The one star for the apartment being relatively cheap when I lived there. However, 0/5 to the property staff. Staff were incompetent, most of them didn't know what was going on with the operations. A lady named Terese lied to us for a month and withheld our security deposit until we threatened to sue her. Stay away from this place even if it is cheap. The apartments are old and the terrible management staff makes this place disgusting. you would think they would try to make this place better after they were caught in some sex trafficking scandal. search Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who owns or used to own Raj and Everest Properties. OH YEAH, once THEY LOST $100 of my payment, so I had to pay an extra $100. I never paid by cash again. They fined my roommates for losing their checks. read more

I would give them 0 stars if I could, but unfortunately Yelp doesn't let us do that. We lived in the building on Benvenue in Berkeley for 2 years, and hated every minute of our time working with Raj Prop. The only people we ever liked were the maintenance staff, and my heart goes out to them for the work they have to do and the way Raj Prop must treat them. Every complaint we have about Raj Properties goes back to them being cheap, inconsiderate, cunning people. They thrive off of poor college students, rather than helping them. The goal of anything they do is to maximize profit for the owner. For instance, we were charged an unreasonably high rent for a very old property that is rotting and falling apart. Despite multiple complaints of mold in the apartment and the severe health risks associated with our ancient carpet, they refused to do anything about it because it would involve them spending a couple dollars on their tenants. They are really irresponsible in following their obligations as landlords. In the event of an actual, maintenance emergency, they will never, ever be available. The "emergency number" they give you is a fake number, where no one can actually be reached to help the tenant with what they need. However, when it comes to a small mistake on the part of the tenant, they are quick to try to make some money off of them by charging them ridiculous fees. Furthermore, all of the live-in managers are EVIL, soul-sucking, fun-killing "leaders". They don't allow any exchange of words outside respective units, but find it okay to yell at each other and at passerbys from distant floors. THAT is more annoying than a few voices here and there, because everyone can hearing the yelling! Also, if you find being clothed with clean clothes important and have a busy schedule, good luck dealing with their stupid 8am-10pm laundry hours. After 10, the laundry room is LOCKED. By trying to limit the noise level (which is already nonexistent to be honest), they are singlehandedly interfering with the schedules of their tenants by only having the laundry room open during the college student's "work day". Yes, please charge me $2500 a month and on top of that limit the facilities I am entitled to. Makes sense. We have referred at least 5 groups of people to live in Raj Properties buildings, and they still treat us like this? What does that tell you? It tells you about their lack of care for your wellbeing. They will pretend to you that they are all about customer service and being there for their tenants, but I can assure you that they arent't. I know finding a spot that is close to campus and close to your friends is important, but it isn't worth the trouble we have faced. I would recommend choosing another company in the area, such as Everest Properties or Trilight. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH RAJ PROPERTIES. If you do, don't pretend you weren't warned. read more

Deserves 0 stars. Rude, unprofessional, and con artists. Should have never signed up with them - AND JUST FOR A PARKING SPOT. Pulled the classic "you should have read the fine print. This random requirement that no one mentioned to you must be fulfilled or you don't get your security deposit back." I lost $100 from a security deposit, the agent had the audacity to say it was my fault for not looking over the agreement when no one had even mentioned it and I clearly asked "What is the process to return the spot?" when I signed up. No mention. First of all why even have a security deposit for a parking spot other than to try and scam people out of their money. Horrible agents. Never working with them again. read more

I've lived in one of their apartment complexes for 3 years and didnt have any outstanding problems, but I'll outline my experiences with them: PROs: - Havent had much problems with them once everything was settled - Whoever their maintenance guy for the benvenue apt is, he's great. Fast response and quickly fixes any problems we have in the apt. - Quick to contract us to their apt. Rarely had to wait a long time to see a rep. CONs: - Unfriendly staff--can seem to be a bit impatient when trying to work out our situations/concerns. We've had to switch people in and out of our contract due to studying abroad and whatnot and they were pretty difficult in accommodating us. - Uninformed staff--we've had different things told to us by different people. - Unorganized. Had to return to the office several times for the lack of keys/equipment for our requests. Had to call us several times because of their inadequate record keeping system. - Location's a bit inconvenient given that a few of their properties are on south side. Also lack of parking around. Its also hidden in an ally way. - Charged us for a cleaning that they never did. - Hiked up our rent the 2nd year around--a little warning during the usual moving time (ie. near end of the year) would've been nice. The only reason we stayed with them was because of the apartment itself. We didnt have much interaction with them other than trying to adjust our contract, which was a big pain in the ass. If you're a student, there's not a lot of options for you out there, so I guess they're not that bad comparatively. read more

