Lexington Farms Apartments — Local services in Raleigh

Overall, this wasn’t a bad place to live, but there were definitely some frustrations that added up over time. The apartment itself is actually quite nice—though a little outdated—and we worked hard to make it feel like home. One of the biggest downsides was the lack of community. There were occasional community events, but they were usually announced with barely any notice. For example, there was a birthday celebration for residents in March that we found out about the day before—it was scheduled from 3–5 PM on a weekday, when most people are at work. If you have a dog, be warned: the dog park is not well maintained, and there is dog poop everywhere because many residents don’t clean up after their pets. Maintenance of common areas is sorely lacking. Maintenance in general is a huge pain point. Now, the actual maintenance guys are really nice and friendly. I am unsure if this issue stems from management or not. There’s no scheduling—if you request a repair, you won’t be told when they’re coming, and sometimes it takes a week or more for anyone to show up. We had a leak in the roof that was never actually fixed; instead, they just painted over the stain on the ceiling (with a mismatched color, no less). The HVAC system in our unit was broken for over a year. Maintenance would come and do small “repairs,” but it would stop working again almost immediately. It made the apartment either freezing cold in the winter or unbearably hot in the summer. Our electric bills skyrocketed because of it. We later found out that friends who lived in the same unit before us had the exact same issue—and it was never properly fixed for them either. We also had a major issue with our power. At first, the lights would just flicker for a few minutes at a time, usually during storms, so we chalked it up to bad weather. But it quickly escalated to full power outages that would last for hours. The worst one lasted nearly 12 hours. The maintenance guy at the time came back four different times trying to fix it, but the problem kept returning. It was disruptive and frustrating. The issue was eventually resolved, but this was over the span of 1-2 months. There are also some pretty serious cleanliness and health concerns. The tub faucet can’t be used because black gunk comes out of the pipes. (We’ve filled out maintenance requests multiple times, but the issue is with poor building design and using cheap materials). We had a terrible mice infestation for a while, and they were getting in through a hole in the pipes under the bathroom sink. I reported it early on, but all that was done for a long time was placing traps. Eventually, they did plug the hole with foam insulation, but it took far too long (Having to pick up dead mice that have bled all over the inside of your cabinet is not fun). The bathroom has no vent, so mold grows constantly. It’s clear that they’ve tried to cover it up in the past by just painting over the tiles and grout—which are still covered in paint. On top of everything, there’s been a really high turnover rate when it comes to staff. We’ve had a revolving door of apartment managers and maintenance staff, which has led to poor management overall. It’s hard to build any kind of trust or sense of community with the leasing office when the staff is constantly changing. It often felt like no one really knew what was going on or who to turn to for help. In short, while the apartment has potential and we did enjoy living there at times, the poor maintenance, unreliable power, lack of communication, and ongoing management issues made it a frustrating experience overall.

EDIT after management response: I love how the blame is put on me for not communicating issues. I have communicated SEVERAL times over the last few years during each of these issues. Not really sure why you’re acting like it’s the first time hearing of any of these issues. Also yes, I hung up. I am a teacher and you called in the middle of a school day. This response and the phone call just highlight the main issue: lack of...

Updated 08/2019

Even though I rated this place two stars 9 months ago, I was waiting until I moved out to give my final assessment. The previous management company was terrible, but the new one has improved the quality of living, which is why I changed it to four stars. My main complaint has to do with the old management company, but the issue of high indoor temperatures for loft-style apartments still stands.

I moved in back in June 2018 when the old management company was running the property (not the current managment, Bell). I moved out in July 2019, many months after Bell took over. The difference between living experiences was huge.

The biggest issue that plagued us nearly the entire duration of our lease was the the air conditioning. The unit we were in was a loft that sat in a position that faced the sun nearly all day during the summer. The high ceilings and poor ventilation setup meant the loft was unusable during the summer, with temperatures at least 4-5 degrees warmer that the bottom floor.

