The Viv on West Dallas — Local services in Houston

Where to start... When we signed the lease I requested a day earlier move in as I was leaving for a company trip the day of our move in and needed the time. When we signed the lease it say keys can be gotten after 5pm, but I asked at the time and they said it was no problem to come earlier during office hours. I called three times between then and move in day to verify that it was fine if I stopped by between 9-10am and got told yes it was arranged. Day of, I show up to get my keys and the lady who I spoke to told me that my first months rent was missing (we had previously paid the requested security deposit). I informed her that the documentation we had signed and the reason we had signed was for free rent the month we moved in and provided that signed document. She spoke to the manager who came out and said they were doing me a favor by not making me pay rent the first month and getting the prorated first day of our lease for free that was offered to us when we signed even though I had to documentation that supported it. To sort this out, this process took 2.5 hours. I finally receive my keys, go up to my apartment to open it in an absolutely disgusting state. Toilets covered in mold and mildew, cabinets with water damage, our sliding door damaged and not installed properly and the floors just absolutely covered in grime. We noted this on our intake sheet and have been told that we will still be responsible to return the apartment in pristine condition, regardless of how we received it. We’ve now been here for four months and things have not gotten much better. As many others have stated we have gotten numerous packages stolen from the package room and when we approach the office about it and potentially trying to get new security measures in place we get told that it is not their responsibility and they tell the delivery services to use the lockers. There are not enough lockers for the number of packages that get set there daily, which they refuse to acknowledge as part of the problem. When I report packages missing to the office the reply we get is “file a claim with the delivery service”. I literally have to get my packages delivered to another location because my refund attempts keep getting denied for stolen packages. This is a gated community where the gate is left open for days/weeks at a time with no notice or warning and I got my catalytic converter stolen off my vehicle while it was open for an entire week. When I asked management about why the gate had been left open I got told “Oh I told them to close it last night and they forgot”. Once I informed them my catalytic converter had been stolen it was promptly shut for the first time in over a week. Also – to save y’all some time there are no cameras in the garage. Remember the moldy toilets? I filed a work report asking for a new tank as it kept regrowing mold in our toilet bowl. The first time they came they painted our toilet bowl white (yes literally painted it) the second time was after we went down to the office, showed management a photo of the mold and got told “that looks like dirt”. After waiting for weeks, maintenance was at our door an hour later with a new tank and installed it. In the beginning of December I filed multiple maintenance reports, one being for the missing screens in my bedroom and one for our balcony. I followed up on this numerous times for three and a half months being told multiple excuses varying from we have one maintenance man, to we do not have a correct copy of your key (which I had provided them with to make one in December and we got the same excuse in February), screens are ordered and waiting approval, etc. Two weeks ago someone came to install the screens, he attempted to put in a screen for our sliding door and that’s when we found out our door is installed so incorrectly there was approximately a 4” gap in the middle on the bottom of the screen so it couldn’t slide properly. No word from the office on how that will be fixed they just closed my maintenance report without a word. TLDR: Wouldn't advise...

To start off, I have to say that the ladies at the front desk of the Baron Properties complex I live at (The Standard in Houston) are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I genuinely feel bad for the horrible situations their management has put them in.

With that said, I struggle to determine if the management of Baron Properties (the ever elusive people at "corporate") are really as incompetent as they seem, or if they strategically plan to screw over their tenants.

Our stay at The Standard was doomed from the beginning. We used their online reservation system and paid over $700 for application fees and as a deposit to secure the apartment. We received digital confirmations, but never heard anything from a human... So after a few weeks we came in person (because their phone system was down) to make sure everything was good to go. We were informed that the apartment we reserved had been leased to someone else, and that they had never received our application. A quick investigation revealed that the Baron Properties management had never trained the staff on the usage of the online system, and they were neither maintaining it or checking it for applications. But corporate was still collecting money from the site. We ended up getting a new apartment, but it was $200 more per month than we had originally agrees to pay... However, we were close to our move in date and we didn't have time to make other arrangements.

