The Koto Group - Goleta, California

Blue

DONT SIGN ANYTHING WITH THIS TERRIBLE COMPANY.

Signed the lease. My charge for the deposit was blocked so they couldn’t charge my bank but my partner’s went through. They said they had a strict policy on the deposit not going through, so they terminated the already signed lease UNLESS we had someone who made over 5x the $2200 rent to be our guarantor ($11000/mo)?!

Keep in mind, up until this point, they were very responsive. Since my partner’s $1100 went through, they said they would mail it back.

They’ve claimed it was sent out but it has been two weeks of us trying to get in contact with ANYBODY to see if they actually have. Come to find out they are involved in numerous lawsuits with tenants. Will be taking legal action against them.

Sara C.

I asked a phone appointment to book a tour and asked them about their property. I just got a text. I asked them to speak with a person because there are too many scammers. They replied with their link to their website..I already knew the property. Take care Sara....wow speaking of bad customer car. There are too many scammers and it is legit to ask for a person to talk with. I align with all the bad reviews. Stay away from their rental.

Name P.

I highly advise anyone to steer away from this property management. After a 16 month lease, I will have to say that it was the worse experience that I had to witness while moving to San Luis Obispo. It’s the first review I have ever made on anything because I’m not a complainer. This was just a ridiculous experience and I want to help people make the right decision of not renting with Koto. I would give these people negative stars if it were possible. Let me tell you why:

1. My apartment was not ready when I moved in. They did not paint over the plaster after fixing minor holes from the last tenant. There was trash shoved in the drawers of the kitchen and the bathroom. There was dirt on the floors. Usually this would not be a big deal and an easy fix. This brings me to my next point.
2. THEY DID NOT COME AND PAINT EVEN AFTER I REQUESTED MULTIPLE TIMES. I am not the only tenant who had this problem. Many of my neighbors did as well. It’s super unprofessional for them to say nothing about it. So why couldn’t I just call? That brings me to my next point. I spent 16 months with unpainted plaster in my apartment. It was so ugly.
3. THERE IS NO ONE YOU CAN CALL. All of their conversation with their tenants has to be done via text. They don’t have a number where you can talk to someone. It’s some calpoly college girl who’s probably doing an internship with the group or is just getting a side job in while in school. She answers your texts. No one is active on the weekends really and if there is anything that is pressing, they will outright ignore you. (Like my painting requests which got ignored and told to go through the payment app which they ignored).
4. They will respond with smirky remarks when you ask for an update on something. They are rude to their tenants. Even after they won’t respond for multiple days at a time and you check in if they are even a real person.
5. They will ask you to resign 6 months into your lease and if you don’t, you loose your living situation. (Extremely early) even though after 6 months, you won’t wanna live there anyways.
6. They take out a huge lump some of your deposit. If you have respect for your money, I highly recommend you just count half of your deposit as a lost. They automatically charged everyone a $360 cleaning fee that was not discussed at move-in. Then, they will charge you for disconnecting your utilities (water and sewage). They also charged me another $80 for a floor scrubbing after I left the place in better condition than I found it. Don’t ask me how they don’t include it in the cleaning fee. I fought it as much as I could. They also did the same thing to my neighbors. All together they took out almost $700 of my 2k deposit of a very clean apartment. The cleaning fee isn’t even because you’re a messy tenant, Its so they can get it ready for the new tenant which they should be paying on their own.
7. Their maintenance people have walked in my apartment with no notice from the management on multiple occasions. They were polite and felt sorry but it’s still illegal. It’s not their fault, it’s the horrible management that is causing havoc.

I could ramble about my horrible experience at Koto in the length of a Harry Potter book. However, it’s just not worth it. I hope this is enough to make anyone steer away from them. When signing a new lease, multiple of my neighbors have stated that their new property management has heard multiple Koto horror stories from their previous tenants and that they are extremely unprofessional.

DO NOT SIGN A LEASE WITH THE KOTO GROUP.

Marc

Hey, yeah I did have issues with them. They took a lot of money away. I had professional cleaners go through the house and they still charged 500+ for cleaning expenses. The one thing that was broken in the house they didn't charge for, so I'm not sure how they calculated over 2500 of charges. I hope it works well for you, I would just be prepared for them to be greedy.

Koto if you've decided to turn a new leaf and become honest and trustworthy send us our well deserved deposit and I'll update the well deserved current review. $2500 charges when we left the place in better condition when we found it! Plus putting up with the rodent infestation which it took you months to resolve. You're lucky we didn't sue.

Ryan F.

They wouldn't show a property until I filled out an application, which requested contact info for my work manager. It's not appropriate for a property manager to contact senior executives at a tenant's company. Do what everyone else does and contact HR to confirm employment. As a former landlord I can just imagine Koto owner clients wondering why their properties sit vacant so long, not realizing that they just bounce well qualified tenants.

Update: I've had seven viewings over the past two days. Two were shown by owners. Three were shown by good managers. Two were shown by poor managers. Zero asked me to apply prior to the viewing. The best was Jovien Joy at Sierra.

Nevan S.

Never told us about any vendors doing work on site, lost a lot of sleep with our new born. They also threatened to tow our car off site? while we are still paying rent and within our lease? Trust them as far as you can throw them, they're robotic. Even more concerning is there lack of records for any tenants. Check the reviews, more often than not they know not who they are talking to.

emely M.

Great experience! Property was well kept and maintained, always responded in a timely manner, and responded to issues efficiently.

Kirsten R.

I have had nothing but great experiences while renting from Koto Group. Whenever there is an issue in the unit, their team is quick to respond and it is usually resolved in less than 24 hours. They put a lot of work into ensuring the community looks beautiful, and the unit feels very up to date. I also LOVE that their units are pet friendly! Have recommended and will continue to recommend Koto Group to friends in Santa Barbara!