling fees they failed to contact me while I was living there. I only received $30 back from my hundreds deposit. I only lived there for 10 month mostly out working. This feels wrong bussiness and I don't have any other place to turn to. I don't recommend this apartment for anybody unless you are willing to donate your deposit for nothing. read more

Me and my family lived here for 5 years. The first few years were good. Management was responsible and the area while not the best at least El Cerrito police responded fast if needed. The past few years this place has slowly gone way down ghetto hill!! Management is always changing, and they are just rude. I mean down right disrespectful. The homelessness and crime in this area is out of control. Almost every night of the week a car is broken into. It would take me an extra hour to list all the violent crimes ( that I am aware of) that happened over the past few years. Two woman in my building were robbed and sexually assaulted. Both my next door neighbors apartments got robbed. On an average once a week a homeless person will start a fire inside the one of the buildings. We had to call the police because a guy was openly smoking meth on the sidewalk right in front of our unit, and he would not leave. They have one security guard, that covers all their properties at one time spread out from San Francisco to Vallejo? You never see them. One time my son actually saw a security guard, my son explains that his car has been broken into. The security asked my son if he , " knew anyone who had pot". That is their joke of a security company. That is not even getting into the rude treatment we received from management. That is a whole other yelp review!! When you pay as much in rent as they charge, a little politeness is the least you expect. It's close to bart. If that is your main priority then sure, it's convenient. But if you want a safe place to live and be treated fairly for the rent you pay then stay away . The one positive thing I can say, their maintenance guys are nice and very helpful. read more

I think this place is awesome :) I started living here in September 2010. First I was renting a room in 11720 and since Feb 2011 I'm renting a room in 11780. I never had to deal with landlord, so I can't say anything about that but I never hear BART. A friend of mine who stayed with me for few days was even surprised that this place is so close to BART yet noise free. Neighborhood is not that great but rent is cheap, place is clean and super close to BART. It takes me 32 minutes to get to my office in EMBARCADERO. I'm hiking on the weekends and working during the weekdays, so I think this place is great if you are in similar situation as I am. read more

Very nice apartments, lived here for over a year. In my opinion it's not worth nearly as much as they've hiked up the prices (raised about $500/month), but I guess it's all about supply and demand. Walking distance to BART and Safeway--but don't waste your time at the Safeway, it sucks and I'd recommend Giovanni's any day, which is maybe another block or two away. Management is fantastic, I'll probably never experience another leasing office as kind and friendly as this one. My one issue: the fire alarm for the building went off more than 20 times within a three-month period. I'm not even exaggerating; I can name 18 occasions where I was present, and I'm aware of several more when I was at work or out and about. This was particularly problematic because I was on the top floor with pets. Having to evacuate that frequently is really problematic and management never addressed the issue. So just be prepared to either a) evacuate ALL the time, or b) assume it's a false alarm and risk burning to death. read more

Recently moved in, and I must admit that I've never been more satisfied with an apartment. While Del Norte Place certainly isn't the newest living quarters in the Bay Area, the nearby BART can be noisy, and the ceilings aren't immune to above-neighbor's sounds, other merits help make this apartment worthwhile. I've seen luxury condos and apartments worthy of 5 stars for looks and amenities. Del Norte Place is a 3 or 4, if generous, on those dimensions. However, I give it a 5 overall due to the leasing, administrative, and maintenance teams. Kenia, the building's main point of contact, cares about the tenants, and responds to questions and requests in a timely manner. The maintenance team also is friendly to the tenants and timely with their fixes. I've lived in various apartments but no apartment crew beats Del Norte Place's. On the side: BART is both a pro and con. Noisy, but nearby. Great if you use it to commute often. Gym is small with minimal equipment, but at least available. Finally, restaurant plaza downstairs is a neat perk. read more

You Don't want to rent an apartment at Del Norte Place in El Cerrito!!!!! They do not inform you of the extra fees (Garbage, Sewerage, misc. fees) which for a 2 bdrm apt could be an extra $75.00. In addition to your monthly rent. Your initial security deposit is $500.00, which is what I gave them. I left the apartment in very good condition. I was refunded a measly $94.00. What a rip off!!! I would never recommend anyone to that scamming place!!!! read more

Very good experience. The stuffs are nice, helpful and fixes problem quickly. I really enjoyed living here. I had to move out as I needed a bigger place and could not afford one here. The location of this apartment is amazing. A few feet away from the BART. Tons of stores close by. The only drawback could be its bit noisy due to its proximity to the freeway and BART. read more

Lived here for four months now. Love the location , everyone in the buildings are friendly. Lots of great families with and without kids. Great community feel. Very safe. Don't love the dogs but hey there not in my house and my mom does love to bring her little dog over to visit my kids. Great laundry facilities inside complex 24 hours and laundromat across the street. The bart does not bother me at all and the windows are sound proof. The staff here is sooooo friendly and accommodating. The maintenance guys are so friendly and helpful. Always saying hi when they see you on the property and keep everything clean and in working order. The office staff is also wonderful. I immediately had contact with nichole the assistant manager she so warm , funny and accommodating. She helped me through the whole application process and move in. She gave me her cell and email after my first visit to answer any questions I had. Now that I live here I know I can contact her about anything and she will have an answer or get me an answer. I've lived in other complexes and the office management always felt shady and unaprochable , I do not get this vibe here at all. They are totally down to earth nice wonderful people and still 100% professional at the same time. I love the fact that they actually know me and my family and take the time to make sure we are happy with everything. Both Jason and nichole always have huge smiles on there faces and I give them both 5 stars. read more

Del Norte Place Apartment Homes - The courtyard at night - Apartments Near Me - El Cerrito, California

This place was great! The property felt safe and well- maintained. The price is awesome for what you get. Bart was right outside our window, but it was really easy to stop noticing it. Kathy and Robert are amazing. They are so professional, get maintenance requests handled within a day and were always so accommodating. The workout room is nice and the parking lot is safe. Very reasonable price for the space. read more