Woodleaf Apartments

I would have given this apartment complex 5 stars, but the way Equity raises the rents above market value is outrageous.
I would like to state though we have the most awesome property management staff! They are always open to hear your complaint or complement. I lost my keys yesterday and Cameron actually came out and helped me look for them, what other property manager would do that? David is always available to answer your questions and I feel like he really listens to me. I would give them both 5 Stars.
Now onto our maintenance staff, David and Rick are awesome. I had a water leak in my bathroom and David has been working on it the past few days. I was a little concerned about the dust as they had to cut holes in the wall. Much to my surprise David cleaned up and it amazed me the job he did, no dust to be found. Rick is always willing to take care of things when you put in a request.
Overall I am happy and feel safe here. Not sure what’s going to happen when I get my renewal only time will tell.

.
Original:
When I moved in staff was subpar, however new property manager Cameron has stepped up and made drastic improvements in communication and clarity with residences bringing this place to above average.
Amenities are maintained and service requests are handled promptly.
Parking is limited.
Dog friendly and friendly neighbors.

SMOKE. We lived in our one bedroom first floor apt for 6 months, we did a walk through with the manager and it just smelled like fresh paint. Two days later, all we could smell was cigarette smoke. Heavily. Everything they did to try to remove it didn’t work. Finally they offered to move us to an apartment on a higher floor, however, we would’ve had to move ourselves! They only offered us $ 150 for it. Now you find me a moving company that will do it for that price. Ridiculous. And that last thing we wanted to do was move all our stuff again. We were exhausted and it wasn’t fair because it wasn’t our problem. So, we were paying over 2 grand for a tiny apartment that was hot boxed with cigarette smoke for years before we got there.
6 months later, we were over it and moved. Thank you woodleaf for making all my clothes and belongings smell like smoke. All we needed was a couple guys to help us move, or more money to hire movers. Your rent is so high, I know you could’ve afforded more than 150 dollars. 150 is a joke, and there’s no way we were going to pay out of pocket for YOUR mistake, or move everything ourselves. Not fair!
They also towed our car when it was the office that gave us the wrong parking paper. We had to argue to get that 400 dollars back for their mistake.
Also, we were told we were getting a bigger chunk of our deposit back. There was no damage to the apartment, and we had to deal with the smoke!!! We get a check and they took HALF. Now the office staff is nice, but whoever is making these kinds of decisions is just out to get your money and they will take it and not explain why unless you complain. They said it was utilities. Um I do not owe you 600 dollars in utilities. Shady.
Finally, NO rent control. Rent will jump like 500 dollars in one year lol. No wonder everybody moves after just a year or two.

Moved in to Woodleaf in 2013 with a decent rent of $ 1900 per month. Rent went to $ 2400 the next year and this year the rent has jumped to $ 2750
I love the area but these rates are far more than fair market value.
Greed seems to be the company motto here.
If you move in be prepared to pay a lot more on a year
Also note that you pay for water, sewage, gas, and trash for the shared community based on your apartment size. Electricity is the only utility you pay direct.
People running the place are nice and upkeep is good but the company is out for a much money as they can squeeze from the tenants.
Resident turnover is high so don’t expect to make a lot of long time friends.
Two stars based on the huge rent jumps.
Five stars for the area
Three plus for the maintenance
Of you can afford the rent it’s a nice place to live, lots of things in walking distance.

