Kensington Place Apartments

I lived in Kensington Place for almost 2 years and just moved out last month.
Pros:
— Closed to 101 and easy to access to freeway.
— Office manager seems to show a lot of care and consideration on building a good community. They organized a few events, such as free coffee/​breakfast etc.
— Plenty of parking space and the underground garage has lots of parking spots too. It’s good to have friends to come and hang out. Not much friction to find parking and direction.
— The unit layout is pretty good for 2b2b, it’s very spacious and some apartment has an extra storage room attached to the kitchen, which is really helpful if you have a lot of luggages. The layout is the best among all the apartments I have visited.
Cons:
— Noise. The biggest complaint I have is the noise level. If you are not living in the top floor, good luck that you have a quiet neighbor. Otherwise, you would hear them walking around the kitchen and it’s pretty loud. Sometimes people partying all night until 1AM or 2AM. They were dancing in midnight and party quite late.
— Smell. There are many indian resident living in the complex and sometimes they cook strong curry. The smell is pretty strong and it’s hard to avoid. The unit we rent has a super strong smell when we move-​in. If you can visit the exact room before you move-​in, that’d be great!
— Water pressure. The water pressure is quite low and the water saving facet has super low water pressure on it and you don’t feel like you were showering!
— Gym is too small. There aren’t much inside the gym. I have been to better gym within apartment unit.
— Trash room. The trash room is always messy and they did not clean up /​collect the trash often.
— Price is getting higher these days. By the time I move out, the rent for 2b2b is 3300+.
Overall, if you are lucky to avoid most of the cons. Kensington Place is not a bad choice at all, in fact, I wouldn’t mind leasing another term if I could transfer to a top floor unit. Good luck for your apartment finding!

My husband and I lived here for 18 mos. Our one year ended and we decided to sign another year or so (forgot the # of months) lease but ended up buying a house a lot earlier than we originally planned.
We stayed on the second floor and got a storage unit in the garage. The garage was nice because it requires a key to get in. We liked our unit, the washer and dryer were nice to have, the bathroom and kitchen were spacious. Maintenance was responsive and the grounds were well kept. We had a fourth of July party at the pool area, using the bbq pit that was recently installed and all of our friends had a lot of fun. I had my bridal shower at the clubhouse which was super convenient as it has a kitchen and is very spacious. We used the TV for some games and there were enough seating for 20+ people. My only complaint would be the rent as it was pretty steep.
The move out process was super easy and simple. We had to break our lease, paid a fee but that was expected. I liked that they were straightforward about the move out fees, unlike other places we’ve stayed at. They were clear that the cleaning fee would be applied even if we clean 50% of the apartment so we didn’t do anything (which was a relief!), some places don’t tell you that and end up charging you so much after you’ve spent so much time cleaning! We had an inspection before we moved out and everything went smoothly (probably because we stayed there for so long and they had to update the carpet/​paint anyway).

To add one more to the move-​out process horror stories:
You simply do not want to move in any 1BD apartment here. Ok 2300 $/​month was way too expensive to begin with, for a neighborhood not close to anything interesting. The yearly addition/​adjustment of 400 $ to make it 2700 $/​month for a single room is just insane.
Add to that, you have to pay 1.5 month penalty to terminate before the end of lease, that is 4000 $ penalty! Since no sane person wants to get a single bedroom here, your other option is to pay on average 8 month penalty or near 21 000 $ until another poor soul moves in.

I’ve lived here for a year. Everything is fine expect the rent is expensive, so we have to move out. The local management team is responsible. The maintenance usually comes the next day you file a service request. Great location, near major highways, plus the light rail, but not much of the food/​restaurant in walking distance. Facilities are small but ok.
I really like the town house layout, it’s good for living with your friend, buy you also got some private spaces.

Everything was good until we moved out of our 1 bed apartment after 9 months.
As part of the move-​out process we had a pre-​move out inspection and we were given a list of cleaning charges. We felt charges were reasonable and agreed to pay.
But we were in for a surprise when we received final settlement, we were charged extra 500 $ for cleaning services which was never mentioned in pre-​move out inspection.
I inquired more about the charges, they mentioned it as ‘Odor removal treatment’, immediately I felt some thing fishy is going on. I spoke to the apartment manager how unjustified this charge and how this was never mentioned to me before and never given a chance to fix it myself before move-​out. She kept defending the charges saying cooking smell (this is normal wear and tear). I was left with no option and I said I have to take this up with ‘Small Claims Court’, immediately they were ready to split the charges. I decided not to take any part of the charges and went to ‘Small Claims Court’ and served property management company, Prometheus. Now Prometheus is playing cheap by not showing up on the court date.
I’m writing this here so that people can be extra careful when they move out especially INDIANS. They are going to say funny things like apartment is filled with cooking smell and charge you extra even after doing professional cleaning of apartment, carpet and partial painting.
EDIT: 7÷10÷2015
I tried to reach
multiple times in the last three weeks after the below reply. No responses yet. Looks the below response is eyewash for Unilocalers.

