[Long but thorough, please read.] My niece rented a house from Playa Life IV and could not say enough great things about them. Since I live locally, I helped her find a home, move, and spoke with Playa Life while setting up her lease and the next lease. The entire staff was warm and welcoming, and the house was beautiful. When I first went to see the house, it was still occupied by the prior tenants and I was a little bit worried because they were very messy and it was clear that they didn't clean. I went back to see the house again when my niece moved in, and it was immaculate. Everything was cleaned from top to bottom, I could tell that even the walls had been cleaned. Everything was repainted and was overall beautiful and looked brand new. When COVID hit, my niece was afraid to go out, I sent things to her, but I was super surprised when she sent me a photo of all the food, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper that management had already sent her. It was so nice to see and management company care about their tenants. When anyone came to the house to fix something or bring things, they wore a mask and made sure to clean as they went and didn't get too close. She didn't get all of her security deposit back, despite her and her roommate seeing clean people, but that's expected. They hire cleaners to clean every square inch of the house after every lease, they repaint the house so everything looks sparkling clean and new. Anyone who expects to get their entire security deposit back is quite frankly delusional. I was more than happy to sign another lease for my niece I wouldn't want her renting from anyone else. read more

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!!! They completely take advantage of students and do not do normal repairs that should be done by rental companies! They blame residents for anything that goes wrong. Our property was filled with mold and toilets that did not work. read more

Con Artists! And the rooms are tiny, showers don't put out hot water, the stoves are ancient, and they will try to scam you!

Worst leasing company in isla vista. We paid $50k for security deposit got only $25k back with ridiculous charges. They are crooks and don't bother trying to contact them, they either won't answer or give you a rude response. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!!! read more

Update: Instead of apologizing or responding to my surprisingly unangry email, they have edited their response to my Yelp review to essentially hide their threat from the public. You may now view the fully original version in the photo below. Edit: Additionally, as you can see below in their response to my Yelp review, I came to them for help or to get out of the house. However, when I told them everything wrong, they did nothing and allowed illegal activity to continue until the lease ended. In the comment below you can see Erin M. threaten to release my email to the public because I wrote a bad review. She also sent copies to the very roommates I needed help with. My friends have been telling me the roommates are asking for my address now. Good thing I'm staying in LA in July instead of spreading Covid to IV. So this company has been a nightmare from the start. The day we moved in there was broken glass everywhere and the guy had to come down from his office to vacuum the place, clearly they don't actually clean the places between renters. Next, we found out half the attics they stuck us in were deemed uninhabitable and then lied that they didn't tell us where to sleep. Since then they have been incredibly shady, actively searching for more people to put in the places they know are uninhabitable. They also have been warning students of people coming from LA to fill their houses, but then we found out Playa Life is the one recruiting people from heavily Corona infected areas to come live in IV near an old folks home. read more

Update: The response from Playa Life to this review further proves my point that these people are the least bit sympathetic to their tenants. Erin: You say that if I have questions I should refer to my lease. My lease states in bold writing that no one should be living in the lofts. You also point out that I could have sublet my spot out, something that my lease also does not permit; Playa Life would not allow me to do that either. I was told that I could not advertise my room for sublease as it was uninhabitable, and I was not offered help in looking for someone on your end either. Playa Life allowed me to go in circles for months and did not offer me any help throughout the process. It does not surprise me in the slightest that you, Erin, lack remorse when I write with honesty my experiences in one of your houses. Signing a lease with Playa Life ruined my first year at UCSB as a transfer student. Not only was I expected to live in an uninhabitable loft space (which eventually received a 'vacate notice' by the county of Santa Barbara), but I was also living in a house that I generally did not feel safe in. This was stressed to the employees of Playa Life through various office visits on Pardall, to phone calls, emails and letters. I mentioned Title IX laws to them, to which every single (male) employee responded by asking me what Title IX was, including who I assume to be the manager of the office. Playa Life's response to my weeks of pleading to get out of my lease told me that they did not care about my safety as a tenant, but instead cared about my steady flow of rent payments. If I could give less than one star, I would. Do not sign a lease with these people; they are not sympathetic and they do not care about the well being of the students at UCSB as welthe Isla Vista community. read more

Playa Life IV - Apartments Near Me - Goleta, California

AWESOME COMPANY! I have had the worst luck with rentals in IV, and honestly was nervous looking at what everyone said was "renamed DP Rentals", but IT WASN'T! It is whole new owners, that creep loser Gelb is GONE gone. They consider pets in most rentals which is HUGE, management was easy to get hold of so no run around (looking at YOU Meridian), and maintenance actually showed up (to be fair, I only ever needed small tweaks). AND we got most of our security deposit back! (Now I'm looking at YOU Koto) Plus these spots are hella aesthetic, with the dopest views. Just don't trash the place and you will love this. read more

