Royal Crest Estates North Andover

I had a medical emergency and needed my girlfriend to come pick me up at 11pm. I had her write an email to the leasing office to let them know, as this is what we had been told we should do if we need to park for an emergency. After a few short hours her car had been towed. when going to the leasing office the next day to explain that I had a medical emergency in that I wasn't there to get her a pass in the middle of the night we were told that this isn't an excuse and there's nothing they can do about it after the woman had told us that's who we can email. She then insisted that it's not her job and that it's courtesy if she gives us a pass. i'm very disappointed as I've been a resident here for almost 2 years when my lease is complete. it doesn't help that the higher the most useless and angry towing company in the Merrimack Valley there.

While I like the location and the size of my apartment (rent is expensive but that seems to be the case everywhere in this town), I've found that my experience with Royal Crest has been more frustrating than helpful. They are a smoke free area but my apartment constantly smells like smoke because the elderly couple next door smoke like chimneys. They once got an angry letter saying to stop smoking from management, but they were never fined or told they need to stop or leave as the lease specifies. Two other apartments are smoking apartments in my building too. All of the air conditioners are not set properly in the walls and the window settings are cracked, I sealed them myself because my first winter electric bill was over $400! The carpets in the common areas actually smell and my mailbox is perpetually broken (on the up side I don't have to take my mail key to check my mail). Despite the fact that I literally saw lawn-care, maintenance, and garbage disposal workers walk past it every day it took them two weeks to remove a very large branch that fell across the sidewalk leading to my building. The branch only fell because the property managers failed to inspect and have trimmed or removed a mostly dead tree outside my building before the winter storm season. My car was damaged in a similar branch incident. Finally, and most annoying of all: I purchased a camper. It took them two weeks to give me a parking pass because the front office lady I originally spoke with said "I'll send you the updated lease right now" and she never did. Even though their online system would have showed that I had a pending parking pass that needed approving. I went back and a manager approved my pass which was filled out for an "Recreational Vehicle/Motor Home" and then 6 WEEKS LATER I get an email that I have 24 hours to move my "motor home" because they aren't allowed, even though it was approved as such, even though I have proof that they approved it, even though I repeatedly told them in person while they were approving it that it was a travel trailer. AND it is not the only one on the property. DON'T LIVE HERE if you value have property managers that follow their own rules. I've never been so happy to be moving soon, worst rental experience I've ever had! Out of 7 rentals!

do not apply here ! keep your money and go somewhere else management sucks theyve kept my application deposit for the past 3 months 400$ they could careless to pay me. no one answers the phone and the one time a month they have I've been pushed off the phone and lied too!

My wife and I moved into RC in June 2016, after selling our home. We had an older dog, and needed an interim location with her until we could secure a new home. From day 1, we regretted it. We felt that we were lied to, regarding the College students residing there. Having been told that they were only grad students. Balogna! It was party central for the undergrads from August through March. We suffered through a litany of issues with the apartment (toilet seal leaking, toilet not flushing properly, etc...). Then during the later part of Winter, an issue with the National Grid feed caused the building to lose power. This was supplemented for 3+ months with a huge generator, running 24 x 7. Except when it ran out of gas (which it frequently did), needed periodic maintenance, or had other parts fail. Then, at any point in time, we were without power (lights, electricity, stove, refrigerator, tv, internet). Lovely. Never, was there any offer of compensation or adjustments for this inconvenience. The generator was adjacent to our bedroom, so sleeping was rough. While this was going on, the electrical panel was closed off by 2 sheets of plywood loosely hung on the wall, but not locked or affixed to each other. They basically flapped in the breeze, and were a hazard for the kids... who could have easily accessed the panels. As if this weren't enough, when we left (as soon as our lease was up) my wife and I cleaned the apartment (washed floors and all), so that we could get our full damage deposit back. Corporate dinged us for $95 bucks, as we didn't have an "agency" clean the apartment. We argued with corporate, but they basically said to stick it. This place is awful, corporate doesn't give a damn, and you should plan on losing at the end of the day with any dealings with them. I would give them a minus rating if they allowed it, for the above noted items, and all of the other dozen things that they dropped the ball on. Do NOT live here, unless you absolutely have to.

