The Landmark Group

I had a great experience with the Landmark Group. When I inquired about the apartment they returned my call within an hour and I was able to view the apartment that day. They were fair in negotiating and they represented an excellent property. The Atrium is a stellar building offering the best views of downtown, Lake Washington, the Cascades and the Olympics. They were very accommodating throughout my entire stay.

The Good: The property (The Atrium) was amazing. It’s a wonderfully designed apartment in the Mt Baker Neighborhood with 360-​rooftop views of Seattle, the Olympics, Mt Rainier, Bellevue, the Cascades, and Mt Baker. Landmark was very responsive and flexible when we first looked at the apartment and negotiated move-​in dates. Very dog friendly.
The Not So Nice: We broke our lease due to a new job move 1,700 miles away. We helped Landmark find new, responsible tenants who took over our lease right away. We also left the apartment in pretty good shape; really, our pet deposit should have covered everything. What Landmark failed to be transparent or upfront about during our move-​out negotiations was a $ 1,500 fee for breaking our lease. It was exorbitant and done in a sneaky way that made me feel icky.
Advice for others: Enjoy the property because it’s stellar! Moving in will be a breeze, but don’t be surprised if you get hosed when you move out or negotiate in good faith.

The Landmark group manages a property I share a driveway with. I own my house and have lived here since 2003. I have gotten acquainted with all of the neighbor tennants over the years. Very few of them had anything decent to say about Landmark. Loren Chotzen (president of the Landmark group) lies in his Unilocal rebuttal of a review I once posted, stating that a remodeling project on the neighboring property took 3 months. It actually took 6 months. There is a picture posted of the property. while landmark did inform me there was a remodeling project, they never told me a honeybucket would be posted ten yards from my back door. Or that the project was going over the projected 3 months. This rebuttal inspired me to amplify my statement and caution the public and counter rebut the fiction posted by Mr. Chotzen.
I am still in touch with two former renters who had serious contempt for Landmark. One couple said that Landmark entered their apartment twice without notice. Others had stories of simple deceit. Move in promises unfulfilled, cleaning or painting promised but not done even after moving in.
We discovered that the rain gutters from the above mentioned property were draining into my backyard. Nobody offered a cent to us after we paid $ 2,000 to rebuild a collapsed barrier owned by a property downhill from us. The slope was largely destabilized by the excessive drainage from the much larger adjacent property. You see?! Not very ethical.
Despite not having done business with Landmark, I see the way they have done business with others. I speak from experience as I have known twelve year’s worth of tenants who have been my neighbors. I would not trust the Landmark group or do business with them under any circumstances.

Ruthy and Daniella are both liars. Their scam is to post a highly desirable cottage on lake washington that is not even available for rent, instead you’ll waste half your day driving to their office in Madison Park to fill out a 6 page rental application. Then they will both call you and try to sell you on their other properties. Classic «bait and switch» method. Totally unethical.

The Landmark Group recently assisted me with filling 5 vacancies for July 1^st. 4 apartments and 1 single family residence. As has been my previous experience, the team at TLMG was great to work with. Professional and efficient. Everything was rented timely with quality tenants. Slater M.

I just moved into one of their recently renovated properties. I was truly surprised how quickly I was contacted to see the apartment and how fast they processed my application. Things have not been perfect since I moved in, but the willingness they have shown to be accommodating and make things right is really impressive, with a special thanks going out to Yael for helping arrange the best and easiest move I’ve ever made.

I recently had a very good experience leasing from The Landmark Group. I called on a rental unit and Yael took my call right away and gave me all the information about the unit and scheduled a time for me to take a look. She also informed me that several other people may be at the showing as well. She was very pleasant over the phone and in person when I met her. After viewing the unit and completing an application, I was approved and moved into the unit several weeks later. On my move-​in date, I was met and the property management personnel conducted a complete walk through with me and gave me keys. I’ve now in my 4^th month renting from them, and though there have not been many maintenance issues, on the couple clogged toilet, and leaking sink I had, their maintenance team was very responsive and fixed the problems right away. I’m very happy with their management.
–Kathy

