Honestly, I am not the type of person to write neg...

Honestly, I am not the type of person to write negative reviews unless a company or establishment proves time, and again, that they ve earned it. I ve tried to give this place the benefit of the doubt because we re all coming out of the pandemic and staffing isn t what it used to be. Unfortunately, the issues my fiance, newborn son, and myself have tolerated the last couple of weeks have forced my hand in writing this review.
It all began with a leak coming through the roof into our hallway. This is one of those things we never noticed until we experienced our first rainy day. We trusted that the unit we were moving into was recently renovated and in satisfactory condition. But we were in for a surprise when we turned on our hallway light only to find that numerous puddles had formed, including water inside the light fixture itself! We filed an emergency maintenance request describing (in detail) our roof leak and the fact that it was a safety hazard due to the location of the water being right next to the electrical light fixture.
After periodically following up with the office, the only help and advice we were given was a bucket to collect the water and not to use that hallway light. They tried reassuring us that there was no chance of electrocution because the safety mechanism inside the light would shut off once mixed with water. I m no electrician, but that advice didn t seem sound. The correct answer would be to send your most skilled roofers the first available date to resolve that issue out of the safety of the tenants.
It seems like the more we insist they have a sense of urgency, the more frustrated the staff gets with us by putting our maintenance requests on the back burner. To be clear, my issue is not with the office staff; I believe the problem lies within the upper management. The office staff are pulled every which way for all sorts of issues outside of their control. I don t want to simply scapegoat the office staff. It seems like they re scripted to tell us things like, the 1st Lake Properties has over 70 locations, meaning there are so many work orders they have to process, they re understaffed, etc. My message to those at the top is: if you have so many properties then you obviously generate enough revenue to reinvest into these properties. To claim you and your colleagues have it so bad because you have too many assets to properly manage, my answer to you is: sell your assets and reduce your overhead if you don t have the logistical resources to keep up all of your properties.
I really wanted to leave a good review for this place, because the grounds are nice and it seems good enough, superficially. But after living here I ve realized there are many things wrong with the structural integrity of these units. It seems like decades of neglect have left the inside of these units leaking and bug infested. The work that has been done to these buildings consist of repainting and subtle repairs to the aesthetic. It s as though they want the outside to look nice enough to lure unsuspecting renters. Once you ve signed the contract, they have you! It s not until weeks (maybe days) later that you realize you re contractually bound to a lemon!
Whoever is in charge of allocating these resources, please focus on the repairs that so many of your tenants are requesting. If this place ever aspires to increase their reviews above three stars, they must turn this information into action and reinvest towards the upkeep of these properties. It s beyond leaky ceilings and water damage at this point. I speak for many of the tenants by saying we are thoroughly unhappy with the performance of those responsible for keeping these units in livable condition. Please have some sense of urgency when we submit our maintenance requests. Consider having some handy men living on sight at each property. All I want is to live in a place that s not falling apart; that s not asking for too much.