Farrell Smyth, Inc.

If you are smart (unlike we were) please PLEASE rent from ANYONE else. Do NOT use this property management company. Every review is true and they desperately need an overhall of their incompetent staff. This is the worst experience we’ve had with a property management company. We’ve been renting since 1998, so that tells you something. If I could give negative stars I would.
Without getting into details, here are the major points:
–They will lowball rent prices to get you in, then raise it the MAXIMUM amount when the lease is up.
–They will then force you to sign another lease or raise the rent again, to the MAXIMUM amount.
–Prepare to move into an apartment or house that is FAR from move-​in ready and then be blamed and charged for those repairs at move-​out.
–The staff will grow tired of you quickly and regularly ignored our maintenance requests. Some were a danger to tenants and this ALONE should have them out of business.
–Do not trust the CalPoly image showing them as the #1 property management agency. Just because they manage a lot of properties in the area doesn’t make them suitable to do business with.
CalPoly students with little to no rental history are their target because they can get away with conducting business the way they do. Go with someone else. Trust me!

Paddy Doron is an organized, knowledgeable agent who was a valuable partner in guiding me through the buying process. She showed me several properties within my price range and expectations. Her input on the pros and cons of each was very helpful. After submitting an offer and its acceptance, she introduced me to contractors to make upgrades that I wanted. I would highly recommend her.

Everyone was nice in the office but the crap they pull is ridiculous. I applied to an apartment, they called me back to say it wasn’t available only to find out it was. According the them the owner picks who lives there, which is dumb because our credit is good and there should be no other problem with our application. Are they discriminating? Racist? Horrible!!! I will make sure to notify whoever I have to so that this stops!

One thing to keep in mind before renting from these guys is you CANNOT SUBLEASE your apartment. So after they lock you in with the extremely rigid year long lease, you’re going to be on the hook for ALL of that.
They will tell you that you can assign the lease to someone else (a very complex and annoying process), but you have to apply to do so and they will likely deny you for no reason.
On the upside, the people in the office have been pretty nice for the most part. Unfortunately, as a whole they are not fun to rent from.

This review is for BUYING A HOUSE through Farrell Smyth Real Estate broker Pamela Bliss.
My husband and I wanted a small vacation home on the Central Coast. We had a limited budget and worked and lived in the Los Angeles area. Friends gave us Pamela Bliss’ name and she was WONDERFUL. She’d line up about 5 homes for sale in the Los Osos/​Baywood Park area and we’d drive up for the day to see them. The home we finally bought was one that came on the market the very morning of one of our trips to Los Osos.
Pam gave us names of contractors, called and emailed us about all the paperwork we needed to fill out and was always available by phone or email. She was terrific.
I don’t know about Farrell Smyth as a company but if you’re buying a home, I highly recommend contacting broker Pamela Bill at FarrellSmyth. She is the reason I’m giving them 5 stars.

I wish I could give them 0 stars. Horrendous to their renters. Informed my roommates and I that the property owner was selling the property and thus, we had to leave… We pulled the deed to our home, found out who the owner was and called him to confirm. That should be an indication of how horrible Farrell Smyth had been to us… that we kind of already realized they were lying… the owner stated not only was he NOT selling the unit, but that he WANTED US TO STAY because it would save him money not having another new tenant.
So to sum it up… not only do they not care about their tenants, but they don’t care about their owners wishes either. Luckily the owner told them he wanted us to stay so we did… only to have a room in our house be later CONDEMNED by the city of San Luis Obispo. To say the least, we left after two years.

I was tenant from 2009 to 2014 and they had been nothing helpful and pleasant, whenever anything needed fixing they were out there the next day to fix the situation. The front office staff were nothing but kind and professional I would recommend them to anyone looking for quality housing, I don’t know what other people are talking about, people complain about the high cost of rent but thats just the price for living in san luis obispo. I would recommend Farrell Smyth to anyone looking for a great place to live.

