When I first moved here I loved the building and everythign was fine. However as i have lived here a mere 6 months, I am more than displeased with the way things are handled here. Most aggrevating is the fact that in 6 months the Office has LOST my rent check and tried to say that I never paid and charge me late fees, and threaten eviction! This month and the month prior, once i HAND DELIEVERED my rental check to a woman working in the office and she lost it. This month I put my rent check along with important paperwork stating when I would be moving out etc, in a large envelope and used the night drop the evening of the 31st. The office is COMPLETELY incompetent. Another instance, when i moved I had called about transferring the power into my name, and they NEVER called me back. A different time i was having a large table delievered and went to the office to ask that the deliviery man bring it to my door and not leave it in the office. Surprise! The office signed for it and THEN called me to come get it.I asked if they had a dolly to help me move it and they said no. For 45 minutes they WATCHED as I struggled to move a colossal package by putting my entire weight into and scraping it along the ground. Finally, a maintainence person saw me and got, surprise, A DOLLY! Office aside there are plenty of other problems I have encountered here. Most disgustingly, residents allow their pets to urinate and defecate INSIDE the building!!!!!!!! There have been numerous signs threatign action from various residents as well as managment and yet there is a large pile of crap just outside of my door as I type. Also, the walls are extremly thin, and neighbors are extremly LOUD. At night when I try to go to sleep, I can hear people talking and laughing plain as day. And my particular neighbors are continually BANGING on the walls, to the extent that a beautiful glass pedstal I had in the cabinents was BROKEN!!!!!!!!! They were hitting the walls hard enough to break items in MY KITCHEN! Also, the night i moved in there was a dead cockroach in my apartment, and i have seen a few in the "fitness room", a term i am using lightly since the room consists of a few VERY OUTDATED pieces of equipment of which over 50% is broken. And finally, there is a hole in the floor of my apartment, which goes all the way through to the apartment below me. This place is ghetto.

UPDATE: It has been over 3 months ince moving out of this disgusting and dilapidated apartment and the rental office still has not returned my security deposit. Upon moving out i requested a walk through inspection with some one in the office and they told me they didnt have time before i left and they would just lok it over after i was gone.... Well BIG MISTAKE of me to trust them. WHen i left and turned in the Gate Keys, Mailbox Keys and Apt Keys I also included a letter that stated my new address and my cell phone and instructions to please contact me about any issues or questions. Well Like i said it is now 3 months later, they still have not returned my deposit and everytime i call they tell me the manager is not there and they will call me back, and give me a run around story about where my check is and when i will get it. No doubt they will try to stiff me for the full amount, seeing as they never provided me with a list of damages to contest and according to GA after 30 days of not returning a deposit they are liable for 3 times the amount plus legal fees. If i ever get it back i will up date again. PLEASE JUST TAKE MY ADVICE AND STAY AWAY fromt his place.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/14/2008
I am glad that I read this review. I have considered moving into the complex becasue my current lease is almost up and I have always wanted to live in an affordable loft. Well this review has changed my mind about moving into this Loft Complex. This review is not the first one that I have read calling this place one from HELL. Why hasn't any of the residents complained and the manager FIRED? That is what need to happen so some POSITIVE CHANGES can occur. I really hate hearing that people do not clean up behind their pets. It makes it really hard for pet owners like me to find places willing to accept pets and have reasonable PET FEES and DEPOSITS. I am sorry to hear that your experience has been so awful. WHAT IS UP WITH THE PEST PROBLEM???? I thought that pest control was included???????? The complex I live in is OK. The management and maintenance people are wonderful. Problems brought to the attention of the complex manager are handled promptly. She doesn't ignore anything or anyone. I wish that my building was more UP TO DATE but compared to where you live I live in a PALACE. There are some things here that I would change but I do not regret living here and overall if I cannot find a better place reasonably priced I will renew my lease.
