Sunnyside Property Management

From my initial research into property management companies in Boulder, I resolved never to rent from Sunnyside. Everything I’d seen pointed to a money-​hungry, penny-​pinching company, and I wasn’t interested in making my life difficult.
Unfortunately, about half way through my lease at a decent apartment, the owner decided to change management companies to Sunnyside. I was stuck with them and had no choice. Initially, it actually seemed to be going better than I expected. They did have a very nice and competent maintenance guy and they seemed to respond to calls quickly.
However, the problems I’d read about them had primarily been with the move-​out process, namely security deposits. Having experienced that with a Pennsylvania management company and remembering how terrible it was, I held out on evaluating them until I’d moved out.
The week of my move-​out, I hired a professional cleaning company to come AND spent hours cleaning the apartment after they left to get all the little details. I know how nit-​picky greedy management companies can be and I didn’t want to give them any opportunity to keep money from the deposit. Before I handed back the keys, I took close to 300 pictures of every detail of the apartment, as well as video, prepping for a potential fight.
Well, I was correct to do so. When the security deposit came back, they’d kept 35% of it for repainting the walls (which were patchy and poorly painted when I’d moved in), for recaulking the bathtub (which was not damaged beyond normal wear and tear), for changing the battery in the smoke detector (which I’d forgotten to check, so I did not contest this charge, even though it was exorbitant), and for «general cleaning» (what on earth did they have to clean after all that professional and personal cleaning? the fact that they couldn’t even note what was dirty suggests that this was just an easy way to make some cash).
I was pretty annoyed, but fortunately I had all these pictures to back me up, as well as some pictures from when I first moved in. I called them to talk about it and was told that I should fill out a «Security Deposit Dispute Form.» The very fact that they have a FORM for this seems to me evidence that they systematically try cheat people out of their deposits. If so many people are complaining that they have made an official form, there’s a problem here.
Anyway, I filled out their form, noting that I had photographic evidence to the contrary, but all they returned was part of the charge for repainting the walls. At this point, I wrote them a seven-​day warning letter letting them know just how many pictures I had from both move-​in and move-​out, quoting relevant excerpts of the lease (for example, the apartment was dirtier at move-​in than move-​out, so I’d clearly done my job), and making clear that I was ready to sue.
At that, they did return the rest of what I’d contested. However, I’m quite certain that if I hadn’t been ready with all that evidence, it’s likely they would have either not returned the money or given me a much harder time.
A security deposit is just that. Security for the landlord in case their tenant destroys the apartment, breaks the lease, etc. It is not something the landlord can hold on to just because they can. This seems to happen more often in college towns and, quite honestly, it’s stealing and should be called what it is – criminal. If you move into one of their apartments, please be ready to deal with these kinds of shenanigans and take LOTS of pictures at move-​in and move-​out.
I’m not sure about their policies because I was still under a lease from another company the whole time. However, I do know that they attempted to charge my neighbors for a broken garbage disposal b/​c they said it had been used in violation of lease terms. However, the lease they cited in attempting to make this charge was not the lease that my neighbors had signed (i.e., they were citing their own lease, not the prior company’s), which is also a VERY sneaky and suspect thing to do. My neighbors had to fight long and hard to have this charge removed, which they should not have had to do.
All of this is to say, I second the opinion of most people who’ve reviewed this company both here and on Google: if you can, stay far away from Sunnyside.

My son rented a unit this last school year at CU in Boulder. When we moved him in, there was a large pile of rodent feces just outside the small balcony of one of the bedrooms. The place was not clean. The laundry facility (shared) had cobwebs all through it. Supposedly the carpets are shampooed before new tenants come, but did not look or smell clean at all. Windows were not that clean. One of the locks didn’t work. I could go on… We immediately called and was told to go through proper channels for maintenance requests. Slowly, a few of these things improved, but eventually we gave up because, after all, we all have lives to lead. We also complained because we were charged for their people to walk around the property weekly and pick up trash. We called and asked if we could avoid the fee by picking up trash ourselves. The answer was no.
Fast forward to today when we are trying to go through a cleaning checklist to try to get our damage deposit back. I called after looking at the ridiculous checklist to see how serious they were about us taking out and cleaning screens, pulling out appliances and cleaning behind them, and mowing/​raking outside (we already get charged for those services monthly, so that didn’t make any sense.) The lady I spoke with has been with Sunnyside for 9 years. She spoke very slowly to me (like I was an idiot) and very robotic, with only pre-​set responses like, «yes, you should always leave things better than how you found them», and «I’m sorry you feel that way.» We have a running joke in our family now that we should picket them with signs that say «ONLY SHADY at SUNNYSIDE.»