I've been living at the apartment complex on Dwight close to Ellsworth and it's been great. The rent is reasonable. I lived next door to the management and they are very friendly people. They've been very responsive to any problems that come up: mold in the bathroom, broken hood range, plumbing issues, etc., usually they take care of these things within one business day. They also do a very nice job of keeping the entire complex clean (they vacuum the hallways and sweep the stairs on a pretty regular basis). I'm happy have called this place home, and I'm moving out only because I found a big house to live in with a bunch of other friends. read more

From 2006-2008 I lived in a poorly constructed apartment unit on Piedmont and Haste. The owner of the buildings is a creepy sex trafficker/slumlord! Pluses: -good location -maintenance responded quickly to problems with the apartment -did not have any problems with them once I terminated my lease -followed the terms of rent control board Deltas: -Extremely high rent ($1680/month for a tiny 2 bedroom on Haste and Piedmont, increased to over $2000 for my unit the year I terminated my lease in 2008. -office staff was unfriendly and refused to deal with financial issues (such as neglecting to send the yearly rent control check to me) because their head office was located in Bakersfield. Extremely suspicious of all of their tenants. Unorganized (gave me incorrect keys to my apt and was really suspicious when I asked for an exchange) and each staff member each gave me different information about the same subject. -Head office located in Bakersfield=not a local group despite owning two other property management companies in Berkeley! -my apartment reeked of mildew and rotting wood during my whole lease, and the fact I got sick many times during my stay there (and rarely got sick after I moved out) makes me wonder if the condition of the apartment contributed to my health problems. My experiences here were not as bad as my other peers' at their apartments (see Carleton Apartments on telegraph and the buildings around Berkeley that advertise a phone number on a banner), but they could have been better. It is hard to find a legit management company in Berkeley that doesn't exploit their tenants, but they are out there! read more

We have been living at Raj Properties' apartment complexes on Dwight Way for 2 years now, and at first, it was awesome. We're very low maintenance people, so as long as we can cook and sleep in our own apartment, we're great. However, the second year when we moved into the one-bedroom complex was a disaster. At first, our oven and stove did not work and the maintenance guy basically forced us to sign that he had fixed it when he didn't. Also, our freezer has been leaking water into our fridge, but we've just been dealing with it so we don't have to speak to our mean landlady or the grumpy maintenance guy. All of these things would be completely fine if we could sleep at night, but that's almost always impossible. Be wary when moving into this complex, the windows don't close all the way and the door even leaks air in. Not only is the heater only in the living room and it's freezing at night, but college parties/Berkeley high noise seeps into your apartment as if it's happening right outside your bedroom. People occasionally scream down the hallway or stomp up and down the stairs at all hours (which will be conveniently located by your constantly open bathroom window by your bedroom, if you move in), and the landlady never does anything to stop it. Oh, and if you purchase a parking spot, the landlady will let her relatives park there until you tattle on her to the main office. Not that the main office is helpful, they give you misinformation all the time. Our apartment is still up for rent; if you value your health, money, and sleep, don't rent from these guys. I wish I had never given this place my money and I can't wait to move out. read more

