Reviews
Treating Customers Badly is Bad Business
OH BOY. Let's talk about 660 Halton - formerly know as Century Forest. Buckle in and get ready for a tl;dr. But I want prospective residents to be aware of what this company is capable of and be wary of signing a contract with them. I know it's long, but if you're considering moving in, please read this review.
I want to be clear that this is just not sour grapes. I moved into Century Forest apartments in 2011 and it was a great value apartment. Sure, the neighbors were a little noisy, there was dog poop everywhere, and the building smelled like smoke, but the rent was low, the apartments were large, maintenance was quick to fix problems and the office staff was helpful and courteous. I happily lived here for 3 and a half year with no intention of moving out until I was ready to buy a house a few years down the road.
Fast forward to June 2014. Suddenly the landscaping is being ripped up, the parking lot is being torn apart, and there are dumpsters left everywhere in the very limited parking spaces. A semi-trailer was parked next to my building and left there for 8 months - taking up all the spots on that side of the building. While we certainly can't complain too much about the improvements being made to the community, the work was extremely intrusive (and loud) and there was no prior notification to residents that this work would be occurring. About a month or so after this started, residents were notified that the property was purchased by another company (of poor reputation in this area). I spoke to a neighbor who had just moved in right before the construction started and found that she hadn't been given notice of the impending purchase before her move-in and that since she worked night shifts, the construction was a serious problem. I encouraged her to take her complaint to the office, though I don't know if she did or not.
It only got worse from here. They started renovating vacant apartments, leaving construction debris, flooring rolls and trucks everywhere during the day and overnight. The construction went well into the evening, sometimes after 7 or 8 PM. Caution tape was left everywhere - definitely an eyesore for the community. The pool was closed in August - indefinitely. No alternatives or discounts were provided to residents for this loss of amenity (and it was still closed when I moved out in March). Soon after the Fitness center and laundry room were closed indefinitely - again no alternatives or discounts for nearby gyms provided to residents.
Things stayed like this until the beginning of December. Annoying, but tolerable. Then in mid-December residents received a notice that the online portal (for rent payment and maintenance requests) would be down for an unidentified period of time. I emailed to ask when it would be back as I used online auto-pay for my rent and wanted to make sure I would be able to pay when it was next due. The response I got was "The online portal will be down temporarily and will notify you by email when it will be available again.". Very helpful. I responded and asked specifically if I would need to bring a physical check to pay and the finally said that I should plan on it. When I went to the office to pay my rent, they couldn't even tell me how much I owed and we had to guess.
Then the fun stuff started. I came home after work one day to find the only entrance to my building completely blocked off because they had decided to repair the sidewalk. That's all well and nice, but how was I supposed to get in? There was no prior notice of this work so I wasn't expecting it. I eventually had to climb down into a ditch to get into my apartment. It was like this for 4 days.
Next. Residents received a notification of GFI outlets being installed in the kitchen. The date on the notice was 2 days prior to the actual delivery and the delivery date was less than one business day (office closed on Sundays) from the date of the actual work being done - which was not in compliance with the lease. But, it was small work, so I said nothing. But when I came home after the work was completed, there was a huge mess left in my kitchen. Plaster was left everywhere and some food that I had left on the countertop was ruined because it was covered in plaster and dust.
Soon after, I received the lease renewal paperwork and the rent was going to be increased by over $300 a month. So I obviously opted to not renew.
The next construction to be done was the replacement of the windows and siding on my building. I had seen work being done on other buildings but I had fingers crossed that they would wait until I had moved out. No such luck. We got a notice 2 weeks before Christmas that the windows and siding on my building would be done that week. They stated that no accommodation of dates for residents and that we would need to take down decorations and move furniture for the work to be done. Two weeks before Christmas. I complained to the office because of the poor timing of the work but never heard back. The work was delayed but we didn't hear anything else from the office until January 5th, when the work was rescheduled for that week. I had the unfortunate circumstance of being sick that week so I couldn't go to work. Needless to say, it was a stressful week since I couldn't rest during the day because of all the noise and got kicked out of my apartment on the day that they replaced the windows. They also did a good bit of damage to the interior, including nail holes in the wall where the siding was replaced (with plaster mess everywhere) and damage to the sheetrock around the windows. The outside was messy as well with construction equipment left everywhere as trip hazards in the walkways. I lodged a complaint on January 7th because the work was continuing into the late evening, and the office staff promised that the work should end at 6 every day when the office closed. A week later, I received notice that the interior damage would be repaired the next day and I made a request to the apartment manager that no further work to the interior of my apartment be done until my move out which was less than 2 months away. The request was written on my lease.
