2.3/5.0

12/12/2014

Leasor Beware This place is cheap, furnished, and BYU-approved/BYU standards; it's quiet, and it feels like a relatively safe place...though the last two apply to most places I've been to or lived at in Provo, and there are a great many issues that may outweigh any savings. I stayed at La Grande apartments from mid-May to late August of 2014, and during this brief stay I encountered a wide array of issues – more than in fifteen years of leasing from several places including two others in Provo. Property condition/amenities: Note that there is no central A/C in any of these units, which made summertime quite challenging; a couple of us were sleeping in the living room for an extended time to make things bearable. This is an older complex in overall poor condition. Lots of wear and tear all throughout. Floors squeaky everywhere. Walls covered in holes. Dirty. Many of the outlets are so loose anything you plug in falls right out. All the blinds were damaged/incomplete. Hot water limited. Severe mold/mildew/etc in the shower grout. Next door, the kitchen cabinet surfaces were severely damaged and never repaired; the doorbell was broken and covered with black electrical tape...and those were just the issues visible from outside the unit. Our unit's front door was covered in years of old scotch tape we couldn't get off without taking the paint with it. These and other issues were reported upon move-in but never fixed. Shortly after move-in, the A/C unit froze up solid with ice/frost; it finally broke completely and took maintenance an extended time to resolve. There is on-property laundry, but it's in rough shape; twice, I found an open safety pin with my stuff in the dryer, which had resulted in damage to at least one piece of my clothes. Internet: Despite a brand-new sign out front advertising "High Speed Internet," what all of us experienced was a connection that was slow during the day, crashed near-daily, and consistently ground to total unusablity night after night. The final week and a half of living here, the internet went completely down, with management promising it would be up tomorrow day after day, which never happened. Safety: one of my roommates was a former code inspector; these units are not up to code in a variety of ways; there aren't even any GFCI (safety) power outlets in the bathroom. Maintenance: Dealing with maintenance was extraordinarily difficult. The maintenance guy barely spoke English, making even basic communication incredibly difficult and slow. When I first moved in, the toilet was running constantly, being noisy and wasting the complex's water/money (they pay water), and yet I had to practically beg the maintenance guy who came out to replace the broken $2 part that probably saved the complex that much or more the first month alone. When one of the previous tenants came by to pick up mail one day, he told me despite repeated requests, that issue had still never been fixed upon their move-out. Property management: It took at least three attempts for one of my roommates to simply get the correct for the front door from the manager. The on-property assistant had a large sign on their door, "don't contact us for anything other than lost keys." Office personnel may or may not return your calls, texts, emails days or weeks later, or they might simply ignore them altogether, and many others report similar experiences. Numerous requests over weeks to receive escalated contact information for someone above the property manager after repeated contact attempts went entirely ignored. The only reliable way I found to reach anyone on staff in a timely manner was to drop by another property they manage nearby, Miller Apartments, in person. However, office hours there are only ten hours a week, 4-6p M-F, and lines are usually long. The manager was typically the person whom even mundane issues had to be referred to. To top it off, they were routinely gone even from these short hours, arriving late and/or leaving early. And then came the various overbillings...the first utility bill I received was triple was I was told to expect; they hadn't split the bill up correctly. In another case, I discovered a bill for $45 taped to the front door for a supposedly broken window screen that wasn't actually broken. Another time, I put the rent money on the same money order for payment as the utilities – property management called me telling I'd have to double-pay the utility bill, and wouldn't see that money again until several months later when they'd issue deposit refund was issued. All three of these and other situations typically took multiple conversations with various office personnel, plus the waits in line just to talk to them, that often involved me getting directed back to one person...the always distracted, super-busy, often available office manager. Such hassles were commonplace during my time here, and they may be a real inconvenience for many; they are certainly an added expense of significant time investment unto themselves. Cleanliness/Cleaning Checks: This place was a pit when I moved in, and I reported it as such on the appropriate form while my roommate took pictures. Nobody ever came out and cleaned it, so despite it not being our responsibility, the two of us took extended time to do so ourselves. A couple weeks before move-out, a lady came through for a cleaning check, and pointed out a couple items that needed additional attention. But come move-out day, a different lady arrives well before the scheduled time, briefly glances through the unit, then tells us every single item on the entire checklist has failed. Wait, what? How did we go from only a few items needing attention a couple weeks prior to now every single item failing, when the unit is substantially cleaner than when we moved in and probably cleaner than it's been in years, and then was cleaned again after the last check? Keep in mind while all this is going on, the internet's been completely down for the entire building for a week and a half (which management would later issue a paltry $7.50 credit for), and upon further investigation, apparently everyone in the whole building failed their cleaning check that day. Now, I've heard three different stories from the manager on what failing a cleaning check means...which brings me to the next subject. Deposit return: Upon move-in, the complex required first and last month's rent in full, plus a $200 deposit. The complex insisted on keeping on said deposit a full thirty days after moving out – an extended delay I've never encountered before in all my years of leasing. Over a month later, I received not a check in the mail in the self-addressed stamped envelope they made us all provide, but a bill indicating I owed them more money, along with a letter stating that no discussion of deposit refunds would be done except by mail or email, guaranteeing an even slower response than the already slow response time. From the day the deposit was supposed to be refunded, it took seventeen separate contact attempts over the course of another month to simply get a breakdown of the bill, which then turned out to be incorrect...I was, in fact, still owed a refund. I finally received a refund of about 40% of my deposit, which also reflected a $30 fee I was told upon move-in would only be billed if the apartment wasn't clean enough about move-out, again never minding that several parts of the apartment were substantially cleaner than they had probably been in years. At this point, I decided to drop trying to address the matter further with the apartment complex. Bottom line: The above is a taste of what I experienced in just three months at La Grande and dealing with Continental Properties management. To the very end, these folks were extraordinarily time-consuming and often difficult to get assistance from. Many more reviews in similar veins can be found for both LeGrande Apartments and "Continental Properties"/"Continental Apartments"/"Continental Management" (the management company that runs LeGrande, Miller Apartments, and according to what management told me, a combined total of seventeen complexes in the area. Here are some of the other reviews online on this place/management company: http://www.apartmentratings.com/ut/provo/legrand-apartments_8013745418846068/ http://www.yelp.com/biz/miller-apartments-provo http://www.apartmentratings.com/ut/provo/miller-apartments_801374541884606/ http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/apartments/continental-properties-in-provo-ut-22220201 http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/continental-properties-provo-utah-c175465.html http://ratemyapartments.com/ratings/UT/Provo-College/Continental-Apts-57502/ http://meganandclaudy.blogspot.com/2008/08/continental-propertiesdevil.html I'm normally a pretty easy-going person, and I tried everything I could think of to work with these folks, including my roommate and myself doing property maintenance ourselves on several occasions even though it wasn't our responsibility. I'm rating this place two stars instead of one overall because of the price...though again, this may well be outweighed by the extra and extended time you'll need to plan on if you want to resolve various hassles, misbillings, and other issues. FWIW, I have heard talk of pursuing getting Continental's BYU housing approval pulled from a couple different sources, and that may just be for the better. ...

