Harlow River Oaks — Local services in Houston

Most awful rental application process I’ve ever experienced. Took two weeks to for them to reject my application and be rude to me in person. I scheduled a tour 8/29 at 1pm but received an email at 12pm the same day thanking me for coming in for a tour when I hadn’t toured yet. I called the office and Eve told me that the leasing agent Jay just left for lunch and wouldn’t be back until 1:30pm so I had to adjust my schedule for him. I arrived at 1:30pm and informed Jay about my appointment time at 1pm to which he denied but then checked and realized that he just misremembered. His response was “Haha I’m glad you came now because I wouldn’t have been here at 1pm.” The tour of the actual apartment was fine and I decided to apply the nextmorning8/30. I informed Jay that I had an offer letter and prior rent history and during the tour and he said that would be fine for employment and rental verification. After applying Jay did not accept my offer letter as employment verification and wanted to contact my employer to fill out a verification form. I gave him an email to hr and also informed him of my prior rental history and then he did not respond to any of my emails until the next week Wed 9/7. For that week I called the office several times daily to try to get a hold of Jay and the call would usually not go through. For the times that it did Jay would inform me that he is working on getting the verification. On 9/8 after they finally accepted my offer letter as proof of income Jay asked me to remind him if I had any rental history. At this point we had discussed this several times already. He told me he would try to get in contact with my previous apartment but needed an email since their phone wasn’t working. Their management changed so the emails changed since I moved out but luckily the same manager worked there. Jay emailed her asking to fill out the form. The next morning 9/9 he told me that I would have until the end of day to get my previous apartment to fill out the verification form. I drove to my old apartment since there was a delay in response and I only had a few hours to get my rental verification thanks to Jay. My previous apartment manager told me that since they changed property management they shredded all prior records so I was no longer in the system. She sent Jay an email containing proof that I leased there but could not fill out the form since I wasn’t in the system. I called Jay and he told me many times “unfortunately that form has to be filled out in order to get approved even if you have proof you lived there before.” I asked for an alternative solution and he told me I could pay double of admin fees since they charge that for first time renters but he would have to ask his manager at 2pm in their meeting. I did not hear back from Jay so I drove to the apartment office and arrived around 3 thinking he would be done by then. Eve informed me that he just went into the meeting and I would have to wait around 30 minutes. While I was waiting another prospect came in the office just to speak to jay since he was not getting responses to his emails or calls. I met with him and his manager after their meeting. The manager wasn’t even caught up to speed with my application process but was blaming me for not having the rental verification form. She told me that there was no way for me to be accepted and did not provide me any alternatives. It was out of my control and knowledge that my previous records were deleted due to management change but she would not let me apply again as a first time renter. I told her of how it took two weeks for them to just reject me and waste my time and money since the $250 application and admin fee is non refundable. she claimed she had no knowledge of what was going on and shifted the blame to Jay and asked him to explain himself. He came up with some bs excuses and denied my claims of him only giving me a few hours to get my rental verification. Since then I have applied to a different apartment and their process is much smoother. 0/10. Do not waste...

I lived at Harlow River Oaks for about a year and while it was a nice place to live at first, there were a lot of problems that I experienced.

TLDR: The gate to the parking garage was always stuck open, which made it easy for cars to be broken into. My car was broken into, and I constantly saw other cars that were broken into and missing wheels. There is also a mouse problem at the complex. If you ask for reimbursement for overnight pest control fees for THEIR infestation or if you abandon your unit because of the infestation and ask for reimbursement, you're refused.

The parking garage gate was almost always broken. This made it easier for people to get in and break into cars. My car was broken into, my horn was clipped, and the keyhole was ruined. When I went to the leasing office about this issue, they refused to do anything about it. They didn't even apologize because saying sorry implies fault. It still would've been nice to hear after hundreds of dollars of damage was done to my car, though. This was even more disappointing since safety at their complex was one of their bragging points when I first moved in. For the last few months I lived there, tires were stolen weekly. There was a man who had custom rims stolen, and his car was on blocks for a few weeks.