About a week after that (now it's 1/21/15), I received a notice that the property was purchased by JMG realty on 12/22/14 - a full month after the purchase was completed.
The last straw came in February. On 2/2, residents received a notice that countertops, appliances, light fixtures, blinds, interior doors, and all drawers and cabinets would be replaced on 2/3. I received the notice at 6 pm on the 2nd (they actually gave it to me in person), which was far less than 24 hours notice for major renovations. The requests were to remove everything from my countertops, drawers and cabinets and everything in the fridge. I immediately called the office and told them that this work would not be allowed to be done as requested based on the terms of my lease and the fact that I was moving out in 1 month. The next day I called a lawyer versed in tenant law to ensure that I had the right to deny entrance - which I did. The apartment office called and told me that we had to reach an agreement because their contractors were leaving before my move-out date so the work needed to be done before then. I offered an agreement that included refunding of the month's rent due to not being able to live in the apartment because of the renovations and never heard back from them. The work was not completed before I moved out, so to me, it seems like they were not entirely truthful with me about the circumstances of the construction work. You can draw your own conclusions. Just know - as a tenant, you do have rights, so do not hesitate to call your office out if it seems like they are in violation of your lease agreement. They hold you to and and they must also be held to it.
So, that's my story. You can make your own decisions, but I personally recommend all of my friends to steer clear of this place. The renovated apartments look nice, but these are still old buildings. I never noticed how thin the walls were until I moved to my new apartment and realized that I never hear my upstairs neighbors walking around anymore - which was the norm at 660 Halton. The location is convenient, but there are plenty other apartment complexes in the area that would treat their residents with more respect.
I want to be clear that this is just not sour grapes. I moved into Century Forest apartments in 2011 and it was a great value apartment. Sure, the neighbors were a little noisy, there was dog poop everywhere, and the building smelled like smoke, but the rent was low, the apartments were large, maintenance was quick to fix problems and the office staff was helpful and courteous. I happily lived here for 3 and a half year with no intention of moving out until I was ready to buy a house a few years down the road.
Fast forward to June 2014. Suddenly the landscaping is being ripped up, the parking lot is being torn apart, and there are dumpsters left everywhere in the very limited parking spaces. A semi-trailer was parked next to my building and left there for 8 months - taking up all the spots on that side of the building. While we certainly can't complain too much about the improvements being made to the community, the work was extremely intrusive (and loud) and there was no prior notification to residents that this work would be occurring. About a month or so after this started, residents were notified that the property was purchased by another company (of poor reputation in this area). I spoke to a neighbor who had just moved in right before the construction started and found that she hadn't been given notice of the impending purchase before her move-in and that since she worked night shifts, the construction was a serious problem. I encouraged her to take her complaint to the office, though I don't know if she did or not.
It only got worse from here. They started renovating vacant apartments, leaving construction debris, flooring rolls and trucks everywhere during the day and overnight. The construction went well into the evening, sometimes after 7 or 8 PM. Caution tape was left everywhere - definitely an eyesore for the community. The pool was closed in August - indefinitely. No alternatives or discounts were provided to residents for this loss of amenity (and it was still closed when I moved out in March). Soon after the Fitness center and laundry room were closed indefinitely - again no alternatives or discounts for nearby gyms provided to residents.