I lived in this apartment for 16 months and i enjoyed my stay there.
The property was well maintained and the staff were helpful and polite. The property manager Dominique and staff Dipna were extremely helpful and willing to work with you to solve problems and make you happy. I’ve only needed maintenance twice but both times all I did was send an email and I had them on my doorstep within an hour. Apartment is next to bus stop and light rail station.
We were told when moving out that the carpet needed to be replaced as was worn out. I was really concerned since i had given a deposit of $ 2000. When we pointed out that the carpet was not new and it was in that condition when we moved in, the maintenance head mentioned that he will check the records to confirm the age of the carpet. I got a call couple of hours later from him saying that the carpet was 5 years old and that i would not have to pay anything.
I got my deposit back :) and was charged only for partial painting and cleaning.
I was very pleased with my experience and I would recommend this complex for anyone looking for an apartment in the Sunnyvale area.

This review is not about the apartments itself but the leasing process. I already live in a Prometheus property (management company for Kensington as well). I was asked to move out so they can renovate and rent it at a higher rental price. I didn’t want to move after living there just for 9 months. Anyways, I decided to check out Kensington place. I took the tour and the apartment seemed to fit my needs. I told the leasing agent that I’d like to sign the lease and there was also another person looking at the model apartment at the same time. He was also trying to sign a lease which I eventually found out. The other leasing agent wondered which apartment I am going to sign the lease for and I gave her the number. So I started their online leasing process and after filling 4 pages of endless questions, I get a message that the apartment is leased out. It was available before I started the leasing process. The other person signing the lease got an apartment. At this point, I didn’t know whether he was the one who leased the place or someone from the good wide Internet decided to lease the place at the exact same time as me. Anyways, I controlled my anger (mostly because I didn’t know whom to point it to) and asked if the other 1 BR apartment (my second preference) could be rented at the same price for a move in date I wanted (this apartment was on market 1 week prior to my move in date). I didn’t want to pay overlapping rent for a week. The leasing agent pretty much told me that prices are non-​negotiable. I walked out thinking these things 1. I want the rental market to crash. 2. Prometheus is a bad corporate. I shouldn’t have rented with them ever. 3. Leasing agents have to do their job better with more transparency and honesty.
I did get an email afterwards from the leasing agent offering to talk to their property manager about the rental price for the other apartment. I took a day to think if I really need to rent with them. I went ahead and signed my lease with another property not managed by prometheus.
So if you are leasing a property here, be smart. Good luck!

We have been living in a 2bed/​2bath apartment here for a year now, and the experience has been really good. The leasing office staff have always been very helpful and responsive, both on e-​mails and in-​person. They have a nice online system to manage rent, service requests etc. which was recently updated and is super convenient.
Our service requests have always been tended to on time. We had a few problems with our fire alarm, toilet sink etc, and they were promptly taken care of. Can’t really complain about anything — renewing our lease!

Unbelievably terrible:
— Property management staff is extremely rude, inconsiderate, and abusive
— The fire alarm has gone off at least a dozen times in the nearly 2 years that I lived here (until end of 2014)
— They do not assign parking spaces and parking is terrible. The night my daughter was born, my mother in law came back to our place at 11 pm only to not find any spaces available. A full lot was not an isolated incident for us
— People use the pool area as their personal party pad, playing loud music, leaving broken glass, and talking loudly late into the evening. Even after raising concerns to the Property Management, nothing was ever done.
— If you want to live in a corporate park, this is your place!
— Perpetual gross swamp smell from the nearby marsh and LANDFILL around the corner
— Yes the unit had central heat/​air conditioning but it was so unbelievably loud you could barely have a conversation in some of the rooms
— The washer would make a huge banging sound whenever we ran it. Maintenance came by to say nothing was wrong.
— Many neighbors in our 2 year period would just have people over with their interior windows wide open and sound reverberating into everyones unit. You then couldn’t even open your windows.
— Packages would be delivered to the leasing office and you’d have to wait for 30 minutes for them to leisurely stroll back to the office and unlock it
— The garage door to the parking would break constantly. With already limited parking, this is not how you want to end your day late at night
— Bathroom ceiling fans must have been repurposed from a 747. They were shockingly loud and were always on if the light was on. This forced me to shave with the light off so I could carry on a conversation
— «Heated» pool? If by «heated» you mean 70 degrees, then yes it is heated
— We had to move out early because of a new job and property management dragged their feet when we tried to work with them. See point #1
— Trash would just pile up in the receptacle area because they were too cheap to have more frequent pickups. Many times a month, you would have to walk over garbage to put your stuff in the collection area
I feel bad for the maintenance crew as they were wonderful and bear the brunt of BS from the property management.

