Montclair Apartments, seattle-wa

I lived in a third-floor studio for three years. Below are my opinions on the location, building, room, management, and my move-out experience. TLDR: shenanigans typical of the location, shared space quality dependent on neighbors (who need to step up their game sometimes), amenities and appliances could be better, small space, low quality building despite seeming new-ish. But the location is convenient, and I had an okay experience. Would be 2 stars if located elsewhere. LOCATION (7/10) - Four minute walk from both Safeway and Trader Joe's made it extremely convenient. Easy to walk to campus. Close to stops for the 372, 67, and 45. - Since it's a side street, there isn't that much traffic noise - No parking in the building, but there is street parking (fills up fast on weekends but okay during the day on weekdays) - Because it's close to the Ave, you'll hear people yelling randomly in the middle of the night. Occasionally, homeless folks will loiter outside the building. Packages get stolen almost instantly if the delivery person leaves them outside the building. BUILDING (4/10) - The biggest issue was other tenants, tbh — a lot of people left their trash on the floor in the trash room, blocking access to the actual bins. People also never clean up their own messes, leaving spills and trash in common areas. - Common areas are cleaned regularly by professional cleaners (thank you guys!!) - Trash room has big puddles when it rains and the floor gets kind of nasty - Lack of good amenities made me feel like I was overpaying in rent. There's a trash room, bike storage room, laundry room, storage room, and a couch in the lobby, all of which were pretty bare-bones but usable. No gym. Roof is aight. - Pretty solid safety. They changed the back door to a number pad to prevent break-ins and installed a camera by the package room to prevent theft. Front door is key fob entry. I wouldn't live in a basement or ground floor unit, though. ROOM (5/10) - Natural light was meh since my window faced another buildling - The bed area got a bit drafty in the winter since the insulation on the window isn't great - Walls are thin. One year I had a neighbor who yelled profanities day and night on Discord calls gaming, and I heard them loud and clear (please don't be that guy). And don't spill secrets in the hallway! Everyone will hear them. - One year I smelled cigarette smoke every day, but after that, it was fine, so I suspect a neighbor was smoking. I couldn't prove it, so nothing could be done. - Two-in-one washer/dryer was a pain in the butt because a complete cycle took around 7–8 hours and generated a lot of heat, making it hellish in the summer - Dishwasher is solid - Oven and electric stovetop are solid - Closet is tiny - The window cranks outwards and is right next to the bed area, so there's no way to fit a portable AC unit. It gets really hot in the summer. - Again, I felt like I was overpaying a bit since the room was really small and the quality of the building was okay at best despite being new-ish MANAGEMENT (7/10) - Very communicative with maintenance requests — I had a bunch of issues in my unit (noise from gutter dripping, foul odor for unknown reason), and the property manager at the time, Julie, was very patient and attentive. We communicated primarily via email. - Tripalink hosts a lot of resident events at their other buildings. I'm a homebody, so I never went, but if you're into that sort of thing, it could be fun. MOVE-OUT (8/10) I received most of my deposit back, with $125 deducted for cleaning. The full unit paint fee was waived for my three-year tenancy (thank god, clutch af). If I had been charged painting fees, especially after only a one-year stay, I probably wouldn't be leaving a good review either. I had issues receiving my deposit refund, but that was due to a bank information error on my end, plus a lapse in communication due to staffing changes. I was ultimately able to get my money back via mailed check two months after my lease ended.

AVOID THIS PLACE AND ALL TRIPALINK PROPERTIES: They will NOT give you your security deposit back, expect to be charged cleaning fees and "re-painting" fees that add up to hundreds of dollars. When you reach out to them to ask about it, they ignore you and never get back to you. This did not just happen to me, it happened to multiple people I know that all live in Tripalink properties. I never even cooked once in the room I stayed in (because my partner and I always cooked at her place), somehow they decided to charge a "full repaint" out of my deposit for like four hundred dollars or something because "wall and cabinets are different colors"????? Just don't. Find some other properties that will not charge you first+last month rent + $1000 on top of that for a deposit, and then give you a room that's

