First let me start by saying I don't even live at Longhorn Landing (thank God). My boyfriend does and so do several of my friends. I too have heard several times from different sources (some even formally employed by LL) that the positive reviews you do read are from employees, who do earn commission. Secondly, I tried to list from 'not that bad' to 'horrible' so if you don't want to read it all skip to the last few dashes. Now to my list:

-When my boyfriend moved in at the beginning of the Spring semester he moved into a room with the wall-paper sagging from the ceiling, a hole in the wall next to the window, a cracked mirror and a shower filled with mold. Both the room and the bathroom had very obviously not been cleaned, painted or maintained for quite some while. Come to find out the tenant he shared the bathroom with never stayed there (although his stuff did) but rather with his girlfriend so the bathroom had literally never been cleaned. When my boyfriends roommates moved out, at the end of their leases, in the summer they cleaned the other bathroom and rooms. However, the bathroom and other room on my boyfriends side never got cleaned, maintained or painted. With this side constantly renting one lease starting in the spring and the other in the fall (meaning someone is always living here) it has become pretty clear that they don't even bother with the supposed regular maintenance, cleaning and painting that are expected to have already been done prior to you moving into your new place.

-They announce that they will be re-striping the parking lot. I don't see why, the lots I've parked in seem perfectly fine, better than some on campus, but whatever. They send paperwork saying when not to park in your parking lot. My boyfriend's roommates, who take the bus and often don't use their cars during the school week, move their cars and get towed and are charged. Why' Because they moved their cars too soon and moved them to a lot that, unbeknownst to them, was getting painted. If you lived here during the Spring of '08 then I'm sure you got the flyer going into greater detail from one of the roommates.

-They proclaim that recycling is available; paper, cans, and at one time plastic. Although not all of the tenants respect the recycling it seems that the maintenance men respect it even less. They have been witnessed many times from many people dumping the provided "recycling" bins contents into the dumpsters. It is quite sad to see a "recycling" bin marked newspapers clearly holding only newspapers emptied into the dumpster.

-Noise is a problem. The ceilings, walls and floors are extremely thin. If you do call to let LL know of a constant noise complaint (after trying to take care of it yourself) they will tell you, "Not my problem. Call the cops."

-3 guys, 3 working, going to school in the Texas summer heat guys lived without a washer after putting in a maintenance request for a month and a half. Mind you after the first week at least one of them, usually more, called at least once a week, usually more, to complain about their unanswered maintenance request. When he finally did come it took one guy half an hour to install a new one.

-Before the 3 roommates leases were up, before they even began to move they gave some stranger a key. I was waiting for my boyfriend to get off work at his place and I was the only one at the apartment. I heard a knock at the door. By the time I got to the living room there was this tall guy just standing there with keys and a backpack. I guess I gave out a little yell because I was startled and he said "Sorry to scare you, that why I knocked but I'm your new roommate." I said "What room do you have because I don't think anyone's moved out yet." He told me and went and unlocked one of the roommate's doors, he saw that the room was very obviously occupied and left in a hurry saying "I don't know what's going on this is just where they told me to go." I asked him the apartment number and comfirmed they had told him to move in and given him keys. What if he was not an honest man and I had not been present' They just gave someone keys to someones belongings, TV, etc. I never saw him again.

-They sub-contracted the work out in the summer. Strangers who did not even work for LL had keys to the apartments and came to clean or paint anywhere from 7am to 8pm. And they did not keep very good records, the same two ladies came 5 separate times on 3 different days (yes that means twice in one day, twice) to clean the rooms and bathroom (only on the other side). When we tried to explain they hard already been there and hadn't cleaned the third room they didn't understand anything because they didn't speak English.

