Monticello Apartments, provo-ut

My experience at Monticello was honestly terrible, and I would not recommend living here. The living conditions were extremely disappointing, especially considering how much you end up paying. One of the biggest issues we dealt with was black mold in the air vent, which was blowing directly into the living space. Having something like that in an air vent is extremely concerning because you’re literally breathing the air coming through it every day. It made the apartment feel unsafe and poorly maintained. The cleaning inspections and move-out charges are also ridiculous. They are extremely strict about cleaning and seem to look for every little thing they can charge you for. Even after cleaning the apartment yourself, you can still end up with surprisingly high fees. Some of the charges feel completely unreasonable for normal wear and tear. There were also multiple maintenance and living-condition issues that made the apartment frustrating to live in. Things would break or have problems, and the overall condition of the apartment did not feel like it matched what you would expect from the amount you pay. The bunk bed was also extremely unsafe. Part of it was propped up on concrete blocks, making it feel unstable, and the top bunk was so close to the ceiling that there was barely any space above your head. It honestly felt like a serious safety hazard and was not a reasonable setup for anyone to be sleeping in. The apartment also felt poorly maintained, uncomfortable, and generally run-down. Between the mold issue, maintenance problems, strict inspections, and excessive fees, it became exhausting dealing with everything. Overall, this was the worst apartment experience I’ve ever had. I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere before signing a lease here. Make sure you document everything when you move in and take pictures of every room, because you do not want to be surprised by the fees when you move out.

Ive lived here for about a year and a half, the people are incredible, its the best ysa ward ever and the location is great BUT the management is bad and feels exploitative! (Update at the bottom!!!) Monticello management is geared towards getting as much money from you as possible. The amount of fees (hidden or otherwise) is absurd. Cleaning checks are rushed and anything that isn't thoroughly cleaned gets a hefty fine. The contractor crews that they hire for renovations and such cause more damage than they fix (holes in the wall, broken doors, occasional damaged personal property) and are so poorly scheduled that two or three day renovation jobs become multiple week ordeals. Multiple people had to stay at friends houses because of how long their apartments were left dismantled. Management enters the apartments without 24hr notice sometimes, which is far from ideal. Amenities such as TVs and the pool are advertised, but don't fall for it. The TVs are just monitors and honestly most people just use their own for the sake of convenience. The pool is usually either under maintenance or closed. The washing machines are a bit expensive too, $5 for a normal load. I also know of a couple apartments that had mold that management's solution was to just paint over. The mold grew back through the paint of course, because thats how mold works. The parking situation is a bit rough. It's crowded and the price sometimes jumps without warning.I know people who have been charged extra for parking. They were never given a reason and weren't given a refund. Monticello also loves to charge people for credit reporting, even when they're opted out. Also, members of the management have left 5 star reviews on the apartment complex. A while back they offered starving student cards to newly moved in residents as incentive to leave good reviews. UPDATE: monticello just charged me $150 dollars for "desk removal" AFTER sending me my moving out statement including how much of my deposited they were going to give back! Thanks for the going away gift guys, real classy. The ward is great and the people who live at Monticello are good people. The ward is very social and not clicky! Everyone knows everyone and we all hang out together, great environment! The super short commute is wonderful. However, there are other apartment complexes in the ward that have the same benefits without the pain of redstone management.

This place was the perfect first apartment with cheap rent and good amenities. The pool was nice to have during hot months and always clean. Gigi, seth, tanner, weston, and jacey were all wonderful staff that i got to connect with and they were great. The location is the best though being right next to campus is so awesome. Great college apartments!

