K & S Company

AVOID renting from K & S!
I lived in one of their properties for 2 years and experienced so many issues.
(1988 California Street– gross, the owner of the building is very angry & unfair, the bug problem is out of control)
First I would like to say that the staff are all very friendly and genuinely sweet people. HOWEVER, they all seem to be very incompetent. To get anything accomplished you have to talk to multiple staff members, be consistent with phone calls and emails, and ultimately just make your way down to their office.
***First incident*****
After a month of living in my new apartment I began noticing that there was a silverfish infestation. Not just a few but they were everywhere. I would wake up with them on me, they would run out of my clothes, out of drawers, they were in my couch, in my bed, they were literally every where. It took me 6 phone conversations with K&S to get pest control out. Finally they sent someone out and the bug guy told me to call them again in 3 months if the problem continued. Sure enough it did. Long story short, I had requested that a bug guy come out 5 separate times in the 2 years I lived there and he only came out once because K&S kept telling me they sent a work order but when I would talk to the pest control office they said they never received it.
****Second incident****
It was June of last year and I had given them my rent check as usual, and noticed that a month had gone by and they had never put it through. So one day I called and expressed my concern and the receptionist had told me that they were holding on to my check because my lease had expired and they thought I had moved out! WHAT! I then spoke with someone different who told me that they failed to send me a lease renewal, and that I can go through the whole application process again since it was too late to «renew». I was so frustrated and left the manager multiple voicemail’s. I finally just drove down to their office and confronted the entire situation. After explaining to them how absurd the situation was, they printed a new lease and I signed it.
****Third Incident*****
After two years of living at this dump I found a new affordable apartment in El cerrito. I had to break my lease one month early with K&S. I first called and made sure there would be no penalty and they said not a problem. I then tried contacting the property manager for my building. I left her so many voicemail’s, and sent numerous emails. She finally got back to me, sent me my prorated amount, and all of the other details I would need in order to move out a month early. I thought to myself, wow awesome, I can’t believe they are actually helping me so quickly & efficiently right now. I paid them all of the money, cleaned my apartment, returned my keys, signed a few papers, and they told me I would receive my deposit refund within 21 days (California law). 21 days passed and I receive a letter from them stating that I wont get my deposit back until they rent out the apartment! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I was beyond angry at this point and called them immediately. They are so incompetent that they dont remember me moving out early, they dont remember our email conversations, etc! I finally said very calmly that I have a copy of my lease agreement, my email conversation with Myra, my signed paperwork with Anna that shows I returned my keys, and a receipt that I paid my last months rent and if you dont refund me my deposit I will take this a step further. The guy on the phone said «ohhhh okay we actually see it all now and we will mail your check out today» I didn’t trust them so I asked to pick up my check the following day.
I am so happy to be done with that awful company. I will NEVER rent from them again.

Good company. Friendly secretaries. Biggest complaint is that they need to update their systems. They only accept checks at their office. I wish that we had a rent drop box at our building (since I don’t have a car) or even better that they had an option to pay online.

As far as the manangement of the property itself, K & S handled everything in a timely manner. Jim was very kind, helpful and accomodating.
HOWEVER…when it came to terminating the lease… they were IMPOSSIBLE TO DEAL WITH
I began the termination process two months in advance for my son, who is a student athlete at CAL. I made numerous calls, sent countless emails and I couldn’t make any progress. Instead of terminating the lease, they called it a lease swap, I had to demand to be removed from the lease as «Master» and not remain liable. Anna, the lease manager, was impossible to deal with. I was forced to seek upper management!
If you are renting with roommates, read the small print and be sure you know what you’re getting in to with K and S.