An excellent experience. Very knowledgeable and very helpful. Answered all my questions and were extremely accommodating of my personal needs. Extremely professional with a strong personal touch. Very responsive. I recommend Farrell Smyth for students looking for academic housing and for families looking for more permanent housing solutions. The office staff is warm and cheerful, I was fortunate enough to work with one of the principals. A great experience.

My roommates and I will be moving out of our house soon, and because of all of the other reviews (and their less-​than-​stellar performance as a landlord) I am fearful that we will be losing most if not all of our security deposit because they will overcharge for any minor offense.
If at all possible I would recommend cal poly students to seek out other rental companies. They are difficult, borderline negligent, and will do anything to save their own money.
Message me privately for my negative experience with them refusing (and lying to cover up their mistake) to fix a defunct water heater. The only reason they finally fixed it after months of complaining was because I sought help from the BBB. If you are struggling to deal with Farrell Smyth don’t be afraid to reach out to the BBB.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I have to agree with the other negative reviews! It was dirty (ON move in day!) and generally run down. How they get away with this, amazes me. They have not made all repairs that were requested last year in August! I am counting down the days until my son is out of there.

WORST MANAGEMENT COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH.
I have lived in SLO for 4 years and have rented from a different management company each year and this company gave all the other ones a run for their money when it came to doing a horrible job. They never know what is going on, very unfriendly, hard to work with, and try to get any penny out of you that they possibly can.
Not only is this establishment poorly run, but it is made obvious very quickly that they will do anything to make a buck from their renters. The communications of this office is nonexistent considering no one there knows whats going on. I have called multiple times regarding the same issue and received very different answered every time. I should of known it was going to be a rocky year with them when right off the bat my roommates and I were not allowed to look at the apartment until our security deposits were all turned in. This struck me as odd but considering all my friends were living in the same apartment complex and had moved in already we did not mind since we already knew what the place looked like.
Word to the wise, forget about calling maintenance. If they even show when they are supposed to they will also charge you an obscene amount for the thing they fixed with out verifying it with you or your roommates. Also if they decide to schedule a visit to your apartment due to a suspicion they have about something going on that is not permitted, they will not show up but charge you for the nonexistent visit. Seriously?
«Never in my 20 years of working in this company have I met a group of girls who can’t read a piece of paper.» This was the response given to me when I asked about a form that was sent to our residence. This is the attitude that we dealt with all year. This was rude, unprofessional, and inappropriate. This was a nightmare of an experience for myself and roommates. I suggest staying far away.

Disgusting slumlords who’re out to make a buck off anyone they can.
They took over $ 200 out of my security deposit to «sanitize» a 1 bedroom apartment that I had scrubbed from top to bottom before I moved out. Sanitize my foot, they obviously have a racket with their chosen company. When I moved in, the apartment was absolutely filthy. I had to call and complain before they sent a janitorial crew over.
They also charged me $ 40 for damage made by the previous tenant that I had forgotten to note on my move-​in sheet. In my move-​out inspection with the crooked, rude, and entirely unhelpful manager Tony Flatos (who is the most unhelpful person on the planet. He deserves his own entry into the book of jerks but this review isn’t about him) I explicitly went over with him that I never mounted curtains over the windows and yet I was charged $ 25 to «patch holes over blinds». A little jar of spackle does not cost $ 25, guys. Also, I was charged $ 18 for «holes in NE ceiling». I can only guess this was the ~5 foot crack in the ceiling that was there when I moved in two years prior. I never mounted anything on the ceiling, nor did I ever make any holes, so I have no idea what this charge is for.
And the worst part? They took $ 400 out of my deposit in «unpaid rent» for 15 days I wasn’t even living at the property. I’m fighting this one as we speak, but I am simply so appalled by this that I was speechless when I received the letter.
Bottom line: rent somewhere else. If you must rent with them, make sure you do the following: document *every single detail* on your move-​in sheet or you will get charged for it. Use your own janitorial and carpet sanitizing company when you move out since you can shop around for a good deal and not get ripped off for $ 200+ by these weasels. Pay into a trustworthy escrow company so the money only gets released when you as a tenant are satisfied. Oh, and don’t rent from them.

