Lantern Cove Apartments — Local services in Foster City

I lived here from May of 2023 to October of 2023. Overall, my living experience here was okay and I didn’t run into any of the maintenance issues that others have reported here. Though I can confirm from my point of view that there has been a consistent shortage of maintenance staff, and many emails were sent out from the office regarding delays to resolving outstanding maintenance issues.

The best thing going for this place is the natural beauty of the surroundings and the water. The water keeps the temperatures cool in the summer, which is essential because the units don’t have AC, only heating. Yes, there is going to be goose poop around the property but what do you expect when you move to somewhere with lots of grass and water?

The neighbourhood is quiet and feels very safe. People leave their bikes outside with only a bike lock to keep them safe which I feel is a good indicator of the area. However, the community is not gated so keep that in mind when leaving valuables in your car. In addition, I personally didn’t have any incidents, but almost every week, people’s packages were being stolen from the mailbox areas.

So why the negative review? This property destroyed my credit and has screwed me over financially. I broke lease early for personal reasons with the understanding that I would be responsible for the rent until someone else moved into the property; fair enough! I was told to keep paying the monthly rent until someone moved in which is what I did. I left the property in October and made payments October, November, and December. I then found out in December that Equity Apartments/Lantern Cove reported me as being 60-days delinquent on my payments. I inquired as to how this could be, and they told me that I was expected to pay the remaining balance on my account ($25,000!) within 45 days of move out. This contradicted the instructions on all the documentation I was given that I was to just keep paying the monthly rent. In addition, the property failed to notify me that someone moved into the property on December 16th 2023 and have failed to reimburse me for the pro-rated time that the unit was occupied in December. (This is known as double-dipping and is illegal in California).

I contacted both Equity Apartments and Lantern Cove regarding the erroneous report on my credit and provided documentation to show payments had been made, however these were ignored. I had wished to resolve this between us, but given Lantern Cove’s refusal to communicate, I submitted a formal dispute with the credit agency who found in my favour and subsequently removed the payment delinquency. However, in this time, one of my credit card limits was reduced from $5000 to $250. I lost almost 100 pts on my score, and I was refused auto refinancing based on this incorrect delinquency.

Given their failure to rectify their mistake, and the fact that they are, as of today, illegally holding onto funds that rightfully belong to me. I’ll be consulting a lawyer. Move here at your own risk.

Cleanliness and Modernity: 3/5 Location: 4/5 Security/Safety: 3/5 Management and Community:...

⚠️WARNING Definitely stay away from this place! Please see our ridiculous experience with them!! LOL

We have only stayed with them for less than two months, but can’t believe that many things could happen already.

First of all, don’t expect the management for any good attitude. If you have the chance to schedule a tour with them, you would definitely know what I mean😄 (this is the sign⚠️) I tried to refer my coworkers for renting their apartment but they didn’t show up for the scheduled tour and told him this is not the place for you.😨❓

Secondly, we moved in in November last year and found a broken bath tub that had crack. We couldn’t even shower at home for MORE THAN A MONTH until they finally found someone to repair it this year... (Plus countless emails back and forth)

Third and the worst thing is that we got back from Christmas break and found that our apartment was flooded with very high level of humidity. Most of our furniture, electronics, clothes and other stuff were damaged. Even the lights fell and hanging in the air! 🫣 Now they still couldn’t find someone to repair it. They are still taking their sweet time trying to talk to their maintenance people. Right now it’s already late January our apartment still has no ceilings, no walls and we’re still not being able to use our bathroom. The only thing they have done was removing the walls and ceiling and that even took more than a week! We have been trying to reach out to them both in person and throughout countless emails, but they always told us someone is coming to start the repair this week or next week… so we have to go through that plastic cover curtain every time when we enter our bedroom with very limited space for our daily life.

In the beginning, they told us it was because of the rain, but later on they said it’s actually the toilet from upstairs clogged. That means our apartment was full of toilet water?? That’s why our walls, ceiling, under the sink and back of the mirror have mold growing since then which is very disgusting… this has affected our health and putting us in a very uninhabitable living space…

This is definitely the worst leasing team, apartment and renting experience I have. Couldn’t believe it could be that horrible! If you still want to choose to stay with them good luck!🤞

Also want to update another thing which is the price of the utilities are extremely high… $500+ per month when we use everything normally, including sewer $135 and gas $145… you’re also forced to pay additional trash valet fee...

It has been 14 months since I moved in to Lantern Cove apartments and I'm really happy to share my awesome experience living here, from the location, to our neighbors and amenities I have enjoyed it a lot, but there are three things that have made the last months amazing.

Accessibility to the bay trail, I love running and take bike rides with my kids so this is the perfect spot for me and my family, also we are within walking distance to many parks and playgrounds.

The view from my apartment, when we were choosing the apartment in this community there were a few great options but we really liked the one facing the artificial lake, at first it was a nice to have, but over time we are loving the water features more and more along with the different type of birds (and their sounds) that surround us, adding one photo taken from my balcony (it was taken using my phone, so not a great one).

The community maintenance crew, of course you never want to have any issues in your apartment but the next best thing is to have such professional, kind and friendly people to fix them. The whole team is amazing, opening an issue and getting it fixed is a seamless process and in my experience it has been always solved in a timely manner, if you had lived here or thinking about it I am sure you will have similar experience as we do. Of course I am sharing my own experience of my interactions with the maintenance team but the this also speaks of good managers that pick the right people and executes well. From all the amazing people in the maintenance crew I want to give a shot out to Alejandro who is a truly professional and an amazing person, every single time he is here helping us with something in the apartment he is always here with a great attitude, he is someone that loves his job and truly represents the values of a great community.

I definitely recommend this community as a great place to live and hopefully you find this...