Lake Villa Apartments

After 3 years of never paying late and a mostly good experience, I unfortunately have to give this place a one star review after my experience near the end of my last lease renewal. I expected to renew my lease as per usual in fall of 2024, around that time I received a letter on my door stating that my lease will not be renewed and that I had 60 days to vacate. Perplexed, I emailed and inquired with the office and they stated that there was nothing they can do and that I still needed to vacate and that this came from the “corporate office” . No reasoning whatsoever. I even offered to pay whatever the increase would be.
I came to the conclusion that the unit needed to be remodeled (like many of the other units in the complex have been) and they needed it empty to do so, ultimately being able to charge whatever hike they deemed appropriate. After some digging, I found out that lake villa has no corporate office. It is all owned by one singular senior man who is apparently very unhinged and abuses his own staff (I heard this from someone who works in the leasing office).He is the one who makes decisions to renew or not renew and sets the rental increases. This is legal of course, however it would have been more noble to state that the unit needed to be remodeled or at the very least allow me to apply to a different unit rather than not renew and blame “corporate”.
The positives during my time though - maintenance is thorough for the grounds and the units (although they do come into your unit without notice often). I did feel safe for being a woman living on her own. And the community is pet friendly (despite poop bag stations never being refilled). Not a positive - but my bathroom ceiling also had mold that I constantly had to spray with bleach. I informed maintenance and they did nothing besides come one time and also sprayed the mold. Goodluck to future renters!

I've been living at Lake Villa Apartments for some time now, and I couldn't be happier with my choice! The location in Hallandale is perfect—close to everything I need, from shopping centers to the beach. The complex itself is well-maintained, with beautiful landscaping and clean common areas. The apartments are spacious, and comfortable, with all the amenities you could ask for. What really sets Lakee Villa apart is the sense of community and the helpfulness of the management team. They are always responsive to any concerns and go above and beyond to make sure the residents are happy. The neighbors are friendly, and it truly feels like home.
If you're looking for a great place to live in Hallandale, I highly recommend Lave Villa Apartments!

I love it and recommend.

I lived here for the last 6+ years. Giving two stars instead of one because it’s quiet, I mostly felt safe as a solo woman there, and the maintenance staff is generally nice. When I moved in, I would have given 4 stars for Jennifer and Maria. However, they left and management changed in the past few years. There were way too many problems to type them all here, but I’ll list some below.
(Tl;dr: current management is incompetent, rude, and breaks the law.)
Some of my issues from just my last year there:
-The gym and pool were closed for months due to maintenance. But obviously they didn’t discount our rent. I was paying for amenities I couldn’t use.
-The laundry situation is very bad. There are 2-4 machines shared per building, and every load is $3.20. People were constantly moving my clothes before the cycle was done, and machines are always breaking.
-Pest control and maintenance staff repeatedly entered my unit with no prior notice (this is illegal). Sometimes they did give notice but many times they did not. One occurrence happened in the middle of a weekday when I was working inside the apartment. A man unlocked my door without knocking, walked into my unit, and insisted on changing the thermostat. After he left, my AC unit did not work. I had to call the office and wait another 2 business days for them to come fix my AC that the unsolicited maintenance man broke.
-Some pipe broke in the wall and I had nasty water stains (mold) all over my ceiling and wall. I had to ask them 4x to look at it. They did nothing. I’m sure they just painted over it when I left.
-We were given notice that a termite treatment of all units was going to happen on a specific weekday, and we should vacate our units on that day. I was able to find another place to work for the day as well as take my cat out of the apartment. I came back after 5 pm to find out they had accidentally given us the wrong date, and the whole process repeated a few days later. Things like this happen constantly at Lake Villa—communication is dreadful.
-Someone at the office named Lydia was particularly rude, unhelpful, and condescending every time I called or emailed about these things.
-In every prior year when my lease was about to expire, they would tell me what the new rent would be 3 months ahead of time and give me the option to renew or not. It was usually a small ($50) increase in the rent and I agreed. Under the new management, even though I asked many times, they REFUSED to tell me how much my rent was increasing until I re-applied for my own apartment, did a new credit check, provided recent paystubs, and signed a new lease. I did all of this and pleaded in writing for my new rent price (how are you supposed to know if you can afford rent if they won’t tell you the price??). They finally told me 10 days prior to my new lease term that they were increasing it by $250. It is illegal in Broward County to raise the rent that much with less than 15 days’ notice and I informed them of this, with a copy of the law stating this. They did not care. I was trapped for another year paying much more than I had budgeted for.
-They require a 90 day notice to move out if you do not want to pay thousands of dollars in fees to break your lease. I obeyed and gave them a 90-day written notice of my intent to vacate. “They” (someone who did not put their name on their emails) confirmed it immediately and wished me well. The following month, Lydia called to tell me she would be inspecting my unit before I renew my lease. I told her I already informed them I was not renewing. A few weeks later, maintenance came by without notice to change out some lights. I called the office to complain about them coming in with no notice, and they said “we’re doing it because you’re renewing your lease.” I told them AGAIN, I am moving out. Yes, I had to tell them THREE TIMES that I was moving out. Apparently nobody writes anything down in that office.
-They are apparently forcing people now to pay rent on an app, with an added fee!!!
Good luck to anyone else who has to live here.

A very quiet place to live

This is a great place to live

This place is horrible, good credit, my family earns more than what they ask for and they did not disqualify our clean payment record for no reason. I don't understand what they want, they spend their time going, I don't recommend it, horrible place.