I honestly don't think 512 Living is any better or worse than any other leasing and management…read morecompany that rents primarily to students. I lived for a year in Rosewood, a small, 8 studio complex in West Campus. It was fine. I moved because the company wanted to raise my rent from $750 to $950 at renewal, which was ridiculous, if not I would have renewed. They certainly aren't a good management company, but I think a lot of the terrible reviews on here come from the fact that they rent primarily to students, which means this is the first lease they've ever had, and the students have no idea what renting and living on their own is supposed to be like. I think 512 takes advantage of that fact, which is pretty sucky.
For example, I went and picked up my keys on the first day of my lease, which was a Sunday, so the office wasn't "open" but they were giving out keys. I go over to my new apartment to check it out, but the key doesn't work because the locks haven't actually been changed yet from the previous tenant. I called the office but they were already closed. If I'd had a moving truck showing up with my stuff, this obviously would have been a HUGE DEAL. But for me, I just went back to my old apartment and waited till the next day. When I finally got in, I noticed a few things that needed to be fixed -- primarily the lock on the sliding glass door. TX law requires 2. I informed 512 and told them to let me know when it was fixed, which took about a week. Again, for me, no big deal; I had another place to stay. When I did finally move in, I asked them what my prorated rent would be for that month, and they told me the regular full-month price, and I was like, "Nope, you didn't have this apartment ready per the law and the lease because I didn't have my keys and a second lock on the door," and they immediately prorated my rent to reflect my actual occupancy date. So they try to pull stuff like that, but if you push back in a calm and reasonable way, knowing what your rights are, you're a lot better off. It's rotten that they try to get away with stuff like that, but I bet they do a lot because their clients don't know any better.
If you ending up leasing with them, here's my advice: read your lease thoroughly. Really. Don't be surprised by the cleaning fee or the fact that agents can bring people over whenever they want to view your apartment. Take tons of pictures and videos when you move in, and detail every single possible defect on your walk through form. If something is old, or bent, or dirty, or chipped, or there's the tiniest chance they could charge you for it, write it down. When you move out, do the same -- take photos. Of everything. They can't charge you for a drip pan if you've got a photo that it was there when you left. It sucks, but it's what you have to do with this company. Same goes if you're having problems -- leaks, bugs, etc. -- take photos and document it every time you report it and what action 512 took because you may need it later.
Everything else for me was pretty much okay. As a business, they suck, but compared to other property management companies, they are pretty much standard, unfortunately. I didn't have issues with bugs or whatnot, and when I reported something that needed to be fixed, it got fixed. Sometimes not right away, and not on the first go, but it was eventually all taken care of.
