GLENDALE, AZ — Residents at Buenas Apartments in Glendale say they have been hit with sudden rent increases and eviction warnings after receiving notices that gave them only five days to pay. Tenants who say they paid on time were surprised to find letters saying their monthly rent and fees had jumped by hundreds of dollars, leaving them unsure how to stay housed.
The notices have created immediate financial pressure for people who say they are already living on fixed incomes or government assistance. Some residents say the new demands are simply impossible to meet, especially when they are being asked to come up with large sums on very short notice. The apartment complex is near 67th Avenue and Maryland.
Residents say rent jumped by hundreds of dollars overnight
Autumn Toms said her original lease listed rent and fees totaling $1,198. After the new notice arrived, she said she was told to pay $1,618 instead. That is a jump of more than $400, and the letter warned that failure to pay within five days could lead to eviction.
Other tenants said they received similar notices that showed they owed at least $1,000 more than their usual payments. Residents described the change as sudden and confusing, especially because some said they had been paying what their leases required before the new amounts arrived.
The scale of the increases has left many tenants scrambling to figure out whether they can stay in their apartments or will be forced out. For households with little financial flexibility, even a temporary increase of that size can create an immediate housing crisis.
Fixed incomes make the notices harder to absorb
Residents said many people at the complex depend on Social Security or other government-funded assistance, which makes an unexpected increase especially hard to manage. Several tenants said they have no realistic way to absorb hundreds of extra dollars on short notice, particularly when the deadline to pay is just days away.
That concern has made the notices feel less like a billing dispute and more like a threat to basic stability. Tenants said some neighbors are worried about where they would go if they are evicted, and what it would take to replace housing in a crowded rental market.
Shannon Price said the people living there are trying to do the right thing and should not be punished if they are willing to help solve problems. She said the situation has left residents frustrated and asking why the complex would take that approach.
Air conditioning, pests and water complaints add to the strain
The rent notices are only one part of the pressure residents say they have been living with at Buenas Apartments. Tenants reported long-running maintenance problems, including apartments without air conditioning for months. Some residents who do have cooling said vents are leaking.
Other complaints include roaches, toilet problems and brown water. Residents said management has either ignored the issues or failed to fix them adequately, which has added to the sense that tenants are not getting basic services in return for what they pay.
For many households, the combination of higher costs and unresolved living conditions has been especially frustrating. A unit that already has maintenance problems becomes much harder to justify when the rent itself is suddenly being raised by hundreds of dollars.
Attorney general lawsuit already raised questions about the landlord
The complaints come after Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a lawsuit in August 2024 against Buenas Communities LLC. In that case, her office said the company had willingly neglected to provide habitable living conditions for residents and cited what it described as patterns of neglect and deception by the corporate landlord.
That earlier legal action has put added attention on the company behind the Glendale complex. Residents now say the latest rent notices fit into a wider pattern of problems, even as they continue to look for a way to remain in their homes.
The lawsuit does not resolve the current notices on its own, but it adds context to the complaints coming from tenants. The disputes over repairs, water quality and habitability have now collided with the new rent demands and short eviction deadlines.
Residents seek answers while the company remains silent
Outreach was made to the company that owns Buenas Apartments, but no response had been received. That leaves tenants with few immediate answers about whether the increases can be challenged, changed or delayed before the five-day deadline passes.
For now, residents say they are left to weigh the cost of paying far more than they expected against the risk of eviction. Some are also dealing with the practical question of how to respond while still trying to handle repairs, utilities and everyday expenses.
The situation has become a test of how quickly tenants can organize, document their concerns and get help. At the same time, it has become a housing emergency for people who say they were current on rent until the new notices arrived.
What the Glendale tenants say the notices mean day to day
The people living at Buenas Apartments describe the notices as more than a billing change. They say the letters arrive in the middle of already difficult circumstances, with broken systems, uncomfortable living conditions and little time to react before eviction is threatened.
Toms said she believes the owners need to fix what is happening because tenants are being hurt by it. Price said the complex has good residents who want to cooperate, and she questioned why the situation had been handled in a way that creates so much fear.
For Glendale tenants, the immediate question is whether they can keep up with the new demands while waiting for answers about the property itself. Until they get those answers, the notices remain a source of anxiety and uncertainty for the people who live there.
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