Aqua at Marina Del Rey Apartments - Marina Del Rey, California

cameron C.

Have lived here for over a year and the maintenance staff is always so amazing. They are incredibly timely in responding to requests, have a great attitude, get the job done well, and are eager to help in any way they can. I have submitted various different requests ranging from big repairs to appliance installation help and they always do a fantastic job!! I want to shout out Carlos and David specifically for all their hard work and help over the last year, thank you both so so much!!

Brendan C.

My oldest son rented an apartment at this complex from April 2023 through March 2024 and had a horrible experience as a tenant. His storage unit in the supposedly "secured" storage room in the parking garage was burglarized twice with several other attempted break-ins. The thieves stole thousands of dollars worth of power tools, hand tools and camping equipment. Aside from calling the police, the property manager made no effort to remedy the security of the "secured" storage room and refused to share surveillance camera footage of the parking garage. We think it was inside job committed by criminals affiliated with property management staff.

Next, a severe roof leak ruined the ceiling and walls in the primary bathroom of the apartment. The property management staff ruined all my kid's bath towels and bath mats when they removed the drywall in the bathroom. They did nothing else to repair the damage despite weekly requests for updates and the bathroom was unusable for the last 2 months of the term of the lease and festered mold.

They refused to give a rent concession for the unusable bathroom. On top of that, they kept the security deposit claiming that my kid had damaged the bathtub that was damaged by the roof leak! They had the gall to say that my kid actually owed them money despite repeated requests to return the security deposit.

Bottom line, this is a scumbag operation. Beware!

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2024: My son filed and won a small claims case against Aqua at Marina Del Rey with the judge awarding him $4k in damages! Suffice it to say, the judge was displeased by how my son was treated as a tenant.

Of course though, the scumbags that this company has running it filed an appeal of the small claims judgment instead of just owning their actions and poor treatment.

Just another reason not to rent here! Even when they get slapped by the judge for appalling behavior, they double down. I’ll provide an update when he wins round 2!

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2025: My son won the appeal of the small claims lawsuit—2-0 against the bad guys! But now I’m sure they’ll make it difficult to collect the $3.5k judgment. The next order of business is to force them to reverse the negative credit report they filed because my son wouldn’t pay the extortion that was the balance that Aqua claimed was due despite the apartment being returned to them in better condition than received (aside from the water damage from the roof leak). We’ll keep punching back until they do the right thing and reverse the negative credit report.

Apparently, there is a class action lawsuit against Essex, the property manager since fraudulently withholding security deposits and claiming bogus charges on move out is their M.O. So, if they’ve withheld your deposit, you shouldn’t take it lying down. You’ll get double or triple your security deposit back if you make the effort to go to small claims court against them.

Tenn E.

We have been living here for 2 years now. Apart from the mold problem that is impossible to get rid of, management is and always has been terrible. Extremely hard to get ahold of when you need them. When you try to knock on their door (because it is locked and there is no other way to get ahold them) they purposely ignore you. Packages are always being stolen and management says there is nothing they can do about it. We were told today that none of the cameras on site actually work (apart from the cameras in the actual package room) so if your package is delivered anywhere other than the package room (which happens a lot) they can’t see who stole it. It’s a huge security risk that no cameras actually work. When we asked the one male management worker on site today if people can just steal packages with no repercussions he said “that’s right buckaroo”. He also advised us that they were moving management completely off site so there would be no one there we can actually reach. Just be aware that this place is not run well if you decide to move here. The best part of this entire complex is Carlos who works in maintenance. He’s super competent and super friendly. If they could only hire an entire staff of Carlos’s they would have a very happy community.

Quanchao L.

Update: Call the office and hopefully it can be resolved.

TL;DR: The management is terrible which can even tow your car at the assigned parking, and don’t expect to receive a response within the promised timeframe.

We’ve had ongoing issues with parking since we moved in. When we first arrived, our car got towed because we were given the wrong parking assignment and they gave us a wrong assignment number.The second time, we were directed to a spot that was already occupied. It took several rounds of communication and a third attempt before we finally got a proper parking space. They did reimbursement the towing fee after we wasted hours of communication. But although they promised to work fee us for parking fees during the time we didn’t have an assigned spot, we haven’t received any update yet.

Additionally, the new parking assignment form they asked us to sign is confusing. It seems to remove one of our cars from the assignment, which contradicts our agreement since we have two cars, but the form only reflects one car being assigned.

It is not a big deal by itself by given the previous parking issues, we do not want to sign the confusing document and request a more clear version which shows both cars, but the request was simply ignored.

We recently hope to remove a roommate from the lease, but I don’t understand why this should be tied to changes in our parking situation as they require us to sign the parking agreement amendment first.

I sent email pointing out the above points but no response was received after 48h timeline in the autoreply.

The way management handles parking issues and many other things has been really disappointing.

E K.

I just moved into my apartment, and David was incredible! He quickly fixed the fridge positioning, toilet bowl alignment, replaced some light bulbs, and even took care of the entry door. He came in right away, was super professional, and made sure everything was perfect. I really appreciate how efficient and friendly he was. Thanks, David, for making my move-in so smooth!

A B.

I had the pleasure of speaking with the Manager, Dawn and I couldn't be more impressed with her knowledge and professionalism. She was quick to respond to me and addressed my concerns regarding access to quality schools, neighborhood safety and the amenities offered there at Aqua Marina Del Rey apartments. As I narrow down my search, these luxury apartments are definitely at the top of my list.

Lara H.

Essex properties are unanimously terrible. Between mold issues that they refuse to address, and general horrible management. Sassy responses to reviews (which I would admittedly typically appreciate if it weren’t towards an effort to render my babies homeless). Hard no.

Sophie Y.

I never write reviews, but this time I have to. I am not a picky person, and the living situation here is nice. But too many of my packages have been stolen...the package room is an absolute mess and I've heard that if you don't take everything from your mailbox locker that they just clean out YOUR PERSONAL MAIL BOX. The package room is an absolute nightmare. Everyone can basically take any package they want and get away with it. The back door where they deliver packages is supposed to be locked, but is open and anyone from the outside can walk in. I've been in the package room at night and have seen the door propped open with a wooden door stopper. It is hard NOT to feel like the stealing of packages is an inside job because I would get a notification saying I have a package and instantly go down stairs only to search for 2 HOURS and not find anything.