Irving Schoolhouse Apartments

**Current Resident**
Have lived in Irving Schoolhouse Apartments since March/​2016 — I am sad to say there is very little good about this place. Upon move-​in, there were several maintenance items that were not «move-​in ready» that we had to address more than three times to get fixed after they had already shown up. We have had to submit numerous complaints about noise occurring all hours of the day and night; whether it be dogs constantly barking, children screaming and running down the halls, or blaring music throughout the entire complex. Supposedly there are strict rules about dogs being on leashes but there are many residents who do not follow this rule, only to create problems when I take our behaved dog out on a leash. Also along the lines of «strict» rules, smoking occurs daily which seeps into our apartment, leaving our furniture and carpet wreaking. On top of all that, we’ve received complaints of our own dog barking throughout the night at times when we’ve been home and guess what; our dog was definitely not barking, nor did we even hear barking at all. So guests submit random complaints just to get others in trouble. And if that wasn’t the worst of it — we’ve now just had property stolen from the front door. So beware owning door décor and/​or a doormat; I’d rather not live in a location with thieves. I would not recommend this apartment complex to an enemy of mine.

Apartment living has two features to be taken into consideration. Do you like the space (clean, safe, location) and how will you be treated. While I do like the space any and all positives are outweighed by the mngt team.
I was served a meritless eviction eviction notice. Once the Mngt team reviewed the evidence (because they had not done so before serving the notice) they submitted to the facts. I was proven correct.
Now they want me to pay their legal fees for serving that eviction notice. Which is totally nuts. They recklessly posted that notice without doing their due diligence and now want me to pay for their incompetence! Absolutely not. Go elsewhere people! There are plenty of great communities within Sugarhouse where you’ll be treated well.

Anyone living here is only doing so for the location. Excellent Sugarhouse location with plenty of restaurants, shopping, the library and a movie theater within walking distance. The girls in the front office are really nice — much of the bad is really out of their control.
After 2 ½ years, we had lots of bad:
— Move In Day
We’d just driven 12 hours from southern California and were so excited to set up our new home. We get the keys and run inside to find it a mess. Nails, screws and pieces of glass in the carpet. Before we signed the lease originally, we did a walk through with one of their people, who with us, noted about 6 things that needed to be taken care of, maintenance-​wise. None of them were. In addition, the place was flat-​out just dirty. Clearly had not been cleaned after the previous tenant moved out.
— They have a system where you can choose a color from their selection of 6 or 7, and they’ll paint an accent wall in your apartment for $ 50. The apartment we moved into had a red wall in the living room and a green wall in the bedroom. We just wanted white walls, but we would have had to pay $ 50 each to get them painted back to white! We ended up paying the money to have them repainted a color, but that is ridiculous! People expect white walls when they move in and shouldn’t have to live with a big red wall (we had vaulted ceilings, so the wall would be really tall!) in their living room.
— Nickle and dime for everything– EVERYTHING! I have never lived anywhere else where trash and water weren’t included in the rent. There was even talk at one point about charging us a portion of the property taxes. I think new tenants will now have to pay part of that.
— They walk you through a very fancy model apartment, but what you actually get is old crappy linoleum, chipped countertops and cheap finishes through out the apartment. The stone-​looking tiles around the fireplace? Upon closer inspection, you will see they are actually screen printed ceramic tiles, not stone. Whatever cheap shortcut Irving Schoolhouse could find, they took. Shoddy work by maintenance here too– we have seen them hot glue bathtub trim back in place. It just a podunk operation.
— The snow removal here in the winter time is completely unacceptable.
— Single paned windows — you will FREEZE in the winter or pay really high gas bills!
— Speaking of gas, our heat and water heater used the same gas, so if you wanted to take a warm shower, you had to turn off the heat for about 45 minutes prior to ensure that there would be enough hot water. UGH.
— Maintenance in general is terrble, especially the manager. He is dirty and will come in your house in his filthy work boots, tracking that crap on your carpet. Once we came home and he was in our apartment changing a light bulb in the bedroom. He was STANDING ON OUR BED in his dirty shoes! I’m guessing he would not have done that had we been home when he got there, but you should trust the maintenance people in your home when you’re not.
Just know when you move in here that you are 100% there for the location.