-My boyfriends bathroom is very moldy. It's coming from the ceiling and is growing out of the walls. This is much, much more than your run of the mill mold on the shower tile. This doesn't come off with a good scrubbing or cleaner. The corner ceiling of his bathroom (let me interrupt myself and state there is only half a ceiling, the other half is a wooden panel painted white, covered in mold. It's obvious it leaked so bad the ceiling fell through and they just screwed a wooden panel over the hole) began to leak. One day when I shut the door to go to the bathroom (a normal shut, not even remotely close to a slam) the corner of the wooden panel near the leak dropped a couple of inches and cold water dumped out all over the bathroom. Chunks of black mold dropped from the hole in the ceiling. My boyfriend immediately called for an emergency maintenance request telling them everything, mold included. It leaked and dropped mold for another 3 weeks. By that time water damage was on the floor, corner wall and corner of the door because all of our pots are round whereas the corner is square (we tried to catch the water). I showed the water damage to the maintenance man and said "I don't think my boyfriend should be charged for this because you took 3 weeks to show up." He laughed, said he wouldn't and then just screwed the loosened screw in the corner of the wooden panel. I said "Don't you want to see what's leaking up there' or check the mold' Fix the leak'" He just shrugged and said it didn't matter. If I had known all they were going to do was screw the hole back up without checking on the leak, the mold or what made it drop in the first place I could have done it. I own a screw-driver!

-There are constant break-ins in the apartment parking lot. Broken glass in the lots are a daily occurrence. I've also heard of girls at night getting attacked and groped in the parking lot. I walk with my boyfriend, friends or my keys through my fingers in a fist if it's late.

-They rarely close the "security" gates and in the year my boyfriend has lived here they changed the code and didn't inform him or his roommates. It was chaos with everyone yelling up codes to the car first in line.

-After the 3 roommates moved out and my boyfriend got 2 more, one of which also had a girlfriend and a dog, we had a break-in. It happened right at the beginning of Thanksgiving weekend so most everyone was gone including one of the roommates and my boyfriend. The remaining roommate left for work early in the morning leaving his dog and his girlfriend. He locked the door behind him and his girlfriend saw the door was locked after he left. Just a couple of hours after he left (still morning) his girlfriend heard the door being unlocked and heard someone come in. She thought it was a bit odd because she had assumed the other roommates were gone for the holidays already but just figured she was mistaken and a roommate hadn't left yet. Then she said their dog starting barking like crazy. In the time it took her to get out of bed, put her robe on and go to the living room the X-Box, lap-top and flat screen TV had been stolen and the door left wide open. She said she immediately ran outside figuring she'd at least see some people carrying stuff, running, in the parking lot, something, since this was all a matter of seconds. She saw nothing. The maintenance men's shed is near this building and the parking lot. She immediately ran to them and asked if they saw any people or person carrying a flat screen TV, X-box and lap-top with the wires hanging down (they stole those too). They said they hadn't seen anyone. She asked if they'd seen anyone or any cars move in the parking lot. They said they hadn't seen anyone for quite a while. She called the cops. They found blood, I guess the burglar had injured himself or herself while quickly trying to unplug everything, but no finger prints. The police did say that after studying the door it was clear there was no forced entry and whoever broke in probably had a key. Now here's the great thing about that. Evidently LL uses a special kind of key for the front door of their apartments, one that your average places like Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Lowes can not duplicate. I know because my boyfriend and I tried to get a copy of a key made. You have to take it to a lock-smith that has an "old-fashioned key machine" (the guy from Lowes' words) to get a copy or take a $5 money order to LL where they make a key for you, in front of your eyes, with their machine. More on the key later, back to the break-in. When the roommate told LL he had a break-in and they used a key they didn't bat an eye and just asked if he wanted to fill out an incident report. When he asked both LL and the police if anything would come of it or if he'd ever get his stuff back they both told him probably not. Thank goodness this burglar was not violent or a rapist considering someone was home. The roommate and his girlfriend believe it was someone who lives in this actual apartment building. That explains why no one was leaving the scene, why all that was heard was an apartment door shutting, why no cars moved in the parking lot, how they knew he had gone to work and thought no-one else was home. And when you take into account how difficult it is to get a key, but how easy it is for them to make a key and how obviously unorganized their office must be it's easy to see how someone who shouldn't have access to the keys could get one. Possibly a young, employee who lives and works here just enough to cover their rent.