Ok, I generally hate landlord yelp because it's either slightly unhinged complaining about literally everything (we know that landlords are bad as a concept and also that stuff happens that is out of a landlords control that people can hold incredible grudges about). Or it's like these spotless reviews that you know are just a little too good to be true. I'm going to give you a very honest review of my 2070 University Ave from someone who is generally clear-headed because these kinds of reviews are rare. Firstly-- my husband and I are working class people who generally get discriminated against for a variety of reasons in the Bay Area rental market. When we were looking for a place we had very little established credit history which was making things even more challenging. We ended up looking at a studio at 2070 University and were reading Raj's reviews like "ugh should we do this?" We applied and were treated really respectfully and approved for our studio despite a lack of credit. It was what we could afford during the time and we were so happy to be approved because we were really in a tough spot. The studio was nice, it was a bit small for the two of us but we made it work. The garbage shoot was convenient and the location of the building itself was great for commuting to work in the city. The tenants were hella diverse in terms of background and age which felt also pretty comfortable and generally speaking we always had good interactions with other tenants. About 6 months later, COVID hit. My husband and I were packed into this small studio both on conference calls in the same room really trying to make it work with our space but it was becoming a really issue for us by late summer of 2020. We noticed that there were a couple 1 bedroom units listed for our building and even though we had like 3 or 4 months left on our lease we reached out to Jas in the office to see if it was possible to change apartments, explaining our situation due to COVID. She was able to accommodate our request and move us into the one bedroom so we could at least have separate rooms to work from which was lowkey a lifesaver. The quality of the apartments were fine. Nothing too exciting and far from luxury (the kitchen size was the hardest thing for us to manage) but clean, hot water, no bugs, no drama, working utilities and easy internet installation situations. Got mail and packages fine as well and our mailroom was well secured. They were also generally responsive to any requests, maintenance or otherwise, in a timely way. We just moved out a couple days ago. We had no idea that we had to give 30 day notices to move out of a fixed lease apartment but thankfully Jas worked it out so we weren't penalized and are getting the vast majority of our deposit back minus some reasonable fixes and cleaning for the apartment. If you are someone who maybe struggles to find decent, affordable-ish housing in the Bay Area due to a lack of credit or other structural barriers, I would definitely recommend 2070 University Ave. They were flexible with us, helped us out when we really needed it, and were always communicative. The conditions were good, commuting to other parts of the Bay was easy, and there are a lot of good food options and grocery stores in the area too. read more

The Raj team has been phenomenal for my roommate and I during these hard times and I just want to praise them for being so understanding towards our situation. I want to say thank you to Jas as she has been especially kinda and helpful for us. I can not speak for the past review but Raj has been nothing but the best for us. read more

You get what you pay for, if you're looking for a spot, they've got you covered! The lady who helped me was extremely nice and understanding of my situation as well read more

Raj improved so much since I moved here last year. They hired new people and did some serious organizing and I can honestly say my experience with them has improved A LOT. The ladies at the office are always helpful and polite. The maintenance workers are also really nice and they fix everything within one day (from my experience). The management is very easy to reach and I've never had trouble getting help if anything was wrong. There is also a laundry room in the apartment building on University Ave. and it makes my life a lot easier. My experience with Raj has been very positive and I would recommend them especially for college students! read more

Wonderful management, very receptive and helped with any issues that arose immediately!

UC Berkley, these guys are nothing but leaches. The service is very bad. It seems like they have ties with UCBerkley(Board of directors or something). They are using this as a means to attract people. I am fine with people using their position but they are not supposed to take advantage on it. Also, the price is abnormally high considering the location. I would think 10,000 times before using their services. They took money but never cleaned the place. Falsified checklist. They charge for the damage that already exist. Be careful. read more

Just tried to rent a parking space from this company. Despite telling them outright that I was going to rent the space and immediately reaching out to discover next steps and fill out paperwork, they let someone else who viewed the space an hour after me take it. They then ignored multiple emails from me regarding the issue. I had to call them to find out what was happening and was sheepishly told that they had missed my emails and had already taken a deposit. Absolute shit customer service and infuriating considering that I had my check book with me when I went to see the space and was told that I could not make the deposit with the person who showed me the space. read more

Great Apartment. Very accessible near Berkeley campus. Also close to the BART. I am here for only a few months for UC Berkeley and this apartment is very nice. Close to grocery stores and very clean. read more

I had a very smooth experience with Raj Properties while renting from them. Jas in particular is amazing and the management is very friendly. Highly recommend! read more

I'm writing a positive review of Raj Properties and Mario in particular because my last review was deleted. Our neighbors and I both live in properties managed by Raj Properties. Our neighbors were repeatedly harassing us with loud music and threats of physical violence. We have complained to Raj Properties and have been working with Mario from the office to resolve the issue. Mario has been courteous, has returned communications quickly, and understood my concern for my physical safety. He promptly delivered them a written notice to cease the noise and, since they have continued to harass us, is now moving to evict them. I am glad that we are handling this delicate situation with Mario's help. Thanks to Mario and Raj Properties! read more

