The community from the outside appears to be a wonderful place: all of the unit?s exteriors are done with a Tudor flair, and with each having its own character; the landscaping is varied and the grounds appear to be well-kempt, promoting a park-like feel; the management team are all smiles, seem enthusiastic and concerned about the community and come across as incredibly friendly and helpful ? almost too good to be true; and the renovated apartments often shown (the few they have) are well done by all appearances. Then again, appearances can be deceiving.



Let our experience serve as a cautionary tale:

The buildings, although decorated outside with a creative and attractive facade, are actually old and deteriorating. The apartments are known by the management team and most importantly, the maintenance crew, to be very noisy. We of course, weren?t informed of this until after we moved in and we finally had to complain about the noise preventing us from sleeping. We were routinely woken up at all hours of the night and kept up by the noise into the wee hours of the mornings (often nonstop from 10pm - 3am each night) by noisy neighbors stomping around upstairs. This was exacerbated by the creaky, incredibly noisy floor joists above our heads (and this is not to mention the loud music blaring from neighbors during the daytime ? the walls are paper thin when it comes to noise).



Two different maintenance men informed us they know about the noise problem in many apartments and one even said, ?oh yeah, they [apartments in most of the buildings] are all like that to some degree ? we know and we?re working on it but its an old complex. There?s not much we can do, but yeah yours is pretty bad - could hear the noise [upstairs] from out in the hallway the minute I walked in. Talk with the office if it keeps up. Maybe they can move you to another apartment. Who knows.?



The management team did nothing to correct the noise problem despite multiple requests to help, one way or another. The management which seemed very friendly and engaged prior to signing the lease, did absolutely nothing to help us until we notified the management 2 months in advance and in writing that we couldn?t take it anymore and we were not renewing our lease. Only after this did the management offer us a new apartment, and sent the maintenance crews to inspect and ?repair? our ceiling (and the noise actually got worse after the ?maintenance?). The noise at all hours of the night continued and got so bad we simply couldn?t sleep at all. We had to finally move out well before our lease expired and stayed in a local motel for a while just to finally catch up on some sleep, and until we could move into a new place and move the rest of our belongings out.



All the above alone would have been bad enough, except the management team (apparently incensed because we did not agree to sign a new lease for a different apartment in the complex) decided to claim we did not give them sufficient notice of moving. The management threatened to come after us for an unspecified additional number of months rent and assorted undefined penalties and refused to refund our deposit. Interestingly enough though, we had left the apartment cleaner than when we moved in because incidentally on a side note, Royal Crest did not clean the unit after the last occupant had moved out and prior to us moving in.



After we forwarded the matter to our lawyer, Royal Crest/AIMCO admitted they could not keep our deposit and were not entitled to additional rents or (fictitious) fees/penalties for simply not renewing the lease & finally returned our deposit ? 2 months after we had moved out.



Also, just to be complete:

In winter time the grounds maintenance crew at Royal Crest rarely shoveled the walks. The snow plows they hired to clear a path through the parking lot repeatedly plowed our car in with a bank of snow behind the car piled up over my waist on multiple occasions (I actually had to buy a shovel just to get out & it took almost 2 hours to dig myself out once). In addition, the grounds are not well lit at night in many parts of the complex. Concerning the rent, despite the aesthetics of the building facades and the grounds, Royal Crest is NOT worth the high rent they?re asking (particularly given the location out in Marlboro), and especially when the service provided by the management is so poor and the buildings are so old (circa 1970s').



I have never witnessed such petty, unprofessional and incompetent conduct by an apartment complex management team, least of all one belonging to such a prominent/national organization like AIMCO. I would never have expected the kind of environment we were subjected to and the treatment we received at an apartment complex like Royal Crest, which outwardly appears to be so dignified and harmonious.



Run, don?t walk away from this one ? there are a lot better places for a fraction of the price.

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