Brookside Oaks Apartments

I have to say something about the current property manager: Mike Wallace. He is extremely rude and a qualified bully. "Don't ask question" is All he has on his face. Through my experience at brook oaks, he never provides useful informations and most of them are I don't know which means none of my business. I was moving out and tried to return the key at 2:00pm. He refused to open the door for me. When I insisted to return the key in person, he said"thank you for ruining my lunch". Well I don't think as an employee you can even have lunch at 2:00pm? And as a staff in residential service, I think this is extremely irrespecutful and unprofessional.

First floor = spiders.
Creekside = spiders.
First floor + creekside = Mega spider paradise.

I lived in a 1BR1BA here late 2020-late 2021 and never fully unpacked because I couldn't wait to leave. I chose this complex since it seemed like the best deal in the area and my work was still TBD for RTO. My COVID rent deal reduced the cost from $2300/mo to $1850, but it wasn't extended after my lease ended even though COVID was obviously still wrecking the US.

PROS:
- Pool and gym available (that was closed throughout my time here b/c COVID)
- Fast responses to inquiries and maintenance requests
- Easily navigable resident portal
- Quiet neighborhood and well-maintained common grounds; close to highway and necessities
- Extremely safe-- I forgot to pick up a package in front of my door for a week and nobody jacked it
- Deer sightings!!!!!!!!!!! They're so cute!!!!!

CONS:
- I really liked the unit I toured, but the units that were actually available weren't even in the same building block and unavailable to tour until AFTER my move-in date. The team assured me that they would be the same, so I picked one and hoped for the best???? And it turned out to be a fucking mess????
- SO MANY SPIDERS. If I left for more than 2 days, I'd come back to at least 10 spiders all over the corners of the unit. I literally had a swatter dedicated to killing spiders. The backyard was even worse. If you left anything in the patio, it would get absolutely covered in webs and spiders within hours.
- I asked for exterminators to come and they only assessed for rats. I asked maintenance to close the gap between the baseboard and floor because it was the spiders' main entry point, and they said no because it would "make the apartment ugly". Ok but what about my quality of life????????
- Moving in, there were at least 10 maintenance requests I had to put in because the unit was not inspected properly, ranging from a disgusting shower head to exposed floor boards. To their credit, the team somewhat fixed them within a week, but it should've been resolved BEFORE move-in
- Maintenance team is short-staffed and rough around the edges. Ex. When I asked to replace the melted microwave stirrer, they replaced the entire microwave but left the plastic wrapping all over my kitchen after they left; when I asked to seal the bathroom baseboard to prevent water damage, they left caulk on my bathtub that could only be sanded off
- Absolutely no natural light on the first floor bc of the balcony overhead. Feels and smells musty. My friends would joke that I lived in a "dungeon" but the environment very much impacted my mental health
- Their fire alarms are for the ENTIRE building block, so if one goes off, everyone has to fucking evacuate to the parking lot in their PJs and wait outside for 30 mins. THE ALARMS "ACCIDENTALLY" WENT OFF AT LEAST 5X WHEN I LIVED HERE
- Laundry unit is 2 mini stackables outside of your unit. This also fills with spiders when you don't regularly clean every 2 days. Also the dryer burned the corners of my clothes?????
- When I left, I'm pretty sure I left the apartment cleaner than when I initially moved in. I vacuumed, swept, Swiffered, wiped down, everything! But my deposit was negated by their cleaning fees and ended up actually getting charged $800+ instead???
- DID I ALREADY MENTION THE SPIDERS

Brookside Oaks is nasty af. I moved out a few weeks before my lease ended and just ate the cost so I could GTFO.

I added two stars because the maintenance team responded fast. The pest control came today and explained that it's because it's too hot outside and this is a very old apartment. They taught us how to correctly place the ant baits. Anyway I don't recommend anyone with sensitive skin to live here.