I’ve let some time pass before deciding to post this review, but after *almost* becoming a victim of the Landmark myself, I felt the responsibility to let others know of my experience.
I first saw a listing for a one bedroom stand-​alone in the Central District on Zillow. It looked great, and was in just the location I wanted. From the time the listing was made until I actually saw the unit was about two weeks. I first called and left a message with Ruthie about it and was called back shortly about the possibility of seeing it that weekend. Well, I didn’t get further notice so again I called Ruthie and she pushed it yet another week. I felt like up to this point I was doing all of the leg work when it should be the other way around.
Finally, I was able to see the unit. Another person opened up the unit for us to see (there were two other people there that were scheduled at the same time). The man was really nice and said that was the first showing they had. almost three weeks after the posting. The others must have found it on Craigslist and said the address (or map) given was totally wrong. I also asked them if they had trouble with contacting Ruthie, and they both did. When calling, it is near impossible to hear her; as if she is speaking through a pillow. The fact she didn’t even show up personally for the showing seemed a bit odd.
Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead to the office and talk about more details. At the office, nobody was at the front desk. I rang the service bell several times and nobody came to greet me. I finally called Ruthie and she came out a couple minutes later and invited me into a room to talk. Like another Unilocaler said, she seemed to dive into questions about how much I made, if my credit was good, and if I was sure I could afford it. She claimed that since I’m a freelancer, income is hard to prove and thus I would have to pay in quarterly payments instead of monthly. I’ve *never* heard of this before. They also seemed to shy away from the fact they were automatically adding on a storage space fee (though I did not need one) and a claim that I could get a parking space as well, but they never showed me exactly where this space was. other units in the area seemed to already have their own personal spaces, I can only imagine where it was located.
During this whole process, Ruthie never seemed very friendly. Little did she smile, and almost acted as if I were a burden on her day and she just wanted to get it all taken care of asap and get rid of me. The money issues seemed to make the place stink of desperation. They seemed to want to get everything taken care of very quickly, which is great if there’s a place that you want and would enjoy living in, but in this case it seemed like a means to get as much as they could from me at once.
About the unit, the inside seemed nice. There was someone still occupying the unit, but I could see how it would be a good place. The outside is something I quickly noticed was a stark contrast to the adjacent units, which I highly doubt were owned by Landmark. The unit had wood shingles and paneling that seemed in disrepair, along with some of the overgrowing vegetation around it. The nearby unit was very clean and seemed kept up and freshly painted.
I did go through with an application process and regret not checking Unilocal prior to this, as I often will do my homework. In hindsight I realize that the company name wasn’t listed anywhere on the original listings so I probably wouldn’t have thought to anyway. After walking back to my car I checked Unilocal and my guts pretty much hit the ground. I couldn’t believe what a horrible rating they had, yet it made total sense based on my strange experience.
The very next day Ruthie called me up (the first time her voice actually came in clear) and said I had been approved and could move in at the end of the month. I told her I had changed my mind, and when she asked why I told her about the reviews and my experience. She claimed the Unilocal reviews were wrong and that I should talk to some of her long time tenants. I knew this would be and endless ping-​pong match so I politely told her I simply changed my mind. Her response to me was «Good luck»
It seems like such awful business practice. I am so thankful I didn’t rent from here because it really had sketch written all over it. Hopefully potential renters will read up on Landmark and think about things carefully before signing a lease.

I was concerned to sign with the Landmark group after reading so many of the negative reviews on Unilocal.We have had some issues in our rental home but they have all been promptly resolved by Loren. Today Loren quickly responded to our concern over a broken appliance that we received and came over and fixed the issue and even did some landscaping for us himself. We have really appreciated his quick response and generosity. It sounds as if others have had different experiences but for us he has been nothing but pleasant and quick to respond!

There should really be a 0 star. This company is awful to deal with. I haven’t even rented a property from them yet. I am just looking for a rental and contacted them through an online advertisement.
The person who answered my phone, Daniella, was both argumentative and lazy.
She did a rude and invasive «screening» with me the first time I called. She asked what I did for living (which is strange thing to ask before filling out a rental application) and when i proceeded to ask about a specific apartment I saw on craigslist she asked me «if i was sure, I could afford the apartment?» she doesn’t even know my income, but apparently my voice just exuded poverty to her.
In addition I asked her to email me information to follow up on our conversation, but then she said «actually why don’t you just email me instead, it is easier that way.»
Apparently emailing is too difficulty for this incompetent management company.

I have been renting a house in Lake Washington Blvd from the Land Mark Group since July 2011. I got the house with completely dirty floor, uncleaned refrigerator, and broken stove (which they refused to fix)
They have been increasing the rent for 150 to 200 dollars yearly. In last May, they gave me an offer which I singed and mailed back.
In June, the property manager called me that they want to deliver a new refrigerator to the house. That was very surprising for me, as they had been refusing to fix anything broken in the house in last 3 years. They delivered the refrigerator in my absence. When I got home, I was shocked to see there was an old, damaged, dirty, molded refrigerator in place on the old one. (I will post the pictures). The next day, I asked them to remove that immediately and return the old one. They refused to do that until I told them I would get a legal action otherwise.
When the mover came to take the dirty refrigerator, he told me that the property manager (He gave me the name) had bought a new one from Lowe’s and paid the mover to dump the old one in my house.
The next day, they sent me a 20-​day eviction notice, in a very clear retaliation act, although we had come to an agreement one month prior to that. When I told them the eviction notice was illegal, they have been using all abusive and humiliating ways against me.
Finally, I decided to take them to the court.
The Land Mark Group is run by a family who do not have any single clue to professionalism of the real estate business. They easily lie, threat, retaliate, and abuse the tenants. The main concern is that the Property Mangers in the Land Mark Group do not seem to understand what they are doing. In this case, for example, their action will turn against them, but it seems that they don’t have enough wisdom to realize that. When they make a mistake, they try to compensate with even worse actions.
If one decides to work with the Land Mark Group, I strongly suggest the followings:
1– Ask them to send you an email for any communication. As they will easily change their words when it comes the time of action.
2. Always document the time and date that you ask them to fix the things in the house and make a copy for yourself. They tend to deny the receipt of requests.
3– Be very clear to them that they do not break into to your house. I have had at least 3 occasion that their handy man entered my house without prior notification.
4– Always have somebody or a lawyer review their contract before signing. They are good in making small tricks in the contract which could be used against you in future.

