Forest Lake, lutz-fl

I lived at Forest Lake Apartments for 4 years, from August 2022 through July 31, 2026, in a 4x4 platinum unit on the third floor of Building 2511. Overall, I give Forest Lake a 3/5. Below are some things I wish I had known before signing the lease back in 2022 and why I gave it a 3/5. I also attached photos from when I first moved in. My base rent was around $745 and increased to $769 halfway through my stay. With utilities and other fees, I usually paid around $820-$870 per month. Just a general piece of advice for any apartment, don’t assume the advertised base rent is what you’ll actually pay. When I signed, I requested USF students and non-smoking roommates. When I moved in, none of my roommates were students and I had roommates who smoked. This was frustrating since I requested non-smokers and expected student roommates. The bedroom itself was decent for the price. Mine had a queen bed, dresser, nightstand, closet, and a very large desk. The desk was my favorite feature. I had a dual 27-inch monitor PC setup and still had plenty of room for storing other things on the desk. The mattress, however, was terrible, so I strongly recommend a mattress topper. Most appliances worked fine, but our washer had recurring problems for about 3 years, violently shaking and making deafening banging noises. The AC was never great during my stay, often hovering around 77°F even when set lower. The worst issue happened during the final 9 days of my lease when it stopped working entirely. The temperature reached around 85°F even after sunset and wasn’t fixed until 2 days before I moved out. This was easily my worst experience here. Maintenance was normally very fast. For most requests, someone usually came the next morning. Management was also generally respectful and responsive. I never had a bad experience speaking with management in person, through email, or over the phone. Other things to know: - Parking: Good in my experience. I almost always found a spot directly in front of my building. Towing enforcement is real, so make sure to follow the parking rules. - Noise: Usually manageable, but there were occasional late-night parties, arguments, and people making scenes outside. I ended up using earplugs pretty often. - Security: I personally never experienced a serious safety issue or car break-in. I did hear about break-ins from other residents, so I would still avoid leaving valuables in your car. - Internet: Generally solid, but there were occasional outages. I recommend ethernet if you play games or need a reliable connection for school. Also, personal routers are not allowed which sucks. - Pests: I personally never had a serious pest problem during my 4 years in a third-floor unit. Forest Lake also had periodic pest-control treatments. It can vary by unit/building so be aware of that. - Commute: Usually a 10-minute drive to USF, but it depends where on campus you're going and the time of day. - Move-out: Surprisingly great. After 4 years, I expected some kind of cleaning or damage charge, but my final move-out charge was $0. Would I live here again? Personally, no. Minor issues like internet outages and the AC running warm added up over 4 years, with the final AC failure being the major exception. I mainly stayed for the low rent and because I hate change. I will say that your roommates and how they act will have a huge influence on your experience here. My roommates during the first 3 years were messy, rowdy, and loud, while the roommates I had during my final year were more chill and made that year far, far more pleasant. Shoutout to them. I also wouldn’t tell someone to completely avoid Forest Lake. If you're looking for affordable rent, decent access to USF, good parking, your own bedroom/bathroom, and generally responsive maintenance, it's definitely appealing. This is just my experience, so I recommend reading other residents’ reviews too. Hope my review helps!

For the price our unit is good, but upon moving in 2 months ago we had no TV in the living room (should be provided), no entertainment stand (also should be provided), and the couch was absolutely destroyed/scratched up by past tenant’s pets im assuming. Absolutely not move-in ready when we moved in. 2 months later we have a new couch but still waiting on the tv and stand. The office has just told us “it’s been ordered” since we moved in. The pool has also been closed for months (not mentioned when we toured, signed, or moved in). The units are decent as long as you have no issues arise, because when they do they will not be fixed timely. Other than that the gym is nice

I toured with Jaden and my future roommate today and he was amazing! Very knowledgeable about the apartment, seemed genuinely excited about living here and made the tour very enjoyable. This looks like a great apartment, Jaden extensively answered all of our questions and even gave suggestions about the surrounding areas for groceries and traffic patterns. He is awesome and it seems like the rest of the staff is great as well!

This place is scam they charge you for things you don’t even have. We got charged for bolted ceilings because they changed out unit the day of move in from the pool view to some s h I t in the back of the complex. Also the pool has been closed for months and they said it’s because of “rain” however it has not rained in 2 weeks so what’s going on. They don’t care about students they are just trying to get money. Never resigning or would suggest anyone to EVERRR LIVE HERE RUN FOR THE HILLS AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. you can go to the office and ask for things to change and they say they will but then the every next payment they are still charging us for this same stuff. Do better you guys suck.

I would not recommend Forest Lake Apartments based on my experience with management and how issues are handled. I was supposed to move into my new unit on August 1, as stated in my signed lease. After signing my renewal, I was informed that the unit would not be ready until August 10th. I was also told that I would have to pay a $350 transfer fee to remain in my current apartment until the new unit is ready, even though the delay was not something I agreed to in my signed lease. When I asked for documentation showing where I agreed to a delayed move-in or this transfer process, management could not provide a SIGNED agreement that states move in August 20th only one that says August 1st move in. They only provided messages discussing the renewal after I had already signed my renewal that states move in August 1st. I then contacted Property owner and advised him what’s going on and told them that Forest lake is trying to make me pay the transfer fee to stay in my apartment and the owner advised me that my apartment will be ready August 3 and he never mentioned the fee he also said I could stay in my current apartment until then. Therefore fee was waived and I will be staying in my current until my unit is ready. I have also experienced ongoing issues with management addressing resident concerns. During a previous situation with roommates, I repeatedly reported an unregistered cat, smoking inside the unit, and marijuana-related items being kept in the apartment. I provided pictures and documentation to management every week or two for approximately three months. Even after inspections, I was told there was not enough proof because they could not determine who the items belonged to and how they could be mine. I was advised to contact police if it happened after hours. After about three months of reporting the issue, I was finally moved to another unit. At first they tried to make me pay a transfer fee but this is not my fault I’m moving and after months on end it eventually was waived and I was moved. My concern is not that problems happen it is how long it takes management to respond and the lack of accommodation when residents are dealing with issues outside of their control. I would not recommend Forest Lake Apartments to anyone looking for management that is responsive and willing to properly address resident concerns. The AC also has not been cooling the house for over a month, and the issue still hasn’t been resolved. There has been no follow-up from management and no accommodations offered to the residents despite the ongoing inconvenience. The lack of communication and urgency in addressing a basic maintenance issue has been extremely disappointing. Keys : My key stopped working and the leasing consultant said it was fixed (didn’t work) thank God my roommate was home . The next day my key still didn’t work I came asked was it fixed and they said yes and it wasn’t came back again around 5:40 and didn’t get helped until 6:20pm. A weekish after I moved it key stopped working again so I will be going to fix that again Update : After multiple maintenance requests and “completed / no issues” maintenance replaced the a/c controller and drained the ac recently.