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/19/2008
I too thought about moving there because my I've always dreamed of living in a loft by myself with a top level which i hear they offer but a few friends of mine have told me that the neighborhood is bad, neighbors are sketchy, and now after this review I've completely decided against it. I don't like people to play with my money. I'm in school I don't have time for that. Thanks for being honest about this place. And yea, they do need a new manager.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/23/2009
Sounds like this person has lots of issues. I have had alot of friends live at Johnston Mill Lofts and they loved it. Loft living isn't for everyone. You have to like this type of apartment.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/06/2009
Wow, your judging a place for a few dead roaches. News flash, you're in the south. They are everywhere. You can be the cleanest person living in the nicest neighborhood but you will see a roach or two. As for the office losing your rent check, you should take a copy of your ledger from your checkbook or better yet, write a new check for the rent. More importantly always ask for a receipt when paying your rent. Common sense people. Mistakes happen and even though it is your money and you are entrusting a management company (which you should be able to) be smart about it too. Always, always, always get a receipt. Also, you don't call the management office about transferring your power. You call the power company. It is a courtesy of most management offices to allow you to have packages delivered. It is not their responsibility to take care of your package nor be liable for it if something happens to it. They sign for it because you sent it there and okay'd it for them to sign. This is free choice on your part but you have to realize they are not responsible for it. This goes for all apartment communities. It is just something they offer to hold for you for your convenience if you choose. You do not have to have your packages delivered in the office and no apartment community that I know of will deliver your packages for you. Unless they say they offer concierge services which I highly doubt you'll find in any Columbus Apartment Communities. It was nice of the maintenance tech to offer you a dolly once he saw you needed help. I doubt management followed you to watch you struggle with a package and most offices do not keep up with maintenance tools, let alone dolly's to offer you one. If you knew you were getting a large heavy package. Why didn't you have a back up plan? What if the maintenance man was working on someone's work order? What if the office ladies are busy and even if they knew there was a dolly somewhere, they couldn't get it to you? Your not a princess, your an adult that has to have back up plans to your actions. If I were the management company I would not want to loan out a dolly because they would probably have to track it down to get it back. Unfortunately you cannot choose your neighbors and living in an apartment community can have its drawbacks. Not everyone is clean. I have visited several apartment communities that have long hallways and many people will let their animals defecate and urinate in the halls. Disgusting yes, but at least it is not carpeted hallways and can be easily cleaned. This is just the price you pay for living in an apartment community with hallways. Dogs being kept inside all day have to pee really bad by the time their owners get home and don't make it outside in time. True the owners should clean up after them but most people are not very considerate. And if you were smart, if they took your deposit unlawfully as you put it, you could take other measures to get it back. If you broke your lease, or left an unclean or damaged apartment they have the right to take your deposit. It's funny how some people, no matter where they live will have a problem with almost everything and others have no problems at all. This is the case at any apartment community you live in. There will always be someone that absolutely has nothing nice to say about the place and will swear they were untreated fairly. I know this because I was in property management for years. At the same time, there are those that will absolutely love the same place and will have loads of great things to say about the place, including the management team. When you search for a place to live, you have to consider all the possibilities. Not just what the apartment looks like. You have to look at location, your lifestyle, your expectations (which may be unreasonable for the place your choosing), your neighbors (which you cannot choose) and most importantly is Apartment living right for you? If you get annoyed by everything your neighbors do, what they don't do, noise, parking, not getting your way when you want it, then apartment living is probably not for you. Apartment living is a convenience of no yard work or maintenance. When you want everything your way, buy a house and do your own maintenance and yard work. If you are looking for planned activities, social networking and a place to party, go back to college and join a frat or sorority. This is the real world. It is not perfect and you will never find the "perfect" place to live.
From: lisadef	Date: 04/07/2009
wow- in response tothe last comment let me just ask who you work for, is it JML? I can't believe you read an honest review and then try to blame all the problems on the tennent. If you always have roaches that's pretty gross but I have NEVER had a roach problem in any place I have lived other than JML. And as far as the rent checks go, i DID have receipts, But after two weeks of no one calling to say "hey we are missing your check" I assumed everything went through as it had done every other month.They never contacted me to let meknow there was a problem and that is where I take issue. If they would have said we never recieved your rent check I could have showed them my receipt and ended the problem there but they did not do that. In fact I think they waited on purpose to try and get even more money out of me. They thought because I lived there myself and was a young woman they could trick me. It's pretty disgusting that they were trying to take advantage of me because I was alone in a new state with my husband gone.I followed through and was a clean responsible tennant and I never expected naything above or beyond what I was told & promised BEFORE I signed my lease. The office told me they would have packages sent to the apartment first and if no one was available and ONLY then would they be brought to the office and signed for. I didn't just decide on my own that is what should happen, I was told that was the policy, and then I asked a second time to be sure. That is just flat out lying. If they never intended to have my package delieverd they should have just told me so and I wouldn't have ever ordered it. I simply assumed they would honor what they had told me. And as far as having a backup plan, that wouldbe great but is not always possible,as in my case, where my husband was away training for 3 months because he is in the US Army, but I should have never needed a backup plan. They told me plain and simple that was the policy and then did not implement it. And no they didn't follow me because I barely moved. If your familiar with JML there is a long ramp leading up to the office from behind and thats as far as i got in 45 minutes. Struggling to push a massive box down a concrete ramp while the two ladies who we're in the office stood in the window watching me. And yes Hon, if you're the property manager, you know whether or not there is a dolly. They told me no because the didn't want to or feel like tracking it down. I can't believe you feel it is no ok to allow a pet to defecate inside a building or outdside and not pick it up which they also do there... But that is not normal or "ok" by any standards. That is gross and could lead to health issues among residents especially children who are around. And just so you know, I left my apartment spotless. In fact I'm pretty sure it was even cleaner when i left than it was when i arrived. I took a lot of time making sure the next person didn't have to worry about finding unclean or flat out nasty things like i did. I did have to take action to get my deposit back. I had to contact a lawyer after months months of phone calls and emails were ignored.Finally once a lawyer was introduced things began moving down the correct path. But only because according to the law I could have dragged them to court and been entitled to three times the amount of security deposit PLUS legal fees. Once JML realized i wasn't going to allow them to continue to brush me off and keep my money, and that since they were at fault they would be responsible for gicing me even more money they caved and RUSHED my deposit back hoping I would drop it there. And after everything i went through with them I just did not want to have any ties to them for anything so I did. I'm not the type of person who finds fault with everything, and typically im the person who gives out more chances than most. I try to understand why something happens and give them a chance to explain before getting upset. But with this place, they got so many more chances than they ever deserved. I heard they have new management, but i still would never live there again. And i still will continue to tell everyone not to live there.

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