I am a recent graduate from UC Berkeley. Raj Properties has repeatedly taken advantage of its tenants -- many of which are UC Berkeley students and alumni -- often misplacing important documents that are required of tenants. Some of these documents have included portions of the lease contract and checks of significant monetary value. The most egregious failure of Raj Properties has been their failure to return the security deposit to myself and my former roommate after the allowed 21 day limit after the last day of the lease, under California law. Despite multiple attempts to resolve this issue via phone and email, Raj Properties has ignored us and continued to withhold our security deposit for more than a week past the 21 day limit. Our previous attempts at contacting Raj Properties has resulted in myself and my former roommate being blamed for not informing them of our forwarding address for the return of our security deposit. The shady, incompetent practices of this business should be considered criminal behavior. I, and many fellow UC Berkeley students and alumni have been personally victimized by Raj Properties. If this business is not held accountable for its suspicious activities and failure to comply to not only its own contracts, but also the laws of the city and state, it will continue to steal and lie to the unknowing residents of Berkeley and brilliant Cal students that are merely looking for a convenient location in which they can thrive. I understand the difficulties in circumventing businesses such as this one in the search for apartments in Berkeley, particularly near the UC Berkeley campus. However, if there are other options available to you, I would suggest you take those instead of dealing with Raj Properties. They will find any and every excuse to drain you of your money and resources, while blaming you for their negligence. APARTMENT HUNTERS BEWARE! read more

If I could give negative reviews I could, very unprofessional and negative, never deal with them or do business with them ever!!!!! Just a bad and unpleasant experience w/ them. read more

I rented from Raj for 2 years near Piedmont Ave. I had a solid experience overall. Communication was slow at times, but I was usually able to get a response within a couple days. Work orders were handled within 2 days. My contact Sulochana was very friendly and helpful. Shared facilities were cleaned weekly. I chose to move when my work situation changed, but I am glad to have called it home. read more

I've been renting with Raj Properties for a number of years now and it has been rocky at best. But I must admit that in the last eight months my renting experience has improved significantly with the staff overhaul. I live in Washington and only stay in the studio a few month of the year so I'm required to remain in contact with the staff in the office. I used to DREAD these calls but now I look forward to my monthly call to Jas. The new staff is very responsive and helpful (even with my many demands). Very professional, highly recommend!! read more

I emailed asking about a unit in the Sunset District. They misspelled San Francisco in their email name! That is a huge red flag. Glad I spotted that and did not take the bait on this probable scam. read more

worst management and mean customer service. The management never talk to each other. Takes forever to get a message delivered. Also very rude to renter and always make the renter to go to the office when stuffs can be done over the phone or email. Don't recommend Raj properties at all read more

Very hard to get in touch with. I called multiple times with no answer. When I finally did get an answer, they said that their website was out of date and that they would need to "check with the manager and get back to me". I never got an answer and had to call back a couple more times. I thought "checking with the manager" would take just a couple hours and no more than a day, but I was wrong. About 5 days later someone called me and left a voicemail just saying "Call me back." and there was no information about all the properties I was interested in. read more

Worst living situation I have ever had. Roaches, screaming fellow tenants, and careless property management was just the surface of my rocky experience with Raj Properties. Would never ever recommend any of their properties to anyone because they do the absolute least. 0/10 would never recommend to anybody. read more

I've lived in 2070 university avenue,as a tenant for 2.5 years. The office is very responsive for any matters anytime. Building is always clean . Location is the best. Very close to the bart station and the good restaurants. Thank you so much "Raj Properties" for being a safe, and comfortable home for me and my family . Wish you all the best! read more

Update: first off, Raj properties requested us to give them 5 stars on Yelp when we first met them. Probably to save their Yelp rating. After having dealt with them, I change my review to 1 star. They didnt have the apartment we requested ready for us by the time we were scheduled to move in (extremely unreliable). This caused me to have to have a team hour daily commute from my hometown to berkeley for 2 weeks in the fall when I should have already been living in one of their Managements. They are extremely unreliable and I would not advise anyone take business with them. There is a reason they have low Yelp reviews. This is the last time I will give a management 5 stars that requests me to. No responsible management would ever ask for it. And it's a red flag if they do. Be weary if you see 5 star reviews next to 1 star reviews. read more