I recently moved out from my 2bd2ba town house style apartment after lived there for 21 months. 4 days after I moved out, I got the email from the property manger, and I got partial deposit refund as well.
I would not give the place 5 stars when I moved in almost 2 years ago. The day I moved in to my apartment, the carpet was not cleaned, 3 light bulbs were out, the towel bar was broken, etc. But I have to admit during the past 2 years, the management has improved a lot, and I do not have anything to complain about. And now I’ve moved out from the place without hassle and even got some deposit back, I would recommend to others to rent a unit in Kensington Place Apartment.
The staffs have always been nice since I moved in, staffs have changed during the year, but I’ve not have bad experience with them during the time I lived there. It’s true that their online payment system doesn’t work very well, but I prefer physically drop off the checks, so it doesn’t bother me much.
The washer and dryer are in the unit is absolutely a bonus, doing laundry anytime I want without worrying someone steal or remove your clothing from washer/​dryer, no missing socks anymore.
The trash situation has improved in the past several months, there is no more piled up trash bags on the ground anymore. On the other hand, the reason the trash piled up is caused by irresponsible tenants who didn’t want to open the container’s door and throw the trash bags inside the container.
The maintenance team has been response fast, normally 1 business day, someone will show up to fix the problems. Once the maintenance guy showed up 20mins after I submitted the request online!
The management has definitely tried to create a more family friendly environment in the complex. They remodeled the pool area with new bbq. Sadly I didn’t get chance to hold a pool party there. I saw someone got a carpet cleaning after renewing the lease, which is nice, (I didn’t get that when I renew the lease, it’s probably a new thing). My husband did received a birthday card from the management team this year, which is a surprise for both of us!
They offers a termination fee for breaking the lease, still a significant amount of money, but if you have several months lease left and you need to move out now, it’s not a bad option. My husband and I had to break our lease due to we need to move out early, instead of choosing waiting till the apartment being rent out, we chose to pay the termination fee, which allowed us to properly budget our cost, and no hassle once the fee being paid, we are not responsible to the place once we moved out.
Their new maintenance supervisor Andres is definitely passionate about his job, and I can see that he will lead an outstanding maintenance team in Kensington Place Apartment. Andres did the final walk-​thru with me before I moved out, he informed me that I should’ve done two walk-​thru, one is pre-​move and one is final. He told me that he tried to come by week earlier before I move out date to do pre-​move walk thru but I wasn’t home. He checked the apartment, and informed me that I will be charged the lowest fees on all the cleaning and painting, etc, due to I’ve kept my apartment in very good shape.
Hope the Kensington Place apartment continues to improve and I will definitely recommended others to rent the place.

Living in the stone age. Its a great place to live and I would not have complained if it was not in the Silicon Valley. With all the tech around they cannot manage to run a online payment system which is really inconvenient. Everything from initial deposit/​rent and the deposit refund needs every roommate to be physically present and/​or fill out physical documents!

We are about to start our second year here. Overall, living here is really wonderful.
Pros:
— Typically quiet, well-​maintained community
— INCREDIBLE maintenance team (especially Osueldo) who are personable, efficient and so responsive. More than once, I have had even non-​urgent requests fixed the same day. WOW to that.
— Friendly front office staff
— Well-​considered layout of apartments
— You get a free carpet cleaning on renewing your lease (if you have carpet in your unit).
— Convenient location in between 237 and 101
— Some good amenities in the nearby shopping complex (café, grocery, etc)
Cons:
— HORRIBLE trash management ‘system.’ They just ‘updated’ it but trash is overflowing at the weekend. They need to have it emptied more frequently and/​or add additional bins. Complaints have been inadequately addressed.
— Front office staff doesn’t understand their online payment system. When I renewed, I heard three different versions of how it would work (or not work) with direct debit. They were also unable to, without three different agents, able to tell me the amount that I owed for the month when my lease renewed (since it was a partial month under the old rent and a partial month under the new rent)
— Occasionally folks violate the pool hours and use the hot tub until quite late, which is problematic when there is no recourse and they are being loud. Thankfully this has happened only a handful of times.

