I have rented for many years from Vrent and never had a problem. They fix things right away when they break. They communicate very quickly to solve problems. I recommend them to my friends renting in Palo Alto. read more

I lived over in 420 James road in Palo Alto for a year. The neighborhood itself and apartment was BEAUTIFUL, close to great schools, cal train and parks etc. However, I was located on the top floor of the unit which was quite literally HELL in the summer and winter months. With no AC and high ceilings this apartment was like a greenhouse on steroids in the summer. To make matters worse they don't allow any portable AC units so when it's boiling hot in the apartment, it's literally unlivable. I had to stay with friends for days in the summer of 2022. Then in the winter - the high ceilings means it's impossible to heat up your apartment to a good temperature and I ended up spending $600 a month to keep warm with a coat on most days! I made a conscious effort to keep my apartment clean and tidy and made sure I did a adequate cleaning of rooms, walls etc when I moved out. When I finally got notice of returning my $1000 security deposit, I was told it was all eaten up by cleaning and repainting fees which is outrageous as anything that would of required painting would of been usual wear and tear. Vrent is not a company I would rent from, I've heard about Vrent keeping all of the security deposit for other past residents - so if you decide to rent from them... just know your not getting that money back! One positive, was the resident manager, Mary is a sweetheart and was the only good thing about living at this hell hole. read more

Probably the worst property manager I have ever worked with. On top of a host of other issues, a toilet overflowed upstairs one day and rained sewage through the seams in the ceiling onto all of my stuff and soaked the walls. I asked for help or at least to come and inspect the damage but they didn't acknowledge that anything had happened. When I went to move out, I had left the apartment spotless with no damages. It was actually cleaner than when I had moved in.. still, they decided to eat my deposit. These people will be friendly to you during the move-in/move-out process but once it comes down to $ they will try every trick in the book to keep your money. Just a bit of advice, if you decide to go through with your rental.. don't bother cleaning or removing any of the things you don't want. You might as well leave it dirty and full of junk because they will take your money anyway! read more

Worst property management company in the history of property management. Truly, the most unhelpful and incompetent group of people I've ever had to work with. To say maintenance is slow is an understatement. I had not one but two gas leaks in my apartment which was due to a new furnace they installed and they wouldn't do anything about it until the city confirmed it was their installation was the issue - not one but twice. The recycling was constantly overflowing because they wouldn't get a recycling dumpster. And it wasn't just like before trash day. I mean for WEEKS, boxes and recyclables piled up beyond the bins. In addition they would rent extremely small apartments to families with small children. Like a 2 bedroom which had four adults, one infant and a toddler. Which wouldn't be so bad if the apartments weren't constantly turning over and new people moving in and out. More people means more trash. And the same utility splitting scam others mentioned. More people means families blocking the driveway with their mini van to load up the whole family or double parking. Also you can only have one laundry machine working at a time because of how bad the wiring is otherwise it knocks out everyone's power. My window screen fell off during a storm while I was out of town and got punctured when it fell from the second floor window. It took them over two months to fix it. There was also water damage in the wall of our bathroom due to a leaking pipe. They were extremely slow to address that as well. Power would go out all the time and they blamed the city but everyone else had power on our block. Truly anything you could think of this property management company is likely guilty of. Sketchy bookkeeping, perpetually confused and unhelpful front desk people and chronically slow repair people. If I owned a property they managed, I would be ashamed and disgusted. read more

I would give 0 stars if I could. I've rented a property they managed for the past 3 years, and I cannot explain how difficult they are to work with. They told me they would re assess my rental price for Covid. Now they are telling me I have to jump through a dozen hoops for them to tell me the price of the re assessment. It's not just that, everything they do is sketchy, but don't take my word for it, look at their Yelp rating. Not sure how it's possible to be this complacent when it comes to managing properties. read more