Wow… I’m reading reviews and am surprised with all the negative comments. I have to admit that my only dealings with FS had to do with the office (Nikki). My college student had a year lease but I had to bring him home so he never actually lived in one of the properties so I cannot comment on that aspect.
I have nothing but praise for the individual I dealt with. Nikki went above and beyond to help me with an extremely stressful situation. I had a 1yr lease that I had to get out of even though I had signed it 2mos prior to the start of the lease and he never moved in. I needed her assistance to have someone take over my lease. She always took my calls and always responded to my emails within minutes, regardless of how busy she was. She was always very professional even though I emailed her constantly to check on the status of a potential tenant. I know I was being a pest but not once did she come across as annoyed or upset with me. On the contrary, she always offered words of encouragement and support and insisted that the problem would work itself out, and it did!
I live 5hrs from SLO so my only contact was Nikki and she gave me peace of mind knowing that she was helping handle the situation on her end. Honestly, I had already paid 2 mos rent so it really shouldn’t have mattered if she worked hard to help me find a replacement because the rent was paid! She just knew how stressed out I was and wanted to do her part to help me.

Like one of the previous comments, I wish that I could give Farrell-​Smyth negative stars. I am a current renter in one of their listings in SLO. The first problem that I had with Farrell-​Smyth was that when my boyfriend and I went to go look at the house we are living in, we were told that we would have the garage attached to the house. We have lived here for 3 months and have not been able to use it because the owner has stuff in it. I realize that this is not something they can control, but we should have never been promised the garage when they were not even sure we would have access to it (the garage is part of the reason we signed a lease for the house).
Also, when we came in to sign our lease, it was a very busy day and no one was able to go over the contract with us. We were thrown papers and told to sign all of the highlighted areas. Wanting to leave the chaos we looked over the lease, asked for a copy to be emailed once signed by a FS employee (which we ended up having to ask for multiple times). We were told that our lease MUST be 6 months for some reason, which was fine, but when I asked about why our lease was made for 12 months, they said that we had to deal with it because the lease was signed already. I ended up fighting this because I had emails to prove that they promised 6 months and it was shortened.
Which brings me to my next point, the general manager Tony, is probably the most difficult person I have dealt with IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I called him multiple times, sent emails and NEVER got a response from him. I ended up calling the office and demanding to make an appt. with him to ensure a meeting. He called back right away and literally laughed at me when I told him that I was not happy about him not reaching out to me sooner. I have worked in property management for 3 years and the entire office has the WORST customer service I have ever encountered.
Also, our house had been getting worked on for over 2 weeks now, getting the roof redone and the entire house repainted. I’m not sure if FS chose the cheapest workers they could get or what, but it should NOT take over a week and a half to paint a one bedroom house. It’s ridiculous. I understand that this is not completely their fault, but I feel like it should be a little more regulated since the tenants are having to deal with constantly having work done in their living environment.
My last point, our water heater went out one morning and I completely understand that this is no one’s fault. HOWEVER, when I called to have someone come to check our the issue, they sent over a maintenance man that literally just walked into the house, no knock or anything. I was NOT okay with this. I am a 5 foot female and there is no door the bedroom in the house (just a huge arch). What if I was naked or something? I can’t even think about it. Furthermore, when I came home 4 hours later, after leaving shortly after the maintenance man arrived. I came home to the front door WIDE open and extension cords plugged into my house for tools being used outside. I was appalled! I went to the office and voiced my complaint, but I am still LIVID that this even happened. Do they not hire professionals!!! Completely not okay. Unfortunately I am only half way through my lease and am terrified to see how much of my security deposit it taken for BS charges as other people have written about. I HIGHLY suggest NEVER using Farrell-​Smyth. They are COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL and will not take care of anything that does not result in a threat from a tenant. DON’T RENT FROM THEM!!!