Summary —
The overall feeling is that they charge you for every little thing without telling you, and hope that you don’t ask what it is. When you follow up, they stress that it is a minimal charge and try to leave it at that. Get every little detail in writing if possible before signing your lease.
Pre move-​in —
Empty promises were made regarding cleaning of the apartment prior to our move in, fixing a leak on the roof (still there when we moved out), fixing some of the wardrobe support bars. Lesson learnt — get everything in writing because they conveniently forget things if no record is made.
We were asked to put a $ 500 deposit which was to be refundable in full (less cleaning charges of approx $ 120). We made a mistake by not putting this in writing.
During our stay —
Residents smoke within the compounds of the apartment and especially the carpark after the office closes. Security does nothing about it. There are some rough looking characters around so that is probably why.
There are almost always homeless people going through the trash when it’s dark — I would not suggest taking the trash out alone.
There is a black Lexus that constantly parks within the complex (near the office) and the male driver just loiters there for a couple of hours every other night. Sometimes he smokes out of what looks to be a bong. The morning after there will be empty plastic packets on the ground near where he parked. I noticed this only because he often parked next to my vehicle and again security was called but nothing happened.
No maintenance is done unless you make a request in writing.
Before moving in we were told that the cardio room is 24 hours but security chased us out at 10pm one evening and locked it up. Btw the photos of the gym and the pool are probably of when they were newly renovated as the current condition leaves much to be desired, and the photos are definitely not representative of reality.
Pre move-​out —
They wanted to increase our rent from 2k a month to 2.2k after 8 months. Needless to say we did not think it was worth staying on. They scheduled a pre-​move out inspection which was supposedly to let us know any extra costs we might have incurred. Nothing came up as expected as we did not damage anything.
Post move-​out —
Three weeks after moving out we get a check in the mail for $ 270 and no indication of where the balance of our $ 500 deposit went. I wrote in and was told the breakdown of charges should have been sent to me — it was not. Upon further inquiry I was told that $ 120 was for cleaning (or should I say wiping) the fridge, microwave, oven, drip pans. $ 70 was for cleaning the carpet. $ 40 was for paint «touch-​ups». When I asked for more details, the line went dead — I had to find copy the CEO in my email request for a response before the Woodleaf management came back to life. They sent me photos of the supposed damage/​cleaning and I was told that since the walls are white, it’s hard to capture the the damage done (I read this as hardly noticeable, but just charge me for it anyway). Comparing pre-​move-​in and post-​move-​out photos, the condition of the unit was the same before and after so I have no idea why they charged me for apparent «necessary touch-​ups».

NO RENT CONTROL. The rates have increased over $ 500 on the website between May 2015 and August 2015 for a 1 bedroom. First moved into Woodleaf in 2013, paying $ 1600/​mo for a 1 bedroom, then rent went up to $ 1800/​mo the next year, now it is $ 2083/​mo and they want us to renew at $ 2250! keep in mind this secludes the other misc fees such as water, garbage, sewer, broiler, and of course the admin fees for that, totaling about $ 100 per month on top of rent.
When first sent the renewal offer ($ 2250/​mo) through the portal a couple months before the lease was ending, I immediately checked the rate that Woodleaf’s website was advertising for: $ 1984. How would anyone in their right mind feel comfortable renewing a lease at over $ 250 more than new residents moving in were paying for the same amenities? ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR. We inquired about this at the time and now, 2 months later are still seeking clarification. All they say is ‘it’s market rate.’ Market rate should not fluctuate so drastically over the course of a couple months and drive loyal residents out because of the time of year their renewal offer comes. They keep falling back onto this fact, but will not admit that the market rate when they originally sent us the offer was much lower than now, they are basing it off of current rates.
I am not sure how people are able to suffice in this situation, they get raped on deposits to move in and only a short time later have to eat the losses and put a deposit down somewhere else.
I am updating this review less than one month after I posted it.
As of 8/​26, one bedroom, one baths are going for $ 2129/​mo according to the main website. Really happy we decided not to renew at a rate of $ 2250/​mo and would be paying more than new residents.

I’ve lived here for 5 years and this is my last full month here. The reason for the move is nothing more than no rent control. When I first started living here rent was around $ 1,300 for a two bed one bath. Five years later (in the same apartment) it is now almost $ 3,000 a month, crazy rent increase! I’ve always felt safe here and felt safe walking around at night time. A lot of families live here or young couples. I’ve only had acouple of issues with neighbors but either than that everyone keeps to themself. Parking here sucks, people aren’t very smart and think it’s ok to park in two spots. I’ve never had a problem with the people in the front office, they are always nice and caring when I’ve spoken with them. If rent was cheaper I would continue to live here. Location is pretty great, a lot of shopping and stores around! I’ll miss this place!

We lived at Woodleaf for 2 years! We started out with pretty high rent but overall not too bad for area, however our rent increased a lot each year and that’s the main reason we left! We didn’t really call office much or need maintenance but one time we did had a termite swarm in our master bedroom and that was a very frustrating process to get the correct people out there and not to mention have to wait until a «business» day for people to come. Woodleaf staff didn’t even have the correct people attend my problem so then had to call termite people and had to wait another day. So be aware for termites in the back building!
Gym is ok, small and not the best equipment but it worked for easy workout days for me. Pool is small but never over crawled so not too bad. My son loves it just cause he loves to swim.
I have never moved and had to pay for painting, carpet cleaning and someone to clean the apartment. That’s normally something past apartments paid for. I have never made damages to places I lived and I always keep my place clean. So be aware of these charges when you move out. After our last 2 water/​garbage bill came and cleaning fees it was almost $ 500 to move out! Kinda stupid if you ask me!

