All 25 tenant reviews.

“The office staff is always on the spot. Any repairs you need are taken care of ASAP. Have been here 4 years very quiet. Very peaceful. As an elderly lady. Feel safe Really a good place. They always have little get togethers which is really nice. The pool party today was so cool. This place is really good. Fun place”

“Apartment community is very family oriented , management is very professional and the maintenance staff is very knowledgeable and professional. Overall I live in this community for 4 years and I can said this is the place were you want to live. If you looking for a quiet,relax and safe community, look no more. I recommend this community to everybody.”

“I lived at Riviera Pines for a year and it was the longest year of my life. The office workers know how to sound professional, but their actions say different. I had mold on my A/C vents, so I put in a maintenance request to check the inside of the vents because I was literally getting sick. Four days later, still no maintenance man, so I go to the office and tell one of the ladies my issue and she promises to have a guy at my apartment by noon. Still, NO ONE CAME! I went back to the office later and apparently the lady I talked to was off work at this point and no one knew what I was talking about. It took two weeks for a maintenance man to show up and check out my vents. The floor of my bath tub started chipping after a few months of living there, the A/C unit constantly kept freezing, and if you want to get in touch with someone at the office by phone, forget about it. You have to physically go to the office every single time in order to talk to someone and even then, things do get fixed. They apologize about the same problems over and over but never actually do anything to fix them. Maintenance is just horrible, they went through three different maintenance crews when I lived there because the apartments are so old that there is constant problems and everyone needs something fixed, but they never fix it right, they put a band aide on it until it breaks again. I regret living there just to save a few bucks, it's not worth it. I would rather pay $50-$100 more for a better apartment, with no mold, and reliable apartment staff. Good luck if you're still going to move here!”

“This apartment complex is very nice and clean and quiet. I have lived here for six years and the management staff of Lucy and Mayra are great. If you ever need maintenance, they are always on the ball fixing the problem right away. the exercise room and pool are always clean and the rent is very reasonable compared to other similar floor plans I have seen. I plan to be here for many years to come and I would recommend this complex to anyone looking for a nice place to live.”

“I have lived here since 2002. My apartment is nice, but I like to keep my place clean. maintenance is nice and fast. The people in the office are nice and not like other places I have been too. The parking was horrible, but now that they do permit parking it is good. I moved out thinking I was going to a much nicer place, but in reality I was not happy because I didn't feel at home. Don't listen to all those bad reviews! The apartmets are clean, the pool is alwys clean. I like the gym!!”

“DO NOT MOVE HERE! Office staff does not communicate effectively. I have complained numorous times about loud noisey neighboors and nothing was done. I was told each time that they would do something about this but still no reduction in noise. I have been told i would be charged 595 dollars if i move out of my apartment even though my lease is up.”

“I just moved in about almost two months ago. The management is very friendly and are willing to cooperate. Sometimes there might be a little noise at night, but as far as everything else goes, I would recommend this property. High quality for low pricing.”

“Never had any issues Managment is awsome maintenance personal is very helpful and always on time overe all a very great place to live..Glad to call Riviera Pines Home.”

“I have lived here for 3 yrs and from my experience here, I don't have much to complain about. For awhile there was a problem with parking. It was ridiculous. And it happened out of no where. Then when they started with the parking stickers, the parking lot all of a sudden became emptier. I do wish they had more visitor parking because 14 spots can fill up really fast. Maybe they should use that whole back gate for visitors but thats just my opinion. The complex have had issues with the gates but that is only because other people/residents would hit the gate with their vehicle or take the gate off its track. They put a new gate system in and so far its working pretty good. I feel safe here. I have not had any issues with my vehicles or anyone breaking into my apartment. I don't walk outside and smell marijuana in the air. Maintenance is very good about coming when needed. They leave a form with comments when the work is completed. They are very respectful. There was one guy that seemed kinda lazy but I haven't seen him in forever so my guess is that he was let go. So other than the gates issue and parking that happened for awhile, I have enjoyed being here thus far.”

“The office staff at this property is very rude and unprofessional. They always rudely ask " are you on the lease" before answering any of my questions. The office staff often falsifies documents in order to get people to lease.The office staff and maintenance enters your apartment without notice quite often. I usually have to call the office about 3 times before they answer the phone. There's only a temp in the office on Sundays and you cannot do anything because she refers you to come back on Monday when a manager is there. Rent is due on the first, if you don't pay it by the second a $60 late charge applied and on the third they issue out an eviction notice. Parking is always full before 7 p.m. They are now starting a new parking program where you have to have a sticker and they're only giving out one sticker per leasee. There are only 10 visitor parking spaces and they're normally full at 7 as well. The parking on the street is always full with cars that do not run. The gate is always broken and anyone can enter the premises. The parking lot has a lot of holes in it and broken gravel all over it.The maintenance staff is rude as well and they are very lazy. Last summer my air conditioner went out and I called the emergency maintenance number but they told me that it is not an emergency because it's not hot enough. The pool is only open 2 months out of the year. Most of the gym equipment does not work and there is always a homeless person sleep in the facility. My neighboors are loud and smoke weed.”