I've been living at the MacArthur location for 5 years now. Our roof has been leaking for 4 of those years. Each year we report it, were told they will fix the roof. Still no fixed roof and we have a way bigger leak than before. We pay way too much for them to do NOTHING for 4 years. read more

I honestly don't really know where to start with this one. I currently reside in 2515 Benvenue Ave and the on-site manager is a real handful. He lives on the first floor and will literally shout and harass the tenants in this building, mostly for minor or no reasons at all. Both my roommates and I have experienced this verbal abuse at least once since we've moved in, and we have only been here for a year. We have never once hosted a party or been late on rent, but he continues to harass us in the stairwell or parking garage when we see him. He will walk up to us and just start shouting at us and accusing us for being disruptive. This manager clearly has anger management problems and his constant harassment of tenants makes us feel unsafe living this building. The call box outside the building entrance is broken so we can't buzz guests in and have to let them in ourselves. I had a group member come over for a project meeting and he was able to get into the building as someone was leaving. The building manager proceeded to block him from going to my apartment until I came down to get him. When I went downstairs to grab him, he started screaming at me to be quiet and demanded to know why I "CLEARLY WANTED EVERYONE IN THE BUILDING TO KNOW I WAS RUNNING DOWNSTAIRS" when I was literally just going downstairs by myself to get my group member (the manager's demands). When I argued back to him that he can't talk to his tenants this way, he shouted that he didn't care. When I threatened to file a complaint against him, he literally screamed "SHUT UP AND GO TO YOUR ROOM." This man fails to manage the building and doesn't do his job of keeping the tenants feeling secure. He abuses his power and always shouts "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I'M THE MANAGER. LISTEN TO ME." He makes the tenants feel afraid to run into him or even live near him! As a tenant, I am beyond frustrated with my building manager's lack of integrity and failure to do his job. I feel really cornered by Raj Properties because despite receiving multiple complaints about this manager from several different apartments, they have done absolutely nothing to try to remedy the situation. I feel Raj Properties is very disorganized and constantly cycling through their employees (at least four different workers have come and gone and helped us over the last year) that none of the messages left by the tenants actually ever get to headquarters. I really wish Raj Properties didn't own so many of the buildings surrounding campus. It's almost unfair to the students that are forced to do business with this company in order to find housing near campus. I really hope something is done about the building manager before he actually hurts one of the tenants. Update: Emailed a formal complaint to office@rajproperties.com and received a voicemail from a lady named Monica claiming to be from "Raj Properties HQ." When I called back a few hours later, no one picked up so I left a voicemail and call back number. Never received a call back. She never reached out to my voicemail. I also received an abrupt, unconvincing email response from another employee Veronica. I added a screen shot of it as a photo. Months later and no follow up. Once again, Raj Properties has failed its tenants. It's a shameful disgrace of a real estate company. The one thing I give them credit for is for consistently being terrible, so when I assume the worst, I'm rarely surprised. read more

Raj Properties - See story in review - Apartments Near Me - Berkeley, California

Sakshi was extremely helpful, and remained professional with us as we secured our lease. Without her, it would have been extremely hard to find housing in Berkeley. Would recommend working with her if choosing Raj Properties! read more

Looked at 3 different properties in Berkeley. Each were equally disgustingly dirty. Look like little to no maintenance/upkeep of properties. I would not recommend renting through them. Do yourself a favor and rent elsewhere if your paying what rent is going for these days.... read more

Absolutely HATE Raj Properties!!!! They are the worst people on earth. Super stingy about the money!!! They f*cking charge me 90 dollars on security deposit for something I didn't do... Two of my roommates' parents straight up arguing with them because of their unreasonableness. Also if you have a place to park your car, don't park at their garage. They just have all the ways to get all your money. If they see you still have 1 cent left in your pocket, they will take it! DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!!! read more