This is a firm, 'Eek! Methinks not.' I lived in the 408 Grant location in Palo Alto (couple blocks off of California Ave). Now, I will say that the location is great because you are walking distance from the California Avenue shops and restaurants which must account for the high rental price for this old and un-remodeled building built in the mid 70's. Vittoria Management has done some of the most shoddy 'remodeling' I've experienced (i.e.-you can't call it remodeling when it looks like a junior high school shop class did the work). The materials that were used are so cheap that most of them have already been stained, cracked, are delaminating, etc. The installations were very poorly done, just have a look around your future apartment. If there was an award for shoddy remodeling, this building dominates the field and secures the win. The atrium/entry area is sparse with old furniture that only reinforces the lack of effort made to make 408 Grant feel like an apartment home. It feels more like an apartment roadhouse. The hallways still have the original carpet from the 70's (or so it seems) that smells bad and is thoroughly stained. The hallways are poorly lit, bleak and the walls have all kinds of marks on them. In addition, the elevator in the building had not been inspected since 2010!!! 7 years delinquent on an apparatus that could easily lead to a lawsuit... what are they thinking!!?? Right after your neighbors turn their water on or off, you will hear an unbelievable structure shaking noise that sounds as if the Hulk is trying to punch through your wall. Wonderful stuff. Overall, it's just a very poorly maintained building from which this management company is squeezing every last penny. Oh and regarding maintenance requests, be ready to wait over a month to get attention. I will say that the onsite manager is kind and she tried to be as helpful as she could, however, she was certainly not being set up for success by this thoroughly lackluster management company. read more

Vittoria Management - 408 Grant Ave, Palo Alto - Property Management Near Me - Palo Alto, California

TENANT BEWARE! After living 3 years in one of their properties, we moved out and instead of returning our $750 deposit, they billed us for over $3,000 dollars!! Majority of it was floor replacement which had scratches in the high traffic areas (we lived there for 3 years, of course it had!). So they decided to repair the floors in the entire apartment and bill us for that (on top of carpet cleaning and full apartment cleaning). Of course we didn't get the deposit back and Vittoria Management opened a case with collectors to get the remaining amount from us. If you want to deal with debt collectors and constant harassment letters from the management while you live there, this is a place for you. It's a shame, because the apartments themselves are nice, but the management company is horrible. read more

I decided to take a chance with Vittoria Management, despite seeing many bad reviews here, and it turned out fine. In the 14 months I rented on Ramona Street, I had no problems. The unit was fine and exterior improvements were made while I was living there. They did raise my rent when I switched from a one year lease to month-to-month but offered another one year lease at the same price. I would like to move back to Palo Alto and would rent through Vittoria again when that happens. Would give them 5 stars, but $75 of my deposit was taken for "painting" which was subsequently refunded when I challenged them about _what_ specifically was painted. Not the first time a landlord has tried this with me. read more

Total douchebags. You can leave your place in pristine condition and they will still steal your deposit without any justification there's a reason they are so low rated CROOKS read more

I rented with Vittoria for a little over a year in Mountain View and would not recommend it. Their service fee for complex gardening and shared utilities was ridiculously steep at over $100 per month PER UNIT when there was hardly any land to garden, one hose, and one coin operated washer. This seemed like a racket to me. After leaving a one bedroom and cleaning it as thoroughly as possible, they still docked $200 for a cleaning service, $500 for a paint job (some walls needed painting but this is steep), $20 for a key I returned, and $150 in "unpaid" utilities I have no clue about (I'm settled with PG&E and shared util). If you rent with them don't break your back trying to clean the place when leaving, they plan to use your deposit anyway. read more

STAY AWAY! They are very UNFAIR and rude. I stayed in their Towle way apartment in Palo Alto for almost 2 years. When I moved out instead of returning my $1200 deposit, they also charges me an additional $800 for changing the floor and carpet on the entire apartment. The floor had scratches on it prior to my move and I made few minor scratches On the heavy traffic area. read more