“This place is the worst! Beginning with management, they are never wrong about anything, there's no parking except on the street curb if your not home by 5 pm. They have rodent problems and the roaches have infiltrated that whole site. Do yourself a favor, looks elsewhere.”

“Apartaments are not in good condition. too many issues like stove, floor, painting in shelves, painting in bathtub, dishwasher not working properly... looks like they don't take enough time to repair unit... at the begining they give you some information to get a lease with Riviera Pines and then they change the information and that makes us spend too much time, gas and also the apartament we like in downstairs was lease for someone else on line... and this becausue all the misinformation we did not have our paper work on time. A neighbor downstairs smokesmarihuana which is very nasty odor. You are not allow to have/use a grill and you are not advise before sign in. They take too much time to fix aevry issue. And also you can not use the treadmill unles bussines hourse becasue they dont have a key in the gym. You need to ask for the key at the office and leave an ID. They said will be remodeling appliances but they won't. So now the painting comming off from bathtube they say is our fault because we placed a matt is causing he damage when we advise about the damage since the second day we moved on and adivise we place the matt becasue was worst with ou it. So now they say we have to repair and pay for the damange!!! About security... GATES are open some times during the week and mostly on weekends ...when they give you a card(wich never works) or a pin code to access to the complex.”

“Living here is nice, we love this place. Location is excellent, close to many stores and restaurants. We dont have noise from the streer, neighboors are nice. Maintenance issues they fix it really fast and the staff are really kind and they allways have time for each customer. So yes i recomend this place to move in”

“I am only here because my travel agency placed me here. I would definitely not rent here ever. It does not appear safe. The gates don't always work or someone is propping them open. The roaches were bad here. Had to spray multiple times. The pool is always cloudy and nasty looking and half of the gym equipment does not work.”

“THEY STEAL MONEY!!!!!! THEY ARE SCAMMERS!!!!!! DO NOT APPLY HERE! They will not communicate to you that once you pay, YOU HAVE to move in and if you change your mind before you sign the lease they keep all your money and give you no explanation as to why. The manager is rude, unintelligent, and does not know her job and the regional manager above her supports her in her ignorance! They just tell you to sign knowing that they are going to steal your money, then when you ask them questions they tell you it's in the fine print. THEY SWINDLE YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY!!!! DO NOT MOVE HERE! SYLVIA AND VICTOR ARE SCAMMERS!!!!”

“These apartments are horrible. The management sucks and this place us just an overall bad spot to live. People's car have gotten broken into, gun shoots & robberies have happened ON this property. If you care about your life & your car, do yourself a favor & DO NOT move to riviera pines on Normandy!”

“DONT MOVE IN THERE STAFF SUCKS.... THEY TREAT YOU LIKE ---- ..... PPL GET ROBBEN ALL THE TIME CARS BROKEN IN TO... DONT MOVE IN THER EVEN THERE CORP. PPL DONT GIVE A DAMN ....”

“We lived there for two years bot my vechiles we broken into. There is atleast 2 breakins a week. one night my wife smelled smoke she called the aparment they dismissed the issue turns out our building was on fire. Staff was robbed at gun point on the grounds. They care more about the flowers than they do the peolpe who live there.”

“DO NOT move in this complex, i was a tenent for 1yr. I saw other tenents victimized as well as I. WAIT, DO NOT MOVE ON ANY COMPLEX ON NORMANDY, WoodForest, Wallisville, any where in the Galena Park, North Shore, area or 77015. This apt complex (Rivera Pines). One the random cars broken in to, like you will walk out peoples' and mine cars damamaged from busted windows, striped interior, stolen rims, even in broad day light. Apt being burgularized on the regular,this just happend to me 11-5-11, on tenent came home in the MIDDLE of the day and actually walked into her apt and caught the bastards in her apt. ran her over in the door as she was trying to get her gun out, mind you her apt was located next to the leasing office,the leasing office never contact anyone after the break ins , but maintenance will quickly repair the door but will failure to produce paper work of repairs, to show repairs for you insurance claim. They will Lie to you and tell you that they have no reports of break in on the property, as all the Apt in the area will tell you. I walked into the Gym on early morning like around 5am and when I turnd on the light, 5 crack head jump up from behind the equipment where they was sleeping, the walked outside to the pool to continue their slummber on the pool funiture. There is no security all, the security gates are always on the regular broken or have been damage and you will see ths pattern at any apt complex in this area. EVERYBODY KNOW THE GATE CODE!!!!!!!!, all the security gates are broken, also the dont tell you about the horrific # of sex offenders in the complexes and in the immediate area or RAPES. I guess there is a little bit of poetic justice, one of the leasing office staff apt was burgularized, but she rolled on as the band played moved into another unit and still is lying to potential victims, sound like organized crime to me, LOL. My first lease was a one bed room apt , facing normandy, and it was like was sleeping out side, I could hear everything passing bye. Please view my comments below, I was paying 680, for a one bed room, mothly . When talking to other tenants nobody had the same amount for rent, u will pay off the income you present. If I can I will try to upload a pic of my door after the break in, repair work was severly substandard”

