All 25 tenant reviews.

“If I could give this place a zero star I would. If you love yourself and loved ones and your safety pls don’t take this place. Items are stolen in the package room constantly and is being done. A few days ago we heard gun shots night only to wake up and find out there was a shoot out and a woman’s car was parked innocently was riddled with bullets. My wife’s car was also burgled in broad day light and items were taken from her car and I told them at the leasing office. Nothing was done except me calling the police myself. I am Moving out of here next month and I lived in apt 1523. My safety and family safety is paramount.”

“Codi & Rick are incredibly gifted & talented maintenance men. They recently came over after hours & fixed the electrical short taking out all of my electronics. They are compassionate & dedicated! TYG”

“Since day 1 I’ve had a bad experience!! The previous manager Dean habitually harrased me, made racist remarks toward me. Switched the unit i was supposed to move in, to one that was not ready. The maintenance man came out on my 2nd day and told me the unit was not ready and they shouldn’t have let me move in. Repairs that were unfinished still aren’t done and I’ve been here since December. There’s black mold in the ceiling that i bought to their attention. Maintenance came out and spray painted over it. The washer and dryer in the unit is Trash!!! I’ve bought that to their attention multiple times. All 4 of my tires were stolen off my car, right in front of the leasing office, with a security officer on duty!!! I was without hot water twice, once when i first moved in then a few weeks later for 1 whole month!!! The maintenance workers lie and say they’ve done repairs when they haven’t, pest control does not come out, valet trash do not take your trash and we pay for all of those amenities, multiple vehicular thefts have taken place since December. The list goes on!!!”

“Landlord-Tenant move out charges dispute. I am the former tenantfrom apartment #523. I lived at this apartment complex for five years. I have always paid my rent on time, and I have always been a model tenant. My lease was coming to an end, so I decided to give my 60-day notice about 21 days before my lease expiration date. I knew that I was not going to be able to move-out by the date my contract ended because I gave a late notice. However, when I went to the office to request my new move-out date, the assistant manager at the time and the leasing agent told me that I had to move out by July 27, 2022. This is the date my contract was supposed to expire. I told them that I had given a late notice, and they assured me that this was my correct move-out date. I was expecting my new move-out date to be sometime in August. I only had three weeks to find a new home. I ended up finding a new apartment and signed a leased. Days later, I received a letter asking me to renew my lease. I called to ask why they had given me a renewal offer despite me entering my notice to vacate, and the community manager at the time, Brenda Lopez, had told me that my move-out date would be in August. I told her that the two office staff members assured me that I was moving out in July, and she told me that that was incorrect. I asked if they could accept their mistake and let me move-out on the date that they had given me, and she refused. She began becoming unprofessional by saying stuff like “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” and she kept telling me to look at my contract. She excused herself from any wrongdoing and is now charging me for 21 days of rent. A few days before we moved, Brenda Lopez offered to walk the apartment before we moved out to access any damages that we could fix to avoid getting charged. However when I requested her to come inspect our unit, the office said that she had a family emergency. I went there three times to see if she was there, and the assistant manager never offered to walk my unit. She never showed up. A month later, I receive a bill of $1,600 in moveout costs. $600 of that cost consisted of damages. They never sent any pictures of any damages. We contacted the Greystar receivables department, and they never return any of our calls. Mary the current assistant manager offered to get us some invoices on what the exact damages were, but we have not received anything. It has been weeks since she told me about getting those invoices. We received the apartment in an incomplete make ready condition. The walls were dull and lacked paint. The apartment had a strong odor of pet urine There were leaks that we reported during Hurricane Harvey. They came by to note the damages but never fixed them. When they sent me my move-out statement, they charged me rent from the July 27th to August 21st, despite me paying all of July’s rent in full at the beginning of the month. The rent for those days was $949.49 and they charged me $600 in damages. When we contacted the office asking for the corporate number, Mary told us she knew we were calling about an itemized statement of specific damages and told us the majority was for the outside of the patio doors. We noted in the inventory and conditions form that the molding to the doors were broken. They are charging us for exterior damage. The portion of molding broke off because of the sun and weather. The door also had some peeling. That was due to the complex painting with cheap semi-gloss. You can see all of the outside doors are peeling the same way. We spent days cleaning the apartment before turning it in. We had the carpets cleaned, replaced the drip pans, cleaned bathrooms and the kitchen. We spent a lot of time and money cleaning the apartment so that we are able to turn it in in the condition that we had received it. After moving out, it seemed that the office was avoiding us. We sent so many emails and called so many times and no one ever answered. We do not deserved to get charged all of these fees as we were model tenants for five years. These are predatory tacticts from Greystart. We stayed despite this being a difficult place to live in. When Greystar took over, the place went downhill. They got rid of the curtosy officer and crime went up. One of the managers during the summer of 2020 told a violent tenant my apartment number because she wanted to give her my carport that I had for years. She came aggressivelt to my door and told me that that carport that I had had for years was now hers. She said that the community manager had giving her my apartment number in a text message. When l confronted the community manager, she excuse herself by passing the blame on the previous office staff. I still renewed my lease despite that incident. This place has become so insecure that the weekend whe out move out, our neighbors had their catalytic converters stolen from all three of their trucks. It had cost them $5000 to $7000 each to get their vehicles repaired. Good luck calling the police. They do not show up on weekends. And if they do, it is after 4 hours of the initial call. I will never rent from a Greystar community again. They ruined the Villages of Briar Forest. It was once a quiet clean community where one would want to call home. Ever since they acquired this property, they have struggled with occupancy and the good residents went to the surrounding communities while this company brought in bad ones. The management is a revolving door. I will never do business with Greystar. I you go to the BBB you will find over 150 complaints of predatory tactics. People are getting over charged for exesibe damages.”