Playa Life IV - They do tenant events too! - Apartments Near Me - Goleta, California

DO NOT RENT FROM PLAYALIFE. I had my rent payments on auto pay and they stole $1250 from me for "July rent" when my lease ended in June! They said they would mail me a refund check but it's been 5 weeks since I moved out (9 weeks since they took the $1250) and they don't answer my emails anymore. The management is rude (and thieves!). DO NOT LIVE HERE if you have any other option read more

The management is horrible. Students are being used as bait and are ashamed to work for a company with a bad rep. This guy Richard who's the manager knows he can take your deposit using tricks. Email is the way we were told to approach the deposit claim and after a professional email we get a one sentence response. He approaches you from a pedestal trying to explain his immoral practices in the most absurd ways doesn't even bother to fully explain. Falsified ridiculous extra charges not worth disputing because of your time patience and mental health with someone who won't cooperate in a manner besides taking issues to court. Covid fees which were not in the contract. Overcharged hauling fees. Ignored fix it replies. Year after year playa IV spits lies to oblivious international students ripping them off on the earlier mentioned deposits. After many posts on Facebook suggested that students should complain on social media, PLAYA IV started replying( on social media) with someone who has knowledge in PR as seen below trying to ease the extensive damage to their reputation. Ps I forgot to mention there was a building for demolition right next to ours and PLAYA IV forgot to mention that it would be super sour for the whole year. Especially with online school. No compassion. Greed for money. read more

As a parent, the most important thing when your child moves away from home is safe and reliable housing. Playa Life does this and more. They go above and beyond. Highly recommend. read more

I can't figure out how to reply this the management's response so here is my update based on their response - it's actually comical. First - you have the wrong "Caroline". I feel like I'm arguing with a child. The pointing fingers back and forth thing is completely unprofessional. I do not know if that scenario you described actually happened but even so, it's extremely unprofessional for a company to play the blame game. Be better. Second, it is clear based on your 2.5 ratings and reviews over the past couple of years that I am not the only one who feels this way about your company. You take advantage of college students & on top of it have zero comprehension on how to talk with respect and professionalism. Third, I didn't write this comment/review to argue with you. I wrote it because it's the truth and I hope that my review, alongside the handful of others, can prevent others from dealing with what we have had to deal with. read more

Chris was extremely helpful with an issue we were having. He was easy to work with and he resolved the issue to our complete satisfaction. A pleasure to deal with Playa Life Isla Vista. Thank you for the great customer service. read more

WOW! I am honestly floored by the rude and condescending treatment I received from the "manager", Richard. I called to inquire why my daughter and roommates were charged for a new oven when the glass door shattered when they closed it while baking cookies. They only moved in 2 months ago, so the oven was either old or defective. I explained that shattering glass doors in ovens is a common issue and is a known defect in many brands and Richard proceeded to mansplain that he was not going to deal with a Karen and he's not budging on the issue. He then hung up on me. I am speechless and disgusted at his behavior. Check the other poor reviews which are spot on and I wished I had found before renting here. read more

This company says "Have a question? We're here to help. Send us a message and we'll be in touch." But once they get your signatures on the lease, they do not get back in touch with you. I have emailed at least 3 times and called at least 3 times as well but have never received a phone call back. Not to mention the other tenants in the apartment trying to get an answer for concerns about the apartment as well. I have gone to the office and there is never anyone there and there are no hours posted on the storefront. This has been going on for several weeks now. This is the absolute worst customer service I have ever had. One would think for the enormous amount of money they ask for monthly that they might be even a little bit helpful. read more