“To say that I'm unhappy is an understatement. This complex DOES NOT ensure the safety of its tenants to say the least. There has been break-in after break-in since I've resided here. And now they can add my name to the list of tenants whose apartment has been broken into & my things stolen. Since my residency the complex is now on its 3rd office manager in a span of two years. I don't know what's more alarming the high turn over of office staff or high turn over of tenants moving in & out. Beware everybody....do not move into this complex. You'll be sorry! I AM GONE....”

“Problems await! The staff have no integrity and will not only knowingly give you false information, but in my experience will falsify documents. The property manager signs each document with a different name (Im sure for legal reasons). They had me move into an apartment that "was not ready" for reasons I would find out upon move in, such as; poor patch up jobs with faulty paint in the bath tub that resulted in me being covered in paint when I attempted to take a bath. The floor boards were damaged and there were nails sticking out of the carpet and it was all redone. There was a bug infestation. The staff harassed me every few weeks to make repairs that should have been done prior to move in. There was problems with broken locks at the complex entrances where the knobs are missing. There is dog poop all over the place, and the grass reeks of dog urine. The place is ran down. The staff is hands down the worst I have experienced, beware that they charge erroneous fees but will remove them if you confront them. Long story short, I broke the lease right away, as the staff is unethical and morally bankrupt. You are guaranteed dishonest service with a smile. I describe Riviera Pines and its staff leaving me feeling oppressed, repressed, and depressed. You can never say no one told you so...”

“I have a fairly high standard of living and Riviera Pines was fine. I can't lie we had a roach problem when we first moved in. Apparently the previous tenant trashed the place and was evicted but his pets stayed. I moved in maintained a clean place and never saw much of them again. Lucy is the sweetest manager I ever met, easy on the eyes too. Mayra can be very rude and cold but its unintentional. Overall it was a nice experience. They do fix things when needed, though i never called about much. Maybe a few times when the washing machine went on the fritz. I think it might have to be your neighbors that make or kill a place. Mine were awesome, but I know around the corner they were not. But what I'm trying to say is don't take the negatives like the whole place is bad its really quiet and peaceful and clean.”

“The people who mow the grass today managed to shatter the ENTIRE sliding glass doors that we have. This is forgivable..considering if we just had a house, my husband would have managed doing this someday anyways, HOWEVER THE STAFF MOWING THE GRASS LAUGHED! THEY LAUGHED!!! I was awaken at about 7AM with the sounds of SHATTERING, I looked up and heard laughing..my initial reaction was that it was kids or something. NOPE! It was the landscaping staff, and LAUGHING! Ridiculous. It's been about an hour now, and still no maintainence has come after I have called them twice and so has my husband. This place is ridiculous. To make it that much nicer, we just renewed our lease yesterday like idiots. Its like it was planned! UGH! Once we renewed our lease, they told us that our rent was going UP! Um..doesnt your rent go DOWN after you've been there for a YEAR and signed for another one???!!! I hate it here.”

“My roommate and I moved here May of 2008 on a 6 month lease, and we are overall satisfied. So we extended our contract another 6 months. Our rent is reasonable, the maintenance guys fix things when we call and the place is always kept clean and VERY well lit. I absolutely LOVE my kitchen, we have the upgraded apartment so we have "fancy" laminate and fixtures. We're looking to move because we have jobs on a different side of the city but I can't seem to find the same quality kitchen. The only down fall would be the age of the building, it's old and has been poorly painted over and over again thru the years so there are paint drips and bumps all over the walls. The floor creaks and the walls are very thin and poorly insulated our electric bill was $250 in the summer and usually doesn't drop below $100. (I asked around and this seems to be the same with everyone) Our neighbors all seem to be quiet hard working people, there aren't too many children running around which is rare on the eastside. You get the occasional loud music or late night here and there but it hasn't been bad. Now, to continue to be honest we have seen some crazy stuff living here but haven't ever felt it put our safety in jeopardy. The first was early one Sunday morning in the summer someone was killed or found dead and there were detectives and cops everywhere and they said it was domestic? Then the second time I saw some random guy get arrested but I think they followed him into the complex from the street. So that sounds really dangerous but personally we haven't had any problems... And each time the police were here taking care of the situation so I feel like it was under control.”

