My family and I had a wonderful experience living there. The apartment was adorable, very quiet and comfortable. The grounds are stunning with lots of greenery, flowers and mature trees! The gym was always clean and the pool was well taken care of. We also loved the BBQ area and had many family dinners out there in the summer near the pool. The staff are fantastic they are very friendly, kind and handled any issues I had efficiently and quickly. It's in a lovely area in west Davis next to a great park. We loved our time living there and will miss it! read more

Absolutely horrible experience living at Portage Bay. Loud residents, laundry machines that the property set up to overcharge your credit card, many code violations on the property that we have reported the owner for. The management is unresponsive, never in the office, and rude. read more

Lived here for two years. Despite cleaning the apartment two hours a day for two week tirelessly, the management still took my entire deposit. Fighting for my deposit back was a unpleasant experience even with photos that I can proof the before and after condition of the apartment. Amy was very condescending during the phone call exchange. Carlos kept questioning the legitimacy of my photos yet he has no evidence to invalidate my move-in and move-out photos. Living quality of the apartment has also gone downhill over the two years. Before it was quiet and strictly no party. During the end of my lease people have had parties until 4 am. Large crowd of people screaming and yelling was uncommon. The structural condition of the apartment was a major concern. My apartment had had a total of two water leaks in my bedroom and living room. While my personal belongings were damaged by the leaky ceiling, being woken up at 3 am in the morning by grey water droplets landing on my bed was very concerning. Overall I am glad that I left this place and found a more comfortable place to call home. Portage Bay was a nice place but it has seriously gone downhill. read more

We stayed here for nearly two years. We definitely loved it. Amy and the maintenance staff are nice and responsive. They helped sublease our apartment in time, so I did not need to pay any penalty. My only complaint is the poor paper-thin floor. I could hear clearly my upstairs neighbors's voice. Even worse, the upstairs neighbors are around four college students; they went to bed very late; someone even played piano at 1am. We complained about this, and nothing worked. So, pray for a good neighbor. Another downside is the increasing rent. It is increased every year, and now there is amenity fee. read more

Rented a 3B2B 2 floor town house with a couple of friends for 3 years starting Sept. 2013. Management and maintenance staff was nice, friendly, responsive, and helpful. We had no problem with rent, deposit, or getting things fixed during our stay. The buildings are kind old but clean. Our townhouse had central heating and ac. 2nd floor rooms tend to get pretty hot during summer, turning on the ac did not help that much (this only applies to apartments with west facing windows). Noise level was fine, we could hear our next door neighbor playing the piano and hear our roommates walking upstairs (the wood structure tends to make noises when heavy people walk on it). But I would still say it was not that bad. Had internet services with AT&T and Comcast, Comcast was a better choice. 10-15 minute walk to a supermarket, a pizza place, a pretty good Chinese restaurant, and a great Boba tea house with tasty shaved ice. Out of all the apartments we've visited and the ones we've lived in, Portage Bay was one that made us feel at home. It's located at the quieter side of town, so no busy streets and noisy cars either. read more

I lived in Portage Bay for 2 years. The buildings are on the older side but are well maintained. The landscaping is very well maintained as well and helps make the complex a more beautiful place to live. There's a pool and spa, ample parking, and discounted memberships to the country club down the street. It's also right on a bus line and near bike paths and parks. On top of everything else, one of the best things about Portage Bay is the management. Jacque, the manager, is very friendly and helpful. Maintenance requests were usually taken care of quickly and there's an annual pool party with free food and free plants (there are patios/balconies in all units with built-in planters). Jacque also makes homemade holiday and birthday cards for residents, which is a nice touch (especially for such a large complex!). read more