“Worst front office service. We are staying here for more than a year. It was a nice experience when Kelsey was working in the front office. Once the management changed, it become worst. They don’t pay attention to our concerns. Either it is email or phone calls or visit to leasing office. Continuously charging us an extra $20 every month, we will need to inform them of this every month and continuously follow up to remove that from billing. I don’t understand how come they do this mistake every month (7 months now). Complete fraud.”

“My honest opinion. I enjoyed the first week being here. I realized that I had loud neighbors that would always fight and play loud music. They had real live pool parties that last until 3 in the morning loud music as well. What you hear about the trash is absolutely true. What you hear about the parking is true. What you hear about the burglary is absolutely true. Your rent never stays the same. The maintenance sucks. I’m only speaking from experience. I moved from a high crime area only to come back into the same situation. I’m pissed. If I have to run from someone…it would be impossible because the gate is always broken. I stepped out one night to get something out my car and the dang police ran by me with their guns out because of a burglary. I feared for my life”

“Trash is so bad that it is Embarrassing to come home to or even invite company over. I am looking to move as soon as lease ends. It really is bad. From adults to kids just don’t care. Men using outside as restroom by the trash area is Ridiculous and they don’t care if you see them. So so bad here with this view. Ready to move on asap”

“I love my 1 bedroom apartment it’s beautiful and safe to leave at The villages of Briar Forest and I am planning on living here for more years to come . Miranda our Apartment Manager is awesome she’s helpful and professional. Also the staff and maintenance is great too. I love it here and most importantly I feel safe . Sincerely Tenant Naisha Richards”

“If you dont pay for a monthly parking spot, you wont be able to park here. Your friends or family wont be able to park without getting towed. The gate is always broken and there are no cameras so no safety. Loud neighbors and thin walls, terrible for me since I work from home. Maintenance staff is pretty good but getting ahold of the office is maybe a 1 out of 10 chance of them answering the phone.”