A few months into our lease, a bad storm resulted in some water damage... Which led to management discovering a massive mold infestation in the complex. This is where the real trouble starts. Baron Properties hired Blu Sky Renovations to take on cleanup efforts, which have proven to be quite disastrous. The construction crew has consistently violated basic safety requirements, and have introduced major health and safety risks to the residents.

Examples include: a chunk of concrete facade was knocked from the third story and fell onto my patio on the first floor. Had someone been standing on the patio at the time, the outcome could have been fatal. on numerous occasions, I have found OSB with several inches of nails sticking up, laying out in the common area. the common area has been filled with insulation fiber multiple times, which has caused itching and a slight rash.

Each time I brought concerns to Baron Properties management, my concerns were dismissed. I have to give Blu Sky credit, in that they took quick action to build a buffer to protect my patio once I raised concerns with their foreman. What's really shameful, is that I had been bringing my concerns to Baron Properties for weeks, and they never once communicated these concerns to Blu Sky. The foreman had no idea that a chunk of facade had even fallen onto our patio.

As these health risks escalated, we requested that we be allowed to terminate our lease early without financial penalties. Our request was flat out denied. Apparently the revenue from our contract is more important to Baron Properties than our safety.

Most recently, we have had our water service interrupted time and time again, without warning. Apparently the root cause is that they keep accidentally busting our water pipes while trying to fix the mold problem.

Honestly, there are dozens of other examples I could get into... But this would turn into a novel. All I can say is please save yourself the trouble and do not rent from Baron Properties. Check my review history and you'll see that I hardly ever complain about companies. I'm generally an easy going person, but this company is so horrible I had to share my experience. I've never been treated with such disrespect in my life. The management of this company does not care one bit for your safety, and their greed and lack of humanity or empathy is...

The Viv does NOT value the safety of its residents. We've lived here three years with the first two years being largely uneventful but not without issue. However, we have had THREE BREAK INS to our apartment since March including two in the last two weeks alone. This doesn't include the several other neighbors having instances of people trying to gain access to their units through the windows in the middle of the night. The leasing office has been notified of all the above and taken zero action or even provided the courtesy of notifying other residents to improve their awareness of safety concerns within the complex. Maintenances solution after the first break in? They nailed our windows shut so they're no longer functional and now provide a safety risk in the event of a fire. The multiple cameras visible around the complex are not functional and meant to provide a "false sense of security" per the less than helpful office staff. The on call security company they told us was monitoring the complex is no longer under contract which wasn’t communicated to us until we tried to report the most recent burglary where they took a crowbar to our windows.

Other issues at the Viv you ask? A lack of imposing any rules so it's looks like trash with no repercussions. Trash and animal feces everywhere. Large parties at the pool of people that don't live here and monopolize all the space. An inability to have everything operational at the same time - whether it be the dog run or the gym, something isn't in working order. The package room is a nightmare and a free for all - they advertise package lockers which are capable of accommodating approximately 5% of the packages that come through here and that's if they're working. Plan on having to rifle through piles of boxes to find what you're looking for.

We've also had four different instances of water leaking from the ceiling that required multiple maintenance requests to be addressed and a dishwasher that wasn't operational despite at least five different work orders placed outlining it wasn't working. Did you know you're not supposed to put food in the dish washer? That was maintenance's recommendation when we told them it still wasn't working after they came to "fix it" several times (thick sarcasm - we were well aware). Basically don't live here. It's awful and you'll be buddies with the police because you'll be calling them regularly to make police reports of all your stolen stuff.

Yes, the location is a great but I don't love having to check for signs of a burglary every time I come home from a weekend away. PS Rosie in the office is the only gem around here. She’s kind and does her best to help.

Update: I received an email from the Viv Management titled “ Suspicious Activity at The Viv on West Dallas”. I sincerely hope this wasn’t you reaching out regarding my review as I believe being the victims of two home burglaries and an additional burglary attempt in which thousands of dollars of jewelry and handguns were stolen is more in the realm of criminal activity than “suspicious activity”. Honestly, it’s insulting.

Also, the mail boxes are broken so the post office has been holding our mail for the last few weeks which was supposed to be communicated to us by the apartment management - shocker - it was not. So after reaching out to the local post office several times to figure out the problem, we’re spending our day trying to track it down at the...