Apartment Review for Lexington Crossing Apartments - Gainesville, FL

Get your popcorn ready, my review of this place is lengthy. I moved in here in August of 08 and have had nothing but problems since. The internet connection is unreliable...I lose connection several times an hour. The television signal is fed from a satellite feed that is split into as many signals as there are units in the complex so even when it does work (bad weather kills it almost every time) some stations are so fuzzy at times because of the signal strengh reduction cause by the splitting that it isn't even worth watching. I moved in back in August of 08 and cannot wait for my lease to run out in Aug 09. I was shown a model home that was in so much better condition than the one I was given you would think it wasn't even in the same complex. I have seen 4 or 5 units in this same complex and they are no different. The carpet is beat down and crusty, the dust is impossible to get control of even with changing the air filter frequently and the walls are paper thin. The neighbors upstairs seeming perform gymnastics meets at all hours of the night and my bedroom is right up against the stairwell so I can hear EVERY step when people are on the way up or down. When I signed my lease, my friend I was moving in with and I filled out a roommate matching form and were told we would be paired up with a third and forth person (we are in a 4/4) according to it. I also asked if we would be moving into an empty unit and was told we were. Well we moved in on top of an existing resident into a unit that was filthy from the start. Even my room that was locked up and unoccupied was covered in dust and looked like it had been vacant for months and months. There is one other guy living here aside from my friend and I and he does not match ANY of the qualities in the roommate match form. I have worn myself ragged trying to keep the kitchen clean because of the lack of clean habits him and his girlfriend (I will get to the issue of her living here shortly) have. The worst part is I will be responsible for making sure the place is spotless when I leave (or will face a penalty fee) even though it was already disgusting when I moved in. The 4th bedroom is unoccupied because the person was previously evicted but with the way their utility fees are structured ($45 per room per month), the three other occupants are responsible for all overages divided by 3 instead of 4 and we don't even get the $45 credit for that room. As far as utility overages go, this has to be the most inefficient apartment I have ever lived in energy-wise. The air conditioner is over 20 years old and utility overages average $65-$70 every month in the summer. On to my randomly assigned roommate. He is a pot smoking loser who's girlfriend lives here with him. I informed the staff of this and they charged him some penalty and threated eviction if she didn't leave but never followed up and she still lives here. That means that my friend and I have to basically pay part of her utilities too because she uses our hot water for showering, uses the washer and dryer, etc... because the overages are divided by three. I realize I can't blame Lexington Crossing for the shortcomings of our roommates but I make that point to point out how unresponsive they are when it comes to enforcing their OWN policies when it comes to certain things. The property is run by basically all students and although they try their best to help, they really could care a less about many things. I have several documented complaints when it comes to my roommate situation which includes them smoking inside, them smoking weed inside, an unauthorized tenant, and they broke into the fourth bedroom to have an extra shower and should we have been caught with that room open before I reported it, we would have all been billed a fee of $300 as a penalty. The assistant manager came and locked the room up, inspected their room and found the drug paraphernalia as well as cigarette filled ash trays and evidence that the girlfriend was living here. She fined him for the infractions and gave him 7 days to kick her out. No follow up was done, she hasn't gone anywhere and when I went back to the office to let the assistant manager know, I was asked if I had anything against her living there. Basically I was told that she wasn't hurting anything so nothing was going to be done. Apparently the strict wording in the lease about having an extra occupant in the room meant nothing. Point of all this being the management won't enforce their own rules unless its one that will put cash in their pocket. As far as safety goes, I haven't had a good experience with that as well. There are always sketchy characters loitering around and back in November my apartment was robbed in the broad daylight at 12:30 PM while I lay in bed sleeping because I was sick as hell that week and was doped up on NyQuil. My friend's flat screen TV, his Xbox 360 and his laptop computer were all stolen. There was also a fairly significant drug/gun bust executed in the building adjacent to mine a short time before that where a 16 year old from Miami with several arrest warrants was squatting on an unoccupied room. There has also been several vehicle break ins over the last year. The only good thing I can honestly say about this place is that the maintenance crew works hard and are very polite. They do their best to complete repairs in a timely manner and do a good job. Overall however, short version of what I said above is, the place is a dump (dont let the outter appearance fool you), you won't feel safe, you will always hear your neighbors around you, and the management won't help you resolve issues.