Ralph Hwang is a property manager in Davis. He owns and privately rents several apartments and condos throughout the town. RENTERS BEWARE. He is a BAD landlord. He often ignores emails regarding fixes to important, health-concerning repairs such as: gas leaks, missing fire alarms, missing light bulbs, etc. He does not handle matters in legal or ethical ways. He does not care about his tenants. DO NOT rent from this man, you will regret it. See reviews on https://localwiki.org/davis/Triebhaus_Apartments by users dannyboy and VicM for more information and other extremely negative experiences.
"2009-03-20 22:34:51 DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT LIVE AT TRIEBHAUS!!! I lived here for a year and, at first, Raplh Hwang seems nice enough, but when something goes wrong, his conniving side shows through. Coincidentally, my current manager at work was one of his tenants and she fully agrees that he is absolutely shady. Also, the tenant who lived in my unit prior to my living at Triebhaus, warned me that Ralph Hwang was a "difficult person." What happened at my apartment also happened to my neighbor in the same complex within 2 weeks: The washing machine flooded our upstairs level and subsequently leaked through the ceiling of our downstairs level and caused significant damage. The handy man at the time informed me that all the washers and driers were all purchased from another complex which was getting rid of them (they were old and used machines!). The handy man also informed me that he had just finished dealing with the same problem at my neighbor's place. The worse part was not the flooding. The worse part was that Ralph accused my roommates and I of damaging the machine and that we would have to pay $2000 dollars for the clean-up and $80 for calling his handy man!!! I threatened to talk to a lawyer before agreeing to anything and he quickly changed his mind. Then, unbelievably, after the washing machine repair man told us that the machine was fixed, the same flooding occurred as soon as I washed a load of laundry. As expected, Ralph tried to force us to pay for the clean up and then I threatened to talk to a lawyer and, again, he backed off. In the end though, he kept nearly all of our deposit, sending me a check for $134 out of $1500. But that's not the end... he later put a stop-payment on the check, and sent me a letter, saying that the $134 was actually the amount that we owed him for damages (which I refused to pay!). So, he kept all of the deposit. NEVER EVER LIVE HERE OR RENT FROM RALPH WHANG!!!
P.S. I'm Chinese and Ralph Hwang just makes all use Chinese Americans look bad. —dannyboy"
"2011-09-16 23:06:46 We lived in some condos located next to this complex. After a couple of years, the property was purchased by Ralph Hwang, who owns Triebhaus too, apparently. Fair warning to anyone signing a lease with this guy; he's a total shiester. We rented the condo there for 5 years and never had a single negative incident with Ralph. We always paid up on time, and he, in turn, gave us first priority to renew the lease on a yearly basis. After building a rapport with him for literally years, the time came for us to move. That's when it all went south. We cleaned the apartment thoroughly. A week before we were officially done with the lease, we had to pack up and hit the road for our big move. Since we were still technically tenants for that last week, we had asked our brother in law and his wife to go back into the unit and do one last thorough cleaning. This was made clear to Ralph in writing, and he said that he understood. The next day, we left with the Uhaul, and Ralph changed the locks. Our family could not get into the unit to do anything at that point. Still, the place was in great condition (as described by Ralph himself, who had done a walk through with an inspector the day before), so we weren't concerned.
A week later, I receive a 'bill' via email. It was basically a non-itemized (illegal) bill that claimed we owed him $1400 dollars BEYOND our security deposit. When I asked him about the cost, he said, in writing, that it was to repair "normal wear and tear". I informed him that unless the list was itemized, it wasn't going to be considered legal. He responded with an itemized list. Every last point on the list was very much normal wear and tear... things like replacing the carpets throughout (manditory after 5 years in the state of CA at no cost to tenants), repairs to the outdoor AC unit, etc. At that point, he also threatened to sue me in order to get his money. I responded with the exact state rental codes that specifically stated how his proposed fixes were not the responsibility of his tenant, but his responsibility alone. He then immediately went silent... no contact, and I've never heard from him since.
Bottom line, after years of good rapport, he still tried to rip us off while blatantly ignoring the illegality of his claims. The fact that he makes it practice to prey on his tenants is deplorable. Don't rent from him, you'll regret it —VicM"