THE REAL COST OF LIVING AT VERSAILLES APARTMENTS
Over the past couple of years, tenants who have moved into this apartment complex for access to a nice community, good schools, quality of living… have been deceived by the real cost of moving here. Excessive Water + Sewer utility costs provided by the Management Company Equity Residential (not LADWP) have been billed to tenants with no visibility whatsoever on where these calculations are coming from.
In the past 6 months these utility bills* (for this post “Utilities” excludes electricity which are billed and metered based on consumption) have reached levels of highs that residents can no longer handle: For some low income household their Utilities Bills as charged by our Landlord Equity Residential represents over 20% of their rent!
Since we are billed via the RUBS Method, which we talked about HERE, we don’t have the opportunity to reduce our bills by lowering our consumption and have no visibility on the WHY behind those enormous bills.
We have been asking for breakdowns for the past 6 months and the only response so far to tenants’ complaints whether it’s by email or on a Yelp Reviews has been the following
“Utility costs may fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors. That being said, we are collaborating with business partners to ensure the recent bills are accurate. We will communicate any updates to residents but please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions in the meantime. Thank you for your patience and understanding.” *
(*as of 3.21.23, we have been told that they are working on obtaining this information regarding utilities and expect to have it at the end of the week…stay tuned)
In the meantime, we have tenants who could no longer pay $400 MONTHLY bills for Water + Sewer + Trash and were forced to move out.
As we have garnered not only data from residents - which you will see below - but a number of comparables from houses in the neighborhood - zip code 91364 , we have come to realize that we are paying more than double what would be the fair price.
One would wonder how could so much water be used by tenants who are all collectively complaining that despite their best efforts to conserve their bills are still astronomical? Our assumptions are the following:
Defective plumbing and unfixed leaks for many months
Residents are being passed on the cost of all the water used in the common areas, which should be a Management Cost given that it will greatly vary depending on occupancy rate.
While we don’t know at this stage if this is legal (we are in the process of finding out) It is certainly highly amoral and deceitful that residents should pay for the cost of a poorly maintained and/or unoccupied units.
We are still asking for accountability and repair on these abusive bills…. The best sign of good faith would be for Equity Residential to invest in individually watered meters to ensure that each resident only pays for their own usage.
Below are some examples of Tenants and what Equity Residential is billing them:
Comparative Data for 91364 ZIP CODE: a household of 4 occupants in a 2,000 square FT house in pays about $140 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash,
while this is what Tenants with the following occupancy are paying at Versailles Apartments Woodland Hills
(data shared by anonymously tenants with copy or screenshots of their bills to support their claims):
1 bedroom, 1 occupant: over $200 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
1 bedroom, 2 occupants: over $280 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
2 bedrooms, 4 occupants: over $320 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
2 bedrooms, 3 occupants: over $330 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
3 bedrooms, 3 occupants: over $360 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
3 bedrooms, 3 occupants (LOW INCOME TENANT): over $324 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
3 bedrooms, 5 occupants: over $425 per month for Water + Sewer + Trash
