Vue Castle Hills Apartments

I relocate often for work. Vue Castles Hills is by far the worst place I have ever lived.

Here is the short version:

• The complex is infested with bugs, including cockroaches.
• There is poor ventilation in the bathrooms, leading to mold in the closets, destroying your clothes.
• The Tipton Group, who manage this property, will put their profits ahead of everything, including the safety and welfare of their tenants.
• It took over a month before they fixed the live electrical wires next to... our baby’s crib.
• They raised our rent by $600 in one year, a 30% increase.
• Avoid this building, because it’s a terrible place to live.
• If you want more details, please feel free to read further.

If you really want to understand the outrageous greed that embodies the Tipton Group at Vue Castle Hills, it is this: when we moved out, they tried to charge us $8 for two lightbulbs that were out. I had submitted a maintenance request weeks earlier to have those lightbulbs changed. My maintenance request was, of course, not handled. Instead of paying their staff to change lightbulbs, the Tipton Group waited until we moved out, then tried to charge us for them. Truly, extraordinary, unbridled avarice.

It should be said that the people who run the building are not all bad people. The maintenance team are great guys—they’re simply understaffed because the Tipton Group doesn’t want to incur additional expense to actual maintain the building as it should. The leasing agents are generally helpful, although beholden to the greed of their superiors. Even the property manager was a good guy. (Although if you have a problem, he’ll “be at lunch” at 4:30 in the afternoon, even when his car is prominently parked outside.)

The assistant manager at this property, however, is the most shockingly rude and abrasive person I’ve ever encountered in a customer facing role. I’d rather live in an overpriced, moldy, cockroach-infested apartment than ever have to interact with her again. At Vue Castle Hills, however, you can do all four.

Let’s just say, I would avoid this apartment complex.
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I've called this apartment complex home since 2017, and in that time, I've seen property management change hands multiple times. Unfortunately, the latest company seems solely focused on profit, with little regard for tenant well-being.

Deteriorating Public Spaces & Bare Minimum Repairs

The common areas are neglected and get dirtier with each passing day. Repairs are done on the cheap and barely meet the minimum requirements.

The Nickel-and-Diming Never Ends

Every year, they find new ways to... squeeze more money out of us. Rent increases are expected, but this year's new requirement is particularly frustrating: mandatory pet screening through a third-party service. This means an additional fee on top of the existing pet deposit and monthly pet rent. And to add insult to injury, this will be a recurring yearly fee from now on.

Petscreening: Profit-Driven, Not Tenant-Focused

A quick look at the Petscreening website reveals its true purpose: it's marketed towards property owners as a way to increase their revenue streams. There's no mention of any benefit to tenants whatsoever.

Corporate Greed Makes This Place Unrecommendable

This kind of corporate greed leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The constant increases and nickel-and-diming, especially this new pet screening requirement, have made it impossible for me to recommend this property to anyone. Read More

1 star because 0 wasn't an option. DO NOT LIVE HERE if you have a dog that you want to have a yard. My ESA dog is about 60lb and never had issues before living in a yard. He had a dog door, so wasn't even out there full time to destroy the yard like management said he did. He doesn't dig. All he did outside was walk/run around and go to the bathroom. There was no drain in the yard, and the next door yard had 2. My yard (and the area in front of my gate) flooded constantly when it rained, and... management would never do anything about it. I requested with them and corporate to put in a drain, but was ignored. Eventually it got so bad that my dog had to go live with my sister until we could move because he wasn't able to go outside, and he needed a yard because he is very active. I sent pictures to the manager and to corporate of the mudpit of a yard and my apartment floor from my dog going outside to use the bathroom, and they either ignored emails, or responded that they couldn't do anything. A few months before I moved, they planted buaged outside of my gate and watered them daily. I requested they adjust the sprinklers because it kept the yard flooded daily, even when it didn't rain for a while. That also went ignored. After I moved out they tried to charge me almost $300 for one bedroom of carpet they said was covered with oil stains. After many back and forth a with them and with corporate, they finally took that charge off because it was mud from outside that I had tried to clean up, and where my dog had an accident because he wasn't able to use his doggie door because of the mud. To add onto things, my car was tagged while parked in the spot I paid for, but apparently it was never marked as taken after I double checked with the manager that it was listed as mine after someone repeatedly parked in it. (And good luck getting him to ever call or email you back). I had to go into the office and just happen to catch him outside for that. Lastly, I don't think safety is a factor here. I lived there for about a year and a half, and the gates probably worked about 1/4 of that time. There was a period of SIX MONTHS that they didn't shut at one point except maybe for a day or two, then they were broken again. Read More

I toured 1/8/2022 with Melissa K. The leasing agent was VERY professional, upbeat, knowledgeable, patient, and welcoming. She was very prepared for the scheduled tour. The complex is amazing! Spacious units, modern interior, great upkeep of the grounds, and overall a clean property.

Living here was completely fine but moved due to a need to be closer to work now and the process of closing out the account has been horrendous so far. I was charged egregiously for carpet cleaning and the line item states 4 years when I only lived there for one year. I also have extra charges dated for water, trash, etc. in the same month in which I already paid for my final month.

I tried to get in touch with the management team to reasonably discuss what I was seeing on my final account... statement and I KEEP getting the run-around and LACKADAISICAL responses from the leasing team basically brushing off the issue as if since I'm not a resident that this doesn't matter.

Apparently, the manager is dealing with construction and there is no one I can speak to until they finish. That is totally unacceptable when trying to deal with financial matters and I VERY much get the impression that they are trying to push out speaking with me until I am past 30 days and into collections which I'm trying to avoid. It's only been 18 days as of writing and the fact that I've had to wait this long is completely ludicrous.

As they expect prompt payment from residents when rent is due I expect prompt communication when attempting to resolve an issue and that has not been the case. I am finding any and every way now to contact the corporate office and exhaust any and all avenues to get in touch with SOMEONE as fast as possible and given this current state it has completely negated my year living there (as well as my overlooking of the slew of maintenance requests I put in over the year ranging from power failures, to the fridge and shabby patio door that didn't close fully) since they clearly show that they don't care once you're not a resident anymore. It's very much a culture of "just pay your final statement and go" and I refuse to allow myself to be overcharged or have my concerns ignored.

Don't live here. Find a place that has better management from end to end, even when leaving. Read More