In addition to the break-ins, there were also mice. I have never lived in a complex where I had to deal with mice, so this was especially egregious. In early April, I saw a mouse in my apartment complex. I called maintenance for an emergency (because who else am I supposed to call at 10 pm on a Tuesday night). He was unable to come, but he said the pest control guys should be in the next day. Obviously, I did not want to spend the night with mice in my apartment, so I called other pest control places. I finally found someone who was willing to come to the apartment complex at 11 pm. When he arrived, we chased the mouse around my apartment, moving my furniture around in the process, until we were able to catch it 30 minutes later. He put up a bunch of traps and sealed up about 10 mice holes around drainage holes in the cabinets, behind the fridge, and behind the washer and dryer. In total, there were about 6 mice in my unit. I ended up having to pay $300 for this, and you guessed it, the apartment complex refused to reimburse me for any of it. The icing on the cake is that the apartment pest control people were not in until Friday. So even if I wanted to sleep in the mice-infested apartment for another night, it would not have mattered because the pest control people would not have been there to do anything. If you want to see, I have attached pictures below of the mice in my apartment.

Because of the mice issue, I abandoned my apartment about a month before the end of the lease. I got a new place, where I slept on the floor until I was able to sanitize all my belongings to bring over. I was Not reimbursed for the time I spent abandoning my apartment. Also worth noting, I also saw a mouse in the indoor hallway on the fifth floor adjacent to the garage. My next-door neighbor also told me she saw one as well. Lastly, when I went to the leasing office to let them know about all the mice and the fact that I had to abandon my unit early, they responded as if this was the first time they had heard about the mice. Funnily enough, the apartment's pest control person himself said that they had been getting a lot of mice calls from residents at Harlow River Oaks. When I replied with this to the person at the front desk, she dismissively shrugged her shoulders as if she had been caught, but there was nothing that would be done about it.

Overall, I would save your time and money (cause you will be paying for their issues out of your own pocket) and look...

I’ve been living here for over a year, and while I don’t have major complaints about the apartment itself, dealing with the management has been an absolute nightmare. If you own a car, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Since moving in, my car has been towed and broken into, and the management has done little to prevent these issues or offer meaningful solutions.

The towing incident happened because of their inefficient parking registration system. The website they use isn’t even managed by the complex—it’s controlled by the towing company. The interface is confusing and not user-friendly. I accidentally registered my car as a guest, and it was towed as a result. While I accept responsibility for the mistake, I went to the leasing office to get clarification on how to correctly register my vehicle. Shockingly, they refused to assist, claiming they don’t manage the website. This excuse is baffling, considering they’re the ones requiring us to use it!

A few months later, my car was broken into, and the response from management was equally disappointing. When I reported the incident to the property manager, Joanna, her immediate reaction was to question why I left my AirPods in the car. Rather than showing any empathy or offering solutions, she dismissed my concerns entirely. She even went so far as to say that robberies happen at all apartment complexes, as if that justified the lack of action.

When I brought up the fact that the gate was left open, I was told that it’s not a “security gate,” but merely an “access gate.” This highlights the lack of focus on safety at this property. Joanna also mentioned patrols but clarified that these are only to protect the complex itself, not the renters or their belongings.

In addition to the safety issues, there are constant problems with the gates and elevators being out of service. Even packages being stole constantly. There are no security cameras or any proactive measures in place to deter theft or protect residents.

If safety is important to you—and let’s be honest, it should be—this is not the place for you. The lack of accountability, poor communication, and dismissive attitude from management make living here far more stressful than it needs to be. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for a place where management genuinely cares about its residents and their safety.

LASTLY, out of no where I began to have an issue with mice after being in the apartment and over a year. Apparently, they came in through a hole under my sink. That’s something else to...