Lucerne Apartments

I rented here from 2013 – 2015. When I first moved in, the leasing agents and managers were very friendly and receptive to any complaints or concerns. I would stop into the office to get packages and they would know me by name. However, overtime, the staff began to change. The new leasing agents were consistently rude and seemed annoyed at any questions I might have. I frequently walked in to a totally empty office and was unable to be helped, or walked in to see the leasing agent chatting on the couch with a friend.
The security of the complex declined as well. The gate was habitually broken for weeks at a time, with no explanation. There were numerous reports of burglaries in the complex and vandalism of community property. The new managers did hire a security guard which eased my concerns a bit, but the gate situation was never really fixed.
When I went to move out, I was assured of an check out and walk through time. When the girl arrived, she informed me that she was able to inspect a lot of the apartment and that someone else would be doing that later. I had no choice but to sign the keys over and leave as my lease had ended. Weeks later, I received a detailed list of fines and charges, none of which were pointed out to me by the girl during check out. After attempting to protest the charges, I decided to just take the minimal return on my security deposit and hope to never have to hear from this awful management team again.

Why you should not rent here:
1. We paid $ 100 to have an apartment held for us. No apartment was held and we waited an additional 3 ½ weeks past the scheduled move in date for an apartment and still did not get the apartment we wanted. Instead we got dumb looks and no acknowledgement of the $ 100 holding fee, aka joke on customer fee.
2. Every time we pick up a package from the rental office the lobby stays unattended for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. It’s very frustrating to have to sit in the lobby and wait while the manager sits in her office doing nothing. After we finally walk back there to her office she always acts like she didn’t know people entered the building when the door chime goes off constantly. We watch people constantly walk in and out while the door chimes. Why are you still the manager?
3. The squirrels are constantly scratching on the roof and in the walls in the middle of the night. We felt like any moment they will fall through the ceiling. After complaining nothing happened.
4. The dog breeds are too large. We have no pets yet we constantly have to dodge mounds of poop. I ruined a great pair of shoes stepping in a nice fresh dump of it. Why not build a dog park?
5. Today we went through the walkthrough of the property, with the leasing agent, and she moved the dryer back and forth several times and found 2 dryer sheets on the floor and a ball of lint. The 2 dryer sheets and 1 ball of lint were next to the wall. She said that we are charging you for that. Nowhere on my move out sheet does it say I would be charged $ 10 for 2 dryer sheets and a ball of lint on the floor. She said we gave it to you clean and that’s the way you should have returned it. ??? Then she said the floor is dirty and she snapped pictures but I promise I did not see the dirt I guess it was invisible.
6. The leasing agent also went outside to the patio and punched the screen multiple times. There were not any holes in the screen when I was there. Why punch the screen? After I left, I don’t know what she did.
7. We had the carpet cleaned after we moved out. The leasing agent said she saw spots. Again I did not see the spots she was talking about. She said she couldn’t assess the carpet. I said why we had the carpet cleaned and you can see there are no rips or tears or spots. She said a professional comes in and assesses the carpet. Again when we left the carpet looked great. It cost us $ 85 to have the carpet cleaned. I’m not sure why the leasing agent said it’s dirty. The $ 85 we paid did not yield the carpet dirty. Since I have turned the keys over effective today I can’t account for what happened after that.
8. Instead of getting my $ 250 security deposit I got a refund of $ 114 showing where they took interest out of my deposit for no reasons given on my lease. Is this legal?
9. I was charged twice for a PAID water bill. I was charged for cleaning costs not written on my move out check out sheet. What they cleaned is unknown since we used a cleaning company before we left.
10. The level of dishonesty runs from the top down. Even though my complaint was sent July 31^st to both Florida and corporate office vice chairman David Weiner, New York they did not respond to my complaints until August 13^th stating «you must respond within 15 days of August 13^th if I am objecting in writing to the deduction to the amount of my security deposit.» They themselves ignored my complaint and just sent a check for $ 114 dollars with not even an acknowledgement of my concerns. What kind of company does business on this level? Only the dishonest ones who cheat residents who abide by the lease.
Don’t rent here unless you like wasting your hard earned money with a company that doesn’t respect your time or uses usurious tactics to take money they do not legally deserve. If you choose to rent here after what you read don’t say you weren’t warned.