-After the break-in all three roommates signed something saying they wanted the locks changed. The office even called my boyfriend to confirm. I am writing this Jan 12th and as I said the break-in happened just before Thanksgiving. All the tenants on the lease rushed to do what needed to be done to change the locks and yet they have not been changed. In fact they just moved a fourth person in here. A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend and I were the only ones in the apartment. It was afternoon and it sounded like someone was trying to open the door, couldn't and eventually started knocking. My boyfriend was ill so I went to the door. A very nicely dressed lady from the LL office with a bunch of keys was at the door to check out the fourth room and common living area for the new roommate. This was the first time anyone had come by to check out a room for a new tenant but I pointed out the vacant room. When she was done looking we started talking a bit of small talk. She brought up that none of her keys worked on our front door. Picking up on this I commented that that seemed very odd since we just had a break-in and the police said there was no forced entry and they believed whoever broke-in had a key. Her face became ashen and she asked if we had changed the locks since then and maybe that's why she didn't have a key. I said no in fact all the roommates were waiting for LL to change the locks, that they had done all the paperwork and it had still been a month and a half. She tried all the keys on her key ring again right in front of me. I said "I wonder if your missing key to our front door has anything to do with the break-in and flat screen, X-box, and lap-top being stolen'" She mumbled something about getting maintenance to change our lock right away and rushed out of there. But as I said that was a couple of weeks ago, they've since moved another poor sap in here and have not changed the locks.

As I said I'm writing this Jan. 12th 2009, one day after someone was shot at this location. The very first homicide for Austin, Tx. was here, yesterday. A young 20 year old from Killeen was murdered. This is the 2nd homicide for Longhorn Landing. There are many, many more horror stories that I've heard from others. It seems odd that people jump on these sites to defend this place and sing it's praises and yet in the year my boyfriend has lived here I've not met one person who has had anything nice to say about it. Not in crossing, not new friends, not new roommates, not at the volleyball games, not even from a few of the employees who live here. In fact everyone I have met has a horror story to tell of Longhorn Landing and knows of more horror stories happening to others they've met. This place could, in theory, be a great place for students. But don't be fooled, it's cheap but it's not in any way shape or form safe, it is not clean, the staff do not care, and it is not maintained or kept up in any kind of livable standard. This place could work with a complete over-haul of staff and management. They rely on their tenants lack of experience and knowledge and their apathy. I believe if anyone took action, went to research tenants rights or contacted the better business bureau this place would be shut down, or at least under new management. Like I said, I don't live here. I can't do anything but write this, write what I know to warn others. My boyfriend is breaking his lease and his parents are ready to contact their lawyers if LL tries to charge him for breaking the lease. IF YOU VALUE YOUR SAFETY AND YOUR HEALTH DO NOT MOVE TO LONGHORN LANDING!!!

User Responses
From: Ryano1	Date: 01/13/2009
This is a great review, obviously very well thought out and obviously NOT lies. I've been posting here for a couple of years now as I was completely railroaded by this place as well. I got the random car towing treatment as well as extorted for over $1000.00 when I moved out. These folks DO NOT care about you, they don't even care if you pay your rent on time every month. All they are trying to do is sucker more folks into signing a lease and then making up charges when you move out. The office accountant, -----, is the absolute worst offender of all. She is a liar and probably has no degree in accounting other than what she learned in 11th grade. IF you value your happiness, possessions and quite literally, your life, don't move in here.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/13/2009
I agree! I live at LL and it sucks! It has become a scary place to live. I heard there is a building in Phase 2 that is not okay to be around at all. I use to think it was okay to live here. But now I am scared of going out past a certain time! The office people do not care and they are really rude! Also my roommates have just came back from the office asking what precautions the management was going to take after the murder! And they said NOTHING!! because the murder victim was not a resident!!! What the hell is wrong with these people!!!
From: herman75	Date: 10/14/2009
Urgent ! please , advise . I live in Long horns landing, I signed 12 months, I was supposed to because of time,and circumstances. Now I`m here for 4 months, when I moved the aprtment was in a mess, I did clean everything by my self. then two roomates came,they are friends, after 3 weeks, the girl told me my hasband is coming to live with me in my room,i`m not sure if they `re really married ? they`re still young ! and he wants to bring his dog to the house. and I`m allergic i am very nice,I don`t like to make problems for people, to let the office know what`s going on ! My question is : I want to move out from here without problems, I don`t want to ruin my credits, what can I do ? how much money i`ve to pay to get out here ? i`m just 4 months here. there`s any solution please ? please write me to my e-mail : hermanbrosky@yahoo.com thank you so much ,

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