Things stayed like this until the beginning of December. Annoying, but tolerable. Then in mid-December residents received a notice that the online portal (for rent payment and maintenance requests) would be down for an unidentified period of time. I emailed to ask when it would be back as I used online auto-pay for my rent and wanted to make sure I would be able to pay when it was next due. The response I got was "The online portal will be down temporarily and will notify you by email when it will be available again.". Very helpful. I responded and asked specifically if I would need to bring a physical check to pay and the finally said that I should plan on it. When I went to the office to pay my rent, they couldn't even tell me how much I owed and we had to guess.
Then the fun stuff started. I came home after work one day to find the only entrance to my building completely blocked off because they had decided to repair the sidewalk. That's all well and nice, but how was I supposed to get in? There was no prior notice of this work so I wasn't expecting it. I eventually had to climb down into a ditch to get into my apartment. It was like this for 4 days.
Next. Residents received a notification of GFI outlets being installed in the kitchen. The date on the notice was 2 days prior to the actual delivery and the delivery date was less than one business day (office closed on Sundays) from the date of the actual work being done - which was not in compliance with the lease. But, it was small work, so I said nothing. But when I came home after the work was completed, there was a huge mess left in my kitchen. Plaster was left everywhere and some food that I had left on the countertop was ruined because it was covered in plaster and dust.
Soon after, I received the lease renewal paperwork and the rent was going to be increased by over $300 a month. So I obviously opted to not renew.
The next construction to be done was the replacement of the windows and siding on my building. I had seen work being done on other buildings but I had fingers crossed that they would wait until I had moved out. No such luck. We got a notice 2 weeks before Christmas that the windows and siding on my building would be done that week. They stated that no accommodation of dates for residents and that we would need to take down decorations and move furniture for the work to be done. Two weeks before Christmas. I complained to the office because of the poor timing of the work but never heard back. The work was delayed but we didn't hear anything else from the office until January 5th, when the work was rescheduled for that week. I had the unfortunate circumstance of being sick that week so I couldn't go to work. Needless to say, it was a stressful week since I couldn't rest during the day because of all the noise and got kicked out of my apartment on the day that they replaced the windows. They also did a good bit of damage to the interior, including nail holes in the wall where the siding was replaced (with plaster mess everywhere) and damage to the sheetrock around the windows. The outside was messy as well with construction equipment left everywhere as trip hazards in the walkways. I lodged a complaint on January 7th because the work was continuing into the late evening, and the office staff promised that the work should end at 6 every day when the office closed. A week later, I received notice that the interior damage would be repaired the next day and I made a request to the apartment manager that no further work to the interior of my apartment be done until my move out which was less than 2 months away. The request was written on my lease.
About a week after that (now it's 1/21/15), I received a notice that the property was purchased by JMG realty on 12/22/14 - a full month after the purchase was completed.
The last straw came in February. On 2/2, residents received a notice that countertops, appliances, light fixtures, blinds, interior doors, and all drawers and cabinets would be replaced on 2/3. I received the notice at 6 pm on the 2nd (they actually gave it to me in person), which was far less than 24 hours notice for major renovations. The requests were to remove everything from my countertops, drawers and cabinets and everything in the fridge. I immediately called the office and told them that this work would not be allowed to be done as requested based on the terms of my lease and the fact that I was moving out in 1 month. The next day I called a lawyer versed in tenant law to ensure that I had the right to deny entrance - which I did. The apartment office called and told me that we had to reach an agreement because their contractors were leaving before my move-out date so the work needed to be done before then. I offered an agreement that included refunding of the month's rent due to not being able to live in the apartment because of the renovations and never heard back from them. The work was not completed before I moved out, so to me, it seems like they were not entirely truthful with me about the circumstances of the construction work. You can draw your own conclusions. Just know - as a tenant, you do have rights, so do not hesitate to call your office out if it seems like they are in violation of your lease agreement. They hold you to and and they must also be held to it.
So, that's my story. You can make your own decisions, but I personally recommend all of my friends to steer clear of this place. The renovated apartments look nice, but these are still old buildings. I never noticed how thin the walls were until I moved to my new apartment and realized that I never hear my upstairs neighbors walking around anymore - which was the norm at 660 Halton. The location is convenient, but there are plenty other apartment complexes in the area that would treat their residents with more respect.