Forest Lake, lutz-fl

Bedbugs, Water Damage and Mold, German roaches, and Illegal Practices by Management My apartment flooded on December 4th from a broken water heater, leaving the kitchen flooded and almost going into bedroom A. There was water damage and leaking through all of the ceilings of the common areas. The only thing that management did for two weeks was to stick a fan and dehumidifier in the common area. They did nothing about the sagging ceiling and other water damage until after repeatedly calling, emailing, and going to the office to do something about it. They finally patched up the ceiling, but there has been no testing for mold at all. There are still growing cracks in the ceiling currently that are untreated and areas of the ceiling that are bulging from moisture. Shortly after the flooding, I discovered a bedbug biting me and immediately reported it to management. There is Airbnb on the second floor and Airbnb's in every building of this complex. I am almost certain that's where the bed bug came from after the flooding and because I was the only source of blood after everyone left for winter break. I discovered the bedbug on Dec 30th. They did a quick visual inspection at that time and could not find an infestation at that time. They told me they could not offer treatment at the time and told me to do a diy treatment by putting all of my clothes in the dryer on high heat and using diatomaceous earth in my room. I started to get bit again on 1/12, so I made an appointment with my primary care. They confirmed the bites I were receiving were from bedbugs. I called out Code Enforcement and made an appointment on 1/18. They confirmed the presence of pests including German roaches and bedbugs as well as lingering structural damage from the flooding. The apartment is still not scheduled to receive any treatment for bedbugs and has been reported. As of today, there has still been no treatment for bedbugs and they keep deleting my Google review. I will keep reposting it and adding new pictures. Update 1: there are visible mushrooms growing out of the walls of their shuttle bus and adding a picture of a baby German roach in the bus.

I genuinely love living here. The front office staff and management team are incredibly friendly and always willing to help with anything you need. The property itself is beautiful and the amenities are one of the best parts of living here. The pool area is my absolute favorite perfect for relaxing and hanging out with friends. Highly recommend!

If I could give this place zero stars I would. I don’t recommend ever renting here, they are thiefs and liars!! They want you to do all the work when it comes time to finding someone to sublease from you and then you still have to pay on top of that. I call about charges and I’m told one thing and call again and told another thing. I’m so disgusted with this place. They are offering 2 months of rent free because no one wants to deal with their crappy business and they are losing residents. I also put in many requests for them to fix the toilet and it never gets fixed but they have the audacity to charge me a $40 bathroom cleaning fee after I cleaned the bathroom myself. And!! they took my security deposit and started piling charges on my account after I turned in the keys even though it was never mentioned to me that there will be a charge when I turned in the keys. I get times are hard for business too but it doesn’t excuse screwing people over in the process. Run far far away from this place!!

WARNING to College Students and Parents — Unsafe Living Conditions If you are a college student or anyone looking for a place to live, please heed my warning — this is not a safe place to live, especially for young women. I’m a 20-year-old student, and my experience here was terrifying. The random roommate policy is extremely dangerous. Management does nothing to protect tenants unless there is an “immediate threat.” I had a roommate who constantly brought different grown men into our apartment — men I didn’t know, who made me feel unsafe in my own home. • First incident: One of these men got into a violent fight with my roommate and threw a hard object through her window, completely shattering it. I had to lock myself in my room until he left. The office told me to “just file a police report” and did nothing but leave her a paper warning. • After that: She continued giving her male guests access to her apartment key, allowing them to come and go freely — even while she wasn’t home. One man stayed in the apartment all day while she was gone. I called the office for help, and provided a photo of him sitting out on my patio and it took them 30 minutes to arrive. By the time they showed up, he was back in her room, and they simply said there was “nothing they could do” other than another warning. • Third incident: The same man who broke her window stalked her and left a bullet at our front door. When I reported this in fear, (with the bullet in a baggy as proof) management asked me, “Well, did he physically or verbally threaten you?” — as if that’s the only reason to take safety seriously. They wait until its already to late unfortunately. At this point, she had received three written warnings, and still, nothing changed. In retaliation to these warnings, she proceeded to purposefully let my cat out in which I could no longer let him roam the apartment anymore. When I signed my lease, I was told every tenant must be present with their guests and that safety was a top priority. That was a lie. The management completely failed to uphold their own policy or ensure resident safety. Financial Exploitation and Maintenance Negligence • Beyond safety, they also take advantage of students financially. • They charged ridiculous amounts for damages that were either pre-existing or caused by their maintenance team. • There were roaches living under the carpet, which was lifting up. I even paid $200 for new carpet and followed up for two months before they finally replaced it. • I had a crack in my shower since I moved in that was reported multiple times and was never fixed • The ac room is locked because it is full of filth never been cleaned. • Our ac was out for months while they put temporary ac units in the windows that had mold in them also not being fully sealed so my room had bugs of all kinds coming in especially roaches. I woke up in the middle of the night a couple times to a shadow crawling towards me on my blankets. Roaches, spiders, centipedes. If you enjoy living with them, this is the place for you. • During their turnover process, maintenance broke a section of our new blinds while doing “touch-ups.” I called to report it so we wouldn’t be charged at move out, and they said they’d make a note. They didn’t — and I was charged anyway. • They kept no records of anything reported • If your roommates leave anything behind, you get charged, even if it isn’t yours. I ended up being charged over $700 after moving out. Final Thoughts Moving out of this complex and into a safer community that is still close to campus has been the best decision I’ve made. I regret ever giving this place my money. If you value your safety, peace of mind, and financial fairness, do not live here. Management fails to enforce rules, ignores safety issues, and prioritizes profit over residents’ wellbeing. Stay away from Forest Lake Apartments.

Toured Forest Lake as a potential place to live and I had an amazing experience with Drina. She did a great job showing everything Forest Lake has to offer and also she has an amazing personality. Definitely would recommend consider living at Forest Lake to everyone.