Had them do a home sale and worked out well. Danielle was pleasure to work with.
Not good to be reading there bad reviews on property managment as I was putting them on the shortlist to manage one of mine. I wonder though is it the property fault or their management style?

This is my first online review ever. I usually don’t review anything but I needed to take my time out of the day to warn people about ever using this «company» for their real estate needs. I tried moving into an apartment that was supposed to have been pet free, but apparently a dog had lived there and urinated all over the floor. Ruthy tried to act like she was unaware, but later came out to discuss that she had known. She lies. The apartment smelled of urine and mold on the day I tried to move in. I refused to move in on day 1 because it was so filthy. Their «move-​in-​ready» clean was appalling. When I asked them to clean it again they argued and said that maybe my standard of clean was just too high. The apartment «manager» is lazy, and does a terrible job. If fixing things requires duck tape, thats all he’s qualified to do. I had an absolutely horrible experience with the Landmark Group. They are the definition of ‘Slumlords’.

We rented from them for a year, and I highly recommend that you don’t.
I have lived in many different apts and have yet to rent from a management company that is so sketchy about their utility costs. They would occasionally send us emails telling us we owed them hundreds of dollars. Then, when we asked for accounting records and did the math, it showed we didn’t owe them any money (or that we owed them a negligible amount). They’ve either knowingly taken advantage of other tenants who don’t do the math, or their accounting department is woefully incompetent!
The guy who does maintenance work is nice, but the management itself is terrible to deal with. My fiancé and I dreaded calling them about unfair costs, as they are argumentative, rude, and irrational. We rated to write this review until we moved out, as we were concerned that they would reduce our deposit refund! Seriously sketchy on so many fronts, and other tenants said the same thing. Be wary!

They don’t even deserve one star. Unilocal,please make zero stars a possibility!
Terrible people working there. Deceitful, lazy, hard to deal with, argumentative, and money-​grubbing. It took months to get basic repairs done, and hours of phone conversations and legal threats in order to get them to follow through. And when they did finally «finish» the job, they didn’t do a good job, left tools and materials laying around and tried to charge us for the work. TERRIBLE company, over charges rent and rents out apartments that aren’t up to code (it took a few months for them to fix a malfunctioning electrical outlet RIGHT NEXT TO THE SINK).
Ruthie is the worst offender, very argumentative and patronizing. She will swindle you out of everything she can. After our unit was broken into, they offered to put in a security system, which turned out to be some terrible third-​world knock-​off brand that never worked right, and they took half of the cost out of our deposit without giving us another option or any say in what system was installed. «Well it’s already installed and you have to pay for part of it.» Baloney!
If you have any ability, DO NOT RENT FROM THESE SCOUNDRELS. They will overcharge you, rip you off your deposit, and tell you its your fault. What a bunch of idiots, I don’t know how they are still in business.

Lived in a landmark group property for a year and wanted to get out of the contract within the first month. Their properties are extreamly over priced and filthy. they will try to con you out of money every chance they get. Horrible customer service and if you need any matinence be willing to wait for a week or more. Complained about a dead animal underneath the house and nothing was done about it. It’s corspe is most likely still chilling under the house. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO RENT A PROPERTY.

DO NOT EVEN WASTE YOUR TIME CALLING THESE PEOPLE! I spoke with Ruthy and realized there was a definite culture barrier between us. She was rude and snippy, but I tried to forgive it under culture differences. Then, after talking to her more, I was trying to see if they had any rental houses that would work for us, and she told me I was wasting her time! Verbatim! She obviously misunderstood me because my husband and I are needing to move out of our place and into a new one in a few weeks. She wouldn’t let me even defend myself and say that, and then hung up on me. We were scheduled to see a property with her today, and I am glad to know that we will NOT be renting with these people. AWFUL EXPERIENCE! I feel like a child, being talked down to like that. Ruthy’s a turd. That’s all.

beware-​danger! Strongly agree with John & Yurt. Nasty. She has language and communication difficulties. Poor mental health. Rotten apples. Shifty. Agent did not keep her word. Also reported to authorities. Do not be fooled by disingenuous airs.

I have rented a property through Landmark for the past two years and based on this experience do not recommend doing business with them, ever. They hire incompetent staff, fail to follow through on basic property maintenance, and are blithely renting out property that is not up to code, placing their property owners at risk. Do not rent from them, do not use them to rent your properties.

This is the worst property management company that I have ever had dealings with. They ignore their properties, they lie about everything. I am planning on reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and the Washington State Attorney Generals office.