When I first found Vittoria Management on Yelp and read the laundry list of scathing reviews, I felt conflicted... On one hand, I felt a sense of empathy and camaraderie with the other reviewers. It's sadly somewhat relieving to hear that my wife and I aren't the only ones who think Vittoria Mgmt is basically a group of crooks who must spend the vast majority of their day trying to think of ways to screw their tennants out of money, cut their own operating costs by not repairing, maintaining, or even adequately heating their buildings, and just all-around trying to be as inhospitable and unpleasant as possible to those who end-up paying the steep rents for admittedly prime locations in downtown Palo Alto. On the other hand, I was pissed-off at the other reviewers for giving Vittoria Mgmt a 1-star rating and intstead not formally lobbying Yelp to implement a special 'zero-star' rating specifically for companies like this who are so far beyond terrible that giving them even one measly star feels ridiculously inappropriate and borderline comical. I'm kidding... sort of. But I'm guessing you get the point. Unfortunately for us, my wife and I are currently living in one of their properties and suffering through a laundry list of issues similar to the ones relayed below. Elevators that break-down almost on a monthly basis and take days to fix. Doors to the only main common stairwell that have broken knobs and are virtually impossible to open at times (can you say 'fire hazard'?). Oil heaters that barely add any warmth to the drafty apartments and are pre-set to only operate in the early morning and evening (including weekends). Showers that periodically spew water so hot, that it actually leaves burn marks. A front door buzzer that STILL doesn't have our name on it for package deliveries after 5 months of occupancy and repeated calls to request a new label. The list goes on. Of course, they're surprisingly on-the-ball when it comes to collecting rent and notify you immediately if you're even one day late that they'll be levying a late-fee. I almost had to laugh when a guy from their service office tried to describe the intricate operating methodology used to run the heating system within the building. I estimate the total income generated from the tenants in my building alone (around 36-38 separate units) to be around $110,000/month. That's $1.32 million per year. One would assume that with that kind of income for just ONE of their many properties, they could find it in their hearts to provide heat to their buildings for more than just 4-5 hours a day. We actually add MORE clothes when we come in from being outside. It's not uncommon to find my wife and I sitting on the couch in front of the TV wearing winter jackets, two pairs of socks, and buried in blankets. Unfortunately, Vittoria owns/runs quite a few of the major rental properties in downtown PA and it's not entirely easy to avoid them when looking for a prime location that's spitting distance from University Avenue. And if you didn't know anything about them like most new tenants, why would you even think of it until it was too late? Let's hope word gets around. The sad part is that this isn't the first time we've dealt with Vittoria. I lived here about 4 years ago before moving overseas for a while. The difference back then is that they had a guy named Vince who was pretty solid. He was approachable, reasonable, and even likeable. Sadly, we learned that Vince passed away a couple years ago and wasn't replaced by anyone with even remotely similar qualities. The bottom-line: Avoid going thorugh Vittoria Management at all costs. If you're looking for a downtown PA apartment, exhaust all other avenues first. And if you end-up having to go with them for whatever reason, consider taking a few anger management classes as a pre-emptive measure before moving in. You're going to need them. read more

I do not give one star reviews unless I believe a business is committing an ethical crime. Vittoria Management absolutely qualifies. It is hugely unfortunate that they manage so many properties in the Peninsula where it is in large part a landlord's market given the high demand for rentals - it creates opportunities for mistreatment of tenants which Vittoria happily obliges. There are a lot of negative reviews on the main page, but I *highly* suggest anyone considering renting with Vittoria to read the filtered reviews as well. They are the nightmare landlord you dread and should only be an option for the most desperate of desperate; even then, you're probably better off and will save yourself a lot of future misery by sleeping on a friend's couch or even staying in a long-stay motel while you continue to look for other options. If you do end up having to rent with them, absolutely document everything! Take pictures of every square inch of the apartment and send them a CD with the files, make note of all the maintenance you request and how long it takes for repairs, etc. I also suggest signing the shortest lease possible and to start looking for a different place to live the day you move in. If you mention their Yelp reviews, Vittoria will claim that they are written by "bad" tenants; I always paid rent early, never had any complaints from neighbors and often did my own repairs because Vittoria took too long to respond. During the year that I lived in my apartment, the turnaround in my complex was 150% - EVERY single unit had new tenants, some vacated twice - in a building that was all families and professionals, non-students. Bad sign. read more

I made it! A few months ago I escaped from Vittoria's Management clutches and found a lovely apartment in downtown Palo Alto which they don't manage!! I really feel it for all of you still suffering in one of their properties - this yelp page really is like a support group for those who fell into the vrent trap... Of course they're all friendly and smiles when they're luring you in with a cool downtown location for a decent initial rent. But just wait until something needs repair - you will be completely ignored (no matter how dangerous or disruptive to your life / sleep - please see lots of examples in other reviews). In my experience with Vittoria Management they: - Completely ignored all fix-it requests (including broken oven door which burnt me and defective drain-pipes which sounded like drumming outside my window all winter long) - Hid the known fact that our storage was leaky (discovered when my valuables were damaged by water) - Tried to raise the rent at every single opportunity (even when market rates were going down) But don't take my (and the other yelp reviewers') word for it: before you sign the lease, just go next door and ask your potential neighbors how they like the management company ;). Also, you probably shouldn't review them until you've had the full experience (repairs, move-out etc). It's sort of like giving a restaurant a great review before you wake up with food-poisoning the next day and then find they've also double-charged your credit card. Stay strong fellow vrent-renters - escape is an option! read more

Not renting but went to went to view an apartment at 408 Grant today and can confirm the awful conditions at the property as a previous reviewer wrote, surprised since it's a nice neighborhood 1 block from Calif ave. The lobby, elevator, an hallway was like a slum building, and the smell in the hallway slapped me in the face immediately after stepping of the elevator. The agent showing, Rovey?, showed up in flip flops and leggings and told and told me at least 2 bits of false information about the bldg I later found out were not true. I thought I would look at the reviews for this mgmt co and yeah yikes read more

