If I could give 0 stars, I would. I have lived at Heritage Arms since early 2023. In my 2.5 years…read morehere, I have been continually disappointed with management and quality. At first, it was a solid starter apartment. Being young and moving out for the first time, this was definitely worth the price, and the original office manager was very helpful in getting me and my roommate in and settled.
However, in the past year, this property was either sold to a new management company or just restructured under the same name, and it has been a total nightmare since then. The new management has a, maybe 20-year-old working the front office who has no clue how to help anyone. They never answer their phone. It takes days to answer an email, and yet they consistently harass all residents with posted notices about whatever B.S. they feel like posting.
There is also the issue of them continually finding excuses to enter residents' properties. They said they were scheduling a bug spray a few months ago and required all residents to completely clear out their kitchens for them, so random people could enter the living space and spray harsh chemicals all over our kitchens. I have a service animal living with me as well as a general dislike for harsh chemicals near where I eat (sue me), so I didn't clear out the kitchen. I was charged a "rescheduling fee". When asked about when the reschedule would be, the office girl said, "Oh, we're not going to actually reschedule."... So what's the fee for then?
Also, I can't tell you how unclear and completely idiotic the new resident portals are. There are at least 3 new services they push every month. Random scam companies are either tied to Charger Properties or the other random third parties they so quickly rely on. They are completely broken and unintuitive, and the random pop-ups I get when all I want to do is pay rent are ridiculous.
They didn't notify anyone of the switch to the first new portal, so our autopay got turned off, which meant for at least a few months, we were getting tacked on late fees because THEIR software was broken. When we went to the office (because they don't pick up their phone) the girl explained that she couldn't do anything about that. Awesome. So then we committed to manually paying rent, fine. But now, their split rent function doesn't work. You have to pay the full amount every time you go in; it won't let you do anything else. Awesome. We talked to the office girl about that as well. She said, "You could pay in check?" It's 2025. You made me sign up for your stupid software. I should be able to use it without all this hassle.
Now I get at least 5-10 emails every month from another program they are pushing called Flex? This scam is so you can split your rent into two separate payments, at the beginning of the month and the end of the month, or whatever your heart desires, but you can only pay with a card, so you get DOUBLE credit/debit card fees!! So smart!!
The final straw came after we decided to break our lease and leave, though. I looked through the lease carefully and saw that so long as we gave more than 30 days' notice, all we were liable to pay was obviously our last month of rent, a termination fee of $100, and a cleaning fee of $150. Only for the office to tell us that, actually, we would also owe two months' rent in addition to the other fees. Nowhere in the lease does it say that. Nowhere was that mentioned in person, over the phone, or in an email. She said that it falls under the "in addition to any Rent or other charges owed" section. You can't make up a number and say it applies to "in addition to any Rent or other charges owed". That's the scammiest, no spine b.s. I've ever heard in my life.
Other lowlights:
* They lost my service animal paperwork and threatened extra fees after "discovering" her during an unannounced visit, even though she's been registered the entire time.
* They brag about "daily property walks," yet garbage piles up everywhere. Hallways reek, carpets are filthy, and ashtrays overflow with cigarette butts.
* The office is often locked during business hours, so you have to physically chase someone down to get help.
* Laundry machines are ancient and frequently broken.
* The apartment had water damage before move-in. Since then, the window leaks, the bathroom ceiling has cracked and leaks every time it rains, and maintenance just shrugs.
* The shower breaks constantly, we've had to call maintenance every few months.
In short, the management is incompetent, maintenance is useless, and the property is filthy. They nickel-and-dime tenants with hidden fees and rely on broken systems they can't manage.