1. The rent is due on the first and there is NO GRACE PERIOD. If you pay on the second day of the month, you are required to pay in certified money order or cashiers check and will receive a $50 late fee. On the third of the month you receive a 3 day pay or vacate notice. There is no flexibility on these policies and the management does not believe in second chances or being forgiving. They would rather evict you than change their policies. (no matter how long you have been a tenant and paid on time) 2. The rent is supposed to include free wireless internet. The wireless does not always work (it stopped completely for almost 2 months this fall without a discount being given on the rent), but more worrying is that the owner censors certain sites (for example, Sports Illustrated has been deemed "inappropriate" and can't be accessed through the complex wireless). The owner, Cliff, has also said that he monitors the bandwidth each tenant uses and will shut off the connection if he deems you are using too much bandwidth during peak hours. Although he has not expressly admitted it, I have no doubt that he also checks what websites are being viewed by what tenants. 3. Fees automatically deducted from your deposit when you move out: carpet cleaning ($60 for a one bedroom apartment, $65 for a 2 bedroom apartment, $12 per set of horizontal blinds and $1 per slat for vertical blinds). For a 2 bedroom apartment, you will automatically lose at least $130 of your deposit in required cleaning fees even if your apartment is spotless. If you leave any mess you probably won't get a deposit back at all. 4. After your one year lease expires you have the choice of signing another 6 month lease or going month-to-month. If you choose to go month-to-month the lease says they will raise the rent $50 a month. After 6 months your rent would be $300 more PER MONTH than where it started when you signed the lease-- all because you didn't want to committ to another 6 months. 5. The swimming pools are only open between Labor Day and Memorial Day. They pay to maintain the pools year round, but put large padlocks on them to prevent tenants from using them. This fall it was over 90 degrees for several weeks, but the only person allowed to use the swimming pool was the maintenance man. 6. The complex is directly under I-5. The noise isn't apparent during the day, but at night you can hear every car that goes by and the large trucks actually make the apartment shake. If you are a light sleeper this is not the place for you. 7. Plus side of Riverside: The apartments are well-maintained and clean. The management spends a lot of money maintaining the landscaping (they have at least 8 employees who seem to do nothing except trim hedges and sweep up leaves). It is affordable, close to downtown and they allow dogs. Unless you are home all day to appreciate the landscaping it doesn't outweigh all of the disadvantages of living at Riverfront though. If you move into this complex you need to be willing to have parts of your life controlled by the management. They seem to feel, and the lease reflects this sentiment, that because you are living on their property they can run your life. Although the management (Jennifer especially) will seem all smiles and super-friendly when you are looking to move in, she turns to complete venom the second anything goes wrong. (I was absolutely shocked when I first experienced this about-face because it seemed to contradict her earlier "personality" so dramatically) She was not only unhelpful when I complained about dangerous conditions on the property in common areas, she actually threatened me on occassion when I questioned complex policies. I would not recommend this apartment complex to anyone ever. Although it is near downtown, it is not such a great deal that it is worth putting up with the management. If you are going to move in, ask to see a copy of the lease BEFORE you give them deposit money so you know exactly what you are getting into. (The lease is a very interesting read because it differs greatly from any other lease I have seen) I rented from spring 10 through spring 10. ...