I lived in one of their 1-bedroom apts for 6 month. The building was over 100 years old, the walls are pretty thin. I can hear my neighbors talking, crying, having sex, etc. The shower door broke, I called 3 times and they fixed it 1 whole month later. When my lease is up, they mailed me, and raised my rent by 100 dollars, for a month-to-month lease, they charge 150 dollars more. Considering the high price, I moved to another town. When they mailed me my deposit back 20 days later, it was reduced by 230 dollars. Along with the check are their bills for cleaning and rolling the entire apartment. I actually cleaned and vacuumed the whole place before I Left, leaving nothing damaged, and no dirt on any of the walls. I always paid my rent before it's due, and kept the place clean and quiet. But they just have to seize the last opportunity and charge me 230 dollars MORE! read more

I'm at 420 James Rd. and have termites and silverfish and no one will come to take care of them. Occasionally, we'll get a random flood seeming to come from upstairs, too. Downstairs units in this complex are also subject to stomping by upstairs neighbors. You just pray that they sleep earlier than you do and wake up later than you do. As nice as our onsite managers are, they can't make anything happen either. Unfortunately, you don't have a choice in Palo Alto, though, as they own probably 90% of apartment complexes in Palo Alto. Such a bummer as Palo Alto is a great city to live in. read more

I rented a second floor unit at 524 Kendall in Palo Alto from March 2011 to March 2012. Now that I have received my security deposit, I can strongly suggest that people looking for affordable apartments should look elsewhere. First, a little background. I had to make a quick move from San Francisco to Palo Alto, and I thought that these seemingly nice apartments would be a good option. They were the only "affordable" apartments really close to work. What I learned about these buildings: 1. The walls are PAPER THIN. You will listen to every phone conversation, every TV program, every Rock Band game, and every iTune that is enjoyed by the people in the units next to you. Unfortunately, this also means that you will hear snoring in the bedroom next to you, sex, and people begging their significant others not to break up with them. You will also know if they are making tea from the sound of the whistling kettle. I especially loved hearing Call of Duty blasting with sub woofers at 2am. And guess what! This also means that your neighbors can hear every phone conversation you have, too! 2. The second floor units are EXTREMELY HOT in the summer. My lease agreement prohibited air conditioners of any kind. I bought a waterless one anyway. When it was not turned on, the apartment OFTEN reached 93 degrees. This is not an exaggeration. And don't give me any crap about cross breezes or dry heat. It was so hot, I was unable to use the stove or oven without turning the place into a sweat box. Needless to say, I didn't have many guests in the summer. 3. The BUILDINGS ARE OLD, and so I may assume that the circuit box, pipes, and water heaters are old as well. During the latter half of my stay, the water from the kitchen sink turned cloudy (like skim milk), and the water from the bathroom faucet turned rust colored. I think that the water heater needed replacement (it had failed three times in the course of a year), but the management refused to replace it. Also, my electricity went out for 2 days. Just mine. No one else's. Unfortunately it was not a problem that could be solved by flipping breakers. They had to fix something on circuit box on the outside of the building. 4. Service requests outside of emergencies may be ignored or fixed in lazy manner. I won't list the details, but you are forewarned. Other miscellaneous problems include people parking in your spot, people stealing clothes from the laundry room, the lake in the parking area after rain, and the postman who can't seem to deliver packages correctly (not Vittoria's fault, of course). Basically, this management company runs a volume business. They WILL raise your rent. Mine was raised over $200 per month after the lease, because they felt that they could get more from my unit. Well, of course they could get more. Why? Because there are all these foreigners coming in to study at Stanford that are willing to pay any amount to live close by. After one semester, they move out. Why? Because the building sucks for the amount of rent charged. This company has very little interest in retaining good, reliable, quiet tenants. The turnover here, is so high, I only knew of two tenants in the same building that had stayed for more than 1 year leases. God only knows why they stay. Lastly, I would like to give honorable mention to Holly, the Kendall property manager. She is wonderful. I would have broken my lease and moved away without her help and support. She is always kind and genuinely makes an effort to help. Also, the guy that did my walk through (I think his name was Dan) was very fair. I received an appropriate refund for my security deposit. Hence, the 2 stars. read more

