The Livingston — Hotel in Lutz

I’ll take this down when The Livingston deserves it. I’ve been living here since August 2024, and while I try to grit my teeth and enjoy my first taste of adulthood, overall it has been a pretty miserable experience.

The very first issue was applying for the unit. I spoke with Joey, Bianca, and Griselle who all confirmed my unit and rate. Less than two weeks before my move-in, they told me that there was “an issue on the website” and the unit I applied for wasn’t available. I was forced to apply to a different unit, and while they did waive the application fees the second time, I was backed into a corner of paying more than $100 more due to en error on their part.

The second was the staff’s complete lack of accountability in providing me with a parking decal. Per my lease and Livingston staff, I was required to provide a copy of my registration OR insurance. I provided my insurance, and they did not give me one, even after I sent them a screenshot of their own message to me, because they claimed I needed both.

The third issue was after the hurricane. There was debris and flooding in the parking lot for weeks after the hurricane and I parked in a covered area to stay away from debris or literal falling power lines. Before any of the debris or flooding was cleaned up or addressed by staff, they resumed regular towing checks. During this time, my car was towed and was ultimately charged $743 for THEIR OWN MISTAKE. I was only finally given a parking decal after I took the receipt angrily to the front office and demanded one (which I don’t know why I didn’t get one. I watched Bianca pull one decal from a stack on her desk, and type in the number to associate this decal with my account. A very simple process.) I contacted Griselle multiple times over the course of months, and even called Bryten directly. Bryten did not address this issue with any seriousness, instead they told Griselle about my complaint and she called me to make excuses for herself and attempt to dismiss the issue. An issue caused 10000% by her and her staff’s gross neglect.

Maintence is another huge problem here. They are all highly inexperienced, and honestly just here to have fun. Our washing machine was broken upon move-in. After documenting and requesting replacement from August-May, we finally received one. Despite this, the staff was very unforthcoming when it came to this issue, saying that we needed documentation… which we provided continually.

About 3-4 weeks ago, I put in work orders to have my bathtub refinished, bathroom sink caulked, and various other items. Hubert put fresh caulk over old caulk and mold. So now I have to scrape it all out and redo it myself… Yay!! I was given a sheet to request a date and time to have someone come and refinish the tub. I chose [date] at noon. The person showed up on [date] FOUR hours early, just past 8am. This wasn’t even the worst part. He, a THIRD-PARTY CONTRACTOR, was given a key to my unit and even attempted to open my front door when I did not answer it immediately. I asked him to come back at the time he was scheduled, and he told me he “has other jobs to get to and couldn’t come back today”, as if there was not a predetermined appointment… I was told that the Livingston would reach out to me to reschedule since, again, this was an issue caused by the neglect and incompetence of their staff. No such thing has happened.

BIGGEST ISSUE: SAFETY! Or lack thereof… It is really beyond me that the Livingston sees no issue with this. A third-party contractor was given a key to my unit. Came to my unit, UNSUPERVISED, FOUR HOURS BEFORE THE SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT, and ATTEMPTED TO ENTER MY UNIT. What if I was already at work? And the worst part is, that is the fourth time someone has tried to or has entered my unit without any warning, notice, or permission. On 4/30 someone entered my unit while I was literally IN THE SHOWER, and left a hurricane notice on my countertop. I contacted Griselle about this immediately, and received little more than “I’m sorry to hear...

Avoid at all costs.

I lived at The Livingston from November 2018 through May 2025, over five years, and I cannot recommend this complex to anyone. It’s a filthy, mismanaged property with serious health and safety issues and an office staff that refuses to communicate.

My first unit ($900/month, 1 bed) was infested with German cockroaches that nested in my electronics. The office blamed a neighbor’s hoarding and stalled for over six months. I had to stay with friends due to the severity of the infestation. I wasn’t allowed to break my lease because it was “being handled.” Eventually, I was moved to another unit in January 2020 with a promise of no bugs. During the 2021 renewal, at the height of COVID, my rent was raised to $1,400, nearly double.

Other “amenities” included neighbors leaving trash out so long that it leaked oil, causing me and another resident to fall down the stairs. I was just six months out from ACL and meniscus surgery. The office refused to provide an incident report, so I paid for physical therapy myself.

The dumpster often overflowed, spreading rotting food, diapers, and open sharps containers.

When my AC broke in the summer, the office ignored my maintenance request. I came home to a 91-degree apartment and had to call the emergency hotline. It wasn’t fixed until 11 PM.

The final straw was December 2024, when I lost electricity. Maintenance and emergency requests were ignored. When I went to the office in person, they said it was a TECO issue. TECO confirmed it was not. The building’s ancient system was failing. I had 20-minute bursts of power before it cut out again. A single light would trip the breaker. The office still insisted I “had power” and stopped communicating any sort of timeline for repair.

