The Charles Bellingham — Local services in Bellingham

I would have recommend this Place to anyone prior to the New OWNERS and MANAGEMENT!

Management(AmySue) is rude and feels nothing needs to be fixed. She gets mad if someone complains about an issue with their apartment. They don’t clean the buildings everyday anymore. Pet hairs, trash and papers are all over the carpets and stairs for days!

I have had a maintenance call on the building portal for over 3 weeks now for my Central Air to be serviced. I spoke with Amy Sue after a week of no response from maintenance. Amy Sue’s reply was, “I’m not replacing the system, that is just how it is was built” Needless to say, I’m still waiting 3 weeks later! Like many of my neighbors have done in recent months, I put an air conditioner in one of the windows, until they decide to address my maintenance call!

I’m still waiting for appliances to be replaced and carbon monoxide detectors to be replaced.

Since COVID-19, they have been using the Board of Health excuse for everything. As of last week the Governor has moved us into Phase 3.... But, we are not being able to access anything in the clubhouse (they have chained the doors) The pool was just opened less than a week ago, 07/08/20. We are being treated like children, when it comes to utilizing it. Amy Sue tells us we have to sign up on her online sheet. Which I get is for safety reasons But, to state we are only allowed to use the pool twice a week, and for blocks of 1-1/12 hours? Depending on the time slot she allows you to pick and only 10 people at a time. In and around the pool?! The CDC is saying to limit your group sizes to 10 people. Not just let 10 people in and around the pool area. If Amy Sue took the time to know the neighbors here at the Charles, she would know that there was never more than 10 people in the pool at a time, In the previous years, prior to COVID-19. But she would rather treat people as if they are children not Adults! The pool is now closed on Sunday, because I guess they feel we need to be watched over like children! They pool is only open until 6pm Monday -Friday and closes before 5:00 on Saturday. These are all the office hours. They don’t trust us to come and go as did the the prior owners! This is a community where you are suppose to be able to enjoy the amenities that you are paying to use! Not have to ask to use them and then be put on a time limit or be locked out by chains! They can’t hide behind the COVID-19 when they don’t even abide the rules themselves (don’t wear no masks when in our buildings). But the best part of the New Owner take over is, WE ARE A NON SMOKING COMMUNITY, and Management sits in her car and smokes!

So I again will say don’t waste your time in coming for a tour, it is not...

I would not recommend this property nor any property owned by JRK. Property is understaffed and overworked.

I did not get to see the apartment before my move but my roommate was in-person while I was on face-time, we toured a model unit where we were shown the upgrades we would get in our apartment upon moving in on June 1st. I show up and not only is the unit not renovated but it was also not cleaned or prepared for new tenants. The bedroom carpets had stains and not vacuumed, bathrooms were disgusting, paint splattered everywhere, cabinets deteriorating, this is only a few on the list. The property manager at the time was not expecting us either, the lease was not ready, keys were not ready and the only reason we were able to move our stuff in the apartment is because the previous tenant left it open for us.

We were upset that renovations were not completed but we understood that the current pandemic was delaying materials. The property manager and contractor in charge of renovations assured us that they would schedule everything to be done in one weekend. It has been a nightmare living through these renovations. They would randomly show up in the middle of the day with no notice, leave materials and not come back for weeks, left live wires exposed, not show up on days I was asked to be present. 3 months later and they are still not done.

The most concerning thing has been their lack of response to repairs. Specifically the A/C, we started having issues with cooling the apartment in June shortly after we moved in. We live on the 3rd floor and it gets super hot. Every single time is was a different maintenance person that would find a new issue, undoing what the previous person said, and we were told to keep the air on to let is cool down--that caused our electric bill to sky rocket. When asked if we could get a portable unit, we were told that the spare ones were all taken and we would have to find one on our own. Our apartment went up to 90 degrees and it was absolute worst. We went all July without, we had heat waves and nothing. Finally a few days ago it was replaced.

Lastly, ground cleanliness or should I say lack thereof. The hallways are never vacuumed and there is a lot of debris from the renovations everywhere, there are stains on the stairs that have not been taken care of. The grounds have been covered in dog feces and there is doggy stations with no bags and full of trash. The trash shoot is always full and disgusting, we've also seen people that do not live here come and throw away their trash.

-0/5 do not recommend and I will not be...

I wish I could give less than one star. Their communication is the absolute worst I've ever seen. When we moved in, they told us we were getting new appliances, it was just a little bit of a wait because of covid. Okay, that's fine, we can be patient. Well, we've seen plenty of new residents get brand new stuff every week, before they even move in. What happened, guys? Every time they email people about "events" or "repairs" or anything, they give the most vague timeline. We waited for a team to show up, and when it was clear that nobody was actually coming, we called the front desk to see what was up.

THEY DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING. They didn't know WHO was coming in, WHEN they were coming, and they GAVE THIS THIRD PARTY COMPANY KEYS TO EVERY APARTMENT. But let's not keep track of them, hm? When they did finally show up, they tested the smoke detectors (once they left, they keep beeping the "dead battery" beep for hours after they left) and NOBODY could be contacted about this issue. The next day, we found out that our special shower head was removed and replaced with something that does NOT fit our needs (we change it out every apt we move to and keep the old one and replace once we leave that place, so we paid for it ourselves and make sure it's not a problem). It's "special" because I have a disability that requires less water pressure and an easy to use and hold shower hose so I can shower without pain.

They took my personal property, and didn't even mention it in the SHORT email about what they were doing in our apt. When asked about this (had to go down to the office, nobody answers phones here) they told us that "they removed and threw out any shower head that looked the same". Uh, okay, but the "normal" shower heads here were small and silver and did not have a hose. Mine was WHITE and had a hose, and that didn't register as "different" than the rest of the FIVE BUILDINGS ALREADY DONE? We got done last on the list, this is something that could very well have been handled better. COMMUNICATE with your residents!!! I will NEVER RECCOMEND THIS PLACE TILL I DIE. GET OUT NOW before they bleed your money and time and mental health. WORST...