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Well, we rented in their Rengstorff property. The one star is the property manager who is very kind, professional and helpful. Anyway, the company is family owned so there's a lot of politics inside, the front desk is not very friendly and acts anyway they want. Unreliable, they will not reply urgently when you needed help. We asked them several times to fix our ventilation fan (inside the bathroom) and it took them months! Moreover, the fix didn't last more than a couple of months! We never used our central heater since it causes short circuit, we complained/reflected to them about this too, but they never responded either. When we moved in, the door is broken, dirty and unfixed, they never bother to fix it either (even after charging us $$$). The rent here increase tremendously (hello Silicon Valley), but this is not worth your money. They do not have much amenities, just the laundry room (not even a pet friendly community). Credits to the gardener for maintaining the rose garden! Noisy and unregulated kids (they won't listen when you politely say keep the volume down) running around. As Britt D. mentioned below, they will charge you for renovating the unit! They charged us for repainting the cabinet, walls & door. The cabinet was left undamaged (except for normal wear and tear) & repainted the door (when we moved in, the door was marked "X" on our move in inspection because the previous renter taped something and it left tape marks) So, please stay away from this property. They will charge you $2500 per month for a noisy community, inconsiderate neighbors (who talk so loud, smokes anyhow and loves to party with loud music with kids running around!), few amenities and poor response for any repair requests. They told us they got pictures of "before we moved in" and "after we moved out" but they will not show you. (lol) they told us they dont show/share pictures. talk about transparency! So please, GO ELSEWHERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. read more

Avoid at all costs. I'm back in the market for a place near Palo Alto but every time I see Vrent listed, I move on to the next. They will undoubtedly raise your rent to the max after one year. Maintenance wasn't an issue because we never had problems in the rental (until we moved out and were charged $2000 because we were still in possession of the keys). They will take your deposit to renovate their space. They have a good, long standing relationship with the court too- we had a solid case in small claims but the judge didn't even let us speak for more than 60 seconds. read more

Renting from them wasn't bad, but seriously, take pictures of everything when you leave. I was charged $110 unnecessarily for cleaning, and it was double what their estimate was. Luckily I had pictures of the carpet so $85 was refunded, and it took ten days to even get that acknowledged. Renter beware! read more

We will not deal with them again. No one should. Our lease was 2 full years. $500+ was deducted from the deposit. Check out the pictures. We have lived in rental apartments in Palo Alto for 10 years. Before Vittoria, we were charged $0 combined. Vittoria does business in a way that, they will profit as much as allowed by law - borderline legal. You will lose money if you don't do due diligence, which includes taking pictures of *every* inch of the property, *before* and *after* you live there. Everything is barely good enough as required by law. When charging you, the useful life of everything is claimed to be as long as allowed by law. The on-site manager and other people-facing employees are trained to be observant of your knowledge in law and dodge key questions - Thin walls *will* be a problem. Second car parking *will not* be enough. Lack of AC *will* make the place unbearably hot. There *are* better places in Palo Alto. BTW the name is Vittoria Management. They also call themselves Vrent. For checks, I was asked to put Dinah Court, llc. We will not deal with them again. No one should. read more

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Their paper work is not precise at all.

My husband and I live in a property managed by Vittoria for 4 years. It's a small house, one of 10 on a 5 acre property in Mountain View. The situation is pretty unique in this area and is certainly not for everybody since it's very rustic! Until this year, we have had steady,but reasonable rent increases each year, but when the lease expired this year, they actually offered us a new lease with a rent REDUCTION! Whenever we've had a service request (faucet leak, etc), the response has been timely and the work excellent. It feels like we live in the country, yet we're minutes from downtown everywhere! I was saddened to read about the experiences of the others on this thread, however since we have nothing but praise for the way this property is managed I thought I'd kick in my 2 cents. read more

Please don't rent any apartment from Vittoria Management. They are the absolute worst. They are incredibly unresponsive when things need to be repaired or fixed. They leave their properties in dilapidated shape for years unless residents complain. I found that I had to be the one, for example, to tell them they need to renumber their mail boxes because literally *18 out of 20* numbers had fallen off or worn down to the point where they weren't readable. They have unreasonable requirements (like we can't put *anything* in the walkway to our own door, not even little plants). Their contract is draconian and inflexible. They lied to us about the quality of the walls and sound proofing of the apartments (which was abysmal). They hired gardeners that broke palo alto law by using gasoline powered leaf blowers. Their resident managers were not only pricks, but were known to neighbors who didn't live in our complex as pricks. We were charged for absurd things like unnecessary carpet cleaning when we left the apartment. The worst landlord I've ever had. Unfortunately they own a huge fraction of Palo Alto apartments. My advice: don't live in Palo Alto. But if you do, definitely don't rent from Vittoria Mangement. Oh by the way, Vittoria Management is literally run by a lawyer. Clearly this company was designed around exploiting renters and not about being a quality housing service. read more