Boy are these folks a pain.
For context, I lived in a property managed by K&S for 3 years. The landlord who owned the property contracted out management to K&S to handle billing, maintenance, etc. Our landlord was fantastic and exactly the type of landlord you want — there when you need her and never there when you don’t. K&S was less fantastic.
Here’s the good: they handled maintenance requests pretty efficiently, and whenever we ran into problems that required a plumber, etc., we could always count on them to process our request quickly and have someone on site within a day. And the work itself was always done well. Our washer totally died at one point and they installed a new one for us.
Despite the above, the rest of our time with K&S was pretty terrible. On multiple occasions (and by multiple I mean ~a dozen over 3 years) their office made errors processing our rent checks. They would receive a check, cash it, not record it on our account, and then proceed to send us notices that we were delinquent. They also cashed checks from a subletter, which apparently they weren’t supposed to do under a city ordinance, learned they had messed up, ignore future checks from said subletter, not tell us that we needed to pay another way, and send us more delinquent notices. When we finally moved out, getting our security deposit back took longer than promised. Whenever we contacted them about their accounting mistakes, replies either took days if they came at all. All said it was a negative experience.
Unfortunately housing in the Bay Area is very much a sellers market, so I doubt you have choices in what company manages your property, but if you somehow do have a choice, don’t choose this one.

BED BUGS (See picture). Imagine discovering these disgusting bugs crawling all over you while you sleep, and the helpless feeling you get when you realize your management company doesn’t give a crap about fixing it.
*****The first incident*****
I called them to place a work order/​complaint. A few weeks passed — no reply. I called them again. Apparently, a work order was NOT placed. Lie, negligence, or incompetence?
After I filed one AGAIN, it took them weeks just to respond to the complaint. And a few weeks later, the exterminators finally arrived. They told me 2 units were heavily infested, and therefore the whole building will be exterminated. Great! Right? EXCEPT not…
****The second incident****
A couple weeks went by.
4 AM, an itchy feeling on my neck. I scratched and a fat, rusty brown insect fell off my neck (picture). Few days later, discovered 10 more. WHY? It turns out they LIED and did not exterminate the entire building, only the two units (they said it was too «expensive» to do the whole building). FYI — bed bugs multiply very fast and spread from unit to unit quickly, therefore it is standard protocol to exterminate all units within the vicinity of the infected ones, at the minimum!
The bad part is that I called them and they didn’t respond for WEEKS (4 to be exact). I had to call them multiple times, and still could not reach the property manager, who happens to always be out of the office.
They think they can screw over students without any consequences?
Likely, the bed bugs have spread to other units, and at the rate at which they are responding to it, it seems like most of the building will be infected. Not only is this bad for the tenants, but also for everyone else too. You see, the bed bugs will travel with the tenants, and they will spread to other buildings, and other cities, and countries. This is not an exaggeration, look it up.

I have been very impressed by K & S. We have been dealing with Jim and Marcus and recommend both. The appliances in our rental property are old and Marcus, one of the nicest rental property managers one will encounter, did an amazing job at finding the right contractors to service them. When starting with our rental Jim helped us find a place where to store our stuff for free. Of course they look out for the owner’s interest, but have been very fair and helpful. Nice guys.

Worst property management company I have ever worked with and I move around a lot because of my job. Just a short excerpt of my last 10 months with them:
— every email is responded by k&s only after multiple reminders I just copy the owner on all emails now
— apt was never cleaned before I moved in
— there is zero customer service so you are better off taking care of possible issues yourself
— renting an empty garage on-​site took them about 6 weeks to figure out
In short if you can stay away!

For my money K and S doesn’t get enough credit for the job they do. They’re in a tough business in a tough area. Particularly in Berkeley and Oakland, they have to balance the needs of the owners (who they represent) with the rights and needs of the tenants, and still satisfy the regulatory agency’s. Most of us wouldn’t have that job. I’ve lived in a K & S managed property for over two years, and they’ve taken care of every maintenance issue I’ve ever had. When I’ve been traveling they’ve even put my trash cans down. I’d certainly give them a look if you’re a property owner or a tenant looking for a new place.