“Hi i park my car outside the complex in front leasing we know the are put big sign we are close because coved-19;I found sticker on my car . I sow one women inside the office I try to ask her why the put sticker on my car .she give me good answer she is very rude and she threaten me .and she told me if you park your car here at anytime I will tow away your car .she is not professional .and she is not helpful. Specially in this situation coved you know every body's stay at home”

“I love the apartment Melanie is so sweet and amazing. It feels like a home to me. I love it here and why I give it 1 star because I do not have a working dryer, this is my 2nd dryer and it does not work. It takes about 4 times to dry one load of clothes with only 5 to 7 pieces and still after 5 times my clothes are still damp. This issue has been going on over 5 weeks since I moved here in Dec 2019. Melanie is an Angel she has been helping me but maintenance told them my dryer works fine but that is not a fair assessment because he did put any clothes in the dryer, he goes by the temp. I advised him to take my damp clothes sit there about 30 mins to hour and then he can see what I am talking about or better yet he can take my dryer to his apartment and give me his. I bet you he would not keep that dryer because there is a problem with the heating element. It doesn't take a rocket science to figure this out. But my clothes are backed up 5 weeks because of this and my light bill is high because I use more electricity now because it takes us about 4 or 5 times to dry clothes and I still have to hang them up around the house, which looks so tacky. My clothes does not have a fresh smell after being wet so long. Some of my clothes have mildewed so bad, I had to throw them away. I don't have the money to go to the Laundry Mat. Very disappointed and dissatisfied with the maintenance on this issue. Yes I pay my rent on time and over the amount. I will come back with an update once this issue has be resolved.”

“In short, Beyond disappointing, moderately unethical and possibly illegal behavior. I'll break it down into Pros and Cons, starting with the Cons. Cons- - I was advised that if I rented a carport I could park in the carport or any available open parking space if it happened to be closer to my apartment. When I did just that, I was towed. - Attempts to speak with the property manager have resulted in me speaking with the assistant manager, but I have never been able to speak with the manager Rachel Kiser. - My car was towed in violation of state occupations code chapter 2308. The signage does not meet code and state code prohibits the property owners from accepting "anything of value" from the contracted tow company. The Villages have accepted parking passes from the tow company. The parking passes literally have the tow company logo on them. This alone is enough to invalidate all tows conducted on the property. Additionally as the signage is more than 25' from the entrance or main road, this alone is enough to invalidate all tows. I haven't even listed all the violations! For any of these violations, State law enforces reimbursement for the actual damages (towing, storage and other fees incurred from the illegal tow) as well as compensatory damages of $1000 plus 3 times the actual incurred damages as well as filing fees/court costs. I requested a refund from the the property and after waiting over 3 weeks they refused a refund or to offer any concession. And I only asked to be reimbursed for the actual incurred damages! I was willing to forgive and forget if they just reimbursed me for that. Again, this was relayed to me by the agent at the front desk after I asked repeatedly. The manager refuses to contact me at all and I have to catch the assistant manager Melissa in order to get her to speak with me at all. I have requested contact from the property owners but again I have heard nothing and no contact information will be provided to me. As per my lawyer, in order to file a claim in small claims court, I need the Tax Identification number and names of the property owners so they may be served with notice of suit. I am attempting to locate it through the state system, if anyone has it please let me know. - Additionally, maintenance requests are generally ignored for over a week. I advised the staff upon move in that the fire extinguisher was missing but it has never been addressed. - The air conditioners are comically small and run constantly in order to maintain a livable temperature in the apartment. Expect very high electricity bills to offset any potential savings in rent you think you are getting. - The property isn't safe, someone's wheels were stolen recently, I understand crime happens everywhere but the management didn't release a statement and have done nothing to even attempt to enhance security. - Although the assistant manager has only spoken to me once, she offered no apology for the incident and immediately denied any liability without having consulted her staff or investigating the situation at all. My complaint was dismissed off hand. No remedy or concessions were offered despite being verbally told that I could park there. Verbal contacts are legal contracts after all, they are just difficult to prove. This is why I recommend that you don't trust what they say, only trust what is written. On top of all of this, I was advised that visitors could park across the street at the school without being towed. Given my complete lack of trust I questioned them further and they don't "technically" have any agreement or contract with the school and I there would be nothing stopping anyone from getting towed. - I am unable to trust anything verbally said to me. - They are now required a signed form stating that you agree to a $25 fine if you don't return a temporary parking permit yet they won't provide you with a receipt when you do return it. What's stopping then from fining me $25 and simply stating that I never turned it in? Without a receipt I have no proof that I returned it. Pros - front desk agent Melanie is very polite and friendly. - they are currently updating the property as it is somewhat outdated (hopefully security is one of the additions, Although there has been no mention of it) - carports ($20) and garage rental cost ($50) is very reasonable - overall the apartment itself it very nice, it's fairly large for the price range (non-remodeled 1 bedroom 820 sq ft $940 base rent plus $25 valet trash) and has a useful layout. (refer to the A/C factor above) Lastly, I have only been here a couple months. I will update my review as time goes on should conditions improve. Very disappointed overall.”