RENTERS BEWARE: they steal security deposits, use your lack of knowledge of tenant rights against you, and they discriminate. "If you lived here, you'd love it" Oh, I don't think so. Where to begin with the worst living experience I have ever had? All seemed normal when first moving into the apartment Fall 2016. This was the cheapest place we found for a 3 bedroom apartment and it was apparent with the paint job, kitchen cupboards, balcony, cracks in the wall, popcorn ceiling, misaligned closet doors, etc. Throughout the year we experienced ceiling leaks, an infestation of beetles from the nearby tree, and knobs falling off of the bathroom mirror cabinet thing. Wow, it was built in the 70s, but come on, have some decency when setting prices knowing your units are ancient. Let me elaborate on the worst experience now: the security deposit and worst customer service. At the end of the year, we decided not to renew the lease, which meant we had to clean the unit, patch up holes that were made, to get our security deposit back. Vaughn Management (the parent company) formulated their lease in a way for tenants moving out in a yearly basis to get screwed. If you occupied the unit for 18 months, they would cover a portion of the paint job and carpet. Funny how most students move out in a year. But, I digress. We cleaned every square inch of the unit and told management it was done and to have them inspect it as well. The leasing agent went through the unit and found a crumb in the fridge, a spot on the oven, and dust on some of the blinds. Understandably, we missed a few spots, but overall the unit was impeccable, better than we received it that's for sure. Overall, The leasing agent thought the place was clean and also mentioned during the inspection that our carpet looked so good that she thought it was professionally cleaned. We still wanted to keep record of everything so thank god we took the time to take photos of every single room of that apartment after we cleaned it just in case of this exact situation. Fast forward a couple weeks after we move out and we get $20 dollars of the $1800 security deposit back with an invoice for the service they did to our unit post-move-out. What did it say? "HEAVY clean, FULL paint, and FULL carpet cleaning." Only reason we get chump change was because they wrongly charged us for rent because we had a service animal. We brought our gripes to Amy the property manager (who I hear is not there anymore THANK GOD). She proceeded to BERATE us, flaunt her track record in court and was an overall bad person. We never mentioned court and she THREW IT IN OUR FACES. Her reasoning was that the cleaning company and the paint company just tell her how much the units cost to upkeep after a move out. So, she was incompetent in running an apartment complex is all we heard. Her leasing agent mentioned how there "3 boys in the unit.. and that it was bound to get messy". One, that's wrong to say. And 2, that's discrimination. Amy then proceeded to tell us that, "She's new". So, pretty much telling us that as a property manager, does not know how to train new employees. All of our bickering was for naught, as Amy the ex-property manager threw her problems aside and gave us the number to her superior. Spoiler alert: he was no bucket of sunshine as well. We drafted a letter stating our demands of the security deposit back for paint and cleaning ONLY and sent it to Carlos (regional manager or something I guess). We had a dog, they had to carpet clean it, we were understanding. He emails us back 2 weeks after and says he'll give us some security deposit back, but not all of it, and to never contact him again. That's fine. I hope I don't EVER have the "pleasure" of living at one of Vaughn Management's apartment complexes again. THEY ALSO OWN LA SALLE in Davis just so you know what to expect. read more

Horrible place to live. Rent keeps increasing each year. Management is awful and unhelpful. Currently doing "renovations" that have been going on for over a year because their contractors don't actually work and just blast music on the job. Won't even provide earplugs to compensate for the noise, which consists of running drills and motors for several hours at 8 in the morning, even on weekends. Quality of life has gone down while they continue to charge more for rent. Would rather stay anywhere else for the price they ask for. The renovations should continue beyond the year of 2018, and even when finished, the noise won't stop due to the leaf blower their gardeners use every morning, which is louder than a fire alarm. You won't see any bad reviews on their website because they only show the ones where people give them five stars. Absolutely disgusting. read more