This is probably the most unprofessional company I’ve ever dealt with.
I moved out of an apartment managed by K&S company nearly 2 months ago, and while they acknowledge that the law requires the return my deposit within 21 days after I vacate the apartment, I have yet to receive my check. I’ve called them multiple times over the course of several weeks. Every time, they told me they’d have to look into it and call my back, but they repeatedly failed to call back. After informing them that if I did not hear back from them today, I would file a suit against them in small claims court, they finally called me back, and said they’d process the paperwork and send the check today. They also said they were deducting $ 50 for cleaning, which I find ridiculous since I had the apartment professionally cleaned when I moved out… but it may have gathered some dust in the almost 2 months since then.
I also had problems with them when I first rented the apartment, and while I lived there, but this was the final straw.

I called the k and s office for a severe maintenance issue four times over the course of a week. Each time I was transferred to the maintenance supervisor where I only ever got a message machine. I left messages which were never replied to. I ended up having to pay for the maintenance out of pocket.
I don’t feel like k and s cares about its tenants. I’m very dissatisfied with how I’ve been treated. I will not be renting from k and s again.

Absolutely deplorable.
Earlier this year K&S had the mailboxes changed at my apartment building, & everyone who wasn’t home at the time had to pick up the key from their office. After visiting them & receiving the wrong key twice, & numerous phone calls on my part, they admitted 3 months later that they lost the key & would have to replace the lock.
Today my water was turned off without notice (repairs in the building, not an emergency), so I called the office & was transferred to a supervisor. I was told the plumbers didn’t let him know when they would be there, he didn’t know when it would be running again, & he hung up on me as I was asking if he could check & get back to me.
Also, they frequently don’t remove the quarters from the dryer so it gets jammed & no one can do laundry.

I lived in a K&S building in Berkeley for five and a half years… they, and Bryan, the resident manager, were always great to deal with. I have no complaints about any of their business operations or the way that the building was managed – everything was unremarkable, no drama, no hassles. Just what I want from a landlord.
They even returned my cleaning deposit and rent deposit promptly. All in all, probably my best landlord experience. They run a good company.

Unfortunately, was the WORST apartment experience I have had (May 2013-​May 2014). We had plumbing problems in the kitchen (the garbage disposal switch turned on the dishwasher!!!), we constantly had HUGE infestations of ants all over even though we lived on the second floor, and we had contacted them several times for maintenance help, to NO avail. Several times there would be no response and other times they failed to show up. Price for apartment was fairly pricey for a two bedroom. And lastly, the biggest factor, was that I JUST received a refund for my security deposit. If I am correct, there should be only a 21 day period max to return the deposit; it took them FIVE months. I called and emailed constantly, practically begging them to return it, and it took them far too long. Essentially, they are very unprofessional, somewhat rude, and entirely unhelpful.
EDIT: They were also extremely rude and unprofessional on the telephone in regards to returning my security deposit.

«I understand that none of you at K&S actually give a rat’s ass about any of your tenants or buildings. BUT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT A WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS. I have put in more maintenance and repair requests in the past 9 months living at 2428 Ellsworth than I’ve needed to in my past 4 years renting in Berkeley. (Two huge requests for repairs I did not make through you because YOU’RE APATHY AS MANAGERS RENDERS YOU INEPT AND INCAPABLE.) From the first leaking ceiling in our bathroom in August (WHICH STILL LEAKS), to the broken stove top (which broke after your repair man came out to fix it the first time), to needing an entirely new bathroom sink, to resurfacing/​filling DANGEROUS POTHOLES in your driveway (of which I now realize I should have let get deeper so I could sue you for damages/​negligence), to today, the third time the washing machine has broke since I’ve been here. WHY CANT YOU GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER? You literally dont even know who is living or „hanging out“ in or around your apartments. Last week I woke up to a pile of used needles and gross dirty clothes and a backpack all thrown all over our front yard. It looks like homeless people and drug addicts love to find safe havens in the nooks and crannies of your building but since none of you actually CARE, your building will continue to attract this level of uncleanliness. Furthermore, since none of you have ever WALKED ONTO THE MOTHERF*CKING PROPOERTY, you would never know that there are everyday about 3 – 5 cars parked illegally in your lot. YOUR MANAGEMENT IS FAILING AND YOUR BUSINESS MODEL SUCKS. You should ask UC Berkeley students who live her to help you because you need it. This place is a shit hole and I’m going to share this review publicly on the internet for future students to warn them.» — Copied and pasted from a review I sent them on their online maintenance request form.
AND:
— They don’t accept cash or credit for their deposits, only credit check or check (STUPID)
— They dont even use credit card machines! THEYRE SO BEHIND THE TIMES!!!
— No one from their management building actually comes to the properties, so the upkeep SUCKS
— The staff are UNHELPFUL and RUDE and APATHETIC and DONT GIVE A SH*T about you
— THEIR PRICES ARE THROUGH THE ROOF BUT THEIR SERVICE DOES NOT MATCH THE PRICE TAG

