THIS COMPANY REFUSES TO ANSWER EMAILS, TEXTS, AND NUMEROUS VOICEMAILS. ** CHECK OUT THE OTHER COMMENTS - SHAME ON YOU !!!!!!!! My daughter has spent the last 9 days trying to get in touch over a serious, urgent matter, and have they have bothered ???? NO...this speaks volumes about your values, ethics, and concerns for your renters...Funnily enough, you were very QUICK when it came to initiating the lease and getting the deposit...BE WARNED, all prospective renters and students......... read more

The absolute worst property mgt company. Hillary never responds, we have dozens of requests for mold inspections. Due to the rain in Santa Barbara we've had flooding, our unit smells so bad, black mold on the walls that continues to return. Any problem we have in our unit Hillary just ignores our requests. I'm thankful for the paper trail of Hillary's ignored requests, it'll be helpful in small claims court. read more

This is the email my housemates had to send to our landlord after neglecting our maintenance requests after months. Both this unit (B) and unit A have requested maintenance on the washing machine several times over the past three almost four weeks, and the troubleshooting tips provided have not worked. We have been unable to get ahold of maintenance. According to the model # and serial #, the washer was most likely manufactured over 20 years ago which is far longer than the recommended use of these washers. Not only does this unit not have access to laundry, but neither do the other units, leaving tenants without any access to laundry, and this needs to be addressed swiftly. This is clearly due to the age and ordinary wear and tear of the washer and not because of damage, so it should be covered by our security deposit and should not be an extra fee according to the lease agreement under Section 11A. I have been paying for weeks of laundry out of pocket as I am a full time student and employee who needs a clean uniform to keep my job. Please address this ASAP, As it has almost been a month without proper washing that is supposed to be included in rent cost. read more

Hillary is especially kind and always helpful. She sends over qualified people to preform any needed repairs! Hillary is your best option if you have housing that needs managed in IV ! She's small yet very effective, and the kids all love her! read more

Harwin & Co - Very nice clean houses and new bathrooms - Property Management Near Me - Goleta, California

If possible avoid this company at all costs. It is pretty clear this company takes advantage of the fact that they rent to college students. While renting from this company I my messages and emails were often ignored and when trying to dispute repair claims my house would receive no responses until after late fees were issued. Hilary is just not a very good or nice person, she is often condescending and a nuisance to deal with. It got to a point where my house was just paying for charges because we wouldn't get replies. We even tried driving to the address listed here and on their website just to find out they don't actually have an office you can visit. If you rent from here expect to get charged a substantial amount for anything and everything and you can surely expect a lack of responses or a surplus of attitude. The people living in the house also noticed that Harwin is on a "expired/restricted" license and has a series of disciplinary violations, do yourself a favor and search for properties early so you don't get stuck with this company. read more

I am writing this review because I want people to be forewarned about Harwin. Isla Vista, known for dense population, college students and party life is a pretty filthy city. Unfortunately I did not read any reviews about Harwin Company, a rental shark that preys on students and their parents when I was looking for housing for my son. My first clue about Harwin should have been the length of time they took before returning my calls when I asked for details about the unit. I gave Harwin a deposit in good faith when I helped my son move to their unit two years ago. The unit was dirty and the exterior had trash everywhere when we took ownership. Harwin took advantage of the situation. They charged $144 for late rent, for several months. I can not disagree with this practice, except that they did not collect late fees as they accumulated. This would have been a game changer, they waited until everyone moved out to slam those late fees on so nobody expected this. It was a profitable trick that earned Harwin a huge chunk of my money. In a town that burns couches and is covered if filth, I am appalled that they charged me for cleanup of outside debris and grafitti on the exterior of their rentals by taking it out of my deposit. Shame on Harwin. There was a riot during the terms of the lease and it is not our responsibility to confront criminals who are dropping trash and graffiti on the exterior of our unit. When we unloaded the moving van into the unit, I noticed a dumpster in the front yard and debris everywhere, yet they charged to clean up the mess upon termination of the lease. The list of supplies for a 2 bedroom unit include changing window locks, light bulbs, toilet bolts, batteries and even charges for razor blades and rags. I would expect this all to be normal wear and tear after a two year lease. They hire the slowest contractor in the world, it took him 21 hours in labor to change out some light bulbs and perform general minor repairs to a teeny weenie duplex. We were not given any photos of what was done or descriptions of what the contractor and administrator did that took so much time. Last but not least they also charged 400 to clean the two bedroom, one bath duplex even though it was dirty when we got the keys. If you plan to rent from Harwin, make sure that you take photos of the unit before you move in and when you leave. read more

