Tenant Reviews for 4816 W FOUNTAIN AVE Los Angeles

This was my home in 1978 when the Church of Scientology bought it from the hospital as I was told and it was a fair place to live for a group home as that was what they were using it for when I left six months later. I never noticed a bug problem as much as the plumbing was bad, we had plenty of cold water but I am not sure about the hot working well as all the residents there took baths when possible, the kids were housed six to a room in every room the county allowed. I wouldn't return there until 1986 when I heard the kids were moved elsewhere.

When I first was looking in the Los Feliz area, I was so attracted to this bldg as it has a ton of old character and charm but each unit has seemingly been upgraded as older tenants have moved out. I have a great studio on the ground floor with brick walls, a dressing area, bathroom with amazing original b/w tiles and pedestal sink, good closet space and a kitchen that has been renovated w. new appliances, tile and granite countertops. AND pet friendly for a good price - how could it be?! Well - here is why. Within a month I saw more bugs in this joint than I have in my ten years of living in LA (including a 2 year jaunt in the heart of filthy Hollywood). Ants in the kitchen and bathroom every time the weather changed (literally, armies on the walls, in the tub, along the floors). HUGE spiders on walls, in the kitchen. And most importantly and disgustingly, roaches. In my shower, in the kitchen sink and in my main room (where my bed is). Based on previous messages on this board (god I wish I had seen this before I moved) it makes sense as previous tenants claim they come up from the drains. And I am currently writing this because I have now hit my limit with roaches found in the washer. Not in an empty washer, but crawling in my wet clothes that were just done washing. Awesome. I have to say I haven't been affected by bed bugs here as others state but considering my apt has been bug-bombed 2 times now (per my request) in the under one year I've lived here, I have to imagine that has to help something.... My walls have had constant water damage and bubbling (leaks from above floors as I'm on the ground floor) that take days, often weeks, to get fixed/patched, and I'm facing a white patch on my bathroom wall that has now gone without repainting after the last water damage for over 3 months, regardless of my constant request for them to do so. I even offered to paint the thing myself if they would leave the paint! Not to mention the week I was without hot water for a week, and don't think I didn't have to remind them daily that I was spending a pathetic, freezing 2 minutes a day under a trickling drip of a "shower" to even get that cold water coming out. The off-site staff and even building management are kind and professional in their day to day duties but they are clearly NOT timely and more importantly they do not have maintenance staff able to keep up with the amount of work needed for a time bomb like this place. Don't let the pretty surface, New York-style renovations and character fool you - you'll be running from this place when your lease is up. I'm counting the days.

The management in the beginning was absent, dull witted, and possibly stoned. The new guy is nice but can't save the problems with this building fast enough or at least make up for the hell of the past year. I had bed critters, presumably bedbugs, shortly after moving here. I called and complained about it as I knew it required that I get the city to come spray here. They never responded to my requests. They did not return my calls. This went on and on. Eventually the new manager did respond but by this point I lost all trust in the company that runs this building.

There is a difference between migrating to a new place and MASS EXODUS. Trust me: If you move in here, you will soon be saving every penny you earn to move right back OUT. You have been warned!!! Too bad the lowest rating you can give is 1 star...

Just in case anyone is even remotely thinking of moving here based on the fact that these bad reviews are old - IT STILL SUCKS HERE! Nothing has changed, although the new resident manager is a nice guy. Too bad they work him like a dog because they can't keep a maintenance staff to safe their lives OR this building. The rotating door of tentants is ridiculous. Everyone that gets conned into moving here by the fast-b.s.-talking Kim Blair, moves out of here within months! There have been at least 5-10 move outs in the last few months and it will only continue. The ***hole who owns the place was forced into buying this property in order to obtain other, nicer properties he wanted in his portfolio. Won't pour any money into the place and worse yet he has allowed a completely incompetent management company to "deal with it." Stay away from FPI owned properties. They will ignore your problems and evict you in a heartbeat. OH! DID I MENTION THE 2 TOXIC BLACK MOLDS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE APARTMENTS, THAT THEY ARE DOING NOTHING ABOUT?? One of which GROWS IN YOUR LUNG TISSUE? DO NOT MOVE HERE!!!!! This building should be leveled to the ground...

Don't even think of moving into this overpriced, roach and rodent infested dump. The conditions of these apartments have gone from bad to worse. Besides the rodent and roach infestion, I have had to deal with the homeless person who camped out nightly in front of my door (they got in the building because the locks on the front door was broken for months), over 10 building manager changes within the last three years, leaks galore, water shutoffs without notice, dirty/smelly hallways,and the chronic problem with the elevator (it was out for over 3 months in the beginning of 2007 and now it has been out for over 6 weeks since November 2007). But the most recent presence of the lurking construction crews, working all hours of the day and night - not to mention very early weekends has simply put me over the edge. I am so out of this dump. It is clear the owners of this building do not respect their tenants (ownership has also changed hands several times over the last three years) and I have no interest in subjecting myself to such dangerous and appalling living conditions any longer. You have been warned.

We were promised the world prior to our move in but have only bargained a few small 3rd world countries. The kids here run, and scooter, up and down the hallways at all hours of the night. The tenants who don't have a/c (almost all of them) leave their doors open when they cook so the hallways become a nauseating hell hole of international cuisine smells. The maintenance either ignores you, is lazy, very unprofessional telling you why they only "settled" to work for this building and all other personal info and hardly get the job done without the manager (who is sweet and professional but not savvy) yelling at them to do it. WAY OVERPRICED. NO PARKING. SURROUNDED BY PSYCHO SCIENTOLOGISTS - Need I say any more? Oh, and if you do decide to move into this lovely 1920's building that still operates on 1920's piping, electric and all else...I hope you like cockroaches climbing out from within the pipeworks in your shower to join you for a swim. And that's only if the maintenence idiots don't shut the water off on you just after you've put the shampoo in your hair. DON'T AGREE TO ANYTHING. I can't wait to get - no, run out of here.