Although the rats, mice, cockroaches, and lizards that infiltrated the apartment incessantly were…read moredistressing, regardless of numerous visits by "pest control" who "filled holes" and left glue traps, Crossroads Apartments and 1st Lake Properties continued to disappoint well after move-out. The shabby and dated condition of the apartment, the exceptionally poor carpentry, and the trash and cigarette butt littered parking lots and stairwells can be overlooked, but I became apoplectic when my deposit refund was not only late but reduced by $622.75 for carpet replacement, blind replacement, "Dep Forfeitures", and photo documentation. My lease ended on August 10th, 2019, I am entitled to a refund or a notice of withholding with an itemized list within 30 days per The Rent Deposit Return Act, La. R. S. 9:3251. My check was dated September 20th, 2019 and the postage stamp shows it was mailed on the 26th of September, 2019. I assumed they would wait the entire 30 days to send it, but as the 30th day came and went, the office was contacted and they stated it had been sent on the 13th. Therefore, 1st Lake Properties did not withhold their legal responsibilities, which there are monetary penalties for, but also has questionable business ethics. Furthermore, when I moved in, the apartment had black stains in the carpet, that I removed myself, which leads me to question the legitimacy of this 504.89 dollar deduction. I literally left the carpet cleaner than it was when I moved in. The blinds, of shanty quality and with already broken pieces, fell from the bedroom window due to poor installation several times during my lease, which did cause some additional pieces to break, rendering that deduction as reasonable. I am unable to discern what exactly "Dep Forfeitures" are, but they amount to 100 dollars. Photo documentation, at $5, is peculiar, since most photos are stored digitally (like my photo documentation) and prints at Walgreens start around 23 cents.
More on the property and community itself. Door knobs fall off, paint chips from the walls, the bathrooms have no ventilation and are of poor quality, the pantry door cannot stay on its track, I had to ask for a window screen (the one provided to me did not fit the window correctly, leaving a gap, and since there was already a pest problem, my window could not be left open), there was a large gap beneath the front door (again, critters could mosey in and out at any time) that I had to deal with myself, the doors inside the apartment cannot be closed all the way, the noise from I-10 is a nuisance, other tenants are oblivious to the fact there are others around them, and the air conditioning is terrible as it froze up unremittingly and is older than Medusa. The maintenance workers seem hardworking and clean up the trashed parking lots the best they can. Most office employees are subpar and I only ever had pleasant experiences with one of them. Finally, they wanted to increase the rent if I began a new lease, which I found to be both a laughable and money hungry move.
Attached photos include the condition of the carpets and blinds before and after move-in, the gap beneath the door, the pest problem, and my dated documents. The images that have red circles are from move-in day.
TL;DR Avoid Crossroads apartments and 1st Lake Properties due to the dreadful property itself and questionable business ethics.