I rented a studio in 360 Cowper in Palo Alto for 15 months, ending June 2014. After reading the reviews, I was anxious in signing my initial lease, afraid they would try to take advantage of me somehow. That anxiety was unnecessary. I was a weekly commuter to California, arriving on Mondays and leaving Friday mornings. I found the unit and rent were appropriate for the market; I looked at a number of units, all of which were in the same ballpark for price range and quality. The unit was no frills and functional and I thought represented the best value in terms of location. I initially signed a nine month lease and then re-upped for an additional six at the same rate. On move out, my security deposit was returned minus a charge for a lost key. The Vittoria staff were always pleasant in my limited dealings. My impression is that Vittoria is a low-rent landlord in a high-rent neighborhood. I paid what felt like a lot to get very little -- I'm from Chicago, where my monthly rent to Vittoria would've easily rented a three bedroom in a fine neighborhood. But, I also rented a unit that was very cheap for downtown Palo Alto -- the price inflation is a feature of the market, not the landlord. Services provided, in terms of building upkeep, etc, were what I would've anticipated for the management company renting at that price point. The apartment was up to code, water was hot, electricity worked, and provided appliances were functional. Beyond that, grounds and building were maintained at a livable standard. I'd recommend the building to anyone in the price range. read more

Stay away from Vittoria. I moved into what was advertised as a quite studio. After a month of stay loud bangs started every night at 3AM. This made it very uncomfortable and the extend of the problem was such that I called Menlo Park police department, noise ordinance section. The officer came and verified noise was above legal limit and that it came from a water pipe or a pump in the premises. She suggested filing a complaint with BBB or constructive eviction claim. In good faith, I attempted to resolve this issue with the land lord, asking them to repair the pipe or reset the timer through verbal and three written requests. Vittoria management ignored. I decided to move out (constructive eviction) because sleep deprivation was affecting my health. Prior to move out, I thoroughly cleaned the apartment. The apartment was as clean as when I moved in. Vittoria management subtracted $137.5 from my deposit without notice for various cleaning fees. The invoice is bogus and fabricated. For example they claim "clean range hood" I never even used the hood because I don't cook. Vittoria management is a company that preys on graduate students and visiting scholar at Stanford university. Their horrible record on this site is a clear demonstration of this business's practices. read more

I have had about the worst experience with Vittoria Management (AKA www.vrent.com) The first year's rent was below market value. I guess that is how Vittoria gets you in. Vittoria Management has been raising my rent every year for the last 5 by 15%, except with my coming renewal, which had no increase or decrease. I have had many maintenance problems since moving in. I was without a refrigerator for six months. I would call the Vittoria maintenance number on a daily basis, as well as fax and call Vittoria Management directly. This was all to no avail. I ended up getting an ice box to keep my food from spoiling. There are many others within my complex who have experienced similar dilemmas. The moral of this story is always to research your landlord. Beforehand I thought the area, rent and unit condition, and school district were the most important things. read more

This is a terrible company to rent from. They constantly hassle tenants with threatening letters. Their processes are out dated and always require me to come physically to their office. When it was time to renew my lease they failed to inform me of what the next year's rent would cost until 30 days prior to the end of the lease term. Then instead of them returning my $1,000 deposit, they charged me an additional $2,000+ dollars for damages and $700 for heating bills for a period I was no longer living in the unit. I left the apartment in perfect condition. The building is old, the walls are paper thin, the elevator is broken 50% of the time. They neglected to turn on the heat until months after winter had begun. Do not rent from Vrent. read more

This is an overdue review, and I am writing it to be completely objective. My husband and I moved into their building in Menlo Park (corner of East Creek and Alma) on April 1st, 2017. We have lived here just close to 1 year now. POSITIVES: - this building itself has a lot of potential. It is in an amazing location, right on a quiet corner next to the bike bridge/walking path into downtown Palo Alto, next to Burgess Park in a great neighborhood. There is parking underneath the building with 2 parking spaces. - the floorplan/layout of the apartments in this specific building is great - 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and very spacious. - when we moved in, many of the units had just been remodeled and were overall clean. Actually after visiting several other VRENT/Vittoria Management properties most of them are pretty clean. Some are older but generally most are in good condition. I do agree with other reviewers that the remodeling is very poor quality - poor quality paint job, flooring, appliances, and carpets. - best of all when we moved in the windows were brand new. with screens! and the window blinds were new as well. - we received 1 month free when we moved in NEGATIVES: - the main downside to living here is the management company, VRENT/Vittoria Management. After having lived in apartments (in LA and SF and DC) for the past 10 years this is by far the worst management company we have ever encountered. - as the remodeling construction is poor, the walls are very thin and we can easily hear the family below us and a crying baby - the on site property manager, Suzette Maile, when we first moved in was quite nice and responsive. One day, we received a paper notice taped to our door that "Effective immediately" Suzette was no longer the property manager - there is no online rent payment - you have to mail or physically drop off a check during business hours at the office in downtown Palo Alto - the management office is extremely unresponsive. Maintenance requests and other issues take a long time to respond to - when I viewed the apartment March 2017, Suzette said the exterior construction out front would be done in April 2017. It is now almost April 2018 and they have not finished the construction. - they were doing construction on the balconies and TAPED PLASTIC WRAP OVER THE WINDOWS AND DOORS -- and left it like this for at least 1 month during a heat wave in the summer time. - the laundry room has become very dirty since Suzette left. Same goes for the trash bin and recycling bin management - occasionally the washer/dryers break and take days for them to be fixed - we received a notice 5/15/17 that effective the next day 5/16/17 we would have to remove our cars from the parking spots during business hours so that the construction workers could work on the exterior stucco "through completion" for about 1 week. On 5/23/17 I emailed the management company to ask if this was still being enforced, and by happenstance my husband ran into the building owner outside the building, who clarified that the notice was actually meant to apply to the parking spots above ground (not the underground ones) - there is a car that has been abandoned in the underground parking - it has been there since March 2017. There is a "TOW" sticker notice on it but obviously it has been there over 1 year now and still has not been towed. Recently, we received a "Lease Addendum" since our lease was ending. Options were to: - go month-to-month -- increase rent by $500 per month - sign a 6 month extension -- increase rent by $300 per month - sign another 1 year lease -- increase rent by $200 per month Honestly, living here is great because of the location and the apartment layout itself and the 2 parking spots. We have decided to extend our lease by 6 months so that we can move out at a time that is more convenient for us to move logistically. We like the positives listed above but probably once a week agonize over wanting to move out due to the negatives. We strongly recommend that you do not rent from VRENT/Vittoria Management. They are the least responsive and least caring apartment management company we have ever encountered. It is incredibly frustrating to interact with them. Many of the negative reviews here are opinionated and call them a "scam" and "crooks" which I was hesitant to believe - I thought they were angry tenants who had been unresponsible and were lashing out. However take this sincere review from 2 very responsible tenants. Please feel free to message me on Yelp if you have any questions! read more

I've been a tenant with Vittoria for over two years and I don't understand all this drama going on with negative reviews, perhaps because I did not deal yet with getting my security deposit back, then I might reconsider. Unfortunately every property management company I dealt with so far as a tenant aims at stealing as much of your security deposit as they legally can. When you understand that their service is basically what you are paying for on overpriced Palo Alto rental market, all the drama is gone. I needed to move to Palo Alto ASAP and no one could beat their $945/month studio deal. Their offer saved my sanity and my savings account. Yes, it's a tiny 360 sf living space, appliances are very basic but everything works. After my year lease was about to expire I got an offer to renew a year lease with $50 hike or stay at the same rate going month-to-month. I declined renewing the year lease and I just kept paying the same rent since I moved in. I guess like any landlord they just try to scare you about losing your apartment going month-to-month, but come on, if you are a good tenant paying your rent on time, why would they want to kick you out to collect $50/month more from somebody else? Renovation and vacant apartment time would cost them more than that. I had much negative anticipation about their maintenance after moving in and reading all these reviews, however so far everything was reasonable. The worst experience happen when refrigerator broke in the middle of the summer last year. It took about 10 days to fix it, then it broke beyond repair and they just replaced it with a new one withing a few days.Last week the toilet did not flush, and they addressed this problem within one business day, it was a really nice surprise because I had very low expectations. I guess they do a decent job addressing maintenance requests by degree of their urgency. It's a little bit annoying that a fax number on their maintenance request form and the actual fax number do not match, be aware of this when you are sending a fax. Again, you get what you are paying for. read more

Ignored the reviews because the apartment was in good condition and in a good location. The rent is astronomical, but sadly typical for Palo Alto. The real problem, which garners a 1-star review, is the maintenance service. I have had to ask multiple times to get anything fixed. 1. Our bottom lock on the front door did not fit our keys. We had to ask three times to get it fixed, and one time, a service person came over, failed to fix the lock, and locked us out of the apartment! 2. Our mail key did not work, and we had to wait an additional week (while mail piled up) to get this fixed 3. We filed a service request to fix minor things wrong with the apartment when we moved in, such as a crack in a mirror and broken blinds. Two months later, they still aren't fixed! This experience is quite similar to that of the other reviews, yet the Vittoria front desk tells me that this is an exceptional case. read more