4/5.0

04/23/2014

No big complaints. I liked the space and the neighborhood. On-site laundry and dishwashers were nice. They need to replace the flooring. The couches are new. Got most of my deposit back, no cleaning fees.

1.5/5.0

12/15/2013

Wouldn't recommend it, I've lived in several places in Provo. Despite the decent price I wouldn't live here. Found out the hard way the smoke alarm doesn't work, roommate left the stove on. The apartments got rid of the girl section added more guys, the ward is 95% male. They only accept checks, and have to pay utilities separate, mid month so you're writing a check every 2 weeks. Cleaning checks are ridiculous, pretty much a white glove every time. Insulation is terrible so you have to run the ac and heater a lot more utilities are high, internet is terrible. Despite the good price, you can do better. I rented from fall 10 through spring 11. ...

3.8/5.0

08/06/2012

I was surprised at one of the reviews. I lived here the last 4 years, as did my wife. We just got married and really enjoyed it. They are older units, but I have never heard management say anything like the review a few back. I would recommend the place if you are looking for something inexpensive but decent! I rented from fall '07 through summer 11. ...

4.2/5.0

01/18/2012

I rented from fall 10 through spring 11.

1.2/5.0

08/18/2011

Don't do it. Just. Don't.

1.2/5.0

04/22/2011

These apartments are way overpriced and the management rips you off with the deposit. There were units with leaky ceilings and the manager said,"We cut corners. If you don't like it move somewhere else." This was after all the food in the kitchen was already ruined. During cleaning checks they charge outrageous fees to recheck for things like cleaning the outside windows on a second/third floor living space... make sure you're home during the check to fight your case. The walls are nasty old paint, carpets are dirty and they don't provide working vacuums. The couches are broken and they won't fix them. They act like it's a brand new complex during cleaning checks and if there is anything previously ruined or stained you get charged for it. Over all the worst Provo housing situation out there. So bad that the bishop is working to get Continental Housing's (which includes La Grande) BYU approval revoked. ...

1.8/5.0

02/07/2011

Management (Continental Properties) is terrible and negligent. The apartments are old - some of the ceilings have water stains. The ground outside the bottom floor apartments is ALWAYS wet because of water run off. The stairs up to the top two floors are loud and rusty. There weren't any CO2 detectors. (Apparently Continental Properties have had past failures to put CO2 detectors in their apartment properties - I would never recommend renting from them) I rented from fall 10 through winter 11. ...

2.5/5.0

04/30/2010

We almost died because of the CO on the water pump and furnace. If you want to live here make sure you buy a CO detector.

4/5.0

03/04/2008

I like the big rooms and social atmosphere, but if you don't have a car, there is a lot of walking. There is a bus stop a block away, though. I rented from spring '07 through spring '08.

4.2/5.0

09/19/2007

i love this place the rooms are huge!! The land lord changed so i do not know about the current one but i love it i meet my husband in the ward I rented from spring '05 through summer '05.

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240 N 500 E Reviews and Ratings

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240 N 500 E, Provo, UT 84606

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