I've been living at this apartment complex since November, and though it was a bit spotty towards the beginning, there have been some amazing changes for the better.
The current manager has been very professional and understanding, even through the current pandemic, and the entire staff is clearly working their hardest to make living here a positive experience.

One of my favorite things about this property is the view from my apartment. I have a balcony that overlooks Stevens Creek (the creek, not the street) and it's a beautiful sight to walk into the living room every morning to a beautiful sight of nature.

Please don't let the old negative reviews deter you, this location is one of the best in the area.

I would not recommend anyone live here. The grounds are nicely maintained but that's the extent. There are much better apartments in the area. The management here is also completely incompetent and rude.

Sometimes it's just about the people. The maintenance staff make this place for us! Always courteous and quick to say hello (And address anything we might need!)

We've lived here for 6 years with my family moving out during the month of July. We originally decided to live here because of the school next door since my son attended West Valley Elementary and it was very convenient. But that was the only semi positive thing about living in this apartment.

What can I start off with first... Management are rude and not very people friendly. It got to the point where I would just rather avoid talking with them altogether. There are retail establishments that treat their customers better than this place. It feels like we should be grateful for living in this place and not the other way around.

Here are some of the things that really bugged during our stay here:

* Renovation for what seemed like the full time we were here, Dust and noise for 6 years, Storage containers blocking most of the guest parking spaces, pool with no heated water most of the time, gym renovation that lasted beyond what they told us. Garbage renovation twice in two years time. All of this for rent that is the highest in the Bay Area.

* Forced Air Condition installation in every apartment even though we declined. Construction and workers took over our apartment for a week and we needed to leave the apartment everyday from 9-5. This was a huge inconvenience since we have a cat and myself with bad allergies.

* Multiple break-ins including apartments and mailboxes with rarely any information given from management to renters.

* Fire alarm went off in the entire building one night from midnight till 2AM and management didn't care very much.

* Witnessed manager Mike verbally attack another resident for smoking a cigarette in the guest parking area.

Besides all of this, we had a couple instances of mold in our apartment, insects (twice spider bites) and animals (creek side)

Only good point in all of this is the maintenance crew were very friendly and helpful all of those years.

My only advice, stay away from this place, there are much better options around that area and cheaper.

They denied my application because of me credit. Even though I sent them proof of payment, they still rejected me after three days. They are not helpful at all

I am extremely happy with the service. I recently had a maintenance issue and had difficulty logging into the rentcafe service. I went to the leasing office and met Diana, who was do friendly and patient in explaining the process of downloading the app and I could register my maintenance issue easily. Once I did it everything was so fast and it made my life so easy. Thank you so much to the community Team!!!

I don't live in this apartment.

I moved form phoenix to San Jose so looking for apartment. I liked picture of this apartment so thought take a tour.
We had tour of couple of apartments and we liked one of them so i hold that. Property was nice and clean. Many apartments are too dark since stevens creeks pass by. I paid 48$ application fees and 250$ hold amount for 24 hours. Jose was nice leasing specialist. he was very professional.

After 24 hours we liked other property apartment so sent email to Brookside as well as called them (Mark) to let them know that i am not moving forward and asked for refund. he was okay with that and he said he will issue refund and i should get by 2-3 weeks.

Even after 6 weeks i didn't receive cheque. had chat with Mark again asking where is money. he followed with Account and department and said cheque was issued on 11th Oct. i said i didn't receive it. followed up again and but now answer after that.i gave clear deadline for refund and was ready to personally pick cheque but who cares about giving money back.

If you pretty confident then only hold apartment otherwise you will not receive your money back.

Finally i call my bank and asked for refund. put complain at BBB for wrong business practise. i read review some other place saying same thing about this property. it comes true for me.

Update:
I haven't received the mail and I emailed you twice about some details. Please reply and take actions. Thanks!

They eat your holding deposit though they told you you can get it back if you change your mind within 24 hrs. And they never answer/return my phone calls (called at least 6 times). What a scam!