Cullen Oaks — Attraction in Houston

Location: I feel completely ripped off for what I’m paying for here. The only reason an apartment like this could remotely be this high priced is the bus that runs by it. However, the two buses that do run by it go across a train track, so sometimes the two buses will literally follow each other so one picks up students while the next one waits for the first to leave the stop. I can walk to campus about the same time or faster than the bus that runs by this place. It’s ‘on-campus’ but it’s honestly on the literal edge of campus.

Overall shape of apmt: The rooms are small for what you’re paying for, the kitchen and all of its appliances are completely outdated (the refrigerator is rusting it’s paint off, the ice maker makes the ice yellow?, the oven was filthy until I cleaned it myself, not to mention the only plug in the kitchen that worked was the one right next to the sink so that’s safe, and once I left out a pair of brand new chopsticks I had just unwrapped and between the night before and my classes so about 11pm to 4pm the chopsticks had large amounts of mold growing on them). The bathroom is painted over so messily, the ac was leaking above my toilet for quite a while so going to the restroom and getting coolant all over myself was cool. I know this isn’t always the case, but I ended up getting a view of the parking lot blocked by some trees so that’s a big part I’m paying for nothing. The cheapest option they had was a 4 bed 2 bath. The kitchen/living room spaces smelt disgusting from day 1 and even my 3 wall flowers and aerosol disperser can not mask the smell. The smell is so bad my girlfriend can’t even breathe in the kitchen without having to feel the need to puke. The walls are so thin I can hear everyone in the next room over. The desk I had in my room had the keyboard roller broken off, the chair doesn’t fit under the desk so that’s more space taken away from your already small apartment, not to mention the walkway to my closet. Oh and power outages or hot water outages are a monthly occurance. Overall everything in this apartment is cheap and old, and definitely NOT worth the money you are paying.

Staff: The management has had me under the wrong room the entire year, and right when I realized this and wanted to move in the room they had me under (because i liked it better than mine) it was filled. So now the person in the room I wanted us under my room and I’m under his in their books. Every time I get a package from the front (which is pretty frequent) I tell them to fix it and they said they will, but here we are and still not fixed. This isn’t really a huge issue other than the part where they moved someone into the room I wanted I just figured this was something worth noting.

Security: A few cars were robbed in the garage along with some cars that were also robbed in the parking lot across the street totalling up to about 44 cars broken into. The street you walk down from UH to Cullen Oaks has actually been the scene of a few robberies this year (intersection of Cullen and Wheeler). There was also an occurance where someone was on the top floor of the garage at Cullen Oaks and four armed men robbed him and took his car. Not all of this Cullen Oaks is responsible for of course but it’s worth noting that at night when the bus that runs between UH and Cullen Oaks stops at 7pm and your class ends after that you will be walking down that street and through that intersection.

Pricing: The pricing is honestly outrageous. They make you buy a LOT E permit which is about $300 which is also completely useless considering it is the lot that is 1. Unsafe and 2. Right across the street and farther away from your apartment in any situation. For the amount I pay here a month I can rent a condo at SkyHouse in Downtown Houston that is more or less 10 minutes away from campus depending on traffic.

Do not live here. There is cheaper and nicer living less than a quarter of a mile away from this place that also has its own buses. I would keep going but I’ve exceeded the character...

Do not sign here. It may seem like its worth it, it is not! Sign at one of the newer apartments near campus. Cullen oaks is very out dated the amenities are bare minimal. When I was living there (Fall 2023-Spring2024 - Four Bed). Here is my list....

The washing machine never worked and always over washed and the dryers were broken FOR THE WHOLE TIME. Not to mention how they would leak, every time.

The parking situation is insane. Paying $500 for a worn down, borderline scary garage. In the beginning of Fall you could not park anywhere else on campus ONLY at Cullen, they changed this a couple weeks into the Fall school year, BE WARNED in case they do this again.

There is a security guard, which is nice in general. However they aren't there 24/7. One time I lost my wallet in the garage and I needed to know if anyone reported it to security. The security was NOT there for an hour, instead I saw them watching an event in the event room that night. I had to wait until the next morning to ask the front office and the other guard.