Everything about this property and the property company is awful! The house itself constantly has ants in it and some of the windows leak.
I had an electrical problem and have had to contact them four times in one month and still no one has come out to fix it! When i told them i was going to hire my own electrician and send them the bill they sent me rude emails and told me they were having trouble with my request because i wasnt in their system as someone on a lease. I have been living here for SEVEN MONTHS and im still not in your system. Whose fault is that?! Ugh, stay away from this place

Property is ok, persistent problem with ants coming up through cracks between floorboards though. Property is poorly insulated.
Company is unresponsive, need to be very persistent to get help for maintenance issues. Took a month for them to come fix my water heater because they didn’t take my complaint seriously and assumed I didn’t know what a water heater should/shouldn’t sound like.

My only experience with this company is as a potential renter of the properties they manage.
First off, you have to run to their office to get the key to the property you want to check out. This is poor customer service, an inconvenience overall, and rediculous in that their Office is not centrally located to all the properties they manage.
Second, if I owned property to rent I would never use them simply because of #1.
Finally, their business model is obviously about increasing their margins and thus the bottom line instead of saving you time and providing any sort of «home» for you, so I would look elsewhere.

Omg, negative 1 000 000 000 stars, please. Stay far away from them. FAR AWAY.
I can’t even begin to talk about how terrible they are. Let’s make a list.
1. Our rent mysteriously «raised» TWICE. Twice, within our first FIVE months with them, they sent us an «unpaid balance» letter, with some strange number like «$ 482 on your account is still not paid.» Say what? Our rent is auto-​paid by our bank on the 20^th of each month for the following month, there is NO WAY we would be late on our rent payment, which is due on the 1^st. So guess what really happened? On their records, our rent went up, so we ended up with some unpaid balance. We had to call/​email/​follow-​up/​chasing THEM around to try to resolve this issue. In the end, all we got was «we have now adjusted your records to reflect your rent is $_​_​_​».
I’m sorry, why did you need to adjust your records? Did we not sign a one-​year lease? How can your records mysteriously raise our rents without our consent or knowledge?
2. When we moved in, they did NOT clean the carpet like they promised. We called multiple times to make sure the carpet has been cleaned, but you know what? they didn’t do it. It took me TWO whole weeks to try to get someone to come out so our carpet can be cleaned. Thank goodness I didn’t have to work 8−5p during that time.
3. There were many, many things that were wrong with our place. We had no stable electricity (lights flashes periodically… can’t operate a microwave, can’t blow dry my hair). I called Donelle, the head guy for fixing stuff, multiple times with multiple voicemails and emails, but no response. They just «put in a ticket online» and tell you to wait. None of our issues were resolved.
4. The ladies at the office are extremely incompetent. You ask them questions, and all they say is «oh let me transfer you to someone else who is not here, but you can leave a voicemail!» and «oh I’m sorry she/​he has been busy lately.» Very frustrating speaking with incompetent people.
Also, I sent them an email beginning of February asking a few questions (which includes how to renew our lease /​how to let them know we are leaving), they NEVER responded, despite my repeat followups.
5. The security gate was broken when we first moved in. When it was fixed, they never bothered issuing us a key. We literally could not get into our place for a few days unless we had a garage opener (which was a problem because we only had ONE garage opener, and we get home on variable times, but there’s TWO of us).
Disappointed. I am so happy that I moved out.