**Absolutely Horrible Living Experience - AVOID THIS PLACE!** This is by far the worst apartment complex I have ever lived in. Where do I even start? First, it took *over two months* to get my security deposit back! The management here is incredibly inconsiderate and rude. Want to feel like you're living in a zoo? Perfect, because the complex is overrun with unsupervised kids constantly running around and ringing doorbells like it's a game. Ticks and mosquitoes are everywhere. I was pulling multiple ticks off my dog daily. If you love stepping in dog poop, this is the place for you! No one picks up after their dogs, and some even let their pets relieve themselves on the basketball court. It's disgusting. On top of that, the trash rooms are absolutely revolting--there's always garbage and kitty litter on the ground, and it smells horrible. People also leave their unwanted furniture outside the apartment on the curb. Good luck finding parking. You have a "designated" spot, but if someone parks in it, you have to call the tow company yourself, and they *never* answer. If your friends want to visit or stay over, they need to get a parking pass from the front desk, which is really inconvenient, especially for last-minute plans. On top of that, they have to park on the other side of the complex, which is a hassle. And if there aren't enough spots available, you're out of luck with having family or friends over that day. Noise? Constant. Either you're listening to people blasting music or kids screaming. Oh, and don't get me started on the parties. The college kids here throw parties, leaving beer cans littered everywhere. Not enough? My car got *paintballed* for no reason. People are also always smoking weed or cigarettes outside the building. The people downstairs smoked in their apartment, and the smell of weed would travel through the vents, constantly making the apartment reek. And the cherry on top: people leave the main doors propped open so their friends can waltz in--no security whatsoever. It feels unsafe, unclean, and unlivable. You can forget about any peace and quiet. The *only* good thing about this place is the maintenance staff--they are friendly and helpful. But even they can't make up for the dumpster fire that is everything else here. **DO NOT LIVE HERE.** AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Horrible Place to Live I have been living here since past few years. When I moved in, everything was smooth, management did really wonderful job in everything. However, all good things comes to an end. The property was sold to AIMCO; the management staff changed and everything went down the drain. Reasons why you shouldn't move in here: 1. All the tenants are treated as if you are a criminal. They down play you and make you feel like you are living in a socially assisted government funded apartments. 2. Safety. The gate house is a complete joke. Most of the time the gate is open and no one in the security cabin. 3. Every building gets at least 4 or 5 notice a month about different things that tenants cannot do. 4. They started charging for parking. BUT IF YOU COME IN LATE AFTER 9pm THERE ARE NO PARKING SPOTS. If you are paying for parking then you would assume that you should have a right to get a parking but that is not the case. Complained about it to management at least 5 time in last 2 months but no action has been taken yet. 5. Quality of the people. With in last year there has been 2 drug bust (each involving FBI and DEA so they were on a large scale), a kidnapping attempt, 4 car jacking, etc. All this within one year or less. 6. No background check on the people. They are giving the apartment to anyone. It feels like people of Lawrence have invaded this place. 7. Even the emergency repairs are delayed by few days. Forget the regular repairs. Those repairs will take place only if you call them 10 or 15 times and ask them 'if you don't do anything about it we will call the head office'. So in short about 3 months if you are lucky. 8. They charge you for mandatory insurance for the apartment. I don't understand why the tenants should pay for the insurance when they don't even own the place. This is just extortion. I can go on and on about this management. My take is fire everyone in the management and hire the old staff back. Read more: http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/MA-North-Andover-Royal-Crest-Estates-1238861.html#ixzz1Jq8xMN2R