Forgot to add when I spoke to someone higher up than front desk worker about a policy that didn't seem correct they told me the owner was a lawyer who would "bury me in lawsuits" and that she was sorry I was mentally incapable of understanding their contracts. read more

Have been living over 5 years in a row although Vittoria is terrible and ugly service! They have been raised monthly every year. The Apt built with single wall which means you can't expect any insulation from cold/hot weather and every facility in the house is just shabby/used up looks like stone age shabby. If you're sensitivity while sleeping forget about this apartment as old fridge makes noise like rolling tanks. What a wonderful and ^^UCKING Vittoria! I just got a renew letter from ^^UCKING office noticing $400.00 raised/month. Many people will think why not moving out of this hell? I can't as I have to support my Son until he graduates.... read more

Like others, trepidatious about getting into bed (quasi-literally?) with these guys after reading other reviews. Moved into an older unit of theirs in Palo Alto last month. You either love or hate the older buildings (circa 1940 or so), but what they lack in modern amenities they make up with more spacious layouts, hardwood floors and charm. I had a few electrical issues immediately after moving in, but when I called or emailed, they were right on top of it, fixed pretty quick. Guys in the field were nice, and the folks in the office are nice too. Hope they don't increase my rent next year when my lease is up as others have said they do, but for now, crossing my fingers and am a happy camper there. read more

Bad management + hidden fees + high move-out charges 1. Response to maintenence request is extremely slow. 2. First-month free sounds generous, 11 payments for 12 months. Why not just lower the monthly rent by 1/12? Maybe they want to increase the rent for next year beyond CA rent control? (a techique to legally raise rent more than 5 percent, plus the local rate of inflation) 3. Hidden fees. Vrent works with Conservice - another poorly-rated utility management company - to charge tenants water/sewer/trash bills. Vrent hires Conservice to charge tenents utility bills that are possibly higher than the real amount of utility expenses. Tenents tend to think the utility payments will go to Conservice, and Conservice pays the community bills, but it might not be the case. In fact, Vrent pay the community bills, and may collect the payments from tenents with an arbitrary amount of charge through Conservice. Your payments will probably go to Vrent, not Conservice. Vrent would be able to ask an arbitrary amount for Conservice to collect, and Conservice will charge the tenents whatever amount Vrent instructs to collect. So there could be an extra income source for Vrent to earn from tenents. You may pay the extra. 4. Leave the apartment clean, but still charged a move-out fee higher than deposit. read more

Nonstop construction for months on end. Water shut off with no notice. Construction workers playing loud music and parking in tenant parking spots. Infested with silverfish bugs and occasional spiders. Management doesn't treat tenants like people. Takes weeks or months for simple maintenance requests. Very thin walls, can hear downstairs neighbors walking on the laminate floors. We are constantly in contact with them because of one issue or another, makes for a stressful living situation. I highly recommend you find somewhere else to stay. read more

Stayed for year and a half. Got my whole deposit back, as I payed for cleaners. That is pretty rare, most landlords will charge you for cleaning even if you leave the place clean. Overall, good experience; the few service requests I had have been responded to in time. On the downside, my rent was increased by 23% for the new (third) lease, which is really unusual. Luckily, I was moving out to SF (to a rent controlled building at that :-)), so it did not affect me; however, if I wanted to stay in PA I would probably feel different. read more

+ The apartments are relatively cheaply priced compared to the area. + Big space for the location - Lack of 21st century amenities, like a dishwasher - No noise isolation, walls are very thin. Apts get very noisy. - Very opaque management style, maintenance requests are forgotten or ignored. No way to check what's happening. - They raise rent above market price and try to bully you. - Lack of management on-site, partially also the issue with tentants, but trash collection is a problem. Management responds by threatening fines, instead of adding another garbage bin - When lease ends, they lock you in with crazy month-month fees so you can't easily move out Overall, if you can afford to pay even another $100 a month in nearby places, definitely consider not picking these guys. It's not worth it read more

Service is non-existent. I created a maintenance request to replace broken lightbulbs half a year ago and it got closed as fixed even with no work done. I filed it again a month ago and no work is done. Given that even simple requests are ignored, this seems to be a fundamental design to maximize profit by minimizing service and offloading costs onto tenants. read more