At the garage there is an emergency pole, which allows someone to call 911 in a press of a button. This was broken for the whole time of spring semester, so if anyone needed help after 11pm when the security is gone (I think), they could not press that button for a quick call. Which is very unsafe. This is only for the garage at Cullen Oaks, I don't know what else there is in the parking lot section.

The hallway ALWAYS smelt, it was something every day sometimes I was to the point of throwing up. Even after they "cleaned" the carpet. From the moment I moved in (August) to the day I moved out (April), there was always a smell in the hallways. The smell I cannot explain besides it being a bad odder, maybe a mix of everything?

The beds are on the lower / cheap end and are uncomfortable and LOUD they squeak everything you move. I was told by my roommate that this kept him up sometimes. When I moved in there was and still is a iron stain on the floor, like someone dropped it and it burnt the ground. My door also didn't reach the top of the door frame. There is a gap and I could always hear what was going on outside because of this.

The kitchen never was somewhere our guest wanted to be. The stools were uneven and always tilted. The oven never stood still, it moved when you barely touched it, like it was uneven. The fridge had rust on the side of it, where everyone could see. Not to mention the size of it could NEVER fit enough for four people to live in.

My roommates on the other side had it worse, if you could believe. I saw that someone also reviewed and mention that their AC unit kept leaking and pouring water down on their sink, on their end it did the same thing. We tried to call maintenance to fix it and they never did. When i moved out it (a couple days ago) was still leaking. Their toilet also never flushed and maintenance also came and never fixed it. They had to pour water into the back of the toilet to make it flush. Which became an hassle. To this day it is still not fixed as well.

Simply save your time and go to one of the newer apartments or Cambridge Oaks. It was honestly embarrassing to live here and I'm so glad to be gone. SAVE YOUR...

Horrible experience living here. I truly regret continuing my lease with them because they have been nothing but awful for the last three months. I switched units in May for the summer term, and was constantly told by the maintenance team that would randomly walk in unannounced that I wasn’t supposed to live there anymore. Even after informing the front office multiple times, they never resolved the issue, and it only stopped after I switched units. Then, my new unit had no AC for a full week straight. I would call the front office and file a request for maintenance every day of that whole week, and they would always tell me that they went and fixed it, and i would still come home to an 85 degree apartment. I literally caught them in a lie when i got a manager on the phone and he told me that maintenance would be there soon, and when I called an hour later they told me maintenance had checked the apartment and it seemed fine, even though I was home all day and no one came by. The issue wasn’t resolved until the general manager finally found out a whole week later. They also like to randomly deactivate people’s cards and deny them access to the apartment complex, so I had to get that fixed for the third time this summer. The first time it happened, I was waiting for an hour at 12 am in the parking lot after calling the RA repeatedly asking them to let me in. The RA picked up the phone and told me to wait 5 minutes, but never came to let me in, and I finally got in a full hour later by asking my neighbour to come out to open the doors for me. I got a call about a week ago from the front office reminding me to complete my move out forms, and I let them know that they were mistaken and there was no way I was scheduled to move out. The desk assistant put me on hold and spoke to the manager, and told me not to worry about it because they called by mistake. For the last two days, I have had people come into my apartment unannounced, wake me up, and tell me that I wasn’t supposed to be living there anymore. For $1300 a month, I expect to have a reasonable amount of privacy and not have a man come into my bedroom at literally 7:30 am on the weekend. I went in office today to speak to a manager and let him know to fix the problem. I get a call not less than two hours later telling me that I need to complete my move in paperwork to be allowed to move in later this week. When I switched units in May, they tried to charge $120 for cleaning fees and wall damages. Thankfully, i took pictures when I moved in and out, and used them to dispute the charges, so they were later dropped. The administration has serious communication problems and disorganisation. They will randomly turn off the water and power, and wait until it’s back on to make a instagram post and say sorry. The front desk is useless because they can’t answer a single question without putting me on hold for fifteen minutes to ask a manager. The maintenance team has a habit of coming in unannounced and barging in, even if I ask them to wait a second. Dont make the mistake I made of signing with them, choose another...