Worst apartment we have ever lived at, and the most expensive apartment we have lived at, paying about $2,000 a month for a 2 bedroom, with no washer and dryer in our unit. My husband and I moved from California to Massachusetts due to military orders and had to sign our lease before even seeing this property. I wish we would have known it was across the street from a 4 year college before we signed this lease. I will explain our bad experiences as well as our good. 1. Living next to a college, we have experienced loud music from the college all the time, along with fireworks at 9:50 at night when we are trying to sleep. We have loud college students above us that drink all night, climb on top of our AC unit to get onto their balcony, drunk girls sleep in the hallways, nd they smoke pot, which leaks down into our apartment. While no, this is not necessarily the apartments fault, it is extremely important to know when moving to this location. You may end up next to multiple college students who will keep you up when you have to work at 4:00am. 2. We have not had hot water for the last 6 months, in the morning or at night. Although yes we call and put in a service request, maintenance is not able to fix the problem until about an hour later. Which means we already had to go to work dirty, or if it's in the evenings, which we get home late.... we have to go to bed. This keeps happening back to back and although they continue to fix the problem temporarily, having no hot water has greatly effected our health and hygiene. 3. The building does not have insulation between floors, which makes it very loud if you live on the bottom as well as heating and cooling issues. We only found this problem out because our upstairs neighbor ended up having a leaking AC unit which flooded her master bedroom, causing our ceiling to cave in and become moldy, leading to sickness, vet bills, medical bills, and our property to be ruined. While yes, we have renters insurance and were compensated for our property, this experience is still continuing. It happened a month ago, and although they put in a new ceiling, there is new mold on the new ceiling, we are still sleeping in our living room because of the mold, and have such a poor quality of life, it's ridiculous. 4. The washer and dryers in the building cost $2.25 for each load to wash and $2.25 to dry but the dryers do not work so you have to run it twice to get it mostly dry. 5. We used to pay for a carport $75 a month, but every night we came home, a college student would be parked in it. It is also the ONLY property that has charged us to park for just a normal parking spot, usually it is 2 vehicles free and any additional cost money. 6. Although these things keep happening time and time again, management seems to apologize for the "inconvenience" of not having hot water and having to sleep in our living room. Although we held up our end of the lease agreement, it feels as if they don't care to hold up their end of the lease agreement. I asked if they could waive the last months rent as we don't feel like spending $2,000 for basically renting a room in our living room, exposed to mold, and no hot water to wash off the sticky feeling, and they just apologized for the inconvenience and told us that they couldn't waive our rent. BUT ITS NOT ALL BAD!! 1. Wesley and Han are two really great maintenance workers! These men both truly care about the tenants and do the best they can, and I know they are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY over worked. These men show nothing but respect and genuine kindness to each and every tenant. 2. Maria was always available even through email and helped us many times during the horrible events that continue to happen. 3. I LOVE the dog park! I go almost every day with my 2 dogs and also love many of the other dog owners. 4. The ground are beautiful (if not covered in trash) and it feels like your in a camp ground. 5. Melissa, the girl up front was always a sweetheart and I truly loved talking with her every time I went in. We move in 11 days. FREEDOM!!!

I can't get out of this place fast enough..... I am bartender and work late nights, I get home between 1:30 and 2:30 some nights, as a single woman who at 2:00 am doesn't feel safe having to park far away from building, and since they don't enforce the parking rules there are many nights that there is no parking in my buildings lot, so I who own a truck, put it on the dirt, so I can safely walk into my building..,,, well guess who the towed.... The person who does not live The building...? On NOOO. they tow the person who's does, and will not do a thing about it.... I'm am on my way out of this hell hole and it can't come soon enough.....I didn't want to resign my lease because I was looking to move and they jacked my rent up over $400.00 a month more... So get this, I'm paid$2300.00 a month ,I can't get a parking spot and they towed my car ... Great place to live...NOT!!! Do not move here, there are better places around oh another thing I forgot... When my friend moved out, they charged her $2990.00 in fees after she moved... Now Suing her for the $ and another person was charger almost $8000.00 after she moved... I would now like to add to this lovely review of Royal crest that instead of dealing with the problem they are trying to imply that I am not a current resident.... Are you kidding me... I will b living here almost 3 years.....