Update after living here for 7 months:
Overall it continues to be fairly quiet – probably quietest of all 4 apartment complexes I’ve lived. Office staff are very polite. Maintenance is fantastic – more responsive than a nicer hotel.
The MAJOR issue is the filthy trash areas. Filthy doesn’t begin to describe. The compartments are tiny so few people use (end up piling up on the ground, open bags spilling food and other garbage all over the ground). My wife has seen cockroaches twice, both times in the early evening.
I’ve spoken to Dominique and I believe she has tried very hard to remedy. She seems to work hard and has a caring, great attitude. I also observe the poor maintenance people clean down the bins at least 2x a day (this is how bad it is). I think Prometheus doesn’t give local staff any autonomy (funding) to fix thing until it becomes a safety issue. Two other neighbors I spoke with said this has been going on for at least 2 years.
The overflowing trash causes mosquitoes and other smells anywhere near the bins. I would bet money that eventually there will be rats.
I’d welcome the chance to speak with someone from Prometheus management. I’d love to hear their take on why this has gone on for years in a complex that charges over $ 2500 for a 1-​bedroom.
I’ll update this regularly.

Wish I didn’t have to give them a star! This place is awful and the two front desk girls are super rude! Staff never listened to any concerns or comments. Parking is just as awful! And DO NOT drink the water! The PH and levels are really bad! Also, they let the neighbors dogs pee in the pool! And after I mentioned something they did nothing about it! Dominique and the other girl who I dont even care to know her name should NOT be working with people! Wish I never signed with them!
After reading some reviews looks like i will not be getting my deposit back!

We have been living at Kensinton place in one of their Townhouse’s and the experience has been amazing. It took us a while to pick a place, we were looking everywhere from San jose to Mountain View. We finally settled on Kensington because the community is extremely clean, very modern architecture and extremely friendly staff. The price of our 2 bedroom is very reasonable, especially for everything that is included in the unit, and in the common grounds. I would highly recommend looking at this place if your looking for a apartment in a great location.
Pros: laundry in unit, underground parking, clean, new amenities, nice swimming pool area, very quite and safe neighborhood, great freeway access, grocery shopping/​coffee right next door, very friendly staff and property management personal.
Cons: units are not for sale :(we would love to buy a apartment in a community like this.

I moved into Kensington Place via a relocation company that has a furnished unit available for short-​term needs. While my particular unit was well maintained inside, it is what is outside the units that makes Kensington one of the worst places I have ever stayed. Every balcony has a compressor unit that both cools and heats the apartments. In the south they call these heat pumps, because they are used to cool in the summer and heat in the winter. The unit sits on your balcony. Don’t worry you will likely never see it, because no one ever uses their balcony. The noise is unbearable. It also means you can’t really ever open a window, because it just makes the noise problem even worse. I cannot remember a single moment of the three weeks I was there that could be described as quiet or peaceful.
If you walk around the units in the evening you’ll hear the constant drone of numerous compressors churning away. Every one is different too, so it’s like an orchestra of urban noise, but it’s way out of tune.
If you are really lucky you’ll also get water dripping from the balcony above on to your balcony. It’s like having dirty rainwater dripping all year on to your balcony. Perhaps it works for a plant, but it’s not so good for people. Look at the ground floor units and you’ll find many are growing moss on their patio. I can only imagine what kind of fungus is lingering somewhere.
My specific annoyance with the noise reached a point of sheer madness when the unit above me had a mechanical failure with the unit. The result is that the compressor started running nonstop. All the time. Day and night. After 3 days of continuous operation the noise and vibration were too much. The fireplace doors would rattle from the vibration. I had to actually leave my apartment and go to a hotel just to get rest. When maintenance «addressed» the problem it was not fixed, and continued to run all the time. I moved out of the unit into a hotel for three nights, after which the company provided me a new apartment in another location.
The story I got was that the when the unit failed (Friday) they did not get around to fixing it until Monday, at which time they needed a part and it would be another few days before they could actually fix it. I can’t imagine being a renter here and enduring a week of sleepless nights and a constant grinding and groaning of a failed AC unit. I was not alone in complaining to management regarding this problem. But there did not seem to be much concern in fixing it. For reference, constant noise from a failed AC unit did qualify as an «emergency» over the weekend either.
Sadly I don’t think anything will ever resolve this problem for Kensington. The design of the place is just flawed. Putting the AC unit on the balcony means everyone is constantly going to be listening to the noise of the compressors.
If you like the drone of AC compressors, this is the place for you. If you like to sleep at night or have a window open for a nice breeze, you’ll be better off somewhere else. For rent at this level, you should be able to have some peace and quiet when you want.

