Village at Mayfield — Local services in Mayfield

I have lived at The Village at Mayfield for about two years now. I was planning to renew for another year—and hopefully still will—but since a new management company (Berger Communities) took over last year, amenities have decreased, communication has been borderline nonexistent, and yet my rent is set to increase by 20%. One of the most unique amenities here is that the clubhouse has a full racquetball court. As someone that loves to play, the court was an enormous part of why I chose to live here. Last fall, the property decided to start using the court to store a large number of boxes and taped up the entrance door. Residents were never notified of the closure—I planned to play one evening and instead found the door blocked off. About 6 months later, the court remains closed for no reason other than storage, without any information to residents at all. When Berger took over, the price of laundry in every building went up overnight, again without any notice. Whenever the leasing office is closed, residents usually get notice a day or less in advance. I was willing to overlook all of this, as I do still enjoy the community here, maintenance is responsive, and the residents are all kind, respectful, and clean. But then, last week, on April 21, I received my lease renewal options. The renewal options expire this Friday, May 2, and depending on renewing between 9–15 months, my rent will be increasing from about 18.5% to 22%. So, I had less than two weeks to completely alter my budget for a large increase in rent. The same day I got the offer, I sent in a message, expressing my confusion about the increase and asking about the racquetball court and whether the increase is accounting for forthcoming improvements to the property. I never received a response, so I submitted another question yesterday, April 28, again telling the property that I want to renew, but need to understand what the plans are for the property, the racquetball court, and more before I can justify a 20% rent increase. To be clear, I have always been a VERY low-maintenance resident. I understand that many low-star reviews for rental properties come from high-maintenance residents that have unrealistic expectations. But I’ve never had other questions of management, have had maybe three maintenance requests in two years, and have gotten along well with the office staff. I hate feeling like I need to post an online review for the sake of bringing issues to attention. But my renewal options expire in three days now, AND I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY RESPONSE TO ANY OF MY QUESTIONS. I want to stay where I am. Maybe if I saw material improvements at the property, I could understand a rent increase. Instead, the key amenity that brought me here has been closed for months without so much as an email, my questions have gone entirely unanswered, and I now have three days to decide if I want to pay a non-communicative landlord 20% more. I likely will renew rather than go through the hassle of moving. But unlike the glowing recommendation I have always made for The Village at Mayfield in the past, these last few weeks have meant that I can no longer recommend signing a new lease here, especially if you expect to stay more than a year without paying an enormous rent increase after the first term.

Edited to highlight that while I have not interacted much with Heather, both Lynn and Ray have always been fantastic to work with and talk to, and this review is very much a reflection on the new management company generally, not the wonderful staff...

I lived in a 1-bedroom/ 1-bath apartment here for a year and was very impressed with the complex. I rented a lot in the military (moving 8 times over almost a decade earns some serious rental history) and the Village at Mayfield has been my favorite complex to date. The apartments are big, and the grounds beautiful and well-kept. It's as if you're living in a park, but you're close to everything (271 freeway, Target, Heinens, etc). The maintenance crew is great, especially Ray who I interacted with the most. Ray actually made a point to come meet me and my dog when I moved in, so when he came in to do maintenance my dog wouldn't freak out at an unknown man coming in the door. Maintenance was always quick to respond, and when there was an issue with my furnace they did a next-day replacement of the heat exchanger. There is ample closet space, and you get a lot of natural light through the living room bay window (what I had) or patio door, depending on which side of the building you're on. Had I not purchased a home, I would have gladly renewed my lease.

PROS -Lots of parking, and you can get reserved garage parking too for a monthly fee The kitchens are smaller but have great cabinet space Pet friendly! I lived with my cat and dog Large living space, the bedroom is huge, my living room fit my gigantic sectional comfortably, and the dining area fit my 6-seat table AND matching hutch -Plowing was always done, sidewalks and parking lots (I say this as someone who had to leave at 6am for work, I never had an issue getting out) -Friendly office and maintenance staff Locked breeze-ways into each building - this gave me peace of mind living by myself Neighbors are all very friendly! This was the first complex I lived in where the neighbors came over and said "welcome to the neighborhood" when I moved in. The people are wonderful. The clubhouse is gorgeous, with a gym, racquetball court, and always clean pool (that's heated!!!). There also are locker rooms in the club house. -When I received my letter for renewal, my rent was only set to go up about $20 per month for the next year

CONS -Handicap parking isn't properly marked except for by the office. The city requires both a sign AND paint on the parking space to be enforceable, so any one can (and they do) park in handicap spaces. Very discouraging that this wasn't addressed while I lived there as a disabled veteran. No in-unit laundry, there is communal laundry for each building you share with your neighbors which sometimes made it difficult to get it done as you never know when it's going to be open to use. They allow smoking in units but the weather seals around the doors aren't efficient. I'm not a smoker and whenever my upstairs neighbors smoked I could smell it VERY strongly in the hallway and even within the first 8 ft or so within my doorway with the door closed. The pool isn't open but only for a...

Don’t move here. Spare yourself from dealing with people who lie, and have no sympathy for the problems their property causes you. They are rude, not helpful, and very defensive in every conversation with them.

Was not able to see unit until the day they knew I MUST sign the lease and move it. I was told it had a patio and new carpet- quickly learned that it has neither. Residents smoke in common areas in my building. (I have an allergy to smoke and they refused to move me to another building.) There are roaches in both my unit and the unit across the hall. I have taken pictures of the roaches found, only to have the leasing office tell me that the pictures were not taken at the Village at Mayfield Apartments and I was lying. I have been bitten by them (German Roaches) twice (I have pictures.) To prove they were taken at the Village at Mayfield Apartments, I took a video of the roach and in the video, walked outside to the front of the building to show that it’s their building in their development. The leasing office/maintenance staff has disclosed my personal information on two occasions- once telling neighboring residents that I was the one complaining about the smoke smell and a second time telling my neighboring residents that “someone” in the building, very obviously me, made up a lie that there were roaches. Where I moved from 3 weeks ago has written a letter stating that they have never had a roach issue at their property and there were none when we moved out. I DID NOT BRING THEM WITH ME- I had never even seen a roach until moving here.

Horrendous experience all across the board. We are moving after just 3 weeks of...