“Horrible experiance! The apartment was very dirty on the move-in day( 3werks ago, a lot of things need repairs, and full of small inscets and roaches. No repairs done yet, no pest control done, I cleaned the apartment my self.”

“Be aware about this place, I could do a full list here but I am just mentioning some: . Parking: this is a nightmare, if you do not pay for a carport or garage and you arrive late at night, you will not find an open parking available for you, they are often full. It is just like that, there are more carports than open spaces and you are forced to pay for one. If you have two cars and you decide to pay just for one carport and then you are traveling and your wife wants to use your spot because your car is in the airport, they will tow your car, even though you pay for that carport but you have a different sticker on the other car, you can not park there, this happened to me. Which means you have to park on the street even though you have your carport available. . Cockroaches: since I moved in to this apartment I have complained about cockroaches. They have sent pest control more than 20 times in my apartment but cockroaches are still there, every day I kill more than one. . Gym: the gym is useless, just one treadmill is working. It is all garbage with no maintenance at all. . Hallways and staircase: they will never clean this area, I have been living more than one year and this area is always dirty. I have seen rats around there and probably you can find other animals. . Trash compactor: do no try to get close to that area. I do not know how often they come to pick up the container but every time I go there, container is full and there are garbage all the way around it. I have seen raccoon all the time around that area. . Burglary: they do not notify the community about it. I know it has happened but I do not know how often just because they hide this information. . Pool: Forget about using pool during summer time, they are always dirty. . Grill: not sure if you can say they have grill there. At one pool there are only charcoal grill in very bad shape and dirty. The other pool they have a gas grill but again, it is disgusting and you will not consider to use it. . There are at least 4 apartment complex next to each other better than this one and they are about the same price. You should try Vista apartment just next to it or Sunrise which is in front. Another better option is Aliso Briar Forest. Do not rent here, I assure you will regret if you do it. Do not believe in the sign telling they are newly renovated. This is an old community and there was no renovation. Just a few apartments they have replaced the carpet to look better and charge premium price. I am looking forward when my lease ends up to find another place. I have lived in more than 6 different apartment complex and this is the worst ever and the first one that I had to write a negative review.”

“Do not apply at this property if you have any broken leases, evictions, and more than two negative items on your credit report. You will lose your $50 application fee plus your $150 administration fee. Do not Put your former name on the application . If someone also go by your former name and has bad credit you will be penalized and lose your $200. The screening services that Villages of Briar Forest uses focuses on mostly going by name basis and not driver license and Social Security matchup. In my opinion, they need a better screening service.”

“Ever since husband and daughter moved in to one apt, there has been very little water pressure and since the maintenance had turned off the water several months ago to maybe fix it, they have not. My daughter is going crazy because of course she wants to not stink and with only a little water pressure, it sure makes it difficult for a shower. Also, maintenance has tried to fix our dryer but it still doesn't heat up enough to dry towels, jeans, etc. Have requested maintenance again and again but they have not fixed it and won't replace it. Not happy with living here.”

