It's anecdotal, but my experience with corporate owned apartments over past 6 years in Bay Area, when it comes to maintenance/rent hike has been positive. I thi

It's anecdotal, but my experience with corporate owned apartments over past 6 years in Bay Area, when it comes to maintenance/rent hike has been positive. I think increment has been around 2% usually. Lease length are 11-15 month usually. And deposit is usually lower than most independent listings I see on craigslist. They can however at times be slow, and frustrating, for some random things you'd need. But I can deal with it. In contrast, my girlfriend who lived in a shared apartment with independent landlord, wouldn't fix heat, and then did a cheap replacement, which broke in few months, and refused again. And now she's out of the apartment, not giving back the amount he owes to her. I'm not sure if there any data to backup, but at-least in city, it seems like independent landlords are possibly worse.