The Trees Apartments

I can’t say enough good things about this place. I lived here for 4 years while attending UC Davis and moved out last year in June but since I’m currently having a frustrating experience moving into a new apartment it’s making me wish I was living back at the Trees! During those 4 years I had some shady housemates and unfortunate experiences in my apartment but management was so accommodating and helpful every single time I was so grateful. I dealt a lot with Dean and his wide who are great, and when he left I dealt with Jacque who was also great. Rent is reasonably priced and they offer great renewal bonuses. The living atmosphere is very nice plus all the amenities they have are pretty great. Also if you’re attending UC Davis the bus lines are very convenient. Oh and I can’t forget if the maintenance guys Modesto and Angel are still there, they’re awesome! They always got things done in a timely manner and they were so nice. Overall, I had the best time living here with my friends and I would recommend it to anyone!

As per Unilocal’s guidelines, 3 stars = A-​OK, while 2 stars = Meh, I’ve experienced better. The bulk of my experience 2009 – 2010 fall in between the A-​OK and the Meh, so this is 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. My opinions might be a bit dated, as it’s been 3 years since then.
TL;DR
1. Rent is on the higher end of the apartment spectrum, but so is most of West Davis apartments. Security deposit policy is terrible here.
2. The distance from campus is more than at other complexes in North/​South/​East Davis. Population here is relatively quiet and more secluded than other places in Davis.
3. Units are nice and much better, cleaner, and newer than other complex’s.
BACKGROUND INFO
I lived here 2009 – 2010 as a 2^nd year UC Davis student fresh out of the dorms; my two housemates and I were all naïve freshmen that succumbed to the perpetuated «all the good apartments will be gone» sentiment. After attending Housing Day at Freeborn Hall and getting brochures, we began touring apartments in North/​South Davis. We signed our lease for 2009 – 2010 (leases in Davis are typically based on the academic year) pretty early because the 2×2 layout fit our needs at the time. Rent and the security deposit was $ 1395 with 1^st/​last month+SD+background check due at signing.
PROS
To be fair, I will start with pros, but some actually caused quite a few of the cons later on).
1. (~ this caused a CON later on) The apartment looked exactly like the model one we saw. Appliances were new, our unit was spotless, with new carpet and freshly painted walls. During the year, nothing in the apartment ever needed fixing. The windows were airtight and insulated. Layout-​wise, the living room was very wonderfully spacious, while the rooms were average-​sized. The bathrooms are also very spacious, enough for quality time to tango (or whatevers).
2. Dean, the very buff and calm apartment manager that lives on the premises made sure residents could reach him for emergencies.
3. The bus stop is less than a 1 minute walk from the complex. The D (to the silo) and K (to the MU) arrives regularly and on-​time, and is typically not crowded. All these points become significant as soon as rainy season or summer hits and Davis buses becomes flooded with smelly soggy students (anyone who has lived in South Davis can attest to this).
4. Much was included in common facilities; the exterior is visually appealing, there’s free Instaconnect internet, and the computer room had a printer that was refilled with paper every day. Living up to its name, the apartment complex also had trees absolutely everywhere that provided great shade. Pool room had games, large flatscreen TV, and foosball table. They gave out popcorn for free on Fridays! Yumm :)
5. Parking was plentiful and close to the units themselves.
CONS
1. The PRO that the apartment was spotless when we moved in resulted in the huge CON upon move-​out. Now, our apartment was relatively clean, because we were 3 girls that were never home after a huge roommate disagreement early on in the year. We were also meticulous about cleaning. However, Dean basically said: «at move-​out, the apartment must be in the EXACT condition it was in at move-​in.» No flexibility or consideration for normal «wear and tear.» In fact, we were told that tape on walls was not acceptable, so we used push-​pins or thumbtacks for everything.
He gave us a move-​out checklist outlined everything that HAD to be cleaned, as well as cleaning costs that were REQUIRED. For example, they charged the security deposit for carpet cleaning (found the old docs! it was $ 85), touch-​up wall painting (85% of initial cost unless you stay for 5 years, so $ 480), and «light clean» ($ 210).
We (and our families) ended up spending ~15 hours cleaning plus $ 10 for a can of paint, but they were still going to charge us for the whole shebang because of a communication mishap on the last day we were going in to finish up painting and cleaning (apparently, someone dropped off unlabeled keys in the mailbox, and since the keys worked in our lock, they thought we moved out when we didn’t yet turn in a single key. Scary.). Parents intervened, so The Trees ended up just charging us for the carpet cleaning.
After living in many more different apartments since, I realize now that the charges and prices were unreasonable. Typical carpet cleaning elsewhere cost $ 85, and touch-​ups and light cleans are even less.
2. The pretty trees outside = home for the 10+ cockroaches/​beetle things that come out on walkways every night. We complained, but apparently, nothing could be done :\ Also, lots of trees = lots of fallen leaves in the fall, so expect the infamous leafblowers in the morning.
3. Free internet is slow. VERY slow. Computer room printer was almost always out of order/​ink/​paper.
4. ~3.1 miles from campus as opposed to the 2.5 to most North/​South/​East Davis apartments.
5. Walls be thin, so you’ll hear neighbors.

Great place to live with a great manager. Ive been living here for 3 years and I dont have many complaints. Whenever there is an issue, Dean the manager, tries to solve it quickly.
They do have free internet but dont let that be the deciding factor on living here. They recently changed to instaconnect and its HORRIBLE. You either dont get internet or its really slow.
TIP– the bbq area is really nice and you can reserve it to have personal pool parties/​bbq. The apt provides the propane too!

I lived here last year (08 – 09)!
Umm. you know. We (my roommates and I) had a whole lot to complain about when we used to live here, but compared to where I live now (Arlington Farm) this place is pretty nice.
The Trees has really nice buildings. The apartment we got was clean, and the rooms were big and well-​lit. The pool/​picnic area is also SUPER gorgeous. I love how there are the prettiest trees and flowers all over the place to keep the pool shaded.
The problems we had were always with the management. They always seemed to be really disorganized and confused… but again, in retrospect, they were not so bad. The important thing to us was that they were SUPER nice and cut us a lot of breaks. Example: We decided to paint our living room wall to look like a sunshiney meadow, which turned out to not be allowed. They found out and were about to write us up and take away our security deposit… but the landlady decided to toss our write-​up and give us a chance to get the deposit back as long as we had the wall repainted before we moved.
Things may not be the same anymore, since it looks like they changed management at the beginning of 2009. But that probably won’t change how big and wel-​lit the rooms are!

I don’t have much to say about the place other than it’s really far from campus.
However, the interior from what I remember is extremely nice! Very spacious. You could probably have a yoga class in your living room! It’s just a really nice setup that you should check out.
The rooms were average but I am not sure if the rent is average. It probably is since it’s far from campus. But the interior is really nice, I was impressed.
This place is worth a visit.