Living with housemates that don't respect the house or you is extremely hard and that may have played a huge part in my house maybe having a bad reputation with the company or maybe there is another reason I was treated poorly but this is my personal experience. This company is definitely "loose" I'm not entirely sure if all the lofts in the house were legal as bedrooms and I was also told by the school lawyer that my room was also probably not legally a bedroom because of fire safety. I didn't have a huge problem with them besides contacting them and not getting a response. Usually it requires me physically going into their office (when is wasn't "closed for construction") and talking to the manager Richard in person or his employees (my age). I didn't see an issue with The duration of the lease (my expectations were not that high) and even made them cookies because I felt bad for taking so much of their time every time I came to ask a question, but thinking back I did always contact them with the lawyer involved or at least mentioned just to be safe. The security deposit return is where I saw complications and I was eager to talk with them to understand it more in depth. Charges for COVID sanitization was one of my questions. I went to their office on a Thursday but it was closed so I texted the only reliable contact I had with the leasing company, in which I was given a very rude reply from one of the employees asking for me to not waste their time and only then explaining that the sanitization was for getting rid of smells from the house. There was no other way for me to know that's what the charge was for and it is still confusing considering they did $1500 worth of just cleaning on top of $3000+ for an entire repaint of the inside as well as carpet cleaning. I was just reaching out for more detailed receipts and it's possible I was wrong about the house not being beyond wear and tear but we definitely paid for every hole and anything broken on top of some ridiculous fees. I was also informed that their public relations specialist? Richards wife posted a rant about me and my house on her personal Facebook directly after I attempted to contact them and was shot down. I've never met this woman and I have never been able to find a number or contact information for her the many many times I've contacted playa life. I don't feel comfortable contacting them again. They also allowed one of my housemates to stop paying rent for the last two months and they said they would take it from his security deposit. Thus when we got the deposit return I had to Charge him for his share of the damages. It ended working out ok for us because he was a close friend but we had other housemates who would have left without paying their share given that opportunity that playa life gave them. Last comment, We also had issues and charges involving people skipping out on rent but we were under a joint and several liability clause so that's not the responsibility of the leasing company and it was handled internally. In comparison my current leasing company REQUIRED that I come in and listen to them explain the lease and it's repercussions before I signed. I feel safer with a company that wants to keep me informed, safe and happy. I hope this helps anyone or any parent that is looking into housing. And if you are going to do it anyways make sure you have the law on your side and keep everything straight, they have a lot of young employees who I'm not sure if they know what they are doing or what the law is, they just want to FILL a house. read more

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Worse experience ever. We put in so many maintenance requests and they would ignore them, and never come by to fix the problem. Then at the end of the year they took 4,000 out of our security deposits, for the issues we had put maintenance requests for- saying we never put in requests!!! It was issues such as a dish washer that wasn't working, or shower drains that weren't draining properly- they blamed us and charged us for them even though we put in requests and had the requests on file. it was honestly robbery. One of our many requests was for them to hire an exterminator because we saw mice running around the kitchen at night. They had a playa life employee come by and set out mouse traps. This didn't help, and the mice seemed to be rapidly growing... we were seeing mice droppings everywhere, even in our rooms. Fed up, we called the exterminator site playa life IV works with on our own, and playa life scolded us for not going through them and having them call on our behalf. And again, they never looked into solving the issue, after scolding us for reaching out on our own. This company is corrupt and out to take advantage of and steal young college kids money. They do not have your best interest in hand- do not sign a lease with them. read more

Good people that always offer to help. I illegally parked in their driveway when visiting a friend and they paid for the towing fees after we had a really pleasant conversation about it. They offer some of the best housing on DP and quickly fix problems when they come. They maintenance guys are chill and they're there within 24 hours. Positive experience read more

They are the most unprofessional leasing company I've ever seen. They continue to take advantage of college students year after year, they are so bad at responding to maintenance requests and have horrible communication. I would never ever recommend them to anyone :) read more

Ok. to start Playa life IV own's many (a lot of) of the houses on DP. number 2. Playa life is definitely in the top 20 of rental companies in isla vista. so we kinda had huge! parties in the houses and cool people for sure. also i met some lifelong friends. i take off the star because the rent its too much for sure. but they do take away deposits unfairly. and the joint leases put's too much pressures on the tenants to pay. which is my problem. my family has a lot of money and too be honest it's not the WORST problem. I did like the house that i lived in though. read more

This is a really cute spot and it works well with excellent landlords. Great location and well run.

Have you ever wanted to pay over 3000$ before you move into your new pad and then walk in to a half finished mess, missing blinds, and appliances? The this is your leasing company . read more

Playa Life IV - my balcony - Apartments Near Me - Goleta, California

Playa life has been a great leasing company this year to say the least. Anytime we would have a maintanance request they would be at our house within the day helping us. In addition, I can personally say I have had a lot of encounters with the staff whether in person or over email and they have all been super helpful and nice. I have defiantly emailed them a bunch over this year with questions and help and they have been so helpful with everything. I have nothing negative to say and am bummed to be moving out of my house next month ! read more

What an incredible team! As a parent, I looked far and wide for a reputable company I could trust to rent to me a clean, safe space for my son. Every step of the way PlayaLife IV was professional and courteous. When maintenance issues presented, their team responded within 24 hrs, each time. IV is a place almost filled with wild partying college students. The way apartments are treated by most students is pretty barbaric. Combine that with the entitled attitude of a lot of the kids, it's no wonder there are negative reviews because a bunch of kids trash the places and expect to get all their money back. You should rent from these guys if you have a kid at IV. read more

I'm very disappointed with Playa Life IV! We paid everything and didn't abandon the apartment due to COVID-19 and they didn't repay us most of our security deposit! We have talked to other parents and we will sue them and complain about them on social media! read more

