Bella Terra Apartments

Let me start out by saying that I have lived in the complex for over 8 years, so I have seen quite a few changes in staff and management. Up until the last year, I always felt that the staff was courteous and competent. However, in the last year, there has been little to no focus on customer service for existing customers. In particular, the office hours are very limited, and often have only one person staffing the office at a time. When I come home from work, I expect that someone is available to give me my packages that they have accepted on my behalf, but that never seems to happen. Apparently my time is less valuable than theirs, as I almost always have to come back for multiple tries. They have also hired a very rude older lady to staff the office in the evenings. When she is actually at the office, she acts like I am bothering her when I ask for my deliveries. The message is clear to me… I am no longer valued as a customer. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere… these people don’t deserve it.

The luster has worn off this jewel — the condos and apartments were constructed poorly from the get-​go (in the 90s), and they are not aging well.
After living here and enduring a 10% increase/​year, the lousy sound insulation, the bouncing floors, the creaky floors and stairs, and the scratch-​n-​dent appliances — the rent is not worth it.
Noise is the biggest problem — these apartments and condos have nothing more than 2×4 walls and normal sheet-​rock between units. Oh wait, aren’t there quiet hours??? Ha! It is easy to hear when you neighbors are carrying on a heated conversation, when they’re attempting to make a baby, when their dog wimpers when they’re away, and when their kids run up and down stairs or across the room.
So enjoy the pool and the hot tub, because you’ll want to be out of your unit more than living in it.

I lived at Bella Terra for 8 months. Loved the location and the unit I rented had an attached garage which was super convenient. I found the staff to be incredibly helpful and accomdating.
The unit itself, although spacious, was in dire need of updating (rented sight unseen). The building construction is very subpar (I had an end unit so my only shared wall was actually just my upstairs neighbor, but I could hear them get out of bed and use the john in the middle of the night).
I found that the carpet (which was newer and in good shape) had not been cleaned prior to my moving in. But the worse thing… the unit had FLEAS. Because I did not want to use chemicals I paid for a Flea Busters treatment myself, but was able to convince the property management company to reimburse me.
When I moved out I found out that Bella Terra does not have the units professionally cleaned between tenants. They leave it up to the exiting tenant and then will ‘spot clean’ whatever they missed. So basically, it’s just ‘eye’ clean. You can’t be sure if there was any deep cleaning done or what, if any, cleaners were used.
Admittedly, I had not lived in an apartment for 20 yrs., and this was a temporary move for me, so perhaps this is not unusual. But I would definitey not rent another apartment anywhere without addressing the issues I encountered at Bella Terra.

The office staff don’t seem to actually care about the people renting in the complex. All they care about is the money they get by having apartments filled. The longer I lived here the less please I was with the office staff. The few staff members who were nice and helpful left, probably to work at a better complex. There are at least 3 different apartments (of approx 13 units) rented in my build that have people that smoke in them. Plus an additional 2 that I have seen in the building across the street from me. I complain numerous times over my 2 years of renting and they are still allowed to renew their lease. Also the Office staff tried to tell me they couldn’t discriminate against smokers. If they advertise a smoke free environment, they shouldn’t renew leases for smokers.
Many evenings when I return to my apartment the stairway smells of cigarette smoke. As well as in the summer months when I have the windows open it often blows into my bedroom from neighboring apartments. When equipment in the clubhouse gym breaks it takes an unrealistic amount of time to replace it, over a month and a half on average. The Hot tube is used basically as a pool for toddlers and as such the water is discolored. I highly doubt that it has the correct chemical balance
The parking spots are always full. and you often have to park far away from your building. I have complained numerous times about this as well because there are several non-​running cars that haven’t moved from their spots in 6 months to a year. Sure they have current registration, but they don’t actually run. On more than one occasion I’ve seen the owner try to start the vehicle but couldn’t so he ended up pushing it to a different spot. Again the office staff is utterly useless in solving this problem.
And then there is the rate hikes. Every year when its time to renew your lease they try to increase the price by around 150 – 200 $ a month.

I agree with what everyone else has to say about Bella Terra. VERY pricey, cheap appliances, crappy flooring and paper thin walls. They nickel and dime you, be prepared to pay extra on top of not receiving your refundable deposit back. This place is a joke. They also don’t ever pick up their phones. You have to pretend to be a potential new tenant in order to talk to someone. AND they charged $ 50.00 a month per pet per month on top of a non-​refundable fee that does not cover pet damage!

Lease: $ 990/​mth ~750sq/​ft
Renewal: ~$ 1120/​mth
I loved living here. The apartment is beautiful and really spacious, and was definitely the best deal in the area when I got the apartment. Its pretty quiet and the stores in the main area are fun. The people in the office are super nice, as well as the maintenance crew. I never had any trouble getting them to help me with any issues.
On the ground floor I did have an ant issue for a short while, The office sent an exterminator out at no charge to me to take care of them. It worked until they showed up in another part of the apartment, but they sent someone out again no problem.
The Seattle area, being what it is, causes the pool here to open far too late and close way too early in the year. But that’s just life here.
The previous reviewer was very angry about the rent increase, and it is a huge contributor in to why I am leaving as well, and why it gets 3 stars. As much as I like it here, my lease renewal included a ~13% hike. Quite frankly, that is unacceptable. The company appears to do quite a lot for community, implementing web-​based community portals, etc… But when it comes to keeping the tenants they don’t do anything about the price point. They’d rather raise their prices 4x inflation and earn more than raise rent at a more reasonable rate and keep their current tenants that would like to stay, but can’t justify paying that much more for the same thing they’ve had. Instead of feeling like a team with the community, you feel like it’s a win-​lose situation.
What a shame.