Lakeview Square

Crime-Ridden with Unresponsive Management

From: -Anonymous-
Date posted: 3/23/2006
Years at this apartment: 2001-01-01 - 2006-01-01
2 responses

Pros: 1) Great location near Sawmill, but without too much traffic; 2) attractive grounds, especially in spring through fall when the trees are fully leafed out; 3) relatively quiet; 4) decent price for the square footage; 5) nice floorplan with 2 good-sized bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms; 6) great to have a one-car garage, though parking of the other vehicle was difficult and left it exposed to thieves (see below).

Cons: 1) Went from very little crime to a terrible crime problem overnight, all throughout the complex - my car was broken into three times in a few months and someone walked into my kitchen and stole my purse off the counter WHILE WE WERE HOME - I lost a lot of money, my checkbook, my cell phone, my PDA. Similar incidents happened to many of our neighbors - I actually got used to seeing people crying in their driveways while filling out police reports - talk about ghetto. Management was indifferent and only vaguely apologetic, said they were "trying to figure out which new tenant was a criminal." Now there's some discriminating renting practices. We ultimately left because we felt so unsafe. If you are considering this complex, ask the people in the area how crime has been lately and what they've heard. Columbus PD (not Dublin - Lakeview Square is on the boundary of the two and counts as Columbus for city services) may also have statistics, but remember that a lot of these crimes go unreported since the PD is so disinterested in property crime. 2) Management is very unprofessional. We were excellent, quiet tenants (always have been) and paid every month on time. We left the apartment cleaner than when we moved in and had documentation, including video. We even did a walkthrough during which they found no problems. However, once we moved out they came up with all sorts of bizarre charges, including things like burned-out light bulbs and dime-size faint discolorations on 5-year old cheap carpet. We ended up paying a few hundred dollars in fake charges because we were no longer in the area and couldn't easily come back to fight it in court, but believe me we would have in normal circumstances. They also sent us to collections only 10 days after we had received the itemized list of bogus expenses, so we had to deal with that too. Management had previously been b1tchy but professional prior to this, but in 2005 there was a change in personnel to people who were flat-out dumb, lazy, and unprofessional. There were many occasions in which they had agreed to do something simple - eg, have some fixture repaired, or bring our trashcan into the garage when we were out of town - and then failed to do so and said "Oh yeah, sorry, we just forgot" (despite repeated polite reminders). In that instance, our trash can ended up stolen and we had to buy a new one because of inept management. Basically, don't rely on them for anything but cashing your rent check. 3) Tenant's dogs are not supposed to be tied up outside and they're supposed to clean up any dog crap. But of course, people left their dogs tied up for hours outside (and they barked the entire time), and there was tons of dog crap in the grass everywhere. Did management do anything? No, because the only way they can rent out all of their units is if they cater to desperate dog owners. But it sure made going for walks unpleasant.

So in sum: if the pros listed above are appealing enough that you want to rent here, be extremely careful about crime - ideally have only one car that is always parked in the garage (which I understand isn't that safe either, but do what you can) and keep doors and windows locked constantly - don't turn your back for a minute. I also recommend that you rely on management for nothing and document the move-in condition and move-out condition very carefully. Give them hell if they try to rip you off.

Recommended: NO Overall Rating

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