So — a year later it came time for our lease to renew. If we signed another year, the price went up about 5%. Annoying, but not too bad. However, if we decided to go month-​to-​month like we wanted to (we were thinking of moving but hadn’t found ‘the place’ yet), the rent increased 55%!! OUTRAGEOUS! We couldn’t afford to continue living here and had to move out sooner than we wanted to. It’s a shame too, since we always paid our rent on time, were respectful neighbors, and really enjoyed living there.

I lived at Kensington Place for just about 3 years until I moved back to Washington.
It’s a quiet complex for the most part and I love that it’s dog friendly. Once in a while you may be unfortunate to experience loud neighbors but you just need to address it with management and they will help you. My 2^nd year there, I had the worst upstairs neighbors of my life, and I was left exhausted and crying from lack of sleep due to such horrible noise. I went to the management office and let them know, and Mike (who is the best maintenance guy ever) ended up going out of his way and telling them off for me. I never really experienced problems again.
If you have neighbors upstairs, sound from above is just going to be inevitable. I think the floors are rather thin.
The units are a good size, and very clean. I was a fan of the hot tub and a fan of the units will full sized washers and dryers. Complete win.
What really disturbed me over the years was the continuous increase in rent prices, sometimes dramatic.
I’ve lived in multiple Prometheus units and I thought this was my favorite until how I was sort of ripped off in the end. I am a super clean tenant and when I got my apartment reviewed, I was told it was clean and would just by default need to pay for some touchups on the carpet and paint. In the end though, I received less than half o my deposit back, which actually bugs me to this day. I could have completely trashed my unit and only lost just under a couple hundred more. Not fair… humph!
So buyer beware — if you live here just be prepared for a continuous increase in rent which is happening everywhere, but I think the rates at Kensington are really getting ridiculous. The office sometimes responds to your emails, sometimes they don’t. Just try to contact the manager of the leasing office directly, all the time if you need anything.
In terms of the maintenance guys, I am going to come to their defense here after reading a previous comment or two. They are all great guys. If some of them are ex-​convicts, who cares as long as they are doing their jobs now. I’ve heard mixed things about the management at Kensington, and there has been a lot of turnover over the 3 years I was there but I will proudly and openly say that I was VERY impressed with the maintenance guys here. I’m sure they deal with a lot of horrible things, but I also think they deserve the most credit for a lot of the positive things you’ll see at Kensington.
I’m a Recruiter and if I were in the property management industry and needed to recruit maintenance guys, I’d totally go after the guys that work here. They are both really friendly and they work really hard.
While living in the Bay Area, I’d seek out Prometheus owned properties but if I were to move back there again, I’d probably consider just renting a house or townhouse. I think it’s becoming a greedier management company and I’m not sure I can stand by them anymore. A lot of the units are also going to Corporate Housing, which means new neighbors, constantly — — - so some quieter months over others. That became really frustrating my last year there. Yet, the prices keep increasing on top of that too.
Kensington Place in the end let me down, with the crazy increases in rental rates and shortchanging me on my deposit in the end, after being a quiet, clean, respectful neighbor for 3 years and impacting my comfort level there, with a substantial increase of and out new neighbors.

This place is very deceiving and things are not as they seem. The noise level here is ridiculous. Hot or cold, you will hear a symphony of old and extremely loud compressors all day and even night. The vibrations carry throughout the house and makes leaving an open window impossible!
I agree with the previous reviewer regarding the construction of this place. Once you settle in you will definitely notice the work throughout the apartment is either half done or improperly done.
Regarding staff:
The Maintenance workers are very forgetful and cancels services at their discretion.
The Office workers are not problem solvers and are more problem makers. They are not responsive and lack quality customer service skills.
Conclusion:
If you don’t mind obnoxious noises day and night, unreliable maintenance service, and an unresponsive office staff, then this place will make you feel right at home.
By the way, they speak WOOF which is just about all they speak when you ask them for something. Don’t bother asking for anything… WOOF!

I lived here for four years and I have to say this complex has a split personality!
Pros: nice location, hot tub/​pool, on-​site gym, central air and heat, newly remodeled interiors, beautiful grounds, secured underground parking, business center, VERY prompt maintenance, washer and dryer in complex. Office staff is normally very friendly. Close to VTA light rail stop.
Cons: many auto break-​ins in said secured parking, a trash dumpster area that can get very disgusting, ex-​convicts on staff who are pretty open about just «getting out.» Location is not near any grocery stores or coffee shops so it tends to feel isolated.