Shalimar Apartments

Lived here for a year. Complex is a little old similar to the oldish places i have lived in west campus but roomy, nice floor plan and close to the bus stop and intramural fields. Defninitely good price compared to other places i looked at. Landlord easy to work with for repairs or issues i had. I also got my full deposit back. I would recommend if you are on a budget and need to be close to campus\bus station.

Lived here for a year. Complex is a little old similar to the older places i have lived in west campus but roomy, nice floor plan and close to the bus stop and intramural fields. Defninitely good price compared to other places i looked at. Landlord easy to work with for repairs or issues i had. I also got my full deposit back. I would recommend if you are on a budget and need to be close to campus\bus station.

There is so much potential for the apartments here to be wonderful. The rent prices are reasonable, considering the size and location, the neighbors are fantastic, and it’s located walking distance from the triangle and close to a major bus stop.
Unfortunately, the apartments don’t live up to their potential largely due to, as other reviewers have noted, the landlord.
In my one-​on-​one dealings with him, he’s been a very nice person and very friendly. However, once the topic of money comes up, he turns into a bloodthirsty monster. He will make up reasons to cheat you out of as much money as he can. In my case, he established a move-​in date a full week before I could even conceivably move in and even before he was finished «renovating» the apartment (which amounted to a poorly applied fresh coat of paint on the walls).
I never saw the apartment until the day I moved in (he showed off a neighboring apartment instead) and, once I did, I was surprised at how filthy it was and how many appliances were not working. Even several month after moving in, I saw evidence that it hadn’t been cleaned prior to my moving in, in the form of old roach traps and beer cans hidden throughout my new home.
The units are somewhat old, with broken appliances that the landlord says he says he will fix, but still hasn’t (even after over a year of living here) and other appliances that are on their last breath, but still kept on life support and, as a result, damage my property in the process. The air conditioning units, for example, are as loud as 747s and have a tendency to drip water all over the wood floor (which I will likely be charged for via my security deposit). The repairs fix the water dripping temporarily, but there’s no telling when I’m going to need to pull the bucket back from underneath the sink.
However, on some level, that’s all something that we’ve become used to as apartment renters.
The landlord, however, is really something else.
As I’ve said, the neighbors here are wonderful and happen to be some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. The landlord has brought at least one of them to tears with his constant harassment. Other reviews have highlighted what has gone on in the complex, but let me just reiterate that he gets in power struggles and will go out of his way to make up things to charge you for, often illegally. He will fine you for posting something on the community bulletin board, or for having somebody stay over at your apartment, or for having a get-​together with a few of the other (again *wonderful*) people in the building.
He is a manipulative bully and, above all else, is the reason you should strongly consider finding a different apartment complex to move in to.

I would give ZERO stars, but Unilocal doesn’t allow it.
The landlord is the big negative with this apartment complex. Even though I liked the floor plan and location, I would not live here again, nor would I recommend it to others, unless prices lowered to slum prices to match the slumlord behavior.
At move-​in, the apartment was dirty and there were several damaged items:
–Vertical blinds not working well & several broken.
–Crack in a window.
–Air conditioning unit had evidence of prior water damage.
–Bathroom had leaky faucet.
–Bedroom had one light & it did not work, even after I changed the bulb. I just got a floor lamp.
–Master bathroom had the most mildewy shower I’ve ever seen.
–Carpet had many stains that could have easily been removed. I know since I paid for a steam-​cleaning at move-​out (in order to get my deposit back) & ALL of the stains came out with a professional 20 minute steam-​cleaning.
I noted all of this + more in my move-​in inventory form, to avoid any fraudulent charges, and turned it in to his property management company, Premier Realty, as instructed. Thinking I was ok, since both Premier & my landlord would see the form, I didn’t make a copy since I didn’t know who I was doing business with. As my move-​out approached, and after I had heard how badly he treated other tenants, I requested a copy of the move-​in inventory form from Premier. They said they didn’t have a copy & that it was sent to Tony (landlord). I emailed Tony (he only responded to emails & text) & he said he didn’t have the move-​in inventory form. So either he lost it, Premier didn’t send it, he forgot, or he lied. Either way, I got screwed, and it made me nervous about the move-​out, because I was going to leave the country 10 days after move-​out & before he was required to refund my deposit.
Sidenote: My returned deposit was postdated 30 days after I moved out, which is the final legal date for a landlord to refund deposits. Why wait so long?
The air-​conditioning unit kept leaking. First time, he told me to call the repairman. The repairman was then rude to me & told me to call Tony & have Tony call him personally. It was not fixed properly & kept leaking periodically (nothing a bucket for a day didn’t fix).
Rent checks have to be mailed & he doesn’t cash them on a consistent schedule. Although he never screwed me on this one, 2 other tenants told me he let them know after 3 months of «supposedly» late payments, that he didn’t get them on time. He then charged them 3 months’ worth of late fees, instead of letting them know immediately, so they could start sending them even earlier. This winds up being a «their words against his» situation, and there’s burden-​of-​proof issues for tenants.
During the move-​out walk-​through (which I insisted on being present at because I heard how he lied & assessed fees), I repeatedly voiced concerns about getting all my deposit back, but he seemed to try to ignore me. I stated the apartment was not cleaned prior to my move-​in & I was leaving it cleaner than when I got there, but he kept eluding me, avoiding eye-​contact and mumbled to me that all the apartments were cleaned before move-​ins. I told him, «Well this one was not, or they did a very bad job.» He ignored me and kept taking pictures of each room as we walked through the unit. I got the impression he was trying to avoid any interaction with me, in order to easily deny things to others or to his own conscience.
My pet deposit was NOT listed as non-​refundable, but he illegally claimed that $ 200 was non-​refundable (non-​refundable deposits must be stated explicitly as «non-​refundable» in lease verbiage). When brought to his attention, he changed his story and falsely claimed that my 7 lb chihuahua had done $ 200 carpet & wall damage. This winds up being a «his story against mine» situation, putting tenants in a difficult position. Do you take him to court, and how do you prove things? He seems to make everything difficult, so that tenants must take legal action to get your money back. He seems to count on tenants not having the time/​energy/​financial resources to do this. In my case, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare to deal with, since I’m volunteering overseas for at least a year.
I had the unit professionally de-flea’d and it was completely cleaned. I left the unit in better shape than when I moved in. He then double-​charged me $ 120, saying that HE had the apartment cleaned, even though it didn’t need it. So there was either unnecessary and redundant cleaning or he made up the charges. He didn’t produce a receipt for me & wouldn’t answer my questions or concerns sent in multiple emails.
In summary, I have never witnessed, heard of, nor been subject to such unethical and illegal behavior from a landlord. And while I liked the location and floor plan, and the other tenants were a joy to be neighbors with, I would never recommend anyone do business with this landlord.