“In the end of June, I have signed documents to transfer from apartment number 814 to 813. After I signed these documents, I was told that on 14th of July 2018 I could receive the keys for 813 at 10.00 am and turn in the keys for apartment 814 at 5.00pm. They told me that I would have to pay the full month rent for 814 saying they would give back rest of the money as credit to pay the rent for our new apartment that we were moving in since we were going to stay in 814 just 14 days. In July 14th when I have arrived at the office at 10.00 am to pick up the keys from the front office. In the office, the employee told me that she was not informed that there was a transfer happening on that day. Then, the lady told me again that I could not move into the apartment because I was missing some documents. I was never told about these documents were needed even though I have came over to the front office many times to make sure there was nothing wrong about the moving. It was my first transfering in an apartment in the United States. Since they did not want anything, I thought transfering to a different unit in the same apartment is different than moving into new apartment. The employee told us that they did not let anyone move into the apartment until she gets hold of the documents. So, I had to call places on the Saturday morning, the day we were moving in, just to get these files. After hours of talking on the phone I have walked in to the front office get the keys and turn in the papers. When I received the keys, I had really short time to move into the new apartment due to waste of time in the office. After I have moved, I gave the keys for 814 to the front office employee in the office. First Monday after we've moved, I got a call regarding to our new apartments unpaid rent from office. I was very confused about the unpaid rent because before we moved in they have told us that it was going to be taken cared of from the money I already paid for 814. Unfortunately, it was not the situation. They said that they took that credited money as damaged repair amount, without even telling or asking , leaving me with no possibility to oppose the damages that they claimed that we did and asked for this months rent for new unit 813 again.Also I wrote rent on memo part of the check when i gave it to them, not damage repair money. Without asking someone, using their money to do something they have not agreed is very unacceptable and illegal. When we were going to move in to apartment 814, they offered me around $87 non refundable deposit to pay, since I had good credit history. They said that if I ONLY paid that amount, it would be my sure deposit money which will be non refundable and would be used for the damages so, the damages would be taken out of that money. But then, again they claimed that it was a wrong doing of the employee who worked there before and they cannot do anything about it to fix it. This 87 USD is to make the moving in cheaper and during moving out time I would have to pay damages no matter what. So, what I understand here is they make people pay non refundable 87 dollars from the beginning instead of the full deposit and during moving out you pay damages too. And in the end, you left with top of your damage payment extra 87 dollars which you would have not paid if you just pay the full deposit and damages are taken care out of that and you get rest of your money. The procedure is already doubtful but the problem is not just that. The problem is that was not what I was told from the beginning. Also, they took the 'damage' money out of my own will. If I was moving out to another apartment, I wonder how would they want any money for the damages that they claimed. At least, I would have had possibility to oppose some of their claims. Now, I have none because I already paid them without Knowing and I also have to pay rent for another unit If I want to stay there. From my side, they clearly use my transfering to their advantage to take money. Even though that was the situation, I myself an construction engineer and, I tried to talk to the employee at the office about these damages. Most of the damages they have showed a picture of me were either caused because of how old the apartment was or things that were out of me and my family's control. Some of the damages would have been even taken cared off with the basic fixes every apartment complex does after a move-out. Since they have already received the money, without my will they did not accept any objections against them about these damages that was out of our control. When I even offered to visit and see the damages together, I was told they 'did not' have the keys. Whenever I said anything against, I got rejected by the workers in the front office. They would say that it's already paid and in the past, so we should just stop thinking about it. At some point, I was even threatened that if I don't pay the money they wanted from me I would get kicked out from my new unit. Right now I have paid the money for the new apartment and due to this I am writing this to inform you, this unfair procedure had to make me deal with really rude office workers and great dishonesty. I have been many apartment complexes past years but I have never been treated like this and never been fooled like this. I believe the greatest servis in a company should be their honesty and urge to help. I sadly have seen none of this in my experience with this apartment. I am waiting the time I will move out next year. I hope someone can change this system and take action about this absurd situation. Thank you”

