First, the good: a diverse neighborhood, most of the tenants are friendly and welcoming, and the complex's proximity to Route 28 makes it fairly convenient for commuting.

Now, the bad: in the 12 months I've lived at University Heights, the management office staff have made mistakes in processing my rent and utilities checks no less than six separate times, each time threatening me with eviction when I'd done absolutely nothing wrong. Let me be clear: I am very punctual and responsible about paying my bills on time. I've never paid late or underpaid any bill in my whole life. And I'm not talking technicalities, here: my rent and utilities are paid, in-full, by the time they are due or earlier, every single month. To take care of my end of the bargain, diligently and promptly, and then be threatened with eviction SIX TIMES in a year is unacceptable.

Further: the maintenance staff is laughably bad at University Heights. I made maintenance requests the first week I moved into my apartment, as part of the routine walk-through checklist, that STILL have not been addressed by maintenance staff. In twelve months. Twelve months! The door-handle of the microwave oven in my unit was broken and had been crudely glued back together prior to my moving in - the first time I used the microwave, the handle snapped off. The blinds in my living room won't close, and I've been using a bedsheet as a window-drape for a year because of this. My kitchen sink leaked into the cabinet below; after six weeks of waiting for maintenance to simply tighten the pipe fittings so the building wouldn't rot, I fixed it myself. Maintenance staff have never, not once, not one time in an entire year, so much as returned a phone call about a maintenance service request. Once, I accidentally left my apartment key in a hotel far out of town where I wouldn't be able to retrieve it; I called the emergency 24-hour maintenance line; no one answered; my voice-mail message, urgently asking if someone could come let me into my apartment, has gone unanswered for five weeks - I've gotten back into my apartment, no thanks to them. The lightbulbs in the building breezeways burn out frequently and go un-replaced for months; trash piles up to sickening heights on top of and around the complex dumpsters, attracting flies; there has been broken glass strewn on complex sidewalks in high-traffic areas for a year with no response from maintenance.

Next: my car was broken into and valuables stolen; my mailbox door was pried open, the lock removed, and maintenance took a month to replace it. When the office has made mistakes in processing my rental payments, I've gone to the office to correct the issue, been told it's corrected, and then received warnings of eviction on my door-knob only a day or two later, as if I'd never taken time out of work to personally see to it that the issue was resolved. One of my neighbors has been without a screen door on his balcony for three months.

Oh, and! There's only one outgoing mailbox for the entire apartment complex, and it's not in the apartment complex, but an eighth of a mile away on the side of a busy road. Management and the office staff have time and resources to post threatening notices on tenant doorknobs, but apparently cannot be bothered to answer their phones or conduct themselves professionally when meeting with tenants, to say nothing of their neglect of maintenance issues.

Look, I'm not a hard-to-please person. I'm really not. I'm actually a very laid-back guy with very relaxed expectations in general. All this place had to do to earn a recommendation from me was not be a garbage-coated disaster area managed by incompetent, irresponsible people. It failed. Do not move here.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/12/2008
good review fyi-there was a USPS outgoing mailbox in the complex when entering the leasing office entrance on the side of the stop sign. The outgoing mailbox had been there for awhile and then one day it was moved. I do not recall seeing a notice, but who knows if it was removed by someone. take care.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/12/2008
This is how I feel pretty much in a nut shell about this place. I am giving my notice tonight and cannot wait to get out of here. It's really bad there can be nothing that can protect us from crap like this but they can put eviction notices on people's doors that do not deserve it. Good Luck!!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/14/2008
Very accurate review of this place. I have lived there almost three years and STILL have a leak under MY sink! My kitchen floor is caving in. Thank god I am leaving in a couple of weeks. I have also received 2 eviction notices. Once when they lost my check and cashed it later and once when I mysteriously had charges building up on my account when they decided to up the pet rent with no notice and also raise my rent by $250 with no notice.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/18/2008
Ditto - very apt review. I live here, and been a victim of the threaten to evict notice when my rent has been paid on time. What I do is after I call them and sort it out...I started taking a copy of the letter they send me and asking them to sign it as VOID. I also emphasize that it should not become part of my rental history. Keep a receipt of all your bank transfers, the eviction notices and the signed void copy - I will send it to the better business bureau. This is unlawful harrassment - they cannot keep threatening you like this...It is embarassing and can take on an emotional turmoil.
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/16/2008
Very True. I agree with the negative comments above on VERY POOR management of Univ Heights, with an exception of Kane. The management keeps rotating and the worst was a lady who took over last spring was horrible!!! Has no class for customer service and all she knew was to chase away tenants and good tenants. Totally un-productive when it comes to working with tenants and clearing their needs- like: leak in bathroom and kitchen sinks, windows not closing tight enough to save energy in heat and A/C, clearing birds nests in the patio, etc. And BTW, they do NOT return the security deposits!!

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