Village at Town Center, El Cerrito, CA
Complaint 126181 Details

I have been a resident of this apartment complex since 2006, and it has changed hands twice. The change in companies took place last September and since that time, the company that took over, RoseStone apartments, have engaged in less than honest practices by adding to the utilities each month without explanation whatsoever. I suspected that they were less than honest when they tried to increase my rent by $10 ($1640 to $1650) even though my lease clearly states that it is $1640. Each month, they add extra money to my utilities, by square footage, "occupant allocation", square footage; water expenses; and sewer expenses. Last month, my water increased from approximately $15 to $35! There was no explanation, except today, I found a notice taped to the mailbox (1) that states: "To our valued residents: The East Bay Municipal Utility District recently informed our community that we have been billed for less water than our actual consumption. Though they are not going to bill our residents for these previous charges, you will see an increase in your utility bill between $25-$35. We apologize for the inconvenience." The only problem with this is that I called EDMUD, and they were very surprised about this because according to the representative, there was a 6% increase in January, and "its puzzling that your apartment management would tell you something like that because we have not raised prices." The current owners of this apartment complex obviously are lying and I want to know what steps I need to take to prevent them from continuing this lie and in essence raising my rent to an unacceptable rate? Thank you for any and all suggestions. Marie E Moore