Ashton Place
Residents' Association
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What is Ashton Place? |
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Late in 2002, the property was renamed from “ASHTON PLACE” to “ARCHSTONE SAN JOSE”. There was no change of ownership or management associated with this rebranding, so everything you read on the net about “ASHTON PLACE” probably still applies to the property under its new name of “ARCHSTONE SAN JOSE”. Ashton Place in San José California is a large (approximately 948
unit) apartment complex owned and operated by Archstone-Smith Trust
(NYSE:ASN). Archstone Communities was formed by the merger of two
other entities (Security Capital Pacific Trust and Security Capital
Atlantic Inc.) in July 1998. In October 2001, Archstone
Communities merged with Charles E. Smith Residential Realty to form Archstone-Smith
Trust. Late in 2002, the property was renamed Archstone San Jose,
but no ownership or management change was associated with this rebranding. Archstone purchased the property about seven
years ago. Previously the complex was an Oakwood property (although
many of the residents are long term -- some having been residents for over 25
years!). The population, as might be expected in the Silicon Valley, is diverse. A wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, occupations, ages, income levels, and family stati are represented. |
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Who Are We? |
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We are the Ashton Place
Residents' Association. As you might expect, we are an association of
residents who live at Ashton Place. Of course, the Association is made
up of volunteers! The Association formed in 1997 when many
residents became concerned about a decline in the quality of the complex and
a reduction in amenities after the new management took over the property. There were a number of "trigger"
events that galvanized residents into action:
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What's Happened/Happening? |
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The "main event" is
that residents of Ashton Place filed over 100 "Rental Dispute and
Mediation Petitions" with the City of San José. While each of these
petitions is filed by an individual resident, the Association assisted in the
organizing and legwork related to these petitions. In particular, members of
the Association Board have been designated by most petitioners as their
formal representatives before the San José Rental Rights and Referrals
Program (although the Association itself is not involved in the representation
of individual petitioners). The process is time consuming for the
Association but is relatively simple for individual residents. This is
partially because of the City, understandably, being somewhat overwhelmed by
the number of petitions. However, a greater problem was that the apartment
management (Archstone-Smith) was resistant to negotiation. The last (of nearly 100) Mediation hearings
was held in December 1999. A final Mediation
Fact Finding Report was issued in July 2000. This Fact Finding Report specified awards for most petitioners with
the total amount totaling approximately $250,000. However, as expected, the
landlord appealed the decision, as did a few Petitioners – as a result, the
case was referred to the Arbitration phase. The last of the Arbitration hearings was held
in October 2003 and an Arbitration
Fact Finding Report was issued in May 2004. The awards specified
in the Arbitration Fact Finding
Report were of a similar level
to those granted in Mediation (although distributed among Petitioners
somewhat differently). The ninety day appeal window (during which Petitioners
and the Landlord could refer the decision to the judicial system for review)
expired without the landlord appealing and, to our knowledge, without any
Petitioner appealing. The landlord has indicated they will be sending the
award payments to individual Petitioners as specified in the Arbitration Fact Finding Report. One upside is that a number of residents have found that long standing problems get fixed (or at least patched!) when management becomes aware that a petition has been filed -- occasionally even before the petition is examined by the San José Rental Rights and Referrals Program. This presumably is out of management's concern for how successful their defense will be if they continue to ignore the problem. |
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Resident Tips |
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Some tenants have experienced
problems getting maintenance problems addressed. Unfortunately, if the
tenant doesn't keep a written record of requests, it is difficult for them to
prove in Small Claims Court or during a Rental Dispute hearing that they did
notify the landlord of the problem and how many times they did so. To protect your rights, it is best to either
make your service requests in writing and retain a copy of the request or
demand a copy of the Work Order each time you make a request. Make
sure these copies are dated and retain them. For each request, note the
resolution (Was problem fixed? How long did it take for maintenance
to respond? etc.). If the problem is not fixed in a reasonable
time, keep making written requests (keeping copies of course). If,
after filing multiple service requests, the problem is not fixed, send a
letter to management indicating that the problem has not been fixed in spite
of your best efforts and that you expect them to resolve the problem without
additional prompting and to notify you in writing when they believe the
problem is fixed. Unfortunately, in some cases, management's defense to unresolved maintenance problems is that "The tenant didn't tell us it was not fixed" just because the tenant gave up after filing many requests without action on management's part. The purpose of this final letter is to show that you have put the responsibility for fixing the problem on management and that until they notify you in writing that it is fixed, they can't claim that they think it was fixed. |
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Contacting the Ashton Place Residents' Association |
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Since you have access to this
web page, the easiest way to contact the Ashton Place Residents'
Association is via direct email ([email protected]). The Ashton Place Residents' Association does not currently maintain a US Postal Service mailing address. The Ashton Place Residents' Association
voicemail number is 1-206-666-8080
(note this area code is in Seattle so it is probably a long distance call for
you – this is the result of using the free web based voicemail service
k7.net). When leaving a message, please be sure to include your name,
callback number, the best days/times (PDT) to call, and a brief description
of the issue (including your unit number if you live at Archstone San Jose). Calls are normally returned within a couple
of days. |
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Links of Interest to Residents & Prospective Residents |
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Note that there have been some recent changes to the San José Rental Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Ordinance. In addition, the administration of the Ordinance is now the responsibility of the San José Rental Rights and Referrals Program within the San José Department of Housing (previously, it was part of the Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services). |
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San José Rental Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Ordinance (See Title 17, Chapter 17.23. Note also that “official” hard copies are available by contacting the San José Rental Rights and Referrals Program via the following link.) |
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San José Rental Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Information (You can fill out a petition on line at this location.) |
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"Tenant/Landlord"
handbook published by the State of California – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (At bottom of page you can download a PDF version that may be easier to review/save. Also, note disclaimers near front of handbook and the companion document reflecting more recent updates to California law.) |
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SCG Annual Financial Filing (10-K) for 1998 (856KB Text - Search for "Ashton Place"!) |
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Aerial photo of Archstone San
Jose Apartment complex The northwest corner of complex is left of dead center of this view. The buildings with the bright white roofs left of the center of the view are just west of the edge of the complex. The west edge of the Archstone San Jose property is the long driveway (and carports) extending from the freeway all the way up to the east/west street in the center of the view. On the other sides, the streets bound the property. Click on the picture to zoom in. Also, click on the Schools, Crime and Demographics for 95129 link below aerial view for stats on the zip code the complex is in. |
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For more information, please contact [email protected] |
