Kasa Properties - Berkeley, California

Alex B.

I have really enjoyed my apartment for the last 3 years managed by Kasa Properties. I live close to campus in an older building that has been fully renovated. The online portal makes rent payments and maintenance requests extremely easy. They were very responsive when issues did come up and resolved maintenance requests sometimes within the same day. I’ve had a wonderful 3 years living here but am now moving for a job out of state.

Chantel T.

I’ve been living at the Kasa property in El Cerrito for a year now, and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience.

1. I moved from out of state and the process was seamless and supportive. The property manager offered FaceTime and walked me through the apartment as well as made sure everything was ready when I arrived.

2. I’m a grad student which I felt might make applying for the apartment difficult, but Kasa was very helpful with the required paper work.

3. I really love my apartment- the spaciousness and new appliances and view of trees. I do feel like the rent matches what I’m paying for (though rent did increase after the first year…not great, but grateful to be able to afford it).

Overall it’s been a great experience. The neighborhood is quiet and quaint. The apartment complex is beautiful and well taken care of. They communicate well when changes or maintenance is happening that may affect our units. Looking forward to being here another year.

Lilly M.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. DO NOT RENT HERE. I had a furnished unit that KASA told me had “brand new, never used before furniture” The furniture was an additional $100 monthly on my already pricey rent. Once I moved in I saw the piles of dust, dirt and crumbs on the furniture - which was also flea infested. I sent KASA photos of the stains on the mattress and explained how I had to flea bomb the apartment despite not having a pet. A MONTH later (usual KASA response time) they assured me that I can always remove the furniture and lower my rent. However, by the time they got back to me I had cleaned the unit, replaced the majority of the furniture, and gotten rid of the fleas. Fast forward to 6 months before my lease is up, I'm moving out and I want the furniture removed (for the lower rent). KASA tells me they can’t do that, because the furniture was “built into the rent”? I got told something completely different every time I called KASA. For instance, the random fees every month never got a proper explanation. Anytime I’ve brought up these inconsistencies they would just make some flippant statement like “Well, I’m telling you how it is right now.” Nobody at KASA knows what’s going on, ever. If, after calling, texting, and emailing you are given the rare occurrence of actually getting ahold of someone at KASA it's as though the person on the other end of the line was woken up from a nap and told “Hey can you pretend to be a landlord really quick? No, you don’t need to know anything. Just be as rude and unhelpful as humanly possible.” I can’t begin to tell you the countless stories I have of this. Brian, in particular, once told me it was my fault he hadn’t gotten back to me in weeks despite my calling nearly everyday, because I hadn’t left a message (I had left messages). He would also pretend to not hear me every time I tried to bring up how hard it was to get into contact with anyone (hilarious, I know). Now, let’s talk about when I was trying to sublease. I told them a year ahead of time, and then reminded them again in October (I moved out in December). Did they help me find a sublease? No. Which, "isn't their responsibility," fine. But they made it actively harder by never picking up the phone or following through with people I’d send their way. They also advertised all of their empty units - but mine - everywhere. Why would they help me find a sublease when they could just keep charging me $3,000 for a one bedroom I wasn’t living in every month? Also never, and I mean NEVER, do both washing machines work. Yet somehow there was always a KASA maintenance guy in a massive truck blocking my parking spot so I would miss or be late to my classes. When I would finally track down said maintenance guy and ask that he move his truck so I could get out, I was told “We’re almost done” “Can u wait 10 minutes?” or even worse “I think you can still get out.” No, I could never get out. I wouldn't recommend leasing at KASA to my worst enemy. It has been nearly a year since I lived there and it genuinely still bothers me how horribly I was treated. If you are ever locked out of your KASA apartment after 4 PM have fun sleeping in the streets. And finally, because they refuse to take any accountability and respond to every negative review with “That’s not us! That’s Kasa Living!” Let me clarify, this review is for Kasa properties. Located on Dwight way, Berkeley. The positive reviews are clearly from employees. Save yourself the headache, stress and MONEY, rent literally anywhere else.

Antonio

About the only thing keeping me in this building is the location. I know renting in Berkeley is a nightmare, but there has to be better than these folks.
[Current Kasa Properties tenant in Berkeley]

1. The leasing office is run by unresponsive and unhelpful people. Once you are a tenant, it is borderline impossible to contact anyone at Kasa. We were overcharged in the Kasa online rent portal during our very first month, and it took a ridiculous amount of time to resolve the issue.
2. Maintenance issues go unresponded to. First, mold grows in the bathrooms because of poor ventilation, and rather than address the issue, maintenance wipes it away just for it to come back. Second, the landscaping is constantly leaking water -- which residents pay for -- and mosquitos have started showing up. The backyard area is simply disgusting and covered in garbage. Appliances routinely need fixed, and help is slow and not communicated in a timely manner. Maintenance requests will be marked as complete even after no action or follow-up communication has been taken. They clearly prioritize slapping a new coat of paint on empty units rather than address their current tenants' needs and concerns.
3. The building is outdated and disgusting. The gas consistently goes out for no reason, the walls and floors are incredibly thin, and the fire alarm goes off periodically (indicating poor electrical). The common areas (entrances, hallways, stairs, garage) are incredibly grimy, stained, and littered with trash. Trash and recycling bins routinely overflow, and the messes are not cleaned up -- which has created issues with pests. Just a few weeks ago, all floors of the building clearly had an ant infestation, and ants were entering our apartment from gaps in the flooring. This company simply does not care.
4. There were break-ins last year, and Kasa was not transparent about the situation or what happened. There were even squatters in the building, and again, Kasa did not alert residents -- indicating a lack of respect for the safety of residents.

[UPDATE] 2145 Grant St. is planning major construction, so noise will be a huge issue in the coming years!

Sophia F. P.

The management here is terrible. They don't address security concerns and are extremely slow with construction and maintenance. I have visited in person and emailed them, but neither seems to be effective. My apartment was under construction for almost half a year with minimal progress at times, and the construction team left the gate wide open for the duration. I have seen unhoused people sitting inside the property in the morning where residents live, and my personal scooter was stolen from the bike rack where I locked it with a metal U-lock. Do not live in their properties if you can avoid it.

Ethan W.

Service is horrible. I got my lease transferred from someone else and the first month's rent has already been fully paid. It's three weeks into the month and they still keep charging me $2000 for the rent that's already been paid. I keep emailing them asking when they will fix it but they never give me a set time and ignore me. I'm so stressed about this, and it's been several weeks since I've been pushing them to fix this critical mistake, but they ignore such a critical problem. I'm quite disappointed with the way they treat their tenants.

Griffin R.

I live in one of the Blake Street apartments and have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the unit! Kasa’s leasing and maintenance teams have always been warm, welcoming, and responsive to us. The apartment itself is extremely nice and I have been happy with everything.

Sandra S.

Kasa properties was super easy and seamless to work with. The team has open communication and will walk you through every step of the process. I spoke mainly to Natalie and she was very responsive, informative, and kind.