Walnut Grove Apts

I lived in apt 41 for about 7 years.
Issues: roof leacking, mold and mildew in the bathroom.
When we first moved in the conditions inside the apartment were ok until it started raining. The ceiling in the two rooms started leaking. It took them 3 years to finally fix the leack. The lleacking caused damage to the roof and they never fixed it while we lived there. We also found out there were rats on the roof. The heating system never worked. On winter time our apt was always cold. Mold in the bathroom was visible all along the walls and the ceilling. The city of Novato did inspection in the whole complex but nobody ever came to fix the mold and mildew issues. Beware of these places, all they care about is charging high rent for apartments in in poor and unhealthy conditions.

On Friday July 20, 2012 I met up with friends who had made an appointment with Audrey of Walnut Grove Apts (the same management company for Redwood Landing which is where we were). We arrived at the appointment time only to not have her turn up, shortly after we arrived a family of three turned up early for their 4:30pm appointment and another couple showed up for an earlier appointment. At this point Audrey was late for at least two appointments. A call was made and we were told «She left for the day at 3pm.» and later in the conversation «She announced she was done for the day and departed with other office staff». It was unclear how many were left in the office — other than the receptionist (who may have been the answering service but she wouldn’t and didn’t indicate so). The girl on the phone tried to reach Audrey to find out what was going on but discovered that her emergency contact info [all that could be located] was incorrect.
So Audrey had made at least three appointments the previous day and then arbitrarily decided not to do her job, nor ensure another co-​worker would fill in for her. There was no attempt to contact the people coming to cancel, nor did there seem to be any interest by the receptionist or anyone else on staff to have someone come out and show the premises to the eight people waiting — despite being less than 5 minutes away via car.
Gladly I do not have to locate a place in Novato to live, unlike the others.
To me this is highly unprofessional behavior and others should be aware of their apparent contempt of potential renters {read revenue] prior to renting — which does not bode well for anyone renting from them.
I’d also like to mention that none of this companies places seem very well maintained [we noticed badly repaired balconies at Walnut Grove, and lack of basic maintenance and terrible paint jobs at the others] despite the high rental cost and the application of monthly pet rent (seriously. monthly on top of a higher than average pet deposit?!).
So my opinion — for what it it worth — is avoid this company like the plague. They are not serious, they are unprofessional, and possibly worse.
Fortunately where we went to dine was much better (but that’s a different review) so my impression of Novato is not all negative.

BEWARE!!!
sorry for long post but its necessary for apartment hunters to know whats up
OK so i lived in a one bedroom and am currently in a three bedroom.
i loved my one bedroom, hate my three bedroom:
PROS of 1 bed: awesome view of creek away from Lu Sutton school
decent storage in the apt.
it was really clean when we moved in no weird smells and such
upstairs from laundry (very convenient)
and also really close to pool area
and most of all my neighbors were very quiet
PROS of 3 bed:
you have a open kitchen with dining room with lino not carpet and that can fit a 6 person table very well
we have a front «yard» but the 2bed have a «yard» as well
walk in closet in Master bed
big storage under stairs
CONS of 1bed: only 1 parking spot sad thing is 2beds also get just one
when it was just me and my fiancé there noise was whatever but after our baby was born we really started to notice it was noisy in our particular area because of the laundry and pool area being so close but that was in our case
there are 2 sets of sliding glass doors in the dinning area and living room that made having a sectional a pain because you have limited space to rearrange furniture
small kitchen
old crappy appliances
the balcony is a death trap it has wood rot everywhere.
the steps to get to our place were also a death trap imagine being 8 months preggo and going up uneven wood stairs.
CONS for 3bed:
our 3 bed is close to the school and on the weekends they have games and stuff and they are loud but then again windows are thin as paper see bottom for explanation
our neighbors are noisy!
the «master» bath is a joke small dingy and has a long counter that would fit dual sinks but there is only one small «sink» lets not even talk about the second whole bathroom it is super cramped. i can barely sit well enough to give my daughter a bath since the «master» does not have a bathtub
for having decent square feet it does not have W/​D in the unit
that being said it has a pointless ½ bath downstairs that instead could have been a W/​D hookup
the yard is in the front of the unit which makes it very open to people walking by
I could go on and on about the negatives but my three biggest issues with this place is LAUNDRY 55 + apartments and only 8 washers and 8 dryers $ 1.75 a piece you can never get in to do laundry and they have open and close times so it forces you to take almost 1 whole day out of the weekend just for laundry because all you do is wait for a machine. In addition the machines are always broken down and are tiny and people take up all the machines for themselves (yes u heard right all 8 of them)
Now i would not mind paying for laundry but i pay all my utilities (pg&e, water, garbage, sewer!) I would rather pay higher water bill and have my own W/​D and on that note this is issue 2 no double pane windows, they are so thin that if people talk outside you think its in your apt! and shared meters so pg&e is astronomical $ 350 + and we do watch what we use we even called pg&e for tips.
issue 3 they don’t allow dogs now this is personal but sire enterprises owns Hamilton woods, hill valley and redwood grove and they allow dogs at they lower quality Apts but not redwood or walnut grove? besides everyone has a dog anyway so i am getting one too
all in all i was sleep deprived and cranky when i signed this lease because of our newborn otherwise i soooo would have left after our 1 bed lease now i have to wait til Nov. 2010 but it is so bad I am thinking of breaking my lease or subletting
PS the Apts are expensive 1200 + 1 bed, 1450 + 2bed, 1700 3 bed
On the management Jessica is sweet but shes doing her job selling these crappy apartments but the weekend guy is a nit wit that does not know what hes doing
maintenance guys are good
all the apartments i named above are on the same level as walnut grove
LOOK ELSEWHERE