After experiencing what seemed to be an endless year, I finally moved out. Where to begin (it will be random). It all went down hill when we got new neighbors who resemble human chimneys where they constantly smoked up a storm just outside our windows. So that basically took away the advantage of having screens on our windows, as they had to remain shut. Was it just those neighbors who were obnoxious? No. New neighbors moved in soon after just above us who seem to have forgotten that people live below them as they would stomp none stop on their floor, our ceiling. To paint you a picture of how tolerant I am, the previous residents of the apt above us had a piano, and THAT never bothered me - seriously. The previous residents made noise, but it was noise anyone would expect, as it was tolerable. But those who took their place were almost making a point that noise can be a constant at high volumes. To add on to it, some other neighbors found it necessary to turn the wall that was next to our window into a bike repair shop. While smoking away, and talking to this kid (it was more like yelling, but he wasn't mad, he was just very loud), we (myself and my gf) were just very happy knowing that we were leaving within the month. They were there for about 1 - 2 hours just blabbing away, smoking half a pack, and simply just being completely obnoxious. There is no empathy with these people. Scum of the Earth, people. I'm not saying that all who live at Royal Crest are like this. I have met some really nice, outstanding people. There was this really nice lady who lived in my building who always had a smile, and enjoyed saying hello...but I can't let people read this review and not know the horrors that live in the other apts. The horrors that take away any form of privacy, and pleasure one would love to have when spending a ton of money on rent for a place to call your home. I don't mind that People smoke as I have nothing against it...just keep that crap out of my face when I'm sitting on my own couch, or laying on my own bed. If you like trash around your home, rent an apt at Royal Crest, the trash does clash with the flowers and green grass, so hopefully they can buy enough salt to put in the soil to solve that problem, and then you'll see all the trash the eye can see. Have a pet? Good! You're in luck. now you can have an extra fee. Have two pets? That's twice the price, my friend. So, in the winter, you would think you'd like to be warm. Nope, even with the ACs sitting in the walls with a cover over them on the outside, they are still providing plenty of cold air with a nice draft that literally blows against your face even when your feet away from the device. Is this place expensive? In one word, yes. To break it down for you. You get a lot of space, and that's a good thing...up until winter comes. Remember about my drafty AC? Of course you do, it was just one paragraph ago in this novel. The draft will suck all the heat you just payed for (electric heat, so it's technically more expensive) right out the wall. The pet fees are insane. The laundry is $2.00 per wash, and per dry (as you'll read later on). And, they jack up the rent all the time. I was living in the basement, an undesirable location, yet they seem to think I'd pay more to stay. Also, don't expect to get much of the deposit back, they're keeping it...and I have the cleanest gf in the world. She has an obsession in cleaning. I'm not so bad myself. We didn't damage anything...but we wont get back anything nearly as much as what we provided as a deposit. Do you like loud noises? You're in luck, there's this horrible beeping noise that comes from the laundry room, it will keep you up if they don't shut it off at night. How about spending a lot of money on laundry? If you spend more, don't you get more? Nope, not with Mac-Grey being the provider. They jacked up the laundry prices just after we moved in from $1.45 per load (per wash, per dry) to $2.00, and boy, does it add up. By the way, the cleaning process didn't improve...my clothes were still damp after a dry cycle for loads there were almost half of what is recommended. Plus, the machines will charge you and not activate the machine. This place is a dump.