Would never live here again nor would I recommend this location to anyone I cared about.
My apartment flooded two separate times. The first time was 3 months after I moved to the area. I was asked if I had made any enemies in the area who may know where I lived… seriously. That’s a true story. They added washers and dryers to all units to charge more but the plumbing cannot handle the volume given the amount of water used.
The rest of my problems are with Equity Residential. Even despite the accusations of my ability to make enemies quickly, the folks there are nice and try to be helpful. But ER makes it impossible for them to be liked. Campbell is not rent controlled so they will raise you rent to just under illegal limits at the end of your lease. They will also sell you on a bogus equity plan that pays you back if you buy a new home (from their partners) when you move out. Options are next to none so don’t let that influence your decision.
The area is great but do yourself a favor and live anywhere but this property– ANYWHERE.

Rent is very overpriced for this property and parking is not good. The parking policy for quest parking is very inconvenient as you get only 2 month parking passes that are printed on office paper. Residents are expected to get new passes when they expire and there is no way to get a new pass during non office hours. As a result your car can be towed without warning, even if your last pass recently expired as is clearly on display.
Because of high rent prices, a lot of units are filled with roommates or multi income households. As a result there is very little parking in the complex and there is no street parking.
The amenities are outdated and landscaping leaves something to be desired.
Apartment upgrades look ok in photos and during tours but in day to day life they upgrades are mediocre at best.
There have been frequent issues with the water and sewage in my building. In the few months that I have lived heres, sewage backed up in the entire building, there have been hot water issues and water been turned off multiple times for ‘emergency repairs’.
One plus is the in unit washer and dryer.
Like most properties in the area, rent at Woodleaf has increased significantly over the last few years. From the view of a resident, the profit from rent increase is not going back into the property and serving the residents of this community.
This is temporary apartment for me and not a home. Looking forward to not renewing my lease.

I really like living at Woodleaf! It is quite and clean and I feel very safe living there. The front office staff is really helpful and friendly (Monique and David!). My roommie and I are all-​around just satisfied with our apartment :-) I would definitely recommend the complex to others!

I would love to stay here. Everything about this apartment has been great — it is clean, the staff are kind, it is pet friendly, etc. I’m ok with the extra charges for pets, etc, fair enough. The problem is, the district manager is unwilling to negotiate on the $ 360 per month they are raising our rent, after only a year here, when my lease is up. It has really screwed us over, we had intended to stay a few years. I think that most people might be hard pressed to deal with that kind of rent hike yearly. I wish we had known that was a possibility when we relocated from out of state to here last year, I doubt we would have chosen the complex in that case. I just want to warn anyone else in our position of relocating not to make the same mistake. It’s a pity.

I lived at woodleaf for 2 years. We were a quiet apartment, never really used the amenities or bothered the office. Overall, it was a good experience except with the staff.
I loved the courtyard, I used to walk my dog all the time. They are pet friendly, which is a plus. One unit had a pit bull, once I was walking back to my home about 3am and this dog was off leash and jumped, barked and scared me. He was growling and ended up damaging my purse when he bit it and my pants. The owner didn’t say anything and took off with the pup around the corner. So be cautious at night.
Walking distance to downtown Campbell. Location met my needs. I love the pruneyard. It’s what attracted me to the are in the first place.
Gym is small but workable. Pool looks cool but never used it.
Parking is tight. It happened a few times we were not able to park our second vehicle on the property. We had to use street parking. I had someone park in my assigned space before and the Courtsey patrol ticketed the car. About all they can do.
In 2 years I only called maintenance once, they came by and fixed the leaking sink. They did so promptly. So no qualms with maintenance.
The leasing staff however– not friendly at all. Keep in mind this was 2006−2007−2008. I remember once I stayed home to wait for an important package, the UPS guy didn’t bother going to my apartment. He left it at the office. I had paid for overnight shipping. I tried contacting to office but they had closed early? Really? So I call UPS, complained, and the next day I get a call fe the leasing office, some girl who told me «You didn’t have to complain about the driver. The package was safe, locked in the office. So come pick it up». Absolutely rude and besides the point.
I used to work 6pm to 3am. I got a note on my door when I returned at 3am. I didn’t bother reading it and went to bed. I woke up the next morning at 8am to water pouring like a fountain into my unit. Apparently the notice said for me to close our windows because they were performing exterior power washing. I ran into the second bedroom and this window was also cracked open. My concern was this was our office and I had two full computer workstations there. Luckily the window was almost closed so the water just went into the hose of my portable AC unit. My master bedroom had water on the floor and on some clothing. I called the office and of course they were no help. The same girl as before told me I should have read the notice. I told her that I should have got at least a 24 hour notice as I am not going to read notices at 3am. She then snapped and told me to call my insurance.
So I read the notice– that day was exterior water pressure cleaning, the next day was painting the property exteriors. That’s a pretty big project. I wonder why it took the staff so long to let us know?
I let it go, no use crying over spilled milk or lack of sleep. I start cleaning up the mess and I hear a lot of noise outside. I go about my day and start getting ready for work. I go to leave and realize my door had been taped from the outside. Apparently they started paint early and literally taped me inside my home. Problem. Big problem. I call the office again and explain to then the work was supposed to happen tomorrow, and I’m stuck inside the apartment. The lady was completely rude and hung up on me. I try to open the door and I couldn’t get it quite open. But I do here the vendors, who were speaking in Spanish who said that my unit, the girl inside was crazy and to tear down the work. Really? Seriously really?
I ended up having to call their corporate office. They apologize and offered carpet cleaning and reimbursement for some items which got watered on. I never took them up on it. It was more of the principal of the matter. Oh well.
One last fun example– we paid rent and I guess wrote the wrong change amount. We recieved a 3 day notice to pay or quit… For .43 cents. Are you kidding me??? .43 cents? When we went to the office a different leaser turned red, so embarrassed at her coworkers mistake. We left .50 cents on the desk and told them to keep the change.
Overall– if you are looking for a cozy, pet friendly downtown location and only have one car. This is it. Just avoid the staff.

