Sylva on Main — Local services in Bellevue

We have had a terrible and extremely stressful experience with Soma. We have been looking for a place in Bellevue for months and finally thought we had secured our place here. We were told that we and our guarantor were approved. After providing additional docs and sending the deposit check for $500 (they dont accept electronic payments) the complex became totally MIA. We didn't receive any acknowledgement of payment or any answers to our inquiries about move-in details and lease information. After a weeks of endlessly inquiring for move in details , only today could I confirm the office received our check; only to find out that they had my guarantor as my roommate, and required us both to have proof of renters insurance before she could send us any lease information covering move in costs and details..This was another red flag as it was agreed in a previous email that renters insurance is required the day of move in. I had to contact the previous manager to ask why the guarantors application ran as a regular applicant and that he shouldn't need renters insurance. She luckily contacted Deidre asking y the apps were merged, unfortunately, I only received one email from Deidre with just a link to a renters insurance company. Deidre then told us right before closing that they had no access to our documents or screening results, and needed our social security sent only by email (which is always a shady thing to ask for through email) in order to rerun our application. She just couldn't seem to get her facts straight as she told one person that she never received our $500 check, when I had called minutes before to confirm the check & was met w/ "I JUST got it." The checks tracking info & guaranteed arrival time was noon the previous day. She also lied to one person about our approval status and just needed our guarantor to fill out another form. But told me that our screening results were STILL not approved. So here we are, a month later, with no application approval status. Due to their lack of response time, clerical organization and inability to accept responsibility of errors, they have drawn this out to where I am moving out of my house tomorrow with my Uhaul truck to drive to Bellevue (40 hr drive) with no secured housing situation...after I had been misled for weeks that I was approved and now it's almost too late to find another place in such a short amount of time within my budget.Absolutely unprofessional, untimely, and...

Worst experience ever. I will leave facts and police reports here, nothing subjective.

They say the parking garage is secure. I had vehicle theft on month 3 of my 12 month lease. Thieves caught on camera however it was low quality and they did not upgrade the cameras during my remaining months. Camera shows assailants face but it was useless to the police due to low grade quality cameras. Staff did nothing to assist. I did all the work with the police.

Second theft attempt on another motorcycle 1 month later. This is seen in the picture included in this review. Bellevue police report filed with case number- 18-29312

Third attempt on motorcycle although I had it locked up with a commercial grade security chain. This is unacceptable that thieves can just break into the parking garage whenever they feel it is necessary.

At this point I did not feel safe and wanted to exit my lease for fear of my safety. The office manager nor upper management would entertain any of this. They would not allow me to leave without hefty penalties. Sylva off Mains management company stated that it would be around 9k to leave the lease early with no grace. I ended up moving my bikes and sticking out my lease.

On move out I was as courteous as possible. I patched the walls and cleaned the carpet. I still received a bill for over 600 dollars in cleaning and full painting services.

Conclusion- Unsafe building and no assistance from anyone. They will take every dollar they can out of you and give nothing in return even if a crime was committed against you. I share this because I do not want anyone else to go through this.

THE SAVINGS IS...

Edit 3: Management seems to have turned around. Maintenance requests were raised on a Sunday night and fixed by Monday morning. Kenia is helpful as well for any management related concerns.

Edit 2: The management has changed in the last 2 months. So, disregard older reviews. Bumping it down to 2 star. 2nd month here and simple maintenance requests don't get fixed for 5 days. Still waiting on mine. Will update soon on the exact timeline for the fix. Management is unresponsive over email.

Original review: Great location but my apartments heater is broken and has not been fixed in 3 days even though it's 55 degrees outdoors and apartment temperature is at 63 degrees. Will edit this review once it's fixed. Take this information as you will while renting an apartment here. Edit: was fixed on the 3rd day. Bumped it up to 3 star even with the negative experience because of the apartment having lots of natural light. The management was flexible in providing an 8 month lease as well for same overall price. The north side elevator breaks frequently. So make sure to pick an apartment on the south side.

Other parts of the apartment: some apartments have giant concrete pillars in the middle of the apartment that was not visible in the floor plan. So, please make sure to get few photos of the apartment before renting one.

The storage units on the apartment premises are unrentable as the management keeps procrastinating on providing that to you. It's been 3 days since asking for a storage...