Premium Properties - Berkeley, California

David A. H.

BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! - I Would Not Rent from Premium Properties!

I have had such a terrible experience with Premium Properties, and I want to warn others before they fall into the same trap! Here are the main issues I encountered, along with important details about a significant lawsuit against them:

There is absolutely nothing “premium” about their properties nor their customer service nor their staff. The extremely misleading name only adds to the frustration of dealing with this management company.

Premium Properties took over managing my apartment building, and literally, after they did, everything went downhill. Their poor management practices and lack of care became immediately apparent, which led to a decline in the quality of living.

Premium Properties also tried to force me to vacate my apartment BEFORE my lease ended because they wanted to move a new tenant in early. Despite my lease not being up, I was subjected to hostile interactions and had an unauthorized entry by the a senior property manager Jeffery (Jeff). This behavior is completely unacceptable and unprofessional, breaching tenant rights and lease agreements. While they were somewhat responsive to my SINGLE maintenance request during my stay, the overall interaction with the management was minimal and unhelpful.

Like many others, I faced issues with my security deposit. They are notorious for withholding deposits unjustly. This issue was significant enough to literally result in a class action lawsuit against them, Walsh vs. Premium Property Management Inc. (Case No. RG20072409). Upon accessing their court records, I see this case was filed in the Alameda County Superior Court on August 26, 2020. As of December 15, 2023, the parties arrived at an agreement in principle to settle the matter on a class-wide basis. They expect to have a finalized Class Action Settlement Agreement fully executed by July 17, 2024. Once the settlement is finalized, I will update this review to include the settlement amount. If this settlement doesn’t highlights the numerous tenant grievances severe enough to require legal intervention to resolve, I don’t know what will.

As a law student, I can say that their leases are not normal. Premium Properties are unwilling to work with clients and have very broad clauses in their leases that strip away all your rights. These clauses are unethical at best, illegal at worst.

The last two weeks I stayed there were hell. I received a 24-hour notice nearly every single day until my lease expired because they wanted to fix and update my apartment building for the next tenant. They did this on my time and left a complete mess every time maintenance entered, which was nearly everyday. This should not have happened; they could have waited until I moved out. Both the management company and the maintenance people were extremely hostile and wanted me out when I literally had no place to go. They insisted I follow their lease, EVEN THOUGH I had signed a DIFFERENT lease with the PREVIOUS manager, meaning LEGALLY I am bound to that one. If they wanted me to comply with their lease, they should have asked me to sign the new one. The worst part is, they think they’re legally in the right, and when you stand up for yourself, they always hit you with, “why are you being hostile toward us?” Maybe it’s because they are legally in the wrong, and I can’t seem to get that through their heads. I cannot express enough how little I care about the feelings of their staff, which they seemed to want me to prioritize; all I care about is the law. My relationship, and every tenants relationship, starts and ends with the lease, simple; nothing more, nothing less. This is probably why their lease is so extensive, so convoluted, and filled with clauses designed to strip away tenant rights.

In summary, I strongly urge prospective renters to avoid Premium Properties. While many other companies in the area have their problems; do yourself a favor and stay far away from Premium Properties!

Jacob F.

Bad communication. Never help when in need of maintenance. Lack of respect. Vehicle was burglarized on property and was refused video surveillance footage of break in. Office has bad energy/vibe. Been living in building before premium properties arrived and its actually sad how they treat people.

Kelvin Y.

The only good thing about this is the maintenance team. Stay away from any apartments managed by Premium Properties - nothing premium about it!

There were major hot water issues during our tenancy, and always took management a very long time to arrange it to be fixed.

Theo S.

I’m a delivery person for Amazon and this property refuse to fix their broken call box on the gate. The tenants can’t get their packages and I’m about to lose my job due to bad reviews for my deliveries due to this company refusing to honor their tenants. It’s been SIX MONTHS! Why.

Sam

Unfortunately I had an unsatisfactory experience renting with Premium. I lived in a Premium property for 4 years, including during the pandemic. They were good at responding to maintenance requests during my time there but that was the most interaction I had with the management company prior to my move out process.

Premium tried to persuade me to vacate my apartment earlier than my lease agreement ended because they planned to move a new tenant into the property one day after my lease was due to end. When I refused to leave before the last day of the month, I was met with hostile text and face-to-face interactions with my property manager who entered my apartment without permission and reprimanded me because my apartment was not fully empty yet — this was 4 days prior to the end of my lease agreement. I had to ask an acquaintance who works in property management to become the liaison between myself and my manager because of the unkind interactions and texts that were sent to me by the Premium manager.

Of course Bay Area prices are exorbitant, I was paying $3700 for a 2-bed, 1-bath 700sq foot apartment (parking not included). I was renting as a grad student in Berkeley, and many of my peers who worked with other management companies (particularly Raj, Vindium, and North Berkeley Properties) did not have negligible experiences in comparison to mine.

I would not recommend renting from Premium and would urge prospective renters to find a management company that treats its tenants with respect and upholds its rental agreements.

UPDATE (in response to Premium’s comment): I did in fact reach out to management multiple times during my stay. I have a long email chain with Sam Sorokin where he was treating me with great hostility when trying to address these issues. Their responses on these reviews show their lack of professionalism in itself.

Sameera K.

so here are the facts:
1) they will take your security deposit. they currently have a class action lawsuit on that very matter.
2) the property manager will enter your property without your permission. He is very difficult to deal with, rude, and unprofessional. there are several reviews there that state that.
3) it is expensive and poorly maintained.
4) management is unfriendly and lacks compassion towards college students.
I lived there for 3 years straight and during the pandemic too. It is saddening that this was my experience.

Ercell V.

If I were a slumlord and into rental. properties this would be the place I'd chose. Also if I was a masochistic and wanted law suits.
Personally, I serve people. I am of service to people because I know it's not just my individual needs that matter but everything and eceryone that goes into my businesses or jobs.
The business of renting does not make a landlord omnipotent nor those who Like Prime do the bidding or managing of the owner/s. The reality is that midevall lords and tax collectors are a thing of the past and we all recognize we are part of a collective and deserve fair compassionate with a dash of empathy and courtesy when dealing with customers, clients and consumers, which is what renters are to landlords. No one is better than anyone else we are giving win win situations. Prime needs to remove any personal complexes from how they manage and they'd be fine. We are all humans and we err is part of our nature But not correcting ourselves and treating people the way we might feel about ourselves is more a cry for help and there are therapists for that sort of thing. Don't treat the renters/costumers less than because that really says something about the company!!

Shana S.

I had a pretty terrible experience renting a professional office owned and managed by Premium. Almost all maintenance, repairs and upgrades were done hastily, shoddily, and incompletely. My lease was done in the same spirit and I was forced to consult a lawyer more than once, at my own expense to deal with their errors. My experience was that they were very nice when you're walking in the door with a check book to sign a lease, but after that, forget it. Customer service was terrible. I wish I had read and heeded some reviews before signing. Owners and tenants beware.