Responsive, caring staff and management. Beautiful grounds. We’ll maintained. Close to everything you may want or need – parks, stores movies, restaurants. Very home-​town feel in the neighborhood. Pet friendly and kid friendly too! I’ve lived here three years and think it’s great!

This place is pretty good as far as apartment complexes go.
PROS:
— Great location!
— Quiet — I always hear birds, hardly ever neighbors. Good mix of families/​single professionals/​younger adults
— Nice grounds, although many people don’t clean up after their dogs. Not management’s fault
— Competitive rent, especially for having your own W/​D
— Fixes are made promptly
CONS:
— Had to twice call Maintenance staff to come back and actually fix what they were supposed to
— Management is not exactly top-​notch, but you won’t deal with them a lot
— The nickel-​and diming. In addition to the base rent, expect to pay more for a pet ($ 35.00), your allocated water service (about $ 15.00), Sewer (about $ 20.00), trash (about $ 30.00), allocated boiler service (WTF? about $ 11.00) and of course, the «service fee» for all that shit (about $ 3.00). These prices are for one person, so if you use more water — you’re paying more. At the end of the day, I paid my base rent then an additional $ 112 each month (I have one pet). So consider that when looking here.
Note that these are APARTMENTS, not condos. You will hear your upstairs neighbor walking around a bit, and maybe your downstairs neighbor as well. I don’t know why peole complain about this — most if not all apartments have this issue. Deal or live in a duplex of SFH.
Lastly, I’m half way through my second year here, having signed a new lease (and accepting the $ 100 rent increase) b/​c I couldn’t find a better place with a layout I liked, in a nice location, with an in-​unit W/​D for the same rent.
Oh, one more thing: the pool is NOT heated. In any sense of the word «heated.» Unless that word now means so cold you only want to jump in if you’re on fire. Then yeah — it’s heated.

I was relocating from LA to San Jose and tirelessly looked for 4 months for a nice place to live. When I say nice I mean a balance of community, location, presentation, size, in unit washer/​dryer, price and upgraded ammenities. You’d be shocked to know that a combination of those factors is hard to find. I could see myself paying a couple of thousand for a studio in Santana Row or an upgraded location with a low price, but no washer/​dryer. I was so frustrated.
Then, in the 11^th hour, I found Woodleaf. I just did a google search and it popped up. I called the leasing office and they closed at 6pm, with the last appointment at 5:30pm. I left work a little late and called at 5:25p, saying I would be late — they waited for me, which must have sucked for them. Then, when I loved it, they continued to stay until 7pm and put up with my silly requests to move forward quickly. Almost all of my requests went against their «standard», but they helped me wrap things up.
I was so excited, I finally found a place to live. I went home and did some searches and found all of these horrible reviews on Unilocal.I fully panicked! I called the next day and asked about all of these things noted in the reviews. They eased my mind by telling me that they are under new management staff as of fall of 2011 and explained some of the things in the complaints.
Prior to signing the lease, I went by the complex a couple of different times to check out the people, safety, parking, trash, etc and found everything noted in these reviews to be inaccurate.
I took a leap of faith and signed the lease. They were very flexible with move in date, meeting times and other details. I found Jenny to be extremely prompt in answering my MANY emails on a daily basis. She kept me very informed and communicated with me thuroughly.
On my move in day, I did a walk through with the Maintenance Supervisor, Andy. He was very helpful, friendly and accommidating to my questions.
My move in went very very smooth. I have now lived there for 3 weeks. The neighbors are friendly, parking is plentiful and the grounds are very well-​kept.
My 3^rd day there I noticed that there was no weather stripping on the bottom of the front door, causing a draft. I placed a maintenance request on the resident portal the problem was addressed immediately. They let me know that the gap was caused when the moved from carpet flooring to the hardwood laminated. Regardless of the reason, the fixed it promptly and professionally.
You should definately check this place out!