Unfortunately I’m going to have to echo most of the other people here. I actually disagree with Slo N. about maintenance issues being somehow the fault of the owners not wanting to do it, and not the rental companies responsibility. I actually first rented my apartment (which I lived in for about 6 years) from the owners. It was great, they fixed everything incredibly fast and looked into every maintenance concern I ever brought to their attention. I had initially asked that they send me a reciept confirmation of my monthly check for my records, which they always did. About halfway through my years there, they decided to move South and so turned this place over to Farrell Smyth. *sigh* The first thing I was told was they could no longer offer to send me my rent check receipts. Then, it started taking them weeks to look into maintenance requests, which meant I ended up doing my laundry at a laundromat because I never knew if half the time it’d just eat my quarters or actually work. They frequently ‘forgot’ to call me back and at points asked me to do very sketchy things, like showing up at my door and asking me to open my garage door so they could check on the neighbors downstairs to see how their attached garage unit looked (which is a violation of renters rights since they need to be made aware of any inspections!). They refused to fix the mold issue in the garage too, and tried to switch over our leases from month-​to-​month to 12 month leases randomly in the middle of one month (not even on our year move in anniversary).
When I left, I asked for a pre-​inspection but was told they couldn’t schedule one, which I later found out they have to agree to. They attempted to pin wall painting on me, until I pointed out under CA law they couldn’t charge me for wear and tear if I’d lived there over 5 years. So instead they used my deposit to do a flea bombing (no fleas where present) and other expenses in addition to the basic cleaning. I looked after I moved and they’d increased the price of the studio by $ 200, added an additional $ 500 to the deposit, taken away the pet option, and made it a one year lease. I would definitely not recommend them, the only reason they do business in SLO is because it’s fairly easy to be a slumlord in a college town and get away with it, kids dont know any better.

My wife and I switched to FS after they were voted #1 by Cal Poly last year for rental agencies. We though, what the hell, these kids must know something. We have had issues with every other rental company here in SLO, but so far we have no complaints with FS. Upon move out at our last house they kept a portion of our deposit but there was stuff that needed to be fixed (from us) and the carpets needed cleaning, which they did come and do. We also had maintenance issues that needed attention while living there and they were quick to respond and fix what they could. At the end of the day, I think the property owners have the final say on what gets fixed or replaced anyways, so don’t expect a full remodel from any rental agency. 99% of the time, if they are keeping your money, you probably Fu#*ed the place up or you’re just a slob. These guys wouldn’t still be doing business here (30 years) if they were scamming people. this town is way to small for that. So, my only advice is to do your homework, ask around, and see what others think, Cal Poly seems to think highly of them and i would recommend them as well.
–JC

WARNING — DO NOT RENT FROM FARRELL SMYTH, particularly if you are a student. The office staff is just plain mean, unhelpful and take advantage of renters. If you are a property owner, think twice about employing Farrell Smyth. Don’t do it! You are exposing yourself to claims and litigation. Like Nicole M., I wish that Unilocal had negative stars because that’s what Farrell Smyth should get.
Cal Poly SLO should warn students about renting from Farrell Smyth.

Farrell Smyth is the most ridiculous real estate company I have ever dealt with.
I moved out in June, with $ 700 taken out of our security deposit for repairs that needed to be made. Upon visiting our old residence, nothing that we were charged for repairs was fixed and the house was a mess. Along with that, they have not taken care of any repairs for the new tenants as well. The house is basically unlivable.
I did some research on tenant rights and Farrell Smyth had 21 days to repair the house and send me receipts. Receipts were never sent.
See here:
I have already contacted the San Luis Obispo district attorneys office to file with small claims court and also discuss the prospect of Farrell Smyth being shut down. They have clearly been ripping off students for years and putting people in dangerous conditions with never fixing what needs to be done.
Bottom line is Farrell Smyth is not a professional organization and should be shut down.
I have already sent in a report to the Better Business Bureau and am currently in the process of a claim with the California Department of Real Estate.
Avoid Farrell Smyth at all costs.