Live at Montclair Apartments if you want to dontate your security deposit and prepaid rent to them, AND have strangers tour your room without notice (I almost got walked in on when I was taking a shower)!!! I lived here for more than a year and when I left, I received LESS THAN HALF of my security deposit, for charges that were absurd and unexplained. I asked twice through the phone number on their website and also replied to an email they sent to me themselves asking about the security deposit and they have not responded in any way back to me, even until this moment. This is part of the email I sent to them long ago, "Hi I received the deposit disposition for my unit and I want to know the details of the charged amount. Also, the files were not in the shared documents of the portal. First of all I don't understand why painting costs $350.00 when I left the unit walls in good condition that should not require this amount of repair, and also why there is a guardian utility bill AND a final utility bill. As for the cleaning, I also cleaned the unit very thoroughly, even behind the toilet and the tiles along the walls and do not understand why I need to pay the cleaning cost for the unit to be in "perfect" condition for the next tenant. That should be paid for by the management, not me. Having done my best effort to keep the unit in desirable condition, it is very frustrating and disappointing to know that the trust I gave along with my security deposit is being evaluated this way and that I am not getting even half of my security deposit back. I would like to seek more information and justifications regarding this case. Thank you." Another student on the same floor as me also moved out and he received EVEN LESS back from his security deposit and I know his unit was in very good condition because I helped him clean. I have never seen this happen before in any other apartment. Remember that landlords can only deduct for damages BEYOND NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR (and my neighbor told me his deposit got deducted because the wall color slightly changed. This is normal wear!!!! Just absurd that tripalink is trying to deduct from his security deposit for that.) During the time I lived there, they also charged me around $65 or more for declogging a toilet that wasn't even my fault. Meanwhile, the toilet lid moving all the time and the cabinet door falling off, which were from the previous tenant's lease weren't even perfectly fixed by the time I first moved in. At the new place I'm living in right now, they replaced my sink grinder, fixed the oven and any other fixes I requested for FREE. Don't settle for less just because Tripalink thinks they can take advantage of students and their money!!!! ALSO, whlie I lived there, they compelled me to open my room for room tours (with no compensation), and brought people into my unit without even a 24 hour notice. I literally caught them entering my unit with three strangers trying to tour, without permission NOR notice, and the scary thing is, I was taking a shower 20 minutes before they came in. What would have happened if they came in 20 minutes earlier and I was still in the shower????? When I told the tour guide that there was no notice, no email, whatsoever alerting me of this tour, he only gave back excuses and tried to "find the email" that he was sure was sent to me earlier. He also told me that I had to contact management for that but NO I said "you guys should be taking responsibility for the mistake you made, not me." At other apartments, they ASK you if you want to open your room for touring and pay you some amount of money for that. Here, Tripalink is totally entitled to entering your room and they don't even keep their 24 hour notice rule. At this point I don't even care if I get my money back or not, I just want other students to have this knowledge in power before signing anything!! I wish someone would have told me this before, too.

I’ve really enjoyed living at Montclair Apartments! The location is incredibly convenient, with easy access to nearby stores, restaurants, and public transportation. The apartment itself is spacious and well-maintained, with modern amenities and a cozy design. The management team is always responsive and helpful, addressing any concerns quickly and efficiently. The community is quiet and friendly, making it a great place to call home. I would highly recommend Montclair Apartments to anyone looking for a comfortable and convenient living experience!

tl;dr: 3.5 stars: A solid apartment building to live in, but I'd strongly recommend avoiding unit 101 (which I stayed in). I stayed here during my senior year at UW. I ended up going with Montclair as it was one of the few studios in this price range that came with an oven. As a nice bonus it also comes with an in-unit washer/dryer. Pros: - Good insulation (sound and heat). I was in one of the cheaper first floor units where the walls/ceiling are concrete. At first that can make it feel prisony, but it actually has the nice advantage of meaning the unit is well insulated (cooler in summer, warmer in winter) and quieter. In exchange the apartment gets very little natural light (especially since Montclair is bordered by two multi-story buildings and is pretty close to them). - Generally quiet. I've had some very restful nights here. - Good location. It's relatively close to the Ave, and is very close to Trader Joe's and Safeway! - No pest issues! Pro/Con depending on perspective: - The first floor units tend to have a constant "whoosh" sound from air rushing between the buildings. I eventually just got used to it, but it's this quiet-to-medium loud sound of howling wind. It actually helps with drowning out other noise imo and I felt like by the end it was a pro (a free + constant white noise generator), but I could see it bothering some people. As for the negatives: - In-unit washer-dryer is less convenient than expected because it's one of those all-in-one units. It takes 5 hours to do a load with drying, and the drying power is pretty weak (and it's pretty noisy that whole time as the washer/dryer is not in a separate closet). - The area can be noisy at night sometimes. Especially since I was in the unit closest to the front door, and because it's the ave: there will be people screaming and yelling at midnight/1am sometimes. In my one year there there was this one guy that would always scream "UNCLE" for like 20 minutes walking up and down the ave, always past midnight. If you're further from the front this should be less of an issue. - Could often smell cigarette smoke from people who'd smoke outside the front door (not tenants, but neighbors). This was unfortunately once again because of the unit's position: the stove vent exhaust was where cigarette smells could enter. - Some mornings it would smell bad. Turns out it was because once again because of unit 101's positioning. To pass fire access water lines to the outside, they just drilled a hole under the sink in unit 101 leading to the outside. This created poor insulation that also leaked smells from the outside, and those smells turned out to be from people pissing on the corner of the building occasionally (saw it one morning when I woke up). - Getting hold of an actual human at Tripalink who can help you is very difficult. If you're able to get the *actual* property manager's number (which Tripalink agents will *NOT* give you for some reason), be sure to save it. Julie (the property manager) was actually pretty helpful once you can get her contact info. - Very little natural light. My one window faced a fence and a 7-story building. Higher floors will get better light, and will cost more. Overall Thoughts: Many of these negatives I'm pretty confident were particular to the unit I was in though (the fact that it was neighboring the front door). The unit was 101. I'd strongly recommend avoiding unit 101 if you live here to avoid those problems, but other than those issues I had a solid time at Montclair and would recommend as a place to live close to the ave with good appliances at a solid price. If I could, this review would be a 3.5 (since at least I didn't have to deal with cockroaches like I am at my new place in California). I hope that this review encourages Tripalink to try and improve some of the issues with unit 101 (exhaust intaking cigarette smoke, and hole in the wall under sink).