WARNING: do NOT rent a unit at Koolani
To make a long story short, my dog happened to bark and lunge towards another dog twice in 1 week while I was waiting for the elevator. Both times, I pulled my dog back and no harm was done to the other dogs or owners.
The issue was brought before the board who voted my dog out. The General Manager told me I did not have the right to defend myself because I was "only a tenant" and "not an owner". After I found out that my dog got voted out, I kept asking him how much time I would have before I had to move so I could start looking for a place. The General Manager kept on ignoring my questions, saying that he had no obligation to talk to me since I was "only a tenant" and "not an owner". In the end, I got a scanned letter from a lawyer that said I had 10 days to move out before they were going to take legal action to evict me. This effectively put a lot of stress on me right before the Thanksgiving holiday and I ended up having to change my ticket to visit my family because of it.
On top of of this, they charged me the $1900 legal fees for the lawyer they used to write the letter that kicked me out. They took the legal fees out of my security deposit.
I guess since Koolani's General Manager doesn't have to talk to us mere "tenants" as part of his job description, he uses a super shady and expensive lawyer (Motooka and Rosenberg--who apparently is also a dog expert on top of being the most ethical and honest of lawyers) to do the talking for him. They called my dog a "vicious attack dog" and that she had to be removed.
My dog had been used as a therapy dog and has had training and evaluation from 4 different trainers since she was 4 months old. Not once has any dog trainer said she was vicious or aggressive. But apparently the management at Koolani and their lawyers are better at making judgements about dogs than they are at managing the building or at doing honest legal work.
The whole thing is so ridiculous it almost makes me wonder if someone in management is getting kickbacks from this lawyer.
I've been a renter for the past 10 years in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Malibu, and Maui and I have never once had any issues with my landowners or been threatened eviction. I also have never seen anyone so quick to run to a lawyer before as I was barely aware that there was even an issue much less that lawyers were involved until I was given the letter and the bill (that's why I think they are getting kick backs-- I mean, do you run to a lawyer first thing?)
That being said, the building amenities are nice and the other staff have been super friendly, professional and courteous. Unfortunately, getting kicked out in this way has overshadowed all the good impressions I have had about the building.
Of note, one of the dogs that my dog happened to bark and lunge towards was the General Manager's weiner dog. I suspect he led the rallying cry to get me kicked out. How very professional of him.
And before you think that this happened to just be bad luck on my part, or that this doesn't apply to you because you don't have a dog, I know other "tenants" in the building that were unfairly accused of something that they didn't do. The General Manager had the cops called on them in the middle of the night for "fleeing the scene of a crime" (they are parents of 2 young children first of all, and second of all can you be fleeing the scene of a crime when its where you live?). They also got charged a bunch of legal fees on top of having to get their own lawyer.
My recommendation is that if you are looking to rent in this building, DON'T. There are a lot of other buildings that are just as nice in this area. I feel bad saying this because I have a lot of friends that own units in this building, however, I think from a renters perspective, there is cause for concern.
The way that this incident got blown out of proportion and magnified at my expense would be similar to me going to a doctor's office for a splinter in my finger, and ending up in the ICU because of the doctor's incompetence, then being charged for a 10 day hospital stay instead of a one time office visit.
And if you do decide to rent at Koolani, beware of the General Manager, and for god's sake, don't scare his weiner dog. read more