ATTENTION: STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!
I cannot describe in plain text the horrors of having lived in a K&S property for two years but I will try my best.
TL;DR: «Run Forrest, Run!»
Apartment condition:
My hallway has a different smell every day. I have walked in and out of it over 1000 times since 2011, and every day I notice the weird smells. You know this is bad because if it were the same bad smell, you’d get used to it after two weeks. However, after over 700 days here I still think about it every time I step out of the elevator onto my floor. Besides that, this specific building is old and they don’t do anything to maintain it. The elevator inspection was expired by two years and people were stuck in it before the company did anything about it. I know friends who live in three different K&S properties in the Berkeley area and all the units are consistently in poor shape. When we first moved in, there were already signs of dirty kitchen floors and molding bathroom walls, as well as things falling apart a bit here and there. It only exacerbated over time. When it rains, all the water goes down the driveway and stairs into the front door area where the drains are clogged, so the lobby is always flooded to ankle level. Nothing has been done about this.
Internal Organization:
(This is all I have to say because there is none)
All kidding aside, they really need to develop some kind of basic CRM system to make sure all customer inquiries and needs are addressed. For example, I called about a year ago to negotiate our rent. Every single unit in our apartment is identical and should be the same price, but we found out from talking to our neighbors that we pay over $ 200 more a month than some of them and we’ve lived there longer than all of them. I called at least three times, but each time I was told to contact a certain «Jim», who was conveniently never in office when I called but was said to email back. A year later, still no response from anyone in the entire office about this matter, resulting in a potential $ 3000 of overpaid rent.
Staff:
Joke. These people run a real estate company, but a majority of them that I’ve complained to about mismanaging our money (I’ll get to that) barely know how to read a ledger. The four of us pay monthly installments of $ 700 automatically through our banks, and somehow we’ve had balances on our account of -$ 300, $ 1200, -$ 3300, and many other mathematically impossible amounts when it should have been $ 0. Each time, it ended up being a miscounting on their parts.
I have about 3 weeks left in my current apartment before escaping this real estate trap. I have heard from my friends that they almost always overcompensate on the security deposit you put in at the beginning of your lease, so I await most probably getting nothing back. Shame on the five-​star reviewers way below that are obviously K&S employees and inflating the rating.

I just recently moved into an apartment managed by K&S, and wow there are SO MANY PROBLEMS. Once the previous residents moved out, we checked out our apartment, and we were extremely disappointed with the condition of our apartment. So we emailed K&S and told them a list of necessary repairs. We were told that everything would be okay by the time we move in, but on the day of our move-​in, our apartment was still crap. My room has a hole in the ceiling… the bathroom has mold growing on the ground… the carpet is uneven, effing old/​dirty (my socks and feet turn black from walking around), and it also has random burnt marks… some of the cabinets are broken… the patio door doesn’t lock… the keys we received are obsolete… and 2 340 324 other problems… i can’t believe they expected us to move in and be fine with this shiet hole.
We finally got parts of our apartment cleaned yesterday… and a professional came in to check out our carpet… and we now have to move everything out in order to replace our carpet… I don’t understand why this was not done before we moved in… It is a huge inconvenience because as full time female students from out of state /​socal, we don’t have the time, resources, and manpower to move out and in AGAIN. Our ceiling better be replaced the next day or on the same day because I can’t afford to move out and in for the third time. K&S needs to pay for a freaking nice hotel room for us to stay in while we get the whole apartment renovated…