I've waited a long time to write this review, having moved out a Walls Property building a year ago (and not wanting any repercussions while waiting for my security deposit back). Simply put, they were awful.
They started out well enough, friendly and seemingly on top of things. Alas, it appears this was only a facade, undoubtedly to get us to sign the lease. Once we were in the building, it was an absolute nightmare. Apparently they had only recently taken over the property and were busy transforming the former downstairs storage, garage and property office space into tiny new apartments. They even squeezed in extra bedrooms to any one bedrooms that were vacant at the time (literally just cramming in more apartments wherever they could and charging a fortune for the tiny space. I'm not even sure it was all legal, since part of it, the property office, wasn't zoned for residential living-- they went on to advertise it as "office space" but made it clear in the details that someone could live there).
The construction and maintenance crews were extremely rude to us residents, often waking us up around 7 a.m. with some guy in a booming voice yelling "MAINTENANCE!" and then saying they needed to get into the apartment to do wiring or whatever. Fortunately, they ended up going away a couple times after it was revealed we weren't given any prior notice to their arrival. All of this still wasn't okay though, because Walls Property failed to mention any of this would be happening prior to our move in, and the construction noise was extremely loud and disruptive. I was especially distraught over this, because at the time I worked in the evenings and did not get home and into bed until between 2 and 3 a.m. The constant construction and the annoying maintenance guy ensured I didn't get enough sleep for many months. They also damaged our apartment walls and floors in several spots.
But moving on. Eventually, the construction terrors did end, and it seemed the building would finally be a decent place to live. We ended up signing a lease renewal, which turned out to be a massive mistake (and not just because they were charging us an arm and a leg due to their greed). Just in time for our second winter there, Walls Property shut off the old boiler for the building (they claimed it broke unexpectedly, but a local inspector informed some of us residents otherwise). They then announced they were going to install electric heaters in all the units, which sucked because that meant we would all have to start paying for heat through our electric bills on top of our rent. We inquired repeatedly when and where the new heaters would be installed, but we never got a response. Finally, we returned home one day from a trip to find that the new heater (just one, not two like we had been promised, since we had two old, now non-functioning heaters in the unit) had been installed right in the middle of the main wall in the living room! Not only was it hideous, but our bookcase that had been there had been shoved aside into the hallway, right in front of our bedroom door, and it had been moved so carelessly that it now wobbled when touched (it was sturdy before). Since the heater had been installed low and we were told we were not allowed to put anything close by it, we had to rearrange our entire living room into a setup we hated.
Worst of all, the electric heater was not a real heater meant to heat an entire apartment. It was just a bulky, glorified space heater that only heated the immediate area around it! Literally, we had to stand within two feet of it to actually feel any warmth. We had to crank it up all the way too, which made our electric bill skyrocket. This made the entire winter absolutely miserable, and honestly, we probably could have sued for insufficient heating during the cold months.
And throughout all this? The property manager never responded. I should mention that the property manager changed frequently while we lived there, and we were never quite sure who to talk to. It seems this was done on purpose by Walls Property so they could have the excuse of not being responsive with their residents.
But one thing they did respond to-- when I asked when/if the old heaters, now just gathering dust and taking up space in the already small apartment, would be removed. They told me a couple times they would be removed "soon." Well, our lease ended over 6 months after the horrible electric excuse for a heater was installed, and they never did remove the old heaters.
Basically, it's selfish, cheap folks like those at Walls Property Management that are ruining the Seattle market for renters. If you want property management that is anywhere close to decent, do not rent from them. read more