Here's the skinny - my previous review is still valid in a lot of ways, but a lot has changed since then. I'm keeping the 4 star rating but want it to be known that my feeling is that of 3.5 stars rounded up rather than the former 4.5 stars rounded down. We're still happy with the place, but over time have had our gripes. Here's a list of gripes/changes/etc, good and bad, since my last review and in our 3 years here: 1. Manager changed. We loved Jacque (now at the Trees), and while Amy (formerly at Arlington Farm) is an experienced manager in her own right, she pays a quarter of the attention to us that Jacque did. I'm sure Amy will not learn our apartment number before we leave. 2. Rent is going up. For us as current residents it's only gone up to reflect the water ordinance in Davis -- this has been totally fair and as current residents this is NOT a true gripe. I note this because I know that the people who move into our apartment in the Fall will pay $135 more than we do now, and that should be factored into how you feel about a place. 3. The complex is old, and nearly everything that can fall apart on us has in these 3 years. The maintenance staff is solid though and they attend to these things really fast, so it's not that bad, but it's still pretty annoying to have to put in maintenance orders every few weeks because this cabinet broke and this drawer broke etc. You'd think we're a bunch of rowdy college apartment-abusers but we really aren't, we're pretty quiet and gentle people but if it's a door, it's fallen apart on us. 4. They're renovating. This is cool for people who live here in the future but kind of sucks for us living here now. We didn't have a shower for a few days, water is off every few months, the parking lot was closed for a few days for repaving (UPDATE: twice), the tiling in our bathroom had to be redone so we couldn't use that for a day (UPDATE: also twice). I've woken up to the wonderful sound of a shovel plowing through rocks as they remove the stone-based outdoor decor. Every counter in the apartment had to be cleared (twice) for new granite counters (looks great, but I'm moving in a few weeks). A number of areas that used to be lawn are currently dirt with exposed irrigation infrastructure. As you might be gathering it's just been a handful of inconveniences and the improvements for current residents have been minor, though notable (our shower and bathroom floor are definitely nicer). Let it be known this place will probably be gorgeous and dead quiet five minutes after I leave, cause that's how luck works. 5. Dogs are allowed now, which I just learned the other day. This is a double-edged sword but certainly less of a limitation to those who might want to live here but would refuse to part with their fuzzy friend. 6. Can pay online now, which is a nice feature I haven't taken advantage of. 7. Your only cable/internet option is Comcast. I don't know why it's even allowed for complexes to have exclusivity with one provider. Ever seen the South Park episode with the cable companies? It's like that; you have no leverage. If you're unhappy with any part of your service -- odds are something will come up at some point -- you have no negotiating power at all. In fact if they wanted to, they could just rub their nipples (South Park) and force you to pay for 300 Colombian channels and you'd have little choice in the matter. Instaconnect is now an internet option at least, so you can potentially ditch the cable company altogether. All in all we'd still recommend Portage Bay Apartments. That being said, we started off here enamored and we'll be leaving sort of indifferent. The things we loved about it - management, quiet - are effectively gone, as new management and constant renovations leave us without that warm fuzzy feeling we had at the start. But isn't that about how everything goes? read more

My boyfriend and I have lived here for 5 years and have truly enjoyed living at this complex. The grounds are beautifully manicured and lush. The complex is quiet and has a lot of families. The best thing about the place is the staff though! Sal the maintenance guy is friendly, attentive, and helpful. He goes out of his way to make sure the apartments are in good shape and that the tenants are happy. His coworker Ricki is also kind and helpful. The leasing office staff are quick to respond to questions. The only reason we are moving is because of work, but we definitely recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a quiet, calm apartment to live. read more

We lived here for two years (each year in a different unit), and absolutely loved our stay! We were in a 2B, 1B and the floor plan was very spacious, with huge rooms and plenty of closet space. We were both students, and the surrounding area is very peaceful! There are quite a few families that live here, along with other students, so sometimes for an hour or two in the evening there is the noise of the kids playing outside or in the pool, but other than that, its great. The surrounding area is mainly other homes, so its very safe and shady for afternoon walks. There is also a bus stop located right outside the complex, making it very convenient to take to UCD. The management (Amy) is very friendly, remembering, and prompt to help with any request made. Any maintenance related issues were taken care of either the day of if they were urgent, or then within 2-3 days of the same week if they weren't emergencies (but def before the weekend rolled around) by either Sal or Ricky. Both men made sure to not only fix the problem they had originally come for, but to ask if any other repairs needed to be made before they left, and to take care of those as well. As for parking, its open parking and fairly easy to get a spot close to your unit. Sad to have had left, but finished school and no longer needed to live in Davis. Overall, a great experience and if I ever need to rent here again, will def be checking to see if they have any available units! read more