Equity Residential
Reviews and Complaints

I live in an Equity Residential property in Arlington Virginia. I paid a few minutes before midnight while I was traveling in the pacific time zone, checked my email and got a confirmation before midnight. Their payment processing server in the central time zone decided I was late and I was charged an immediate 15% ($300) late fee. When I disputed the charge and offered evidence that I had paid on time, they accused me of altering the email, they stated there was no way they could reverse the charge and they threatened me with immediate eviction and legal action, even though non-payment of a late fee is not legal grounds for eviction. Unbelievably poor customer service. The whole "very satisfied" ad campaign is nothing more than corporate doublespeak ###. They are not interested in my satisfaction. They are a heartless bureaucracy run by children who love to wave their power around. Very unsatisfied.

To whom it may concern,

Equity Residential, a national company with 9 properties in the Portland area has newly instituted several key changes to their rent collection policies that I believe run contrary to Oregon Landlord Tenant Law.

1. All properties have discontinued the afterhours rent drop box. Making paying your rent after 5:00 on the fifth now late.
2. They have a web portal for residents to pay their rent. However the web portal is set to Central time so any payments made after 10:00 Pacific are automatically considered late and a late fee is immediately charged.
3. Equity’s stated policy in processing payments are Rent then Fees then Utilities. Any check written for Rent and Utilities will be applied to Rent and Fees first then a notification will appear on your door that you have not paid your utilities and immediate action is required.

These practices are on the surface harmless but the undermine basic rights of Oregon renters. Namely that they have 4 days after the first in which to pay their rent (i.e. by end of day on the 5th). Now if you do not have internet access you have less rights than those that do. Additionally, even if you pay your rent after on the 5th but use the portal you lose two of the hours the law affords you.

My specific situation is this: I have stated in writing that my rent and utility checks are to be applied to only what they were written. This was fine until recently when they applied my rent check/utility payment to a late fee generated two month's ago by the aforementioned web portal policy. I paid my rent in Oregon at 10:20 PM on the fifth. Their response to my accusation that they misapplied my check which is still considered check fraud was to threaten to reverse the payment then charge me two $75 late fees for my unpaid late fee.

I have never paid late and have been a resident at Equity Residential for 5 years. Now due to their new policies I have two late payments. Both for paying after 10:00 PST. The first was refunded the second I am dealing with now.

This is not an uncommon problem and many residents have expressed real frustration but we need some direction as to our rights and how to ensure them.

To date I still have my utilities listed as unpaid on my account.

In 2002 I moved into one of Equity Residential's apartment complex's called Tansbourne Terrace in Hillsboro, OR. I lived there from July 2002 to July 2003, and then moved into another one of the apartment complex's (that was I suppose my first mistake).

When I received the lease expiration notice, I chose not to renew it, and gave them my 30 day notice, moved out. I followed all of the move out procedures, gave them my forwarding address, and turned my keys in on the day that was noted on my 30 day notice. I received my last utility bill at my new address and paid it right away, and thought that everything was taken care of.

Fast forward 6 years to March of 2009, I get an email from a credit monitoring service that I have saying there was a new item posted to my credit report. I log on and find that there is a collections for $56 from 'Fair Collections & Outsourcing'. I called them to find out what it was and they advised me it was from Tanasbourne Terrace from 2003. They advised me that the address that was provided to them by Equity was the address at the apartment at Tansbourne Terrace (the apartment that they are attempting to collect on), and due to the fact that they did not receive the letter back in the mail, they had to assume that it was valid, and reported it to the credit agencies. They were unable to tell me what the $56 charge was for, and offered me zero information on it. When I attempted to ask them questions regarding this, they hung up on me.

I contacted the apartment complex that I lived in 2003, asking them if they had any information. The assistant manager agreed to request the records. Two weeks later she called me back, and told me that she saw a charge on my ledger for $55.89, however the records did not make sense to her, and she was unable to tell me what it was for, and told me to contact their collections department for further information.

The next day I called their collections department, and talked to the rudest woman I have ever spoken to in my life, and she told me that she could give me zero information, and I would have to call their third party collections agency, after explaining to her that I had already called them and they refused to give me any information, and hung up on me, she just kept repeating that she could give me no information. I am not in the process of disputing the item with the credit agencies, and the collection agency itself.