Worst apartment we have ever lived at, and the most expensive apartment we have lived at, paying about $2,000 a month for a 2 bedroom, with no washer and dryer in our unit. My husband and I moved from California to Massachusetts due to military orders and had to sign our lease before even seeing this property. I wish we would have known it was across the street from a 4 year college before we signed this lease. I will explain our bad experiences as well as our good. 1. Living next to a college, we have experienced loud music from the college all the time, along with fireworks at 9:50 at night when we are trying to sleep. We have loud college students above us that drink all night, climb on top of our AC unit to get onto their balcony, drunk girls sleep in the hallways, nd they smoke pot, which leaks down into our apartment. While no, this is not necessarily the apartments fault, it is extremely important to know when moving to this location. You may end up next to multiple college students who will keep you up when you have to work at 4:00am. 2. We have not had hot water for the last 6 months, in the morning or at night. Although yes we call and put in a service request, maintenance is not able to fix the problem until about an hour later. Which means we already had to go to work dirty, or if it's in the evenings, which we get home late.... we have to go to bed. This keeps happening back to back and although they continue to fix the problem temporarily, having no hot water has greatly effected our health and hygiene. 3. The building does not have insulation between floors, which makes it very loud if you live on the bottom as well as heating and cooling issues. We only found this problem out because our upstairs neighbor ended up having a leaking AC unit which flooded her master bedroom, causing our ceiling to cave in and become moldy, leading to sickness, vet bills, medical bills, and our property to be ruined. While yes, we have renters insurance and were compensated for our property, this experience is still continuing. It happened a month ago, and although they put in a new ceiling, there is new mold on the new ceiling, we are still sleeping in our living room because of the mold, and have such a poor quality of life, it's ridiculous. 4. The washer and dryers in the building cost $2.25 for each load to wash and $2.25 to dry but the dryers do not work so you have to run it twice to get it mostly dry. 5. We used to pay for a carport $75 a month, but every night we came home, a college student would be parked in it. It is also the ONLY property that has charged us to park for just a normal parking spot, usually it is 2 vehicles free and any additional cost money. 6. Although these things keep happening time and time again, management seems to apologize for the "inconvenience" of not having hot water and having to sleep in our living room. Although we held up our end of the lease agreement, it feels as if they don't care to hold up their end of the lease agreement. I asked if they could waive the last months rent as we don't feel like spending $2,000 for basically renting a room in our living room, exposed to mold, and no hot water to wash off the sticky feeling, and they just apologized for the inconvenience and told us that they couldn't waive our rent. BUT ITS NOT ALL BAD!! 1. Wesley and Han are two really great maintenance workers! These men both truly care about the tenants and do the best they can, and I know they are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY over worked. These men show nothing but respect and genuine kindness to each and every tenant. 2. Maria was always available even through email and helped us many times during the horrible events that continue to happen. 3. I LOVE the dog park! I go almost every day with my 2 dogs and also love many of the other dog owners. 4. The ground are beautiful (if not covered in trash) and it feels like your in a camp ground. 5. Melissa, the girl up front was always a sweetheart and I truly loved talking with her every time I went in. We move in 11 days. FINALLY

While I like the location and the size of my apartment (rent is expensive but that seems to be the case everywhere in this town), I've found that my experience with Royal Crest has been more frustrating than helpful. They are a smoke free area but my apartment constantly smells like smoke because the elderly couple next door smoke like chimneys. They once got an angry letter saying to stop smoking from management, but they were never fined or told they need to stop or leave as the lease specifies. Two other apartments are smoking apartments in my building too. All of the air conditioners are not set properly in the walls and the window settings are cracked, I sealed them myself because my first winter electric bill was over $400! The carpets in the common areas actually smell and my mailbox is perpetually broken (on the up side I don't have to take my mail key to check my mail). Despite the fact that I literally saw lawn-care, maintenance, and garbage disposal workers walk past it every day it took them two weeks to remove a very large branch that fell across the sidewalk leading to my building. The branch only fell because the property managers failed to inspect and have trimmed or removed a mostly dead tree outside my building before the winter storm season. My car was damaged in a similar branch incident. Finally, and most annoying of all: I purchased a camper. It took them two weeks to give me a parking pass because the front office lady I originally spoke with said "I'll send you the updated lease right now" and she never did. Even though their online system would have showed that I had a pending parking pass that needed approving. I went back and a manager approved my pass which was filled out for a "Recreational Vehicle/Motor Home" and then 6 WEEKS LATER I get an email that I have 24 hours to move my "motor home" because they aren't allowed, even though it was approved as such, even though I have proof that they approved it, even though I repeatedly told them in person while they were approving it that it was a travel trailer. AND it is not the only one on the property. DON'T LIVE HERE if you value have property managers that follow their own rules. I've never been so happy to be moving soon, worst rental experience I've ever had! Out of 7 rentals! UPDATE: Just got an email offering me incentives to post a positive review! Pictures below! Ignore positive reviews! It is just people who are trying to win some extra spending cash!

This place is horrible . Was to leave early due to all the drama and nonsense which cost me thousands to break lease. I'm glad there is finally a spotlight on this place . True $hit hole

Biggest problem really was with office staff. We weren't allowed to be present for move out which meant we were charged for things we couldn't dispute. My car was also towed the morning of move out, making it even more stressful.