Sunnyside is the definition of an unethical company. In general, it is widely known that they take advantage of college students by charging them exorbitant rates and failing to maintain properties as they should. In my current building managed by Sunnyside, they fee us for all sorts of things, like «yard clean-​up,» even though we are the only one to ever pick the yard up. They are terrible about fixing things, and claim they never got requests for maintenance more often than not. My biggest issue has been with their response to not one, but two squirrels dying in my chimney. Despite my over FORTY PHONE CALLS and dozens of emails to them pleading with them to come remove the dead squirrels, they insisted they had just escaped. Even when I had dozens of flies coming out of the chimney per day for over a month, they did nothing. We practically had to live with our doors open in the winter to let them out. Not until I found maggots on my couch next to my fireplace did they come out the following day to look at it. After destroying the fireplace, the cleaned it poorly, and we continued to have a fly infestation that they did nothing about. After 3 months of this ordeal, and over a month after they tore the fireplace apart, I filed a BBB complaint. Only then did they begin to fix the fireplace. They then claimed that they took so long because we hadn’t told them the squirrels were still in there, despite my repetitive phone calls and emails alerting them otherwise. I was constantly told only the company owner could handle the issue, and when he finally returned my phone call after four weeks, and I asked what had taken so long, he actually hung up on me. What a joke of a professional. After four months, my fireplace was fixed; however, that is significantly beyond a reasonable repair time. To top it off, I recently found out from a previous employee that they fired her for sticking up for me during the whole proceeding. You should never give your money to this company.

Run, from these guys as fast as possible. IF you have to rent one of their apartments, then please follow these guildlines. I am still thinking about turning them into the Better Business Bureau
1. Take pictures when you move in AND write down a detailed description of the property because they will charge you for everything.
2. When you move out, again, pay someone to clean if that is not your «thing» because they will charge you an arm and a leg to clean. Patch small nail holes with toothpaste, because they tried to charge my son hundreds of dollars to paint a room, when the only thing he hung was a photograph and he used thumb tacks. Yikes. $ 185 is what they wanted to charge.
They tried to charge us $ 80 dollars to install new Ballastic lights in the kitchen. What!
They wanted to charge us to regrout the bathroom wall… another $ 80. Installing a carbon monoxide alarm…$ 40.
We did «appeal» to the company, and they gave us back another $ 300. I think our deposit was $ 800, and they tried to take $ 580 of it. Kids, if you have never rented an apartment, a rental deposit is for damage, not usual wear and tear. Take the time, and don’t throw your money down the drain!

The one star review is for their tenant customer service only.
Other than scheduling a time to view the property I rented, the service was sour, dismissive, deflecting and downright unhelpful.
I rented a two car garage and had the following happen:
— I had to ask for a receipt for my application (they run a credit and background check) and getting a skeptical look.
— Once my application was approved (they left me a voice message saying so), I called back three times and when they couldn’t hear me, they hung up quickly. They were having issues with their phone lines.
— I went to their office the next day and they said I should have made an appointment to have the lease signed.
— I called to ask for clarification about payment methods accepted, specifically money orders. And the secretary didn’t know, didn’t have anyone she could ask and simply wanted to transfer me to the agent’s voice mail. I left a message – specifically asking if money orders were accepted – and asked the secretary to send the agent an email. I got a voice message back saying «please pay in certified funds.» I called back and left another message asking if money orders are considered certified funds and didn’t receive an answer.
— I made an appointment for the following day to sign the lease. The lease was inaccurate and had me responsible for utilities which the garage does not have and the address had changed.
— I wanted certain sections clarified (like my responsibility for the gardening/​foliage cleanliness of the exterior and, despite my agent saying over and over again that I’m not responsible for the exterior, they wouldn’t write that on the lease itself.
— there was a clause about being responsible for a smoke detector and I was told the garage doesn’t have one and Boulder county doesn’t require one and the agent wouldn’t strike out the clause.
— finally, exasperated by my questions, she said I don’t have to rent from them, that there are other properties manage by individuals and other companies.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this property is simply a garage and its unlikely I’ll be interacting with Sunnyside agents in any capacity, I would not do business with them.

The list of negative reviews for Sunnyside Property Management is a mile long so my negative experience should not be a surprise. Shoddy business practices, unkempt properties with bare bones maintenance and do not dare, as I did to ask for a repair prior to rental. My chief complaint at this point is one which I will take to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) which they are so proud to display. I highly recommend anyone with a straightforward complaint go on the BBB site and file against Sunnyside. I did some work for a company who got a BBB complaint and believe me if you want to stick a thorn in someones side the BBB complaint will do it.
Here’s mine, I was lied to and told by Brigitte that the credit inquiry was a «SOFT» inquiry, not like applying for a credit card (i.e. the type utilities do) We belong to Credit Karma and received a notice that a «HARD» INQUIRY (i.e. one that dings your credit) had been done by them. BINGO, a reason to pursue with BBB and Consumer Complaints with State Attorney General. Unilocal is great but some businesses need more.

Be for warned about this rental management company, they kept our entire security deposit, and tried to charge us $ 5500 on top of it for damages. I’m not a college student, we were not using this as a party house, and almost all damage was pre-​exisiting. They tried to replace the old, beaten up wood floors with brand new bamboo, and charged us nearly $ 2000 for paint and repainting costs.