Equity Residential is seriously one of the most unethical companies that I have ever dealt with. They had all of the information necessary to contact me over the last 6 years. I have the same work number, I have the same cell phone number, I even lived in another one of their complex's for a year after I moved out of this one. They sat on this $56 charge for 6 years, and then reported it to the credit agencies, and didnt even bother to give them the forwarding address that I had provided them.

This stupid little collections on my credit report has devastated my credit score, its taken it from 749 down to 671 and made me ineligible to refinance my house!

Equity Residential will seriously ruin your life. I thought that after 6 years they no longer had a hold on me, but if you fall for their trap and move into one of their apartments, they never truly let go of you.

In 2002 I moved into an apartment complex owned by Equity Residential called Tansbourne Terrace in Hillsboro, OR. I lived there from July 2002 to July 2003, and then moved into another complex owned by Equity (that was I suppose my first mistake). When I received the lease expiration notice, I chose not to renew it, and gave them my 30 day notice, moved out. I followed all of the move out procedures, gave them my forwarding address, and turned my keys in on the day that was noted on my 30 day notice. While living there, I had several problems with the assistant manger, and the office staff not being very responsive, and constantly making mistakes. After I moved out, I received a call from the new manger asking about my problems, and apologizing for my bad experience. Overall I had a good feeling after moving out. As far as I knew, everything was paid up, and I didn't owe them anything.

Fast forward 6 years to March of 2009, I get an email from a credit monitoring service that I have saying there was a new item posted to my credit report. I log on and find that there is a collections for $56 from 'Fair Collections & Outsourcing'. I called them to find out what it was and they advised me it was from Tanasbourne Terrace from 2003. They advised me that the address that was provided to them by Equity was the address at the apartment at Tansbourne Terrace (the apartment that they are attempting to collect on), and due to the fact that they did not receive the letter back in the mail, they had to assume that it was valid, and reported it to the credit agencies. They were unable to tell me what the $56 charge was for, and offered me zero information on it. When I attempted to ask them questions regarding this, they hung up on me. I contacted the apartment complex that I lived in 2003, asking them if they had any information. The assistant manager agreed to request the records. Two weeks later she called me back, and told me that she saw a charge on my ledger for $55.89, however the records did not make sense to her, and she was unable to tell me what it was for, and told me to contact their collections department for further information. The next day I called their collections department, and talked to the rudest woman I have ever spoken to in my life, and she told me that she could give me zero information, and I would have to call their third party collections agency, after explaining to her that I had already called them and they refused to give me any information, and hung up on me, she just kept repeating that she could give me no information. I am now in the process of disputing the item with the credit agencies, and the collection agency itself.

Equity Residential is seriously one of the most unethical companies that I have ever dealt with. They had all of the information necessary to contact me over the last 6 years. I have the same work number, I have the same cell phone number, and as stated before, I even lived in another Equity propery for a year after I moved out of this one. They sat on this $56 charge for 6 years, and then send it to a collection agency with a known bad address. I got blind sided with this negative remark on my credit report, and I never had a chance to dispute or validate it.

This stupid little collections on my credit report has devastated my credit score, its taken it from 749 down to 671 and made me ineligible to refinance my house!

Equity Residential will seriously ruin your life. I thought that after 6 years they no longer had a hold on me, but if you fall for their trap and move into one of their apartments, they never truly let go of you.

My son who has been an Equity Residential Apts tenant for the past two years, was robbed twice in the residential parking of Coconut Palm Apts in Coconut Creek, FL. As a concern parent, we requested a move to another Equity property with security gates. The manager at Coconut Palm agreed and would wavier the transfer fee of $400.00. We were required to put a holding fee of $100.00 at the new apartment at Turtle Run, Coral Springs.
The move in date was set for Dec 27, 2008. Before this date, we received a phone call from the manager at the Turtle Run claiming that Equity Properties would not wavier any fees, and a total of $1, 000.00 must be paid before the move in date. (these fees were the deposit fees, application fees, access gate keys...ect.) We did not have this fee available at the moment and had no choice but to cancel the hold on the new apartment. During this time, Equity deposited the $100.00 and would not return the money due to "liquidation penalties". We were told by the manager of Turtle Run, the holding fee was going to be applied to the first month rent due on 1/1/09. I have submitted a complaint to the Consumer Dept in Jacksonville, Florida, since we feel this was unfair treatment to us since it was an emergency situation due to the robberies at the Coconut Palm Apts. Is there any other steps we can take to get the $100.00 back. Thank you. NS