I lived at Ashwood Valley for a little over three years.
I'll lead off my review with the positives. I appreciate that it is a dog friendly complex, as Connecticut is generally not a pet friendly state for renters. The grounds are great for walking the dogs, with lots of paths and space. The amenities of the pool, fitness center, basketball court, and community room are all nice. There's plenty of parking, and I never had an issue finding a spot. The apartments are well insulated, and have central air conditioning. The office and maintenance were generally responsive, although I would guess that they were extremely under-resourced by management. They never said anything, but it was clear everyone was stretched.
Here is where it fell short for me, and increasingly so as time went on. First, this is VERY much a smoking complex and no effort is made to consider the wellbeing of non-smoking tenants. For two of the three years I rented here, I couldn't sit on my porch or even open my windows b/c the tenant downstairs basically lived on their porch and smoked 24-7. Then a next door neighbor moved in who smoked pot 24-7 and so between the smell of cigarette smoke coming up from downstairs and the smell of pot smoke constantly coming in from next door, it no longer felt like a home but like an unsupervised college dorm. Whenever I raised concerns to the front office, they told me there was nothing they could do about it.
Secondly, the apartments themselves need an upgrade. The appliances were all old and were not in great condition. At one point, the dishwasher door wouldn't latch to close and maintenance shoved a piece of folded up paper in it to get it to work. These are not luxury apartments.
Thirdly, the expense. Yes, the base rent was reasonable but then you have to add in all these extra's, including a water bill that somehow managed to be the exact same amount every month ($100 for a 1 bedroom with a loft) even when I was out of town on vacation. Also, if you are a pet owner, please know that the non-refundable $500 security deposit and monthly pet rent is not allocated towards any damages in the apartment at move-out. They literally just take that money to have, which has never been my experience at any other complex. There is a lack of storage, and even the limited storage rentals on site are really small, so be prepared to add on the expense of a storage unit if you need storage.
By the time I moved out, I felt the environment there was not designed to ensure wellbeing of tenants but the focus was an overemphasis on policing and monitoring things like the garbage (they have camera's up there and nowhere else when safety is a real concern), and it didn't feel remotely like a home. It was really stressful, especially given the expense to live there. The move-out was not pleasant. For example, I got a call saying I didn't pay my last few days of rent when not only did I pay it, but I paid it early. That was followed by an unprofessional "Collection Notice" sent via mail for $200 of damages. No invoice ahead of time, they went straight to collection notice. I was not trying to avoid paying it, I was simply waiting for an invoice. So while there's a lot of potential here, management needs to invest in the apartments themselves and ensuring that their good tenants want to stay rather than leave. read more