Last week, more precisely on Wednesday the 25th of May if I remember correctly, I applied for a two bedroom apartment in this establishment. Everything went well, including the payment of the security deposit. For personal reasons I gave up on the application and requested the cancellation and return of the security deposit I had paid, the office staff said that they had made the refund request and that it would take 3 business days. I'm on my fifth business day and so far I haven't seen my refund come back to my account. Thursday I called and they said they would contact me with a response from the manager about my case but all I got was text asking if I was still interested in the apartment. I tried to call this Friday, June 3rd and I was not answered. Several attempts, waste of time and dissatisfaction with this institution that I thought had the least respect for the customer. Weberson Rufato

I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. The heat didn't work from October to January and after calling the leasing office about 50 times they finally fixed it. But they refused to prorate my rent (1600/month) even though I had no heat at all in December. We killed about 5 spiders a night and the mold was the worst I've ever seen. I had respiratory infections the entire year I lived heat because I am extremely allergic to mold and could not break my lease. When we got our "lease renewal" it was $700 more a month! Nothing but problems here, basically a huge frat community. Extremely disappointed.

My Son moved into Royal Crest this fall and as a welcome gift the apartment management called in Valley Towing Company of Methuen who towed his car even though there were no signs or notice that he had to get a parking sticker at the leasing office. Yesterday, Andover, N. Andover and Lawrence had a once in a lifetime emergency as overly pressurized gas lines exploded in 3 communities causing more than 39 fires. Merrimack college was evacuated and many buildings lost power or the power was ordered off due to the gas threat. My son tried to come home and that's when he discovered his car was towed. He was stranded. I called Royal Crest today to complain and received a polite but complete run around from management. The leasing office explained to me that they tow cars all the time. Wow. What service! If you move to Royal Crest be forewarned that you may have a number of items that you need to complete that management won't inform you of before hand. Total cost to get car out of Valley Towing $205 for two nights and another $35 to get an Uber from Royal Crest to the towing company. I'm sure Valley Towing is paying Royal Crest up to 50% of the cost of every tow so this is clearly a money making strategy for Royal Crest. Today, when my son recovered his car from Valley Towing he found it was covered in bird crap and there was a dent that wasn't there before. Look for another place to rent before you choose Royal Crest.

I've been renting for last 10 years across 6 different apartments and this was the worst I've ever seen. The buildings are extremely old with obsolete heating and cooling systems. In winters, we kept the temperatures at 69 and yet saw $400 electric bill for 5 straight months. When we raised the concern and asked to check the appliances they had no answer. When we moved out, we were slammed with $1800 move out charges even though we returned the apartment clean. They charged us for things that were normal wear and tear adding up to the number. Never had I ever had to pay a dime as move out charge except for this one. Will never recommend it to anyone. Also, most of the apartments are student housing and they go rowdy during the weekends.

Change your disappointing and unreliable towing contract! They dont answer till hours later on a weekend they are supposed to provide service according to your instructions. You should be fined for anyone who gets incorrectly towed or the inconvenience of having to adjust because someone is in your spot. Google the towing companies name

If you are looking to move in Pro 1)Big apartments Nothing else good to say here sorry Con 1) parking is 10$ monthly and is hard to find after 6 p.m 2) new maintenance manager specifically told me he was hired to make sure fees were charged. Where before there was no problem requesting a repair 3) utilities are extremely high 4) all apliances are electric and very outdated 5) my apartment was left clean and they still charged a fee higher than my deposit 6) even with evidence they will not negotiate and will try to report you to collections ( currently in legal process) 7) if you do decide on moving in do not get a basement apartment they are all moldy. 8) college students and/or other children have been breaking into the cars and there is police and fire trucks at least 5 times a month 9) renewals are about 300 a month higher than your original rate. 10) rooms rented out to college students during fall and spring terms Renter Beware!!!!

Very racist community.

This is the worst apt company which is AIMCO that owns all the royal crests to live for. horrible horrible company. Let me get to why i gave one star because of the size of the apts and the area it is located in. Other than that everything sucks about this place They advertise free parking . it is not anymore.. 5 bucks a car.. when asked why no straight answer or anything just some mumblings hard to get They changed the washers and dryers recently after raising the prices. Well the bad thing about it is that the washer are half the size they used to be. There want income and job verifications from people who are changing apt to a different apt in same community and yet there are drug dealers and cooks and janitors from fuddruckers living here. most of the times pest in the apts are no problems for the office. they call the pest company and they come with some raid kind spray and they are done. Reason for pest by apt manager is that" we live in wooded area so all the pest from around area comes to our apt community, i have it in my apt too ( hoe do i know if she does or not) but then why does other people in my building dont have it and i live on the top most floor. There are articles on this apts mishaps on eagle tribune almost every month.. robbery, drug deals and lots of other stuff. they have resident get mandatory home type insurance on the building and apt damage. this is not right since as a tenant u do not have insurable interest in their property to have them get u mandatory insurance since tenants dont own the property. another scam to get more money out of resident.. did i mention this is all after raising rents every single year significantly... These apts have gone downhill since aimco bought them