“I signed a 9 month lease during 2008 at this complex, and I m at the end of my lease now and do not plan on resigning it. This is a small quiet complex, which is nice. The area it s in isn't the greatest but everyone knows that. Getting the apartment wasn't a problem, Maria helped me find exactly what I was looking for within my budget and she made the whole process very easy. CRIME! --- My third night there my car was broken into, which has happened to many people. They broke my lock on and inside my door, and to get it fixed I'd have to replace the entire door! Of course the complex can't do anything for that they just advised me to complete a police report. Fortunately I was smart enough to not keep anything voluble in my car or it would've been gone! Some of my neighbors were really "------" and I couldn't walk outside of my apartment at night without smelling marijuana. On the other hand, other neighbors seemed very classy, but I wish there was a medium there. It just depended on where you were placed. The security gate was not very secure. I worked late and sometimes I would get home around midnight and it would just be wide open. I went to the front office to ask why the gate would be like that and she said "Oh yeah it can just be picked up and moved off the track." She said it like it wasn't a big problem and I felt it was! There is also a wood fence separating the back part of the complex from a neighborhood that is often easily jumped by people not belonging to that complex. Also, that wood fence was damaged during Hurricane Ike and at this time it has not been fixed so that area is just wide open. EXTERIOR ---- The landscaping and the exterior were nice. No major problems with any building structures or anything. There was some damage during Hurricane Ike but as far as I know they are taking care of those issues accordingly. INTERIOR --- The interior was pretty basic, but it was enough for me. They do have some nice remodeled units available, but I didn't wait for one to become available. When I moved in my oven wasn't baking only the broil worked. I mentioned it in the move in checklist thinking that they would see it and come and fix it which that didn't happen, but when I called to report it they came immediately and fixed it and same with any other maintenance issues I reported. It was clean and freshly painted upon move in. They had alarm systems available but I just got a notice saying that they would be taking all of those out soon. AMENITIES --- I would advise anyone planning on living here to invest in your own washer and dryer because there are 2 laundry facilities on site with each 4 washers and 4 dryers. 8 washers and dryers for all of those without one is not enough especially during the evening or on weekends when everyone tried to do laundry. Not to mention there are times when most of the washers or dryers aren t working anyway. It cost a dollar per load to wash and a dollar per load to dry. The washers are so small I d have to do 3 loads where I d do 1 load with a regular size washer. I ended up purchasing my own washer and dryer so that I didn t have to fight people for a turn to wash and dry, I wouldn t have to do as many loads, I wouldn t have to walk across the complex to the 2 facilities, and so I wouldn t have to keep a ton of quarters on hand. Very small pool, and only cleaned on Mondays when the pool is closed for the day, so if I wanted a swim I did it early on Tuesdays before the children got home from school! They have a free exercise room, but it is very small, and they do not have and free weights only machines. There was only one of each machine including one treadmill, bicycle, and elliptical. So if there were other people using those machines you had to wait. I started going late at night when I had the gym to myself. BILLS! --- I have a one bedroom one bathroom and my electricity bill is between $150-$200! My boyfriend and I work the same 16 hour shifts a lot so we re hardly ever there to use anything, only to sleep, cook, and shower. At first it was right under $100 but it kept going up. The only thing I can think of is that it may not be very well insulated and the air conditioning just constantly runs. I have noticed that when I m walking up to my door the air gets cooler the closer I get! I can t say for certainty that the insulation is to blame for my high electricity costs, but I hate to think about what others pay that have more people living there and who are home more than I am to use electricity! The water/trash bill is about $30 a month combined. Rent is pretty cost efficient compared to other places (my 1br/1ba approx 700sq ft is $556 a month). PARKING ---- Several people complain about the first come, first serve parking at this complex, but I haven t really experienced problems with that. I have seen people park on the streets outside of the security gate but I thought it was just to go through the walk-through access part of the gate to be closer to their apartment. The only time I experienced a parking issue is after Hurricane Ike and we were one of the first places to have power restored (thank you!) and a lot of the residents allowed their family members to come stay with them and they took all of the parking available for over a week. I d have to admit that was pretty stressful, but if I had any family in need I m sure I would ve have done the same. OVERALL, there are good things and bad things about this complex. Great apartment for the price, but the safety and security of this complex isn t acceptable to my standards. Safety and security is what I care most about. It is a great place if you re more concerned about a cheap decent place to live, then this complex if for you. I don t think I would recommend this complex to any of my friends, but I would tell them to look elsewhere first and if they couldn t find anything within their budget then SETTLE for Riviera Pines until you can find something better. Thank you for your time in reading this! I know it was very lengthy but hopefully it is also very helpful. =]”