I moved out of one of their apartments located in East Bay YEARS ago. I was pretty young at that time so I didn't put much thought into property management as I do now and the importance of professionalism and documentation. Years later, I receive a letter from them demanding rent money for months that I did NOT live there anymore! And, secondly why would you wait YEARS later to collect? Come to find out, the property manager at that time never put it on paper that I moved out! Instead, she resigned and everyone else was under the assumption that I still lived there (even though the property was completely vacated and my keys were dropped off to them). The letter demanded for *3 months* of rent for months that I didn't live there! How do you do that? I called Raj Properties over and over to get this straightened out only to get the "I'll have someone call you back" response and to my surprise (not really), I never received not one call back. Not only that, when I would call back to follow up, their voicemail box was FULL! They assured that my complaint would get brought up to corporate HQ. Is there a corporate HQ? Because I have not to this day, hear back from anyone from "corporate". I would assume if someone owed you months worth of money, that you would want to talk it over with them directly, right? Why would you avoid responding to them? Fortunately, I had enough proof that I did not live there on those dates and was able to get it cleared up (without any of their help). But oh boy, was that letter a surprise and such an inconvenience! No one responded back and you will never get a firm answer. For the time that I did actively live there, I was told I could upgrade our apartment to another unit. Little did we know, additional costs and random expenses would come with this "upgrade" aside from the already prorated rent. Those random expenses are still unexplained to this day. The plumbing also always had some issue whether it be a drain backup, no hot water, etc.! Lesson learned: do not take any VERBAL word for anything! Keep all documentation from the time you move in until the time you move out so there aren't any surprises. Make sure everything is on paper. read more

If I could give 0 stars I would. They are unprofessional, rude and scam people. We have been trying to get our security deposit back for 5 months. Every time we call there is some new requirement for them to issue a valid check. They know you can't cash a check made out to 3 people who don't share a bank account, so why did they issue that 2 months after we moved out? My roommates are out of the country - it's not possible to get us together in person. They were terrible landlords while we were there and don't maintain the property as they should. They raised our rent and then rented like apartments for less. All around terrible. Their employees are clueless. Check them out online too - they're involved in some shady stuff. read more

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I don't know how they became a business. They poorly train their employees and are the most immature, disrespectful adults I've ever encountered. They promised my roommates and I a certain price for an apartment and only AFTER they got our personal documents, they raised the price. I asked to speak with the manager and I thought she would be a little less dumber than her workers, one being Kelly, but unfortunately, the manager was worst. She refused to let me talk to her boss and showed no respect for me or my roommates mother. Even though i informed them they falsely advertised a price, they were too money hungry to give us that price.Do not rent from Raj because they are some illegal shit. read more

1. don't ever give your cell phone number as the call box number -- they refuse to remove it and you may still continue to receive calls from that call box long after you have moved out. the only perk of this is that you can go into the building whenever you want just by calling that number that is linked to your cell phone (talk about bad security). 2. they like to take shortcuts in fixing their buildings. we once had a leak from a pipe that was above our bathroom. their fix? re-plaster the ceiling. my roommates and i continued to hear the leak dripping onto our bathroom ceiling... i'd really like to see a building inspector come by and check if their buildings are up to code... read more

This is the first time I've written a review for anything because that's how much I hate this place. -The elevator breaks every other week for half the week. -The locks on the front gate break every other week. - I don't have cold water in any of my faucets including the shower half the time. -Sewage water leaked from the ceiling onto my desk and my roommates desk!! And this place is way overpriced. Seriously these guys should be paying me to live in such a rathole. read more

The staff at Raj Properties has always been professional and friendly when I've had concerns or needs with my daughter's apartment. Mario, the manager, genuinely cares about his tenants and strives to be fair and honest. He went out of his way to help us with lease renewal and minor damage mitigation. I'm sure other management companies would probably have dismissed our situation as petty and not have cared enough to compromise. We've had a great experience with Raj Properties and highly recommend them if you are searching for an apartment. PS...they have a new staff now and whatever bad reviews they received last year and in the past should be dismissed. read more

Raj properties has helped me settle into cal comfortably. Finding an apartment at 19 years old is a taunting task. However the staff here is friendly, kind and very helpful. They make sure to address your concerns. They provide excellent customer service! My favorite is Sulochana she is amazing!!! Go to them for your apartment needs! read more

Great apartment. Clean and spacious.