Okay, everyone hates their landlord, and all landlords have horror stories. That being said, I decided to start this review now, and follow it up once a year. In my time with sunnyside they have been competent and cheerful, and were able to promptly deal with my questions and concerns. Maybe they will make me hate them in the future, but compared to our last rental agency in Oregon (which was comically incompetent) sunnyside has been a refreshing change. I have rented and owned, and been a landlord. I have only written reviews when really angry, so thought I would get this review in while I was impressed. Stand by for more updates.

Sunnyside Property Management has been nothing but helpful in my time as a tenant with them. They’re friendly, responsive to maintenance calls, and care about their tenants. I had to terminate my lease early for personal reasons, and they worked with me through the whole process to make sure it went smoothly. Any property management company in a college town is going to get some flak from angry kids, but renting is a mutual relationship — if you respect the property, they’ll respect you!

If you’re thinking about renting from Sunnyside, don’t. Luckily for us, we figured out that this place was incredibly shady and rude before we even rented from them. It’s a shame because we had found a great property up in the mountains that we wanted to rent, but it quickly became apparent that we wanted nothing to do with this company.
The property they showed us had the biggest slobs living it in that you could imagine. Absolutely disgusting really, the place was filthy. We were willing to look past that until we started talking with Lisa (you don’t want to lock horns with this woman, she is pure evil) who is the most rude person alive. Don’t try to ask her simple questions, she will become annoyed and angry at the drop of a hat. Wowzer. She’s everything you wouldn’t want in a landlord. Just brutal. It’s no coincidence that every single review on here for this place is 1 star (and filtered for some reason?).

Sunnyside Property Management is one of the worse rental companies in Boulder. They are basically slum lords. Don’t rent from them. I agree with everything the other reviews say. They kept a large portion of my security deposit for unjustifiable reasons. They fine you whenever possible. They don’t care about you as a tenant. Bottom line: SSPM is evil and do not rent from them.

They deserve a zero.
They treat people, adults, like children, they refuse to honor legal obligations, and they are simply put, rude.
First, I received my security deposit back less roughly 75% of it. When I reviewed the invoices there were clearly items marked on there that were not only normal wear and tear, but items for the new tenant («new tenant requests»). I was appalled. They didn’t even bother to read the invoices, they simply charged me assuming or hoping I would dispute the charge. They claim they spent almost $ 400 on steam cleaning of the carpets. This is absurd and unrealistic under normal circumstances. When challenged, their response «you agreed to this». Yes, I agreed to normal steam cleaning, not industrial strength. Then they tried to charge me for upgrades to the property. For example, I did not have dead bolts on the doors while living there but they charged me to put those in upon my moving. A clear upgrade to the property.
When you ask them to do normal maintenance, they balk at you and then try to charge you claiming it was your fault in the first place. Their service providers are over-​chargers under normal circumstances. When their service providers damage your property, they claim «not their fault».
When I first moved in, they refused to allow me to be on the water bill (saying they would simply charge me for the costs incurred). This is illegal. I demanded copies of the bills and they at first refused to send them to me. I told them it was illegal to charge me for services without providing me with the invoice. That finally got their attention.
Generally they lie. We asked if we could bring in soil to build a garden. We were told yes and to submit a receipt and they would cover the costs. We submitted the receipt and they ignored us for months, finally telling us there was no way they would ever pay for those sort of things.
Overall, a horrible experience.

Please do not rent from Sunnyside. From the bottom of m heart, I am writing this review so that I do not feel guilty for not warning you. It is true they are a very bad management company (one of the worst in my experience). Terrible response time to maintenance requests; a split electric bill for the entire complex to account for hallway lighting and the washer/​dryer that should be thrown out and replaced; awful customer service in the office; and THEY WILL KEEP MOST OF YOUR SECURITY DEPOSIT NO MATTER WHAT. We were ideal tenants and did not do damage, as well as the fact that we documented all pre-​existing damage, which we were charged for. They kept half of our deposit and said they will not speak to you on any charges or answer any questions unless you make an appointment through legal and process paper work that could take up to two months.

I’d give them zero stars if I could.
Do everything you can to avoid renting from these jerk-​offs. I can’t believe I’m the first to write a review on s#!ttyside property mgmt because everyone I know warned me not to deal with them.
Here’s a few reasons they suck:
They don’t have a 5 day grace period on rent checks. I’ve never seen this other than these a$$holes.
They make you sign move out paperwork and never told me a head of time. I moved all my stuff out and left my keys there as usual then called them to give them my forwarding address and they told me I had to bring the keys to their office and sign a move out contract. What?
Then they absolutely raped me on my security deposit. They charged me to fill nail holes in the walls. I didn’t hang a single thing on the walls which were cement so it would have been impossible if I wanted to. Then they charged me for light bulbs and $ 38 for a pull cord on a closet light. Just to clarify, a pull cord IS A PEICE OF STRING. They also charged me for utilities but all my utilities were in my name and I payed all of them directly to excel.
Once I got my deposit back I went into their office to sit down with someone and ask them a few questions. They told me that it’s their policy that they don’t discuss deposits. Instead, they make you fill out yet another form and they’ll take a week to look at it and get back to you on their decision.
All in all, it was the worst renting experience I’ve had. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM.