Bell Cove Apartments

I moved out recently and communicated my desire for a final walk through last week with the manager, Angel Seda. I asked if I could come in on Saturday and he said no problem, that he wouldn’t be there but that Merissa would. I got there right as they opened Saturday morning, hoping to get things wrapped up before they got busy. Collette was there by herself for 15 minutes before Merissa showed up. I was told by both that only a leasing or maintenance manager (Josh) could do a walk through. I was fit to be tied! Angel did not mention this fact to me in our numerous email exchanges last week. I even mentioned this to both leasing agents but they were unwilling to accommodate me despite what Angel said. So now I have to come in either on my lunch break from work or after work today to get this mundane but necessary task completed. I reluctantly gave them my keys without having the walk through. So now anything could happen and it would be out of my control I paid to have the carpeting cleaned professionally (the staff doesn’t mention that when you move in) and made sure the apt was move in ready for the next victim, I mean tenant. I am so glad to be away from this complex, it is by far the worst run community I have ever lived in, or managed, which I used to do years ago. I would really ask anyone considering a move here to give it serious thought and weigh all your options because there are several other options available that will give better peace of mind and less hassle than I experienced at Bell Cove.

I have lived here for 2 years and for the first year we didn’t have many problems. Except, when the neighbor next door smoked his marijuana (mj) and turned up his stereo, or the occasional security issues. The mj smell permeated our apartment, same with cigarette smoke. He eventually left and there were no other problems. The maint staff is responsive, I like the location of our apartment and it’s pretty quiet for the most part. At one point we were even going to renew our lease for 2 years, but then… we had new neighbors move in and our lives have been a nightmare since. They also smoke cigarettes and mj. They also have people over to smoke it with them and our apartment smells like mj every day. At first it was just a couple times a week and I went over and asked them to ventilate or something because we have children in our home that are inhaling the secondhand smoke. Since then, it is an everyday occurrance. We tried a couple more times ourselves to resolve it with them but they shut the door in my daughter’s face and lied when I confronted them the third time saying it wasn’t them when I could smell it coming from their apartment. We resorted to the police the next two times, then security. Each time we go to the office to plead with them to get them to do something even after the police came and smelled it in our apartment thus determining this was a health and safety issue. The people in the office could care less. I’ve been told «it’s apartment living», «are you sure it’s them», «there isn’t anything we can do», «the apartments don’t share vents», which is essentially true, but they do share attic space. The air coagulates up there and that’s how it’s getting back in. The neighbor and I both, at one point, went to the office and I was ganged up on, making it my problem, not anyone else’s. I’ve also been asked if I’ve «researched» the effects of secondhand mj smoke. Really? Supposedly the guy has a medical marjuana card, but also supposedly, he’s a guest not a resident. However, this has gone way beyond medical use. This is everyday sometimes all day, multiple people coming and going, and many people are smoking in there at the same time, our apartment is like a smoke factory. I told the manager when I made him come to my apartment and smell that whoever smokes there lives in the complex. Essentially, we are being asked to solve the problem on our own when we are not doing anything wrong. We cannot afford to move, but we gave our 60 day notice. It’s two weeks from moving day and we still have no where to move to because we can’t afford to pay the fees to get into a new place, but because of the threat to the children in our home and ourselves, we have to get out of here. Even as I sit here writing this review, I am bombarded by mj smoke. One day we came home and there was a haze in the air. My daughter had to take my granddaughter and leave because she is highly asthmatic and it has caused her difficulty in breathing. We open our doors and windows when we can, we’ve even taped our vents shut and the air cond makes it worse but it’s getting hot. The other night I was kept awake for 3 hours because of the mj smell in my bedroom. I’ve spoken with the housing authority, I’ve spoken with the police several times and the community action officer who, by the way, acknowledged that this complex is very active from a police perspective. The police are here frequently in general, but essentially there isn’t much they can do for us because of the mj card. But the complex can do something. They’ve served them at least two notices and the only reason I know is because when they got them they started banging on the walls. They banged on the walls for three hours one day, so hard a wall hanging fell, scaring our children. Now when they want to be particularly nasty, they just turn up their stereo and smoke more mj to hurt us. I was also told to «get copies of the police reports» and give them to the office making us responsible for bearing the burden of proof when the guy already admitted to doing it. They’ve made living here the last 6 months a nightmare and very stressful. It is unfair we are paying the price for someone else’s inconsideration. We don’t know what we are going to do or where we are going to go, but I would never, ever rent from Capilano again and the front office staff’s concern is superficial because they’re bull sh… ing their way through this problem. I sorely feel bad for the next residents that will move in here, but if they are smart, they’ll run fast the other way. We all want to be comfortable in our home, but not at someone else’s expense and I don’t want anyone kicked out either. We hate to see someone out of their home, but we just want our children to be in a safe and healthy environment. Sadly, that’s not going to happen here as long as people don’t care.

Bell Cove apartments are the worst apartments I have ever lived in. I move to Phoenix from Los Angeles and I know a thing or two about apartments and how sometimes they can struggle due to wear and tear. I have lived in many growing up and these by far are the worst. The best experience was probably the move in process and that was it. As soon as we got keys to our apartment there was no electricity or hot water! And not for a day, but for about a week. This was not the apartments fault, but the electricity companies fault, management told me that the electricity company turned on the power «half way». I don’t even know what that means exactly. I started noticing more and more minor things wrong with my unit, like broken off corners to my kitchen cabinets, white spray painted carpet from the walls previously being painted, and the fake vinyl granite counter top peeling off. This was just the inside.
Outside my little apartment, was a scary place. My neighbors car got broken into. His window was shattered and he told me the person that did it lived in the complex! This made me feel incredibly unsafe. Also, the front gate that management said would stay closed after 8pm, is never closed!
I have put in maintenance requests for my A/​C not working twice in 1 month and a request for my toilet not being able to flush and it never got fixed. Ever. Until I had to call and get angry with management. The fix was even a terrible job done!
I could go on and on about how much I dislike this place. The only good thing was the parking. I always had a spot.
Paying rent sucks. I cannot use cash, credit cards or personal checks. I can only use a money order or pay only with a fee.
Bell Cove’s office is ridiculous and management do not know how to run a business or know how to be reliable and trustworthy