Review History for DustinLH00

Extreme Disappointment - Miserable Tenant

I moved in to Amli at Oakhurst North in October 2010 and have had a miserable 7 months of living here. I made 3 visits to the community and 2 of those were spent viewing the model unit, so I tried to complete due process before deciding to move here. Everything seemed great at the beginning, but it was all a show. First, I take major issue with the concept of signing a lease before viewing the actual unit that you will be moving into. I was not happy about this and tried to work around it, but they would not allow that. So, as a heads up, you are required to sign the lease, generally while the unit is occupied by a current tenant, before you ever see the unit you are renting. On moving day, I was given 2 apartment keys, one of which did not work. Two mailbox keys, both of which did not work. A garage door opener and a keypad code, which did not work. It took 3 maintenance tickets just to get all of my keys and codes working correctly (2 attempts for the mailbox). Soon, I noticed that the hot water takes at least 3-4 minutes to get from the water heater to any faucet in the unit (kitchen sink, dishwasher, bathroom sink, and shower). This is an EXTREMELY long wait when you are waiting on the hot water, especially for a 700 sq ft apartment. After doing my first load of laundry, I noticed the washer misses the spin cycle 75% of the time and the dryer is extremely loud for the first 10 minutes of running before it warms up. Maintenance states that they have to break before they can be replaced. Also, the dishwasher doesn't appear to be insulated as it is kinda loud and annoying to use while trying to watch tv or sleep. I had to use 2 full bottles of drano and a plunger on the bathtub drain as it was over ankle deep in standing water during a shower. The tiles in the kitchen, bathroom, and utility room are peal and stick tile squares that were placed directly on top of the previous sheet linoleum. So in numerous corners, they are coming up and have to be constantly pushed down. The carpet in the unit was installed in entirely too many sections for such a small apartment, so numerous seams are visible. Also, it has got to be the cheapest carpeting ever made, as the pile sheds regularly. Even after a good vacuum job, you can see pieces laying on the carpet. The community grounds are littered with debris and dog poop. They tore up the area near my apartment to install a drainage pipe to help with excess rain water pooling. Now the area is muddy (as they did a crappy job of putting the sod back) and it doesn't work. Every time it rains, the water still pools around the building. There are numerous exterior light fixtures on the building and garages that need new bulbs and have needed them since I moved in. There are parts of the siding that are falling off of the building and are not being repaired. The building I am in is a dog building, as I have a small dog. The neighbors' dogs bark constantly and can be heard on all sides around me. They do not allow certain breeds of dogs, like German Shepherds, but the neighbor near me is a maintenance worker for Amli and he has one, so I guess it doesn't matter if you work here. His dog is by far the loudest of them all. Saturdays are the worst, as all the owners leave and it sounds like a kennel around here. I have had no issues with the HVAC unit (knock on wood), but I do find it odd that the heat is dependent upon hot water somehow. I don't know how this works, but basically if you do not have hot water, you don't have heat. After living here 2 months, I noticed a wet spot on the carpet. It turns out that the water heater had a valve leaking on it that leaked through the wall and into the dining area. It had been leaking for quite some time as the baseboard trim and carpet were soaked. I didn't notice it right away as furniture was in the way. I called the emergency maintenance number and someone came over to fix the leak and the work ticket was closed. I had to call again 2 days later to find out about the damage to the carpet, trim, and wall. They came in and pulled the carpeting back and placed a large fan to dry the area. The ticket was completed again. So 2 days later I had to call again and ask how much longer this fan had to run (on my electricity nonetheless) and when the rest of the work would be completed. They came out and put the carpeting back down and left the fan. The ticket was completed again. I had to call again and tell them they needed to replace the trim (which was so damaged it was crumbling) and the carpet smelled horribly musty. They came back out and replaced the padding and shampooed the carpet. The ticket was completed again! I had to call the office again and complain about the trim. It turns out that the leak was still occurring, so they had to fix that again. They completed that ticket and I had to call again to complain about the trim and carpet. They finally came out and replaced the padding (again) and replaced the trim, but not the carpeting. They shampooed the carpet and took their fan. It took a total of 7 weeks from start to finish for them to complete the job and for me to move my furniture back in. They have a service guarantee that if they take longer than 1 day to complete your maintenance request, then you get 1 day free rent each day over that first day. When I tried to use this "benefit" I was told that water damage didn't qualify and was given a gift card to a retail store instead. If all of this wasn't enough to make me want to move, I have my upstairs neighbors. The family that lives above me (Mom, 2 kids, 2 dogs) has got to be the most ignorant, rude, inconsiderate, and disrespectful family in the community. They are constantly loud and the cheap construction here does not help. I can hear them constantly banging on the floor, running on their treadmill (which shakes my walls), playing basketball on their balcony (which is really loud as it shakes that entire wall), singing at the top of their longs, and listening to one of their dogs bark constantly (which has the shrillest bark I have ever heard). I can hear them urinate and shower as well, like other reviewers have mentioned. I heard their toilet run constantly for 9 days straight and called maintenance who couldn't do anything about it since there was no water leaking in my apartment. They constantly drag their kitchen table across the floor which rattles the entire ceiling and their unbalanced washer sounds like a helicopter landing on the roof. They let the yappy dog out on their balcony to bark for hours and pee which then falls down to my patio. The kids constantly bounce basketballs near the entryway and yell there as well, which is extremely loud from within my unit. Just recently their dog attacked my dog and I when we were outside, which got me 2 bites on my hand and my dog was bit as well. They apologized, but I couldn't look her in the face after all of the misery they have caused me here. In conclusion, I pay $979 for the 1 bedroom apartment and $79 for the garage. This is a ton of money for such crappy living conditions and service. I want to move out as soon as I can, but there is a catch. I have to give them 60 days notice if I am leaving. Wish me luck on finding an apartment in July/August that will be available in October, so I can give my notice the beginning of August. If I cant find anything I might be homeless...