Stay away. This company does nothing but take advantage of the fact that students don't understand their rights and also have no time to deal with housing issues because they're busy with school. My son tried contacting them to fix so many issues for about 5 months and they did nothing but ignore his emails. It just kept getting worse and more dirty. The place became infested with ants and drain flies in very odd places that exclude the kitchen such as beds, desks, showers. Completely heartless people that don't care about giving the students a minimum decent living standard as long as they get to pocket thousands of dollars. The woman Hilary is also extremely difficult to work with, this is the general consensus among a lot of parents. read more

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My daughter has rented a house with some other kids in Isla Vista, unfortunately her upstairs bedroom is infested with bugs and fleas from apparently a previous tenant had a cat in that room. The property management company had never cleaned or treated it with bug spray. My daughter has attempted to clean it, spray it, couldn't move into the room for a couple of weeks because the numerous fleas jumping all over her. My daughter wrote her an email, and no response. I'm now going to get involved to try and get a professional involved or call the health department on this slumlord! Unfortunately these kids have little choice for housing in that congested college town, and these slumlords seem to get away with unfit living conditions for the kids all while collecting huge sums of money! read more

This company doesn't deserve any stars. If you have the misfortune of renting with them, please keep your receipts of your rent payments. Document anything and everything that goes on in your apartment. There are many bad things I can say about my experience with them, but I will focus on one thing. My roommate (at the time) and I misplaced an envelope that had our cashier's checks receipts. Closer to the end of our lease they decided to bring to our attention of "missing rent payments" on our apt. MONTHS after the fact! Yes, that was our fault for losing the proof, but it was so frustrating knowing we always paid, and on time. It was very suspicious considering our neighbors confirmed Harwin did the same thing to them as well, but they were able to provide their receipts. SO awful! read more

STAY AWAY!! this company will use your direct deposit to make repairs on their apartment. They got the audacity to get more than half of the direct deposit even though we had to hire professional service to clean all the dust, fridge, carpet and roach infestation in the beginning to our lease and bad property management. Some of this 5 stars are not even past tenants, so fk them. They will get a call from my UC lawyer. read more

Harwin & Co - Under the cabinets. You can't even cook comfortably knowing a cockroach might pop out of nowhere. - Property Management Near Me - Goleta, California

THIS IS A HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT COMPANY. When my roommate and I moved in the place had not been cleaned out AT ALL after the previous tenants. There was still A LOT of hair on the floor from the previous tenants and random things that had not been cleaned out. Everything was filthy. Both of our families had to get together and spend an entire day to clean out a one bedroom apartment properly. We had fleas for a long time that was never resolved by the owner, the toilet never flushed right and was always running, the shower broke, floorboards are incredibly squeaky so if you try to not wake your roommate up tiptoeing won't help, AND THERE WAS NO LAUNDRY ON SITE LIKE WAS ADVERTISED!!!!!! THEY ADVERTISED LAUNDRY AND THERE WAS NO WORKING LAUNDRY. There is a laundry room with a broken and disgusting washer downstairs that is INFESTED with spiders and other bugs because the washer still has dirty and disgusting water since it broke down almost spilling out and it looks like the water is crystalizing. I asked a neighbor he said it was broken before he moved in, so that washer has been broken for more than 3 years and they refuse to remove it, fix it, or do anything about it. Other tenants have emailed them about this too and were ignored. We contacted a lawyer and the health department and had an inspector came take pictures. The inspector wrote an official letter to get this fixed along with other things around the building and nothing was ever done. It is ridiculous. They wont even listen to inspectors. I'm sure we won't see the deposit even though there are no damages in our apartment. This is a shame. Do not rent any of their apartments. They couldn't care less about their tenants or their problems. read more

An update...another leak in the same location less than two months after my daughter moved back in...and then came back after it was "fixed" a week later...no one answering the phone at Harwin & Co. and their voice mail box is full....to be continued unfortunately. read more

I agree with Pinky. They're IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of. I email, I call, no replies! I have to go to their office in order to talk to them which is annoying because it's out of the way. There's no point of having a contact list if i can't ever reach them -__-x I only gave two stars because I love my apt. Would've been three if the carpets didn't stick when I moved in. I had to use a whole bottle of lysol to make the smell go away. April 2, 2012 -Had to change the rating because after the bathroom flooding every other week from the end of October to early January, Harwin is irresponsible and the owner "R. Castillo" is cheap. read more

DO NOT RENT WITH HARWIN. Manager is rude and not to mention impossible to get ahold of. There is literally no way to get into contact with them unless you go to the office. I left countless emails, texts, and voicemails (several a day for at least two weeks) and never got a single response. As a first time college student renting my first apartment was a complete nightmare. They run the business horribly and extremely unprofessionally. Do not rent with them! Would give them 0 stars if possible. read more

stay away if possible! They're impossible to get a hold of even during emergencies. The manager says "txt for emergencies" and I never get a reply back. The apt condition is decent. But it's just the management that makes living here so frustrating. I really regret staying with this management during my college years. read more