I only found out about the repairs because a neighbor saw people working on the unit, and he asked the electricians to speak to me. They told me my system was dangerously outdated and a part would take weeks to find online. I was never notified of any timeline or repair plan. By chance, I was home when the part was finally installed, but no one from the office ever told me when they would be there.

I spent Christmas in the dark, lost all my food, and had to relocate my work setup. For two weeks, I had unreliable or no electricity. The Livingston gave me a $200 rent credit, about $14 a day, because I technically “had power.”

Soon after, I came home one night to half a dozen police cars and a helicopter circling. Officers knocked on my door asking if I heard gunshots or if I was hiding anyone. They searched the building and continued questioning residents until nearly 1 AM. When asked, management said nothing happened.

When I gave notice in March via email, I received no reply—even after follow-ups. I had to go in person to get confirmation.

Other issues you can expect: • Car break-ins • Mail/package theft (any package left at your door will be stolen) • Frequent water shut-offs • A perpetually closed pool—when open, there were no accessible restrooms (summer 2023 & 2024), so people urinated in the pool or nearby bushes

The landscaping is nice, and the maintenance staff is kind, but clearly overwhelmed and stuck patching broken systems. Trash sits out for days, drawing animals and roaches.

Residents were regularly encouraged to leave five-star reviews in exchange for giveaways. It’s hard not to question how many reviews were genuine vs. incentivized.

This property isn’t just unpleasant: it’s dangerous. If you use oxygen, insulin, breastfeed, or simply rely on power for daily life, what are you supposed to do when the office doesn’t respond? Without email responses, in-person conversations leave no record. Due to Tampa’s housing market, rising rents, and moving costs, I stayed longer than I should have. Don’t make the same mistake.

The conditions are disgraceful. Management is negligent. The disregard for resident safety is shameful. Don’t do this to yourself or your family.

Reply to complex: These are ONGOING issues. This wasn't a...

So i just finished my first month here on a 14-month lease and let me just start by saying that this place will suck every penny you have right out of all your funds! They charge for EVERY TINY THING! I have been pleasantly surprised the they don't charge for the air you breathe in your apartment to be honest. They are very unclear about a lot of their policies and the staff are far and apart from ever being on the same page about things. I rarely go into the office but when I do its always because of a misunderstanding. The staff always get quickly defensive and tell me that they don't know anything about what i am talking about and rub it off as someone elses responsibility to solve my issues or address my concerns.

Also, although the apartment is nice, the people living as neighbors can be rude and gross and the community is garbage. People here park all over the place and disregard parking lines altogether like it is some kind of god-forsaken junk autobody shop (and yes I almost mean that literally). The other night the entire stair-case reeked of weed and cigarettes and peoples dogs bark all night.

If you think airlines are a bunch of cheap skate, money scamming, penny-hoarders than this place will make any airline seem innocent. This place pinches for every tiny penny that you own. They charge a $26 "service fee" just to pay your rent with a debit card and a 3% fee to use a credit card! You pay $22 a month for garbage pick up regardless of whether you actually use it and rake in tons of extra fees upon move in. (Be prepared to have a fee on move in day for $100🤣).

I have had a lizard living in my apartment for a month now, half the outlets don't work and the porch looks more like a Canadian bear trap than a comforting outdoor oasis due to the fact that there are nails, splinters and about a dozen other sharp and hazardous artifacts!

All I can say is that if you, for whatever personal reasons you choose, move in here than be aware that all the above is only my first month here and this is my experience. By month 12 of 14 I might be a penniless tenant who has to park three blocks from my apartment (and yes I have had to do that) living out my days sitting in my furnishingless living room with lung cancer from smelling my neigbors weed come through the vents. Or i might just be dead because I fell off my porch cause the handrail rotted...either way things look pretty grim from here on out. Good luck!

UPDATE! 12/26/2018 @ 1:31PM EST

So the "extremely concerned" management at the livingston read this review and in a poor attempt to save their ego and what is left of their pitiful reputation, came and fixed my porch. However, in the process proved they are incapable of being good at resident care. Melissa (the property manager) and Sandra (experience manager) both ensured me my experience would be better and would do whatever it takes to see that happen. After a contracted crew came in and fixed my porch while I was on christmas vacation for a week, Melissa and Sandra visited my apartment and left all my lights on. I called and told them of their mistake and Melissa said she visited my apartment and the lights might of only been left in for a day. Although, she did not admit to anything until after accusing me of lying about the lights being left on.

On another note. Today I found a well written note by the mail boxes by another resident. (The picture of it is attatched). This letter so accurately describes life at the livingston. They are able to make us well aware about pizza and yoga and movie night but when it concerns water being shut off like today they send one email 15 minutes prior and expect everyone to know. Lately we have had 3 break ins and they never made anyone aware until days later and told us it is all on the residents to keep our apartments safe because they cannot do anything....