I have lived at Irving Schoolhouse for about 3 months now.
Pros
LOVE the location! Right across the street from Sugarhouse shopping area. Everything is within walking distance! The library, restaurants, shopping, Smith’s, several banks, sugarhouse park, etc. Love it!
Looks really nice inside and out. The inside looks nice. My apartment has vaulted ceilings and a fireplace. Great, open layout. It has 2 columns inside which add a kind of nice touch even if they are kind of randomly placed. The office area looks great, there is an awesome club room, conference room, basketball and racquet ball court, pool, sauna, computer and printer you can use for free.
Office hours are good. Love that they have Saturday hours since I work during the week.
Plenty of parking.
Cons
Even though things look nice they are really cheap. Cheap, rough carpet, fake wood flooring in the kitchen that scuffs and tears easily, cheap faucets, cheap linoleum in the bathroom. There are a lot of drafts from windows and door, the windows are probably single paned. And the heating isn’t very good, the apartment feels cold and drafty (partially probably because of those gorgeous vaulted ceilings). We will see how the AC is in the summer.
They nickel and dime you for everything. Everytime I turn around I am being charged for something else. $ 25 fee everytime you want to use a debit card or credit card, they don’t accept cash, so check is only option. They say they take care of water and sewer and trash, well that means they pay the company but send you a bill with a $ 25 service charge on top of it. All kinds of fees to even move in and start a contract there.
Maintenance doesn’t respond in a timely manner unless it’s something that might damage the apartment (like a water leak). Other stuff we asked for they didn’t come for a month, until we called and complained then they came the next day (which I guess I give them a point for, when we reminded them they were there). Their snow removal is really bad. It snowed a few days ago and they still haven’t plowed the parking lot its getting pretty bad. Shoveling the walks happens throughout the day after people have already walked on it and made a mess.
It’s pretty expensive, you are mostly paying for the location (which is awesome!) so sometimes its pretty disappointing that it isn’t higher quality and better maintenance.
They seem pretty OCD about keeping the appearance up and rules, which they kind of have to do since it’s such a large complex. The contract was like 60 pages. I am kind of worried when I move out that they will charge me for anything that is not left in perfect condition, although when I moved in they had obviously covered up a lot of things, there was paint overspray everywhere, etc.
Small space for the price. I knew this going in though. I moved there for location.
Overall, I like living there, but when my contract is up I will probably move somewhere just because I really don’t like that I pay so much, and then on top of that they keep charging me all these other fees, that they don’t warn you about. You except great things when you pay a lot and this place isn’t great, its just okay.
*Update* I downgraded them to one star.
Moving out of here was a nightmare. So Irving Schoolhouse touts themselves as being sophisticated and classy. But the thing that all classy places have is great customer service and this place does not have that. Everything has to be documented, if it isn’t they won’t negotiate. They charge you for every little thing that is wrong in the apartment when you move out.
Just to recap my biggest issues. The building I live in for some reason when the wind blows the pilot light on the water heater blows out. Lived there for 8 months and took a lot of cold showers and management never fixed it.
Tons of fees that they don’t tell you about ahead of time.
Terrible customer service
Poor quality everything. Looks nice but it’s really very cheap. Which means it gets damaged easier and then they charge you for it.
New housing is going up all around this area. Just across the street are the brand new Sugarhouse Apartments. From talking with my neighbors that live there, the price is comparable. But its all new, management is great, high quality, and all units have washer and dryer. So my suggestion is don’t even consider Irving Schoolhouse, go across the street. The main benefit is the location and now there is a better complex there.

As a resident, these apartments have their pluses and minuses. However, before renting, be aware the basic utilities (water, sewage and trash) will cost around $ 40 per month for one of the smaller apartments with 2 occupants. This will go up as water needs during the summer increase The owners recently changed utilities management and the price has gone up about 60%.