I agree with the previous reviewer! When we first moved in I thought we found a jewel in the rough… but now… I’m counting down the days till we move out!!!
1. The office SUCKS! They don’t return phone calls, they don’t answer emails, I’ve complained and pretty much got the attitude «Oh Well… you signed a lease».
2. We had mold as well. instead of wiping it… they just painted over it! We have a little one and it is a major concern of ours! But we can’t afford to break our lease or get out of there until our lease ends!!!
3. Did I mention the management there doesn’t give a flip about what you say! That is once you even finally get them on the phone or on e-​mail.
I’m SOOOO over this place. Unless they can change their management back to who they had when we first moved in… I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU RUN FAR AWAY FROM WOODLEAF. The location is great but IT IS NOT WORTH THE HEADACHE YOU WILL GET!

Several pros and cons about this place. I’ll try and be brief and informative.
Pros:
90% of my neighbors have been awesome! My family and I have made lots of friends there. The grounds are nice and green and well kept. Any problems inside the unit where resolved same day — onsite maintenance. Low crime neighborhood and only the occasional noisy crowd or party. Nothing that really bothered me. Also when I moved in, some of the appliance looked like they were from the 70’s and they replaced them upon my request.
Cons:
I lived at Woodleaf Apts. for 2 years from 2009 – 2011. I was a perfect resident in all respects. I didn’t have any complaints against me and I always paid my rent on time. However, each year they raised my rent by 100+ dollars with no upgrades made to the apartment. On top of that, water and trash is not included in rent. These rent increases are choices made by the corporate owner, Equity Residential, and they have no respect or care for the residents they house.
When I moved out the final inspection of my apartment was flawless and no extra work was needed to it. Papers had been signed saying I owe nothing. Two weeks later at my new home, I received an extra bill in the mail stating that I owe them money for cleaning/​carpets etc. It has been an ongoing back and forth mess since then to resolve this issue. It is poor ownership and in poor practice. And I know other ex-​residents personally that have experienced the same and worse.
Lastly, there is not a patch of grass on the property that doesn’t have a dog turd in it. It is a dog friendly complex — which is fine — however there are lots of people that don’t clean up after their dog.
Overall:
I would defiantly would NOT recommend Woodleaf. They think they can charge premium prices for a substandard apartment simply because they have a pretty nice location. Corporate ownership has made it clear to all the residents that they don’t care about the people living there, and only care about being able to get the most they can get out of people.
I strongly suggest taking the time to look elsewhere nearby. I have found a wonderful duplex that is better in every way, in a nicer neighborhood and even closer to downtown Campbell for several hundred dollars less than what I was paying at Woodleaf. I am so glad to be out from under that miserable living situation.

Eek! Stay away! Woodleaf is unsanitary. I do not recommend living here.
I have had mouse issues in my apartment unit from December 2010 through May 2011, and the management company has not successfully resolved the issue or offered to compensate me for the destruction the vermin have caused.

First off — STAY AWAY! FAR AWAY!!!
When my boyfriend and I first moved in here everything was fine.
Actually– all our neighbors are cool and friendly (even made a few friends!)
But beware of the beast who works in the office! Trina!!! She is awful! She comes off as nice, but she is a nightmare to deal with if you have any problems what so ever.
If anything happens she blames it on you, and will not help you SERIOUSLY! I had to call Mark Degraf (the region manager) to have my problems handled. He has handled a few problems for me. Too bad he isn’t the one in the office at woodleaf…
My apartment has MOLD in the bathroom… a cracked, leaky ceiling, which is soft and mushy above the shower… mold was growing on the walls and I wanted the maintenance to inspect it. all in all they tried saying there wasn’t a leak when OBVIOUSLY there is… and MOLD… which they just WIPED OFF THE WALLS… they didn’t even crack open the ceiling AT ALL to see if there was any mold growing!!! HELLO!!! ILLEGAL!!! They came and looked at it twice, and tell me please people… how can you say there isn’t mold when they wiped it off the walls and didn’t even inspect inside the ceiling where the ceiling is soft and cracked???
nightmare…nightmare…nightmare…
all i have to say. i hear better things about the commons.