Circa Fitzsimons Apartments — Attraction in Denver

Misleading Lease Terms, Unethical Charges, and a Lack of Security

My experience at Circa Fitzsimons Apartments was marked by an initial breach in security and followed by misleading lease terms and unexpected charges that I believe prospective tenants should be aware of.

Move-In Issues: After securing my unit and submitting a large security deposit, I visited the apartment to measure for furniture. To my shock, the front door was unlocked, and the unit was in complete disarray — garbage, drug paraphernalia, and filth everywhere. It became evident that a squatter had been living in the unit. This delayed my move-in, during which time the carpets had to be replaced due to damage caused by the squatter. Management offered to install hardwood floors as an “upgrade,” which I agreed to, only to later discover that this “upgrade” came with a rent increase — a detail not disclosed upfront despite the circumstances. (See attached photos.)

Lease Termination and Unethical Charges: After five months, unforeseen circumstances led me to terminate my lease early. I explicitly asked for a breakdown of all fees and charges I would be responsible for in order to settle my account and vacate. I was told that paying a two-month lease break fee would “release me from all remaining lease obligations.” Based on that information, I paid the two-month break fee and vacated the apartment.

Weeks after moving out, I received a final statement with over $2,000 in additional charges, including:

$1,620.81 for a concession chargeback that was never disclosed when I asked for a comprehensive breakdown of charges. The lease itself contains conflicting language regarding concession repayment. The Term Sheet states that a tenant “may” be required to pay a portion of the concession if the lease is terminated early, indicating discretion. Yet, the property management enforced it as mandatory despite the lack of disclosure. Additionally, my concession was a one-time, upfront amount — not recurring — making the chargeback even more questionable. (See attached screenshots for specific lease language.)

$65 for carpet cleaning in a unit with hardwood floors. I was able to get this and only this charge reversed

$150 for repainting, despite only residing in the unit for five months.

Despite providing documentation of the conflicting lease language and being explicitly told that I was released from further obligations upon paying the break fee, management refused to remove these charges. Post move-out, I received approximately $1,800 of my over $4,000 security deposit — and that is excluding the two-month lease break fee I paid in advance to settle my account.

I will be pursuing the remaining deposit through small claims court to prevent this from happening to future tenants and to encourage clearer and more transparent lease agreements. If you’re considering renting here, be cautious of ambiguous lease terms and insist on receiving all charges in writing before making any payments...

I’ll start off with looks could be deceiving. We moved to this apartment complex with the thoughts of it being a good community being the fact that it’s a new build. But I was completely wrong. The day we signed our lease and picked up the keys, walking down the hallway to view our new apartment and Guess what cockroaches expelling from the elevator room. I reached out to the apartment maintenance and yet nothing has been done till this day. I still find multiple cockroaches here and there leaving the trash rooms, the elevator rooms and the first and second floor hallways.. I put an emergency request in two months ago about water being cold in the apartment still, nothing has been done. Our sink fell apart in the kitchen that ended up Damaging our dishes. Once again, still, nothing has been done. they have a package room which has been broken into already packages. Do come up missing they have a doggy potty area. that is not maintained residence. Usually don’t have the decency to pick up after their dogs and maintenance are grounding keeping’s Tend to him that that doesn’t follow their job title. Someone’s apartment has been broken into, One lady was robbed gunpoint in the parking lot, Another ladies car was broken into a week later and now it seems like the problems are to Occur more often. The good thing about the apartment is we have a community chat Where residence can communicate about problems within the community, things for sale etc. This community chat, exposes everything and can be confirmed. The ladies in the office are very narcissistic, sarcastic disrespectful yesterday in the office I was called incompetent by the manager Haylee … i’m sure she was having a bad day and took that frustration out on someone innocently trying to figure out why maintenance was in my home without my permission or without written notice . I believe this community only has three maintenance people and I met them yesterday. That was the first time I seen maintenance in the four months that I’ve lived here. Only certain buildings have trash rooms. I live in building two with a trash room is kept horribly outside of the trash room is horrible. Dirt everywhere food everywhere disgusting down the hallways, and as you can see with the attachments how well they maintain...

TLDR: Their application process is absolutely horrendous. They wasted over two weeks of my time just to charge me non refundable fees and give my apartment away. If you’re looking for someone to rob you and waste your precious time give this place a try.

Their applications go through Equity Apartments which has several locations throughout Metro Denver. Their other property reviews are equally atrocious.

I was looking to move here for a shorter commute to work. The application fee was $50 (nonrefundable) and the other “holding fee” of $250 doesn’t actually hold anything. By the time they APPROVED my application, they gave the unit I wanted away and tried to send me to their other properties which were further from my office.

Overall, it took them over 2 weeks to give the unit I wanted away because (1) They don’t accept offer letters - even though I called to confirm before applying. (2) They required constant follow up from me for updates on the application status and never once indicated that my apartment would be leased to someone else. (3) They don’t take any initiative to reach out to external parties (if they require that) which in this case, they needed to contact my employer’s HR department to re-confirm proof of income outside of the offer letter. My employer was very responsive during business hours and by the time the application processed through Equity Apartments, the leasing office leased my unit to someone else.

Ultimately, this was the most frustrating process I’ve ever experienced and of course, not a single person takes any accountability for wasting time. During this process, I moved out of my other apartment and was forced to rent a storage unit because it took them two weeks to tell me they gave the unit to someone else.

I honestly don’t care if they respond to this review because they will not get the chance to earn my...