Rachel Smith

Review of The Villages of Benning (Pinna...

Overall this is a nice, safe community in which to...

Overall this is a nice, safe community in which to live. There are lots of open areas and playgrounds for children to play safely.
The rent is somewhat high considering what little is done for residents and in comparison to other places we have lived. Though rent is high throughout Columbus, surprisingly, compared to all the places we have lived. There is no longer a recycle program and bins are not made available within the neighborhood. Trash cans are often left full and overflowing in general areas and trash littered throughout the neighborhood is seldom picked up. The lawn service utilized destroys the grass by using dull blades and too short of cuts. They scatter debris throughout the lawns, driveways, against cars and the front of the house making it difficult to maintain a kept flowerbed. This is a term of the lease and residents are penalized monetarily if their flower beds are not maintained. We have tried to opt out of the lawn service but have been told this is non-negotiable.
The interior of the house is nice, though poorly crafted. They make sure you do a walk through in the beginning to note any damages so you are not punished for them. If you are not picky, you will be pleased with the hard wood floors and surface appearance of everything. If you have an eye for detail and appreciate a job well done, you will notice unfinished edges of floor bases, improperly hung doors, paint flecks on windows/doors, wall tacks coming through and other signs of poor workmanship incongruent with the cost of rent. In the older houses, someone thought it wise to wall off the hot water heater within the 'garage' limiting an already small space. It's a 1950s era garage and might be able to fit a mini-cooper if not for the hot water heater. The newer houses have 2 car garages which are open, however the cost is higher.
When we have needed maintenance, they were prompt and fixed our AC. They did not fix our fence as requested but passed it off to the lawn service as they were the ones who ran the mower into it. It's been 6 months and the fence is not fixed.
Good points: the housing is comfortable, convenient, safe.
Bad points: costs more than it should for what you get.