I have had two of my children rent from Harwin Co. while attending UCSB over the past 6 years. I cannot thank them enough for the care they took of my kids while they were away from home. Yes, it is a property management company, but they also are people taking care of people and they did a STELLAR JOB with my kids and their roommates. My kids had some issues with repairs and roommates all of which were resolved in a PROFESSIONAL and TIMELY matter. I found them to be totally FAIR and EASY to communicate and do business with. They also had provided some emotional support when their was a roommate situation that the kids had trouble dealing with. This was above and beyond what any other property mgt company I have ever dealt with has done or would do. They have a HEART! My kids and their roommates were late paying rent twice. The first time they were nice enough to waive the late fee. The second time, I am glad they had to pay a late fee. *That is a life lesson that these kids are supposed to be learning in college before they get out into the "real world". I have seen the condition some of these students leave their places in when they leave for the summer. As a parent, I am appalled. If you break something or leave it a mess, you should be held accountable as someone else has to pay to fix or clean it up. ALL CHARGES MY KIDS INCURRED WERE WELL DOCUMENTED WITH PHOTOS AND RECEIPTS FOR REPAIR. I appreciated this so my kids could not tell me they left the place in perfect condition when they clearly had not. Harwin Co. has been nothing but professional, timely, honest and has taken great care of my kids while away from home. read more

Harwin Company is hands down the best property manager I have deal with for both my business and personal rental needs. They are extremely responsive to maintenance requests, and several times have gone above & beyond to not only fix the issue, but upgrade it. We are so happy that our rental needs are taken care of so we can focus on other aspects of life. I highly recommend calling Harwin Company if you're in the market for a new rental! read more

I rented from Harwin and Co. and it was a wonderful experience. Signing up for the apartment was an easy and simple process. Hilary was great to work with. Whenever I emailed her (which I did ALOT), she always responded within a day. If I ever needed anything repaired, maintenance would come in a reasonable amount of time. I left the apartment in the exact same condition I received it in and got my entire security deposit back. I honestly have no complaints and wished I could have rented in the same location longer!! Thanks for everything! read more

I was originally planning on leasing with this company, but just the process of trying to lease with them was a big warning sign to stay away. It took about a month for anyone to get back to me after I was approved for one of their properties. In order for them to get back to me though, I sent about 10 emails, and stopped in at their office twice, and no one was there either time. When I finally got a hold of someone to make an appointment for a lease signing, they emailed me the day before notifying me that they were no longer able to offer me that property. Although I was upset because I had to go through such a long process to get that property in the first place, they told me that they could offer me an apartment, which I agreed to. I emailed them to make an appointment to sign the lease for the new property, but they never responded. Harwin is very unprofessional and impossible to get a hold of. Property managers in Isla Vista are known for being bad, but at least the others that I've come in contact with were easy to get a hold of and tried to be somewhat professional. read more

DO NOT RENT THROUGH THIS MANAGEMENT COMPANY!! I had the most horrendous experience with a rental through Harwin and Co. that not only cost me a fortune, but resulted in the most tumultuous housing experience of my life. It has taken me several months to even get my life back in order after what was a seriously backwards tenant/landlord situation. Hilary Harwin does not know tenant law like she claims to and does not act in an unbiased way as property managers in Santa Barbara County should. If you are a student in Isla Vista renting from Harwin and are being "evicted," please do your homework and research your rights as a tenant. There are strict, government-regulated ways of being evicted and either Hilary is unaware or simply doesn't play by the books. Oh, and good luck trying to get ahold of her in a timely fashion! read more

I've rented from Harwin Property Management twice now and I have to say I've never had an issue with them. They always get back to me in a timely manner and if something breaks they send someone out to fix it. I love that Harwin gives you space and is flexible depending on your needs. I would definitely rent from them again. read more

Hilary, the ONLY property manager I have ever interacted with for this company, started our lease off by sending my housemates and I emails with our SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS, names, addresses, and copies of our signed checks. She is unprofessional, awful to get ahold of, and doesn't provide quality service or maintenance on the house. After moving in, our kitchen sink clogged, our oven stopped working, our dishwasher didn't even complete the first cycle we ran, and the washing machine only worked on the medium setting. She took over a week to reply for each of these faulty appliances (none of which we mistreated) and when she did, she tried to charge us for the repairs, and sometimes the maintenance worker would come to evaluate it, but he would never come back to fix it. She required that we came to her in Goleta to pay rent, but she was only in the office for a few hours each day, and never returned our calls about setting up a time to bring it in. Also, Hilary told us she would be willing to let us move our belongings into our home a few days before the lease started, but when the time came- she went back on our word and claimed that would not be possible. She does not care how her tenants feel about the service, because she gets paid no matter what. AVOID Harwin and Co. at all costs. No matter how reliable you are as a tenant, she does not reciprocate. read more