Let me start off by saying that Lakeview Square LOOKS like a great place to live. The complex and buildings look nice from the street. The floorplans are spacious and well laid-out. The garage is a nice feature, and the model is beautiful. All of this is too good to be true. Unfortunately, the complex was built "on the cheap", and the upkeep continues to be done as cheaply as possible.

Construction
First, the walls are paper-thin. Take off a switch-plate, and you will see that they used 3/8" drywall... the thinnest available. This, plus the apparent lack of insulation results in two major problems. (1) You can hear everything that goes on in your neighbor's apartment (including the most private activities) and outside. This is particularly problematic near Sawmill Road as the traffic noise is very intrusive. (2) Heating and Air Conditioning are ineffective and expensive. The situation is not helped by the old, cheap windows. During the winter, you can actually feel the wind blow through them.

The HVAC set up is also done cheaply. The vents are set in a straight line running either way from the furnace. The result is that the large rooms have only one vent supplying air to heat/cool located at one end. During the winter, you have to have the upstairs vents closed off completely to get any heat downstairs, and during the summer, you have to close the downstairs vents to get any AC upstairs.

"Updates"
Our apartment was the top of the line with the 6 panel doors, ceiling fans and wire shelving. Unfortunately, the doors were installed badly, so many did not latch. The door to the second bedroom fit so badly that you could see through it when it was closed. The ceiling fan in the master bedroom wobbled violently (and noisily). The built-in microwave was nice.

Maintenance
We had a number of problems when we moved in. For starters, the first apaprtment we were set to move into (from out of state) had frayed carpet that smelled of cat urine. Unable to wait for that to be fixed (it was Saturday, and we had a moving truck full of belongings) we switched to another available apartment. This apartment also had severely worn carpet, but it didn't smell. We immediately put in a maintenance request for a broken tile on the fireplace hearth, flaking paint on the ceiling in the living room, the wobbly ceiling fan, a hot water handle that didn't work in the master bathtub and a non-functioning ice maker. On Monday, the maintenance man came. He fixed the broken tile by rubbing liquid nails in the crack because replacing the tile was expensive, and liquid nails is the same color (but looked like a broken tile with goo smeared on it after the "fix"). The fixed the flaking paint with caulk for the same reason. He took a piece of paper towel from our kitchen, wadded it up and shoved it between the ceiling fan and the ceiling to stop the wobble (instead of taking it apart to see what was really wrong). Neither the tub handle nor the ice maker were repaired. After a second request, he came back on Wednesday to fix the tub handle. The ice maker was never repaired.

We also had a mouse our first night in our new apartment. The maintenance man told me to buy a mousetrap because "you'll have that... they get hungry".

Management
Management was generally rude and worthless. They made sure to put a notice in our mail-tube reminding us that cars needed to move every 72 hours or be towed. However, when our neighbors left a truck parked in one of the two spaces behind our apartment for 5 weeks, no one noticed despite the fact that we were next to the office. When I called the first time, I was told it would be taken care of. One week later, I spoke to Brad, the manager. He told me that he would take care of it, but first he would call them and let them know that someone complained. I had to explain to him that it would be better if he just pretended that his staff noticed a violation of one of their policies instead of selling me out.

During our last month, we got a "Notice to Leave the Premesis for Non-Payment of Rent". This was a surprise given that we paid rent one day early (the 31st), and we had never been late in the 12 months we rented there. This notice showed up on a Friday and stated that they would be going to court on Monday to commence eviction proceedings. That is the statutory minimum in Ohio. I found it disturbing that they would have this time run over the weekend when their business hours are limited and the manager never works. On Monday morning, I spoke with Scott, Brad's boss. He told me that it was an honest mistake, and that many resident's rent checks were not recorded. He was very rude to me about the whole thing and did not understand why I was upset since it was "just a mistake". He offered me free carpet cleaning. He could not explain why Brad did not notice the unusually high number of notices he had to send out that month as a result of the mistake.

UPDATE: One of the girls who works in the office told me that Scott knew that there was a problem (some checks didn't get entered), but decided to send out eviction notices anyway because it would be easier to have people complain and bring in copies of their checks instead of figuring out the problem himself or sending out a courteous request for people to bring in copies.

UPDATE: Scott (the manager) appologized for our less-than-desirable experience, and was very helpful in rectifying some move-out issues. I applaud his efforts to smooth my ruffled feathers, and I would like anyone who reads this review to take that into consideration.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/04/2007
First of all, the utilities here are reasonable. All apartments have thin walls and my last two bedroom in a garden unit actually cost more to cool than this one. Have you ever lived in an apartment? The vent situation is not as bad as you claim. Apparently you just want to complain about everything. We have not had to close any of our vents ever. I rent one of the older units and when I moved in my bedroom doors didn't latch. Maintenance corrected that within 24 hours. Did you ever bother to call them? In regards to mice, they are drawn to food. If you are having problems with mice inside the unit itself and not just an attic or garage, it is due to your hygienge. Never have I seen a mouse here and I live against the wooded areas. You seem unhappy with management because you like to complain. Management has 400 units to keep up with. If the parked car bothered you so much, you should have called earlier. And in your lease it states you can leave a car parked for up to 30 days. I hope you bought yourself a house that's oh so perfect because you are one hell of a complainer.
From: Michael1980	Date: 07/12/2007
Yes, we have lived in quite a few apartments... including the one we live in now (having moved out of Lakeview). Not all apartments have thin walls to the extreme that Lakeview does. Yes, we can hear murmurs from adjoining units (before and now), but Lakeview was the only place that we could make out normal conversations from our neighbors. Utility bills are a product of insulation. There is no doubt that the cheap windows are not energy efficient (given the icy wind blowing through them), and that leads to higher energy bills. Try about 50% more for us during the winter (between our old 1100 sq. ft. apartment at about $75 per month for electrcity and gas, and Lakeview at 1200 sq. ft at about $120 per month). We called maintenance for many problems. As mentioned, they did shoddy work or failed to fix things altogether. Thanks for calling our hygiene into question. Mice are also attracted to cool places in the summer and warm places in the winter. For the record, our mouse showed up the day we moved in, before we could spread our filth. I am unhappy with management because they are incompetent and rude. If you ACTUALLY knew me, you would know I am very much not a complainer. My experience at Lakeview has driven me to this. For the record, our new apartment is worlds better. Granted, it is an apartment, so there is a degree of privacy and workmanship lacking in what you get with your own house. We have always understood that. However, at our new apartment, like all the previous ones before Lakeview, the staff is courteous and maintenance is competent. Oh yeah, and we pay a lot less now too.
From: tacobell50	Date: 08/15/2007
Michae1980 - can you tell us what apartment complex you moved to? My sister is moving to Dublin in a couple of months and planning to move to Lakeview. Would like to try to get her to consider other places - thanks

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