The original maintenance crew, before Bell took over the property, came to work on/repair the AC 3-4 times, yet they never solved the issue and just said there was nothing else they could do. We put up with 79-80 degree temps indoors until the winter. When it began getting warmer in May, we contacted the new maintenance crew about checking the AC again.

The new Bell maintenance guys recommended changing the compressor and the air handler (the blower motor that sits in the wall). I was surprised that after only one service call, they were willing to replace the entire system, unlike the other maintenance crew who just shrugged and said they couldn't do anything else.

Still, the way the apartment is constructed, facing the sun, etc., the AC still works overtime to keep the temperature at a fairly comfortable level (although it's much improved over the old AC unit).

Also, I'm glad they got rid of Conservice as their third-party water metering service. In January 2019 I received a monthly water bill of $114 (which was nearly four times our regular water bill). I contacted Conservice who just brushed the issue off as a possible leak, and said to contact the property management about it.

I investigated the issue myself and took a look at the amount of water we were billed for. I also checked the meter placed on the hot water heater in the utility closet (your usage is billed on how much hot water is used, and then they multiply the hot water usage to estimate your entire water usage), which read much lower than the reported usage on our bill.

Conservice still didn't want to help us and said it was the responsibility of the property manager to work it out. We did end up getting the bill reduced, but only by about $45, and still paid a much higher bill than normal anyway. I am thankful they helped us at all, which Conservice were unwilling to do.

Following the switch to the new water metering company, our bill was never more than around $40, which leads me to believe Conservice had been price gouging Lexington Farms, which then fell on the tenants to foot the bill.

I don't think my experience is typical of all tenants, but just be warned that the loft apartments, depending on where they are located on the property, may be abnormally warm inside during the summer months. All in all, it was a pleasant experience, the location is nice and quiet, and it is...

For the price, I had a pretty mediocre experience living here. In the summer of 2016 my air conditioner broke. The temperature of my apartment got up to almost 90 degrees. It took them way, way too long to fix, and no one at the management office or on the maintenance staff really bothered to give me any sort of timeline until I followed up multiple times. Immediately after the AC was kind of fixed, apparently whatever repairs the maintenance staff did caused a major leak in my unit that was leaking into the apartment below me. I found out because one day the repair guys showed up at my door with massive heavy duty shop fans and were confused when I didn’t know why they were there. No one told me there was a leak. No one told me these guys would be stopping by. And their solution was to keep these shop fans running 24/7 for a few days to dry out the floor. I work from home. That was terrible. Again, no timeline, no one bothered to tell me when I could expect the fans to be taken away, etc. In April of this year, after a few days of heavy rain, a massive oak tree fell on my apartment. Luckily no damage was done to the interior of my apartment, but the corner of the building looked busted open. The day after the tree fell on the apartment, a water main broke and the complex was without water for an evening, and it doesn’t look like a notice was sent out via their messaging system or anything. I had a bunch of neighbors knocking on my door asking if my water was out too. It took the Lexington Farms management over a week to get a team out to begin removing the tree. I also complained about very, very loud animal activity happening in my ceiling (which was made worse by the tree falling and making an even bigger hole in the side of the building for animals to get into) and minus one note left by a pest control company saying I needed to tell the front desk where I was hearing the scratching etc (which I had, in my original work order request) I don’t think this was ever actually addressed. Due to some personal reasons I had to move out early, and was prompted to move out even earlier due to the squirrels or whatever in my ceiling, the tree falling, and my AC not being effective (it would get up to 77 degrees in the afternoon this past month). I’m fine with paying a fee, but when I stopped by the management office to drop off my keys and pay the fee, a new woman working at the front desk looked confused and could only find that I owed a much smaller amount, so I paid the amount she quoted at that time, but a couple days ago I received a letter from the management office saying I need to pay the rest of the fee or they would send my account to collections. All in all it has been a pretty unacceptable experience, and I would not recommend...