I have rented from the same property management (SMG) for approximately two years at Royal Glen Apartments in Comstock Park, MI, and enjoyed it very much. Here in Mount Dora, FL, however things are entirely different.
Nancy was the original manager who we leased under in July, 2008, but my wife and I have since watched two other managers come and go as of January, 2009. Record keeping for rent rates and payment history has been an absolute nightmare through the transitions. Nancy was spectacular the couple of times that we met with her, new managers are barely civil.
Maintenance is mediocre at best. For the first month things were okay, despite opening the door for the first time to a filthy and uncleaned apartment. We had several relatively minor issues which were remedied within a couple of weeks. A month or so later, during a tropical storm we had two large tree branches fall in our yard, one which barricaded my 7-month pregnant wife in the house and another which forced us to walk around the end of the building, through the grass, to squeeze into our doorway. The first branch was simply trimmed to create a tunnel passageway through to the door and finally removed two days later. Upon reporting the second branch several days after the first, we were given a lot of attitude as if it's our fault and our responsibility to clear away such things. Both branches were far too large to move by myself and required cutting into pieces with chainsaw to be removed, although the second took nearly a week to be removed. Soon after that a pipe leak sprung inside the wall between the bathroom and laundry room, and we received nasty remarks that the maintenance employee is now on after-hours work and very displeased. The wall behind our washer was destroyed that night and the repairs were made over about three days time. In the mean time, the entire hallway carpet in front of the bathroom as well as coat closet had become soaked. Rather than removing and replacing the carpet and padding, it was simply blow-dried with a fan. It took a couple requests and reminding them of my 7-month pregnant wife, my mold allergy, and the health concerns related to the rapidly growing black mold (inside the wall, outside the wall in the bathroom, and in the carpet/padding/floorboard in the hallway) to get a half-efforted bleach wash ON ONLY THE LAUNDRY ROOM WALL. Nothing was done for the hallway damage (aside from the fan dry) or the bathroom wall. ALSO, the two security lights in the building's front yard have not worked since we moved in. Request for investigation was reported back to us that the electrical wiring going out to the lamp is bad, and wouldn't at all be repaired due to expense. During the month's period after this, the entrance sign received new landscaping and the entire complex's sprinkler systems were reinstalled new. From my witness, the biggest issue with most of the old sprinklers is they needed to be readjusted for aiming. Such irresponsible spending when there are greater issues at hand was highly frustrating. Our washer and dryer were supplied by the apartment complex as part of our lease, and therefore their responsibility for repair, but it took a week for anyone to look at the washer after breaking down. The greater concern was, since our baby had now been born at this point, this is the only time we specifically stated no one is to enter without permission. My family and I came home one evening to find that not only had someone entered without our knowledge, but almost every light in the apartment had been left on. Next door neighbor has a roof leak that has caused a very large stain on the living room wall and black mold to grow, that has yet to be repaired since complaints beginning in June 2008.
Also, my wife and I have witnessed drug deals in our parking lot on many more than one occasion, and in two instances we had to phone for a police roll-through to break up small parties surrounding cars with loud stereos and drinking.
Fleas have been entering the apartment in droves and the biweekly pest control service has been seen only twice our entire stay here. Once they entered the apartment as well as sprayed around the building, the other time they backed the truck up to the building and sat in it for three hours before driving away having done nothing.
My family is now terminating our lease early despite consequences, for the purpose of moving into a much nicer and less expensive community because of our treatment at this complex. I apologize for such a long-winded narration, but I feel it's only fair to emphasize such issues and make a prospective tenant fully aware of the situation they may be putting themselves in.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/27/2009
I agree. I've had almost the same things happen to me. plus a few other things..

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