The laundry room washer / dryer in our building is having ________ issue OR
I was charged ‘$8.00’ for a laundry cycle

Most of our common area laundry rooms are maintained by an outside vendor and the equipment is also owned/provided by this vendor.  Because of this, North Berkeley Properties, cannot issue refunds or send its own handymen to repair issues with laundry equipment.  Residents should check the poster in the laundry room for the proper contact phone number or website.  As a courtesy to other residents and neighbors, please leave a note on the problem machine so other residents do not encounter the same issue.

The $8.00 charge on your credit card is a per-authorization and NOT an actual charge.  This is the most commonly reported issue and the laundry room has a poster clarifying this.  For reference please also see: WaveRider $8.00 Pre-Authorization

Most of our laundry room are maintained by either:

WASH Laundry Service Request

CSC ServiceWorks Service Request

Our electricity is partially out (working in one room but not the other)

If power is out in the bathroom and/or kitchen areas please make sure that all electrical outlets are reset.  Some outlets will have small rectangular buttons in the  middle labeled ‘reset’ and ‘test’ on them.  Press the ‘reset’ button to see if this solves the issue.  Sometimes it may take a bit of pressure to to press the ‘reset’ button.

If all outlets are reset and power is still out please look for the circuit breaker banel.  Circuit breakers are usually located on a wall in the hallway of your apartment or inside a closet in a bedroom or living room (they can often be hidden behind clothes/items).  Reset the breaker by turning the switch off then back on to reset the circuit.  NOTE: tripped breakers have to be reset by first turning them off then back on.  You cannot reset a tripped breaker by just pushing it back on.

Why do breakers / outlets trip?
This often occurs due to electrical overload but may sometimes be related to a faulty appliance.  Running a high number of appliances that generate heat or use electrical coils (eg: hair dryer, toaster oven, rice cooker, microwave, curling iron, etc.) on the same circuit will often cause this issue.  Try relocating the appliance to another circuit and/or running at different intervals to prevent future issues.

Our electricity is out for our entire apartment

Please check your circuit breakers (see above) to see if this solves the issue.  If not, you may wish to call PG&E to check if there is a local power outage.  Residents can report and check the status of a power outage by calling 800-PGE-5000

The smoke detector / carbon monoxide detector is beeping once every minute

This is an indicator function of safety devices to alert you that the battery is running out.  Smoke detectors generally use a standard 9V battery while CO detectors use AA or AAA batteries.  If you are unable to reach the device due to height please contact the office so our maintenance team can send someone over to replace the batteries.

WARNING: Disconnecting the devices or removing the batteries is a serious safety issue.  DO NOT disable these safety devices.  Please contact the office if battery replacement is needed.

My air conditioning is not working

None of the units managed by North Berkeley Properties have built-in air conditioning units.  If you have a wall thermostat and see an option for the ‘fan’ or ‘air conditioner’ that does not mean your unit has air conditioning.  Most thermostats sold in hardware stores can control both heating units and air conditioning units.

I dropped ______ down the elevator shaft

It happens more often than you think!  Airpods, keys, phones, etc. have all accidentally fallen down an elevator shaft.  Residents should use caution when entering / exiting elevator cars to prevent lost items.  Cal OSHA prohibits residents or our maintenance team from crawling or entering into elevator shafts.  These are confined spaces that only trained elevator technicians can enter.  Most of our elevators are serviced and inspected monthly by our vendor (Paramount Elevator of Oakland).  We can request that they look for lost items in the shaft during these regular service calls (no cost to residents).  Residents that need items retrieved immediately can hire them directly.  Please be advised that elevator tech hourly rates are $175+ per hour with 1-hour minimum.