“I visited this property today and I had a bad but interesting experince. The leasing agent that I dealt with was Melaine Case. I have been looking into this community for months and I decided to go in and visit. Melaine was helping a lady who was looking to lease as well. After she was done with her she offered her a bottle of water. The lady declined stating no I have bottle of water in my car. Once the lady left Melaine started helping me being rude and short with me to say the least. I then asked her for a bottle of water (due to me needing to take my medication) which was offered to the potential residence ahead of me but not to me. She proceeds to say I gave the last bottle to my UPS guy. I then informed her I heard her offer the woman in front of me a bottle of water. She denied it and told me I am welcome to get a cup and get water out of the faucet. I told myself not to argue with her and just write a review for her manager and management company and the public to see. The reason this incident is more startling to me is due to me being African American and Melanie and the woman she offered the water to was White. I do not live here and I have nothing to loose or gain from this situation. Just want it to be known how you can possibly be treated here if you are a person of color. Every single apartment complex I have ever visited offers water or coffee. But this one I'm told to drink out of the faucet. This is disturbing is unacceptable and needs to be resolved and she needs to be reprimanded and given training on how to treat customers despite their race.”

“I was so excited to live here and then came my move in day. Long story short - there was mold in the unit, it wasn't the unit that I was told I would get (I was told initially I would be in a Praha and then told I would get a Lamar but on move in day- I'm in a Praha? I didn't even ASK for a Lamar), one of the cabinets was missing a level, there was paint missing and lets not forget the roaches. All on move in day? I didn't leave one piece of furniture there and I left never to return. Its Unit 1217 in case you're moving in soon! So, I guess I'll be "temporarily displaced" AKA Homeless AF till I find a new leasing agent to sell me lies. Thanks Michelle and Rachel!”

“Hello. I moved to Villages of Briar Forest in 2014 of February, while dealing with a terrible marriage separation and loosing my Mother to Cancer at the same time.. Moving to Villages of Briar Forest has been wonderful for me, thanks to the staff always being Professional and Caring to me while I am trying to Rebuild my life again.. Rachel, Michelle, Lori and Ricardo are Wonderful and Caring.. I Love my one bedroom and i always feel the Staff at Villages of Briar Forest always get things done.. Thank You;) ?? Naisha Richards”

“I have been here quite a while and to live here is wonderful thing close to grocery stores malls everything it is a great place to live that's why I haven't left the parking is great for people in the arms are great they have a lot of activities that go on for the residence”

“Highly recommend living here. Location is amazing with highway 6 two locks away and school within a half a mile. The apartments are updated with new stainless steel appliances. Full size washer and dryers are in all the units. Bathrooms have huge garden tubs. The light fixtures are all updated as well as the window fixtures. The apartments are spacious and clean, and management is excellent to work with.”

“I am a new inhabitant of this complex when I received the apartment I found bad insects, kitchen dirty and bathroom broken apartment number 616”

“We have lived in this apartment for close to a year and we are preparing to move out next month. At first things were okay, regarding staff and maintenance but since a new management took over, things have changed and gone downhill. Our washer and dryer have not been working for 2 weeks, we have gone to the leasing office several times and it's always this lady (michelle) She is so rude and she is so racist. We feel cheated because we have never defaulted in rent and we always pay on time. We always have one complain or the other and this apartment complex is so old and there is no form of renovation whatsoever. Also, there are times we see snakes and roaches, we complained and they told us to call animal control, that there is nothing they can do about it. There is even mold in the bathrooms and closets that damaged some of our important documents. We complained and there are no responses or simply avoiding it. The rent is extremely high for this kind of place. There is no form of customer satisfaction. I am being honest and in order to get good value for your money, PLEASE AVOID VILLAGES OF BRIAR FOREST”

“I am a current resident. It's horrible management. They don't take in maintenance requests when we go personally. All they do is nod their head that they will put it in the system and never do it. No maintenance team for them now, very confidently say that if the request is 2 weeks old also , they say it will take time, since no one is there now for maintenance full time. Above all abrupt disruption of water services and they don't care to be courteous and apologetic. They r worried only about their money. They lay conditions that patio should be maintained properly. But who will just worry about the exterior when the overall maintenance services is very bad.”