The CitiZen South Bay on Anza

I lived at the Citizen on Anza for 3 years (2019 - 2022). The first year was really great, minus the fact that I had to have the old plumbing unclogged once per month for the first 3 months or so. The next two years were awful when different neighbors moved in. I lived next to 3 dogs locked on their patio all day barking nonstop. You will receive no response from Nancy Seay as the property manager for any issues. I repeat you will receive no response. With the pandemic, I was forced to work from home so this was added stress and affecting my day to day.Neighbors and visitors will park in the alley and block your garage. Citizen will do nothing about this because they claim the alley is governed by Torrance Police. I had one car ticketed more than 10 times and it still blocked my garage. Nancy did nothing, and some days I couldn't leave my apartment because someone parked in front of my garage.I had neighbors allow their children to run unclothed in the alley. I was pretty disgusted by this. This is a group of very entitled folks who will not listen to you or anyone.The apartments are only okay. After 1 year, my flooring started looking like a peeling sunburn. It will peel and look bad. The walls are thin so anyone talking loudly on the phone echoes throughout the quad area you share with your neighbors. There is no air conditioning or real heat. The heat doesn't make it outside of the small 1-2 foot radius of the wall heater. You will freeze in the winter and sweat all day in the summer. Trust me.You will receive no communication at all from the front office when your lease ends or actually, ever. I signed 3 leases while living here. I did everything I was supposed to do and never got my deposit back. I had to fight hard for it.I took Citizen to small claims court for overpayment on rent and negligence with the deposit, and I won some of the money back. When you submit your 30 day written notice, apparently you are allowed to put in whatever date you want. It doesn't need to be 30 days according to what was told to me during court. I sued Jimmy Ordaz, who is the Director of Property Management at Coastline REA. He did everything in his power to postpone, cancel and get out of court, and he brought Nancy Seay with him.Be aware that some units are rented out as air b n b. You'll have a new cast of characters every day, week, month who have access to your garage and packages. The folks in these units are usually on vacation and enjoy parties, big groupings, and lots of kids. Overall this place doesn't care about you at all. It's a massive time consuming challenge to get anyone to respond to you when you have concerns. Seeing the pricing on the apartments now, they are way overpriced for what you get. Work from home has changed how we work so apartment management should change how they handle business as well.
Mar 2nd, 2023

Update. Still living at the Citizen while trying to move. I want to add to my prior review. That for me to continue to live here my rent had to be increased by about $500 to "get me caught up with what the other tenants pay". Whether or not the other tenants should pay what they do is one thing but they at least have washers and dryers in their upgraded units. The onsite laundry rooms are no longer available for me to use and I have to do my laundry at a coin op. I'm not getting a break on rent because I don't have on site laundry facilities even though it is part of my rental contract. Also, all the tenants were inconvenienced for months while retrofitting of the garage areas was being done. We had to be out of our garages by a certain time and not back in them until later in the day. No break on rent there!
Dec 17th, 2022

I wish I had read these reviews before making a decision to move here. In photos, The CitiZen looks modern and clean. Which is why I opted in to move here- one of the most expensive rental properties in South Bay. Since my move-in in April, there has been countless appliances that did not work properly. They did not check the unit throughly prior to me moving in. I had to submit requests online to get my appliances fixed. The reason for my review is the un-timeliness of accomplishing these tasks I submitted. Currently my dryer has been broken for 1.5 weeks and they still have not sent anyone to fix it. I reached out via email and their response simply is "we will connect with you soon". I'm paying top dollars to live here & this cost includes the use of my dryer. To top it off earlier this year, I was not allowed to park in my own stall for a couple months because they were doing renovations to the frame of our personal garages. Shouldn't our rent be discounted if we are paying for it?Absolutely frustrating.I worry I will not get the most of my deposit at the end of my stay here due to this review. But I'm so upset, it doesn't matter at this point.
Dec 15th, 2022

Mileydy and Nancy are very responsive to all concerns and helpful. My experience so far has been great! We have a beautiful apartment home, spacious, quiet, and nice neighborhood. Close to the beach, Pier, Hospital, Costco, Sprouts, Target, etc. Best place in my opinion. Thank you both!
Aug 24th, 2022

Warning! Read this before you even consider living here. I have been here since July and skirted over bad reviews because they seemed fine. I rarely write negative reviews. I mostly come here to say nice things. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT RENT FROM HERE. You may get lucky and have no issues but if you do you will absolutely be living in misery and totally ignored. I have a neighbor that moved in after someone else. No issues with the first neighbor at all. The new neighbor made massive amounts of noise and yelling the first night she moved in. I kind of tapped the wall to let her know hey the walls are super thin. It's the universal sign. Well, it has been living H E L L since then with talking ALL DAY on the phone or yelling. She is loud in common areas as well. Parks her car in the ally. Just entitled. I politely tried to speak to her, I have been patient with the office as much as possible but have detailed every name she has called me. Threats. Trash on my doorstep from her. She is an older woman and she is very, very rude. I have had to phone the police even. I am about ten weeks in with no resolve and VERY high rent. DO NOT BE TEMPTED. The walls are so thin I can hear her guests turning over on their blow-up bed at night through the wall. I can hear snoring. Imagine if they were doing something else. It is normal to hear neighbors from time to time of course. BUT this excessive rambling on the phone for 10-14 hours a day and speaker phone is insanity. It just goes to show you can do whatever the heck you want and have zero ramifications while everyone else is going crazy from your disturbance. I asked to escalate it. That person JIMMY ignored me and I finally had to go sit in the office for a call. He stated that he told the office to offer to move her or me this was NEVER offered. So maybe he was trying but the news never reached me. Also, why should I have to relocate? I was here first and I am not the problem. Why do they refuse to share contact info for the higher-ups? Now supposedly it's in legal and I asked to have them call me. Well, just like everything else "we can't guarantee they will call you". This is negligent and criminal. No tenant's rights. No right to quiet enjoyment. Honestly, no idea who's in legal her or me. That's how bad the communication is. By the way, after  Jimmy ignored me the next step for them was to leave a noise violation on MY door. That's right. For knocking on the wall and speaking to the neighbor in the common area. So instead of fixing HER they give me a notice. I should not be left to deal with the situation. I never get updates. Communication is horrid. There is no insulation in the interior walls. You will be ignored and brushed off for weeks. You will get a violation if you complain or have to take matters into your own hands. A person that is not even on a lease will have more rights than you! She is a nuisance and is not even on the lease!! These apartments are overpriced as it is. You may as well live in a cheaper area. It is not worth it at all. My mental health and work have suffered and now I am forced to escalate to legal action after 2.5 months of trying to get somewhere. I wish I could lay out the whole story for you but it is too long and the names this woman has called me I can't even type here. I have never known anyone to talk ALL day ever. I even have evidence but they want to come sit in my living room and hang out for "proof". The neighbor on the other side has also complained. If you want an office that will just tell you "I can't guarantee anything" when you have a major issue then this is your place. Don't risk it stay away. I have wasted hours of my life dealing with this and have to live with constant talking/yelling through the wall for 2.5 months. She refuses to be courteous and lower her voice. When I say constant I mean CONSTANT. Criminal!Don't rent here you will regret it. Sad to say. Seemed great and I was so excited to move in now I hate my life and can't get any help from anyone. I am forced to escalate it which is going to be more money and more stress. Makes zero sense.
Feb 27th, 2023