I moved in because I'd heard so many good things about the ward, which to be fair, has been fantastic. The actual experience of living here has been awful. When I first moved in management went to each apartment and offered gift cards to the BYU bookstore or starving student cards in exchange for a 5 star google review, so maybe take some of those 5 star reviews here with a grain of salt. Halfway into my lease they began charging me for credit reporting when I had opted out of it when I moved in (which they charged me halfway through so clearly they knew at first that I had opted out). They also started charging me for renter's insurance when I already had a policy from a third-party which I had documented and shown them when I moved in. When I asked their office about it they told me it was because I switched rooms in the middle of my lease, which isn't true. I was the only person who moved into my apartment at the start of the fall term and so I ended up in the one open bed. I had not been told by my roommates nor by Monticello when I moved in that I had moved into the wrong room, until halfway into my lease. This led them to change things in the system with marking which room I was in and it automatically charged me for what I'd opted out of. They also did not inform me that anything had been changed in the system. When we got things fixed out on my account they did not refund me for those charges but rather gave me a credit toward next month's rent. I'd rather have not had to pay the fees in the first place or at the very least have my own money returned to me. The quality of the apartments are also awful. The blinds in my room were damaged when I moved in and they didn't fix them before I moved in and they haven't done anything to fix them for those moving in after I leave. There's also black mold on my bathroom ceiling. They have only ever painted over it and it has only ever grown back through. They also resurfaced the tubs at one point and it chipped and flaked almost entirely off in a month. I requested for it to be fixed and they resurfaced it again only for it to now, again, be breaking apart and flaking off. For the move out cleaning check they also have failed everyone I've talked to in the apartment complex. I have never failed a cleaning check in my time living here until this one so take that for what you will. The attached photos are of the mold, the day I moved in and today of the broken blinds, and the toilet/tub that Monticello claimed was not wiped down enough for the move-out cleaning checks. (If you're looking for alternatives to still be in the ward but not under Redstone management, look at the Yearsly Duplex owned by Aspen Ridge or the Linford apartments).

Monticello only cares about money. They don't care about you. An average day living at Monticello was okay, but anytime management gets involved with anything, it's a nightmare. I will share a few specific experiences, but there are many more like it. 1. Monticello had no desks when I moved in, but after a year of getting settled and all six of us purchasing personal desks for ourselves, Monticello forced every resident to take THREE desks, regardless of whether or not there was any room for them. Not only this, but they expected the residents to assume storage costs for the desks if there was no space for them, rather than simply adding desks incrementally as they were actually needed, or handling the storage themselves. 2. A similar experience: Monticello forcibly installed TV with no alternative options, regardless of whether residents already had a TV, projector, wall decorations, or anything else and would not accommodate residents' actual needs. 3. Monticello repeatedly claimed that work would be done on various areas (e.g. wall painting, flooring replacement, general improvement), and about 80% of the time, this work never happened, or was shoddily done, typically over the course of several weeks, posing a significant intrusion in the lives of residents. The contractors Monticello hires to do their work consistently do poor quality jobs, presumably so Monticello can save money rather than hiring people who actually know what they are doing. One apartment was almost completely torn up or filled with contractors for over a month while a full apartment of people was still living there because the contractors did such a poor job. Most of those residents had to find another place to live during that time and were hardly reimbursed, if at all. 4. Monticello improperly bagged many possessions of a resident still living in my apartment at the end of my contract, then charged the residents of my apartment OVER $2000 collectively for these improperly bagged items. After a lengthy dispute process, Monticello removed my charges which were instated for extremely dubious reasons, particularly considering that I had already moved out, then reinstated the charges the next day. Not only that, but they have handled the dispute process extremely unprofessionally and unethically, including failing to respond to any of my messages for over ten days, citing ill management and office turnover (gee, I wonder why), even when I was aware of other residents who received communication during that time. 5. Monticello charges an arm and a leg to simply transfer a contract to someone else. To do so is worth NEARLY TWO MONTHS of rent + all other expenses for a month. My now-wife could have sold her contract to someone else, but it would have literally COST HER MONEY to do so. I can guarantee that it doesn't cost anywhere close to that much for Monticello do the necessary paperwork to make the transition from one resident to another. To transfer a contract, you lose your security deposit, but rather than transferring your deposit to the new tenant, they are ALSO asked to pay a security deposit. Monticello will claim that this is industry practice. This is an exaggeration at best. None of this even includes the state of the apartments, which are so old that only tearing down the buildings and rebuilding would be enough to salvage them at this point. As many other review state, things such as mold and asbestos are common. There are a few small perks of living at Monticello, but they are overshadowed by the cons, and most you can find elsewhere with less predatory contracts and management. I suggest you look elsewhere or do some haggling to remove the more predatory terms of the contract. Monticello might care about you when you're a prospective buyer, but never when you have a contract under them. Buyer beware.