Terrible. Never rent from them. We lived in a mold infested house that they refused to deal with. They take MONTHS to repair maintenance requests and when they finally get the job done they charge us thousands of dollars for repairs that were not tenant caused. They charge COLLEGE STUDENTS 900$ in late fees knowing that once you get one you will be locked in debt to them till the end of the lease. They are a sick and twisted group of individuals profiting and praying off of broke and naïve college students. If I had the means to sue I would. The house was crumbling. Our walls were squishy from mold, feces coming out of sinks and shower drains, our dishwasher works for a total of one week the entire year. They allowed 15 people to live in a crumbling home. We were all sick for the entirety of the year. Next year they are allowing a 16th person and uping the rent by a couple of thousand. I will not be there, thankfully. But you now have the opportunity to pay 15+ THOUSAND a month with a small 30,000$ security deposit to live in unsafe conditions while they prey on your bank accounts! If I could give them negative stars. I would. read more

UPDATE: I am being harassed by their relations specialist. Not only have I received the worst service by this excuse of a company, but now I am being told that my experiences have never happened and I am slandering them! If I could give less than one star I would. read more

Horrendous management and terrible treatment towards their tenants. Already graduated UCSB, but if I was still there I would NEVER lease from them again. read more

They steal security deposits and shut down over summer so it's very hard to dispute it.

You will probably not find any good landlord or leasing agency in Isla vista but this one is particularly predatory and deceitful. I would not recommend. read more

The most unprofessional company I've ever rented from. The owner cussed my housemates and I out on multiple occasions for asking rent questions, charged us a COVID-19 disinfection fee which is literally profiting off of a pandemic (yet they claim to be one of the fairest rental companies in IV for college kids?), bribed me to live in a triple room by offering a $500 discount (which of course never came through), are yet again profiting off of the pandemic by advertising to out-of-Towner's to rent from them (encouraging travel during a pandemic), and the list goes on. People also think the owners make fake accounts to praise their own company on social media (to try and cancel out the insane amount of negative reviews they receive). Even though a lot of rental companies in IV are exploitative, Playa life takes the cake. Do not rent from them. read more

Okay I don't even know where to begin. My main point I would like to speak on is about the owner Richard. Richard is a big time complete piece of garbage and has no idea how to have any sort of respect and be professional (both character traits in which he should have as an "owner" of a company). I am a college student and have called him multiple times to advocate for my house(whether it was about rent, maintenance, security deposit, etc.) Every single time he has been so condescending and treating me like complete trash to the point where I was astonished at how rude he was. I've never had someone be as disrespectful to me as Richard was. What he is doing is taking advantage of me because I am a young student. In his mind just because I am young, he believes he doesn't have to treat me like a real human. That should not be the case. (Several other people I have talked to that have rented with Playa Life before have the same complaints about how impolite Richard is, so it is not just me that has experienced this) Usually most leasing companies aren't great in Isla Vista, but this one is exceptionally horrible because of the owner Richard. NEVER RENT WITH PLAYA LIFE EVER. I'm telling you, at some point you will have to cross paths with Richard and it will be an extremely unpleasant experience. Just stay away from Richard and this leasing company!! read more

They came into my room without asking while I was away for a week. I left all my possessions and valuables and they proceeded to leave both doors open and unlocked. AWFUL landlords. read more

Beautiful properties-- clean and safe. Kind, supportive management and staff. Have had nothing but a great experience renting from PLIV. They've always answer my call or email and handle a question or situation to my satisfaction. I highly recommend them for housing in Goleta/ SB/UCSB. read more

Loved leasing from Playa Life IV. I lived on the 65 block of Del Playa my senior year and I couldn't have leased from a better company. Any problem my house had was answered immediately and was taken care of that same day. They are extremely nice and care about their tenants. Our whole house (a group of 13 girls) had only great things to say about this company. We received most of our security deposit back which I had never received a lot of my security deposit back leasing from other companies in Isla Vista. Easy to communicate with and get a hold of as well. No problem is too small! read more

Honestly the worst rental company I have ever dealt with thus far in my life. Overall, probably just the worst company in general. They do not care about their tenants, they only care about profit. My friends and I rented with them for a year and the overall theme of their mission as a company that I was able to walk away with is - to disregard the well-being of tenants and suck as much money out of them as possible. They take advantage of the fact that IV is teeming with college kids who are struggling to find housing in a grossly over populated square mile. While renting with them for a year we experienced a lack of response to house issues, plumbing problems, electrical issues, laundry machine malfunction, insect infestation, and oh so much more. Not only do they have the intention of putting as little money as possible into the maintenance of these houses, they are downright immature when it comes to addressing tenant issues. My friends and fellow renters have received catty and unprofessional emails from them in response to frantic pleas for help when power or water goes off for multiple days. Don't give them your money. I regret doing it. THEY SUCK so bad. read more