Peaks @ NW Hills

Moved here from another city right around the holidays, and the property manager Kay helped me so incredibly much! She communicated with me so well throughout the entire process and made my move much easier! So far I’ve been here a week. The spot is nice for being built in the 1970’s, this place seems like it has been kept pretty well! Apartment was clean upon arrival and no weird smells. The area is really safe and peaceful too. Looking forward to my stay here! - Thanks

I moved in when the new management company took over this property in December 2021. The previous company was not helpful and was hard to reach when I was getting ready to move in. Amelia, the new property manager, met with me before my move in and handled all my concerns with me one on one. You can tell her and her staff care about their residents and this property. I've enjoyed my time living here and love how close my apartment is to everything I need.

Under new management but the place needs so much work that they should contemplate shutting down and doing a complete remodel. I can tell management tries their best with what they have but the buildings are too old. Water is always shut off, boiling hot or freezing cold. Bugs are a constant problems because of cracks in the walls, and maintenance requests are rarely done. Great location and peaceful area, but too many problems for me to renew here again.

I saw the reviews were a bit old so I figured I would write one about our year stay here with the new management. It was terrible. We would have our water shut off approx. once a week. Water pressure was pretty terrible most of the time. Maintenance does not really like to show up unless you call multiple times. Once I had a leak in my kitchen since for about two weeks. I called and pestered but they only came by when I told them mold had developed (which it did). We pay for monthly for pest control, but have not been able to get anyone here to actually take care of the pests. Obviously i have called a few times, but gave up. We have an abundance of roaches and centipedes. We also have lots of spiders, but I have left those as they seem to be the only thing bringing down the number of other pests. The laundry machines are usually broken to some extent. Typically about 50% of the dryers will be shutdown. Laundry is just a really stressful thing to do here at LIV. I also would say that they did a terrible job on the paint here. They painted the tub and tiles in the bathroom, among literally everything else and as such it is already peeling. Basically this is my warning. Do not come here. This complex essentially like to put pretty paint or light fixtures to cover the fact there are so many problems. The apartments are only okay and the management will not help you if you have any issues. I have only listed a few, but trust me, living here is a battle. If you like having a sanitary/maintained place to live, this is not for you.

I am super surprised that in my move-in day, everything is new. And the apartment is super convenient to the HEB and my school bus. And I like the lady in the leasing office. She is super helpful and nice. The facility is also nice.

When a new management company took over, they tried to raise our rent by $269 from one year to the next. That’s a 29% hike in our rent. To put things in perspective, the average rent in Austin decreased by 0.4% over the past six months. That wasn’t the only problem. Seven out of ten times, we wouldn’t find them in their office. Sometimes they would leave a “We’ll return by” sign and then return well after that posted time. Other times they would leave a number to call. Usually when we called, we would get a busy signal or a voice saying “Thanks,” and then hanging up. I only got an answering machine once. Ant infestations, flooded walkways, packages disappearing, the workout room being closed for five months, changing the move-out procedure at the last minute…the list of problems goes on and on. We decided to move out well before the lease renewal with the 29% increase. Most of our neighbors moved out too. When we left, five of the seven nearby apartments were vacant. We had to threaten them with legal action before they gave us any of our security deposit back. When we moved out, we made sure they had our correct forwarding address. We waited a month, but they didn’t send the check. We sent them a letter, informing them of our legal right to sue them for three times the deposit. After that, they immediately called us and told us the check just happened to be sitting in their office. I confirmed that they did indeed have the correct forwarding address the whole time. They finally mailed us the deposit, but it was a very shady ending to an already bad year. Our first year at this apartment complex was wonderful and we wanted to stay. I never would have renewed if I knew how bad the new management would be.

When Firmus took over, they tried to convince us we didn't have a lease and should sign a new one at a higher rate. ($200 more than comparable apartments in the area with more amenities, like tennis courts and volleyball pits.) We signed the lease digitally, so the fact that it was “lost” was bogus. When we went in to ask if they could contact Resource Residential to obtain a copy of our lease, the manager refused. We ended up having to find RR’s corporate number to explain the situation and obtain a copy for Firmus. After this, they tried to charge us their raised rent rate anyway, TWICE (two separate months). They blamed the online system for the error both times. During late fall, ants started coming through our electrical outlets in search of warmth. We put in a request for treatment, and after a week with no response, a second request. By this time ants were biting our six-month-old son’s face and getting into his diaper to bite his more tender areas. Next, when they were painting everything purple, they posted notice that the painters would need access to our patio on a certain date to power wash. Those painters were hopping up on our patio via ladders for a week and half, but we only got the single notice for patio access for that one day. By law, management is required to give 24 hours notice for any non-emergency access to the premises. What's more, the painters soaked our carpet when they power-washed the door, which I luckily noticed in time to clean up the water or it would have left a stain I would have been held liable for at move-out. They started painting in October and the building numbers didn’t go back up until spring rolled around. The city’s fire building code states structures must be readily identifiable by fire department personnel or it’s considered hazardous address numbering. So having the building numbers off during painting is okay. Leaving them off for several months inhibits firefighter access and endangers your resident's lives. Remember this record-high summer we had? July 3rd the cold water cut out, forcing us to use hot water for drinking and bathing, while the toilet never refilled because it was connected to the cold water tap. They had been doing a lot of maintenance on nearby apartments, so at first it was no issue. But the problem persisted beyond the end of the business day through the holiday. No cold water. No flushing toilets. Scorching summer. Just don't live here.

Tucked away from the traffic of Far West Blvd, Bent Oaks is a great complex to live in. Walking distance from HEB, CVS, the post office and the library. Friendly staff and great outdoor facilities. Near several bus stops with easy access to MoPac, so transportation is never an issue. Open parking, so having guests is easy, and walking distance from a middle school with a track open to public after 5 p.m. Great place to live, I'm sad work is taking me out of state.