I'll start with the few things that are good about Royal Crest because I don't believe in blindly criticizing anyone/anything with pointless phrases such as, "it sucks." The grounds are well maintained and nice to see when you're close to home.

Our problems with Royal Crest started in the very beginning. I moved in with the original lease saying that the first month of rent was free. A couple days later, my girlfriend and I had to redo the lease because she wasn't included on the first one, and we had a puppy that had to be included on the lease (basically was supposed to just be adding a pet addendum). I paid the security deposit, the pet deposit, and all the typical upfronts. We moved in toward the end of April, and I called the management office a few days before the 1st to ensure that everything was, in fact, all set and nothing more was due by the 1st. According to the management office, we had no balance due, and everything was all set. On May 16, I got what I like to call a, "happy letter." We were suddenly being threatened with eviction because they now claimed that we owed another $500 in rent plus late fees, and we had to pay it immediately or face eviction proceedings. I called the office about this, and the answer was, "it's not my fault you're delinquent. Read your lease, you owe us money, so pay it or be evicted." I've never been "delinquent" with anything, yet suddenly I had this extra charge to deal with that I had no idea existed until 15 days of late fees accumulated with it, after I ALREADY CHECKED WITH THE OFFICE AND HAD A ZERO BALANCE!!!

Next...building maintenance needs to be improved. The "secured" doors on our building did not lock for at least a month. The buzzer in our apartment worked only when it felt like it. Maintenance techs help themselves in your apartment without notice under the guise of, "checking for building/structural issues." The mail boxes are halfway secured - each apartment does have a locking mailbox, but also an open cubbie hole underneath where the mail person does sometimes put important things like bills in. Oh yeah, and the outside door that leads to the mail area is NOT LOCKED!!! I love the fact that my identity could have been stolen that easily. But that was only when the mail was actually delivered - there were several days a week where nobody in the entire building got mail...I find that to be more than just a coincidence.

The apartment itself...it did the trick spacewise. It would have been nice to have doors that were hung properly, and a bedroom door that didn't stick or have loud hinges. Even with WD-40 sprayed all over it, it was still loud. The exhaust fan in the bathroom is useless. It's loud and useless. The trash room, or "Rubbish Room" as labeled is a little hole in the wall by the laundry area that gets overrun with trash because it DOES NOT get dumped everyday as management claims. There are 6 garbage cans for 24 units (typical buildings only have 12 units, but often two buildings are connected with a shared "Rubbish Room" and laundry). Speaking of laundry... 2 jokes called washers and 3 dryers were all that's supplied for 24 units. The capacity...about 2 pairs of jeans and maybe 3 shirts (I weigh 180 lbs, so no, it's not because I'm large). The laundry fee went up. Other fees went up, as mentioned in other reviews. In general, I would be amazed if anybody lived there without incurring additional fees. I thoroughly enjoyed paying more for a "maintenance fee" for heat than for actual gas use.

To end this (hopefully helpful) rant - management LOVES you when you're a prospective resident, but doesn't care one bit once you're in. Your rent will go up when your lease ends. If you want to be on a month-to-month basis, it's an additional $300. If you want to just change to a different kind of apartment within the complex after your lease ends, there's a $600 transfer fee. There is no incentive for residents to stay, unless you like paying a lot in extra fees that someone fresh off the street would not have to pay. There's a lot of turnover, so don't plan on getting close with your neighbors (we were only there a year, and saw new residents in all but 2 other units in our building). Property management/maintenance turnover is pretty frequent as well. We were counting down the days until we left. Save yourself-live somewhere else.

User Responses
From: JTG03	Date: 07/07/2008
You know, I was about to write a review for Royal Crest myself until I saw this one. Whoever wrote this review said what I was going to say in my own. I completely agree with everything this person said. I have lived here for almost a year and I can't wait for my lease to end! I will be moving out the second I can, and I have the date marked on my calendar of when I can give my 30 day notice. One thing I would like to add to this review is about the closest. This community boasts about their closet space but it's not useful space. This is difficult to explain, so bare with me. A typical bedroom closet (with the sliding doors) has a poll across the length of the space for hanging clothes and a shelf above it. Well these closest have a highly annoying twist on that concept. The shelf is built into the wall out of an odd material that has a lip that hangs down and curls towards the back of the closet. That lip is where you have to hang your hangers. This means instead of just placing the hanger on the lip, you have to go under then up. It might not sound like a big deal, but after a while it gets annoying. It's a very odd concept. Another note is the fact that there is no overhead lighting in the living room or bedrooms. There are light switches but they are hooked into one outlet in the room. So you will need plenty of lamps to keep your living room and bedrooms well lit. The only rooms with overhead lighting are the dining room, kitchen and bathroom. I find that to be an odd concept as well. I would definitely NOT recommend this place to my friends, family or even my enemies. It's just not a pleasant place to live. No one wants to stay once they move in. People are constantly (literally on a daily basis) moving in and out, as well as personnel changing as often as we change our socks. I know the amenities can draw you in, it did for me as well but they don't make up for all the other problems. Even renters who are perfect with their rent run into several problems with management. It's inevitable. There are far better places to spend your money and your time then Royal Crest. Do yourself a favor, and just go right past this place. It will be the best thing you can do. - Current renter ready to run!

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates