Lamberts Mill Village — Attraction in Scotch Plains

Do NOT rent here, or from ANY other Garden Homes Communities properties. These people are, BAR NONE the worst management company I have EVER dealt with. Highlights from the near eight years I have lived here: Heat would go out regularly if it got too windy during the winter. I was told this was normal. I would wake up and it would be below 50 degrees sometimes in my apartment in December and January before someone would come out to fix the heat. Earlier this year, they FINALLY replaced my furnace. Never had a problem with the heat again ONCE for the rest of the winter. Amazing. They neglected to tell me that when they changed the furnace, it discharged all of the freon coolant from the compressor for the air conditioning unit. So, here it is, April 18th, 2015, 8:36pm at night and it is 81 degrees in my apartment because the air conditioning is not working, and they are telling me that they cannot get anyone out here for a few days. Funny, if I look online, there are plenty of places that have 24/7 emergency service, but for $1400 a month +, and a long time resident, they cannot get anyone here for several days. Other highlights: Lamberts Mill Village is right on top of the cargo train tracks. Do not let anyone tell you that you won't hear the train. You will. I promise you. You will hear the train, and you will FEEL the train. Yes, it runs at night as well. Invest in a DVR because you will have to pause live TV anytime the train passes by because the train will drown out your TV. Don't worry about the no pets policy. No one else seems to observe it. I have seen countless residents with dogs walking them around freely, not a care in the world about getting caught. It is in your lease that pets are not allowed. They're clearly very strict on enforcing the rules equally, across the board. Count on your rent going up at least $50 every year, without fail, no matter what the circumstances or the conditions of the economy. If you are so much as a day past the grace period on your rent, you will be charged a late fee. Funny how they can take days and weeks to complete maintenance requests, but they will penalize YOU like clock work if you don't get your rent in on time. The pool....ah, the lovely pool. It is open for maybe two months out of the entire year. Maybe. Even during the hottest days of the summer, it is frequently closed because they either don't have a lifeguard on duty (Why? Because they're cheap.), or because it is being treated...again. That water is "supposedly" treated so frequently you should be able to drink it. I could go on, but hopefully, you get the picture by now. DO NOT RENT FROM GARDEN HOMES COMMUNITIES, and ESPECIALLY LAMBERTS MILL VILLAGE. The staff, the management, the maintenance people....completely incompetent and...

I have lived in Lamberts Mill Village for 6 years now. We actually moved within the complex when our growing family got too big for the unit we were in (after looking for alternate rentals in the area and realizing just how great we have it here!). The community is great. Quiet, and friendly neighbors. A great neighborhood for children. The units are clean, bright and well maintained. Central air with our own thermostat is wonderful. So is having a dish washer and full size washer and dryer in our unit.

Valerie, in the rental office, is always friendly and helpful. Maintenance has always handled emergencies quickly. Recently I even locked myself out of the house at 7:30am and Jose (the super) rushed back from another property to let me in within minutes of me calling him. They have always handled everything we ever asked them to do within a reasonable time frame. I've called the billing office a few times and they've always been helpful, although I wouldn't say the friendliest. Pets are not allowed in the community, however one of our neighbors has a dog who is a registered service animal. I have never heard the dog bark, nor had any issues at all with the animal. Actually, I like seeing them out walking him.

We have a pool which is a great bonus! We can walk to it and not have to spend money to buy a membership to a local pool which we would rarely use. The kids love it and we used it before we had kids too. I only wish it opened near Memorial Day and not the end of June. There is a playground and tennis court on the premise too, but they are not in good shape.

One downside to the neighborhood as a whole is the train. I have always lived in the front of the community where the train is harder to hear. Where I live now I do not hear it at all (first building on the right). However, I can imagine the units in the back, right near the train track would be extremely loud.

Our experience here at Lambert's Mill Village has been...

Please consider every other option before choosing to rent at Lamberts Mill Village and stay far, far away. I lived here for a short period and learned that Management and maintenance staff are unreliable, sometimes incompetent and often unprofessional. Work orders, no matter the severity, take way too long to complete and staff acts inconvenienced despite the amount of rent tenants are paying. E-mails go completely unanswered. Expect a string of excuses rather than accountability. There seems to be zero control over other tenants using traffic cones, lawn chairs, etc to block off favorable parking spaces despite there being no assigned parking. Not only does this inconvenience the rest of the residents, it makes the property look like a trailer park. While there are some updated apartments, older units are nowhere near up to the standards of the rent they charge. I saw another review here stating they are quick to charge late fees on rent. I did not have experience with this but it would not surprise me. LMV/Garden communities seem far more concerned with saving/making a dollar than taking care of their tenants needs. I could list dozens of other issues but you get the picture. There are so many other rental options in the area. Be wise and choose...