ATTENTION: Please rate your current real estate company in SLO! Real estate companies here love to take advantage of students because they have a captive market. This is not OK! By getting the word out, these companies will be forced to clean up their acts.
UPDATE: Kersten from Farrell Smyth contacted me after I wrote this review. She has been the most helpful person I’ve talked to so far. Contrast this with Tony, the manager of Farrell Smyth. I had to call him 3 times in as many weeks before he finally got back to me. He obviously really cares about his customers.
Anyways, she refunded the $ 12 for the blind. It is more about principle than the amount of money, and I am very pleased with that.
The $ 30 charge was from the legal service they use, so they money isn’t going to them.
The only complaint I still have is that they should have called me in the first place, instead of my previous roommate who moved out.
Kersten handled this very well, and I thank her for that.
Upon move– in to my apartment a year ago, I noticed the lingering smell of cigarettes. The lease said the unit was «professionally cleaned», but I highly doubt that. Anyways, there was nothing I could do about it since I had to move in that weekend and had nowhere to store my belongings even if Farrell Smyth did decide to clean it. The apartment was decently clean upon move– in, but nothing special.
Now one of the good things is that Farrell Smyth is decently quick (under a week) about repairs. Throughout the year there were several minor problems which were all taken care of. However, the maintenance guy wouldn’t cal and let us know he was coming by. He would just show up unannounced; if we weren’t home he would come back randomly again. It would be nice to schedule appointments.
Move out is where the headaches began. My roommate moved out, but I stayed in the same apartment. No one was living there for the month of August during summer, but I had paid first months rent. One day I get a call from a friend telling me about an eviction notice on my door. So I immediately call Farrell Smyth and ask them why I would be evicted, since I paid first months rent. Since the lease starts on August 16^th, half the month of August was pro– rated and neither me or my current roommate had paid it. I asked them why I was not called. They said they called my previous roommate, WHO NO LONGER LIVES AT THE APARTMENT! Does that make any sense at all? «Hey let’s call the person who doesn’t live at the apartment to let him know the current tenants owe money» No, it does not.
Anyways, they charged us $ 30 for that eviction notice. What a ploy to make some money! On the move out inspection, I was charged $ 12 for a blind missing. Never mind that I wrote that damage down on the move– in report, but a blind does not cost $ 12. There is another issue with vinyl that had to be replaced, but I won’t get into that.
To sum it up, Farrell Smyth stays profitable by charging small fees over and over. I am willing to bet that other students have similar stories of small BS charges.

Out of the 3 property managers I have worked with, Farrell Smyth is the worst. They have a large amount of rentals, many of which are in good locations for Cal Poly students. But be aware: they will charge you for the most ridiculous things they can.
I moved out from my place last year and had fraudulent charges for cleaning services THEY NEVER DID! The new tenants moved in early and there was never even a time for them to do cleaning, yet they charged me more than $ 100 for it. Another charge appeared for «cleaning patio debris,» which, once again, THEY DIDN’T DO.
Over the summer my roommate and I were not living in SLO. We sent a rent check in for the first month of our new lease (my mistake was dealing with them for another year), and thought we were good. Our neighbor called us to tell us there was a 3 day eviction notice on our door (which they charged us for). Rather than thinking that students may be gone for summer and a phone call would solve the problem immediately, posting an eviction notice was their solution. What a great way to charge another $ 30…
And most recently, after 6 weeks without receiving a security deposit check from last year’s lease, I called them to see what the problem was. They said they had sent the check and that it was my responsibility to find it. I checked with the post office, who said the check would have been returned to the sender if it hadn’t gone through. I called FS to let them know of this. Their answer: if you want you’re deposit back we’re gonna charge you $ 20 to send another check. HOW IS THAT MY FAULT?!
Bottom line: Farrell Smyth is run by a bunch of slimeballs who would not be in business if they didn’t screw over college students for miscellaneous charges. If you think I’m just an exaggerating student there’s another 7 students in my complex who could say the same thing.