Trash goes in a closet...literally. Bugs everywhere. Centipedes galore. No joke do not move here. Lived here a few years ago. I always tell people the horror stories of bugs and college kids. Oh don't forget about MOLD in the walls, in the bathrooms, under the foundation. I talked to a guy doing construction on the foundation and said these buildings should be demolished and reconstructed.

Warning: Stay Away from Royal Crest Apartments I've been a resident at Royal Crest since July, and it's been a colossal mistake. The company behind this place is shockingly predatory, showing zero concern for its tenants. When we moved in, the apartment was nothing like the one we were shown. Having spent our savings to move from out of state, we were trapped due to financial constraints. Since then, we've endured leaks in the bathroom ceiling, light fixtures falling out, frequent breaker trips, unbearable humidity in the summer, ant and silverfish infestations, and flooding from a storm. Our dishwasher door was broken on arrival, and the maintenance response was to force it closed. Their excuse? "The apartment is old; everyone has the same issues." They conveniently forget to mention you have to pay for package parcel lockers, and failing to retrieve a package within 24 hours results in charges. The hallways reek, and I'd bet there's mold underneath. They hire a predatory towing company that conveniently ignores calls about someone parking in your spot. The complex overcrowds rooms with 2-3 college kids, making parking a paid nightmare. Complaining about the college kids is secondary; the real issue is the company running Royal Crest. They lock you into a lease for outdated apartments that aren't worth the price. My doorbell rings all night due to wild parties or people without keys. I could go on, but there's simply no reason to live here. Save yourself the trouble and look elsewhere.

Moved here to start a new life. But we really don't feel like a "Home". Low quality buildings, not so responsible management.

Lived here for an year and half (2018-19). Loved the place initially until all of these things started happening: - Mail boxes don't lock. Raised a service request and it was closed with out any action. - Building entry door glass always broken, so anyone can open it even though it was supposed to be a secure door. - Car was damaged in parking lot twice. There are no security cameras. Expect some help when we pay for the parking. Reserved parking spots would have helped little bit so people will be little careful. - A guest's car was towed as they printed a wrong validity date on the temp parking permit. - Packages stolen. Also other residents have complained their kids bikes being stolen. - We paid for apartment cleaning before we moved out, still charged us for 'damages' which we thought were going to be handled in the cleaning service. More specifics on what this cleaning does would have helped us in making a better decision. When we reached out to the customer service and explained this, the final response we got from them is "This is what you signed up for"

very disappointed that no one took the initiative to lower the flags on the grounds in respect to those who died this past Sunday due to a terrorist attack, it is only appropriate to lower the flags 49 Americans died for crying out loud!!

RUN WHILE YOU CAN! Centipede bugs the size of mice run the apartments, what ever you do you CAN NOT kill them, they will always come back. The master bedroom shower wall is rotting from the inside out and the tiles are hanging off and some have fallen, I have bleached the inside to kill most mold and mildew. We called maintenance several times, do you think they have come to fix it, NOPE. But they did inform us if we fix it on our own we WILL be fined. Want to plug some things in the outlets in your own apartment? Good luck finding one that works. If if you find that at least 50% of them are broken don't expect maintenance to fix that either. We have been counting down the months of this lease and CAN NOT WAIT to get out of this filthy, disgusting excuse of apartments.

This place smells as bad as it looks. Filthy disgusting apartment, infested with cob webs, spiders, and fleas or something. They claim to be smoke-free, however, the nicotine I wiped off the walls and smell of smoke say otherwise. The place is disgusting. There is no doubt that the carpeting in the halls hasn't been changed or cleaned since the dump was built in 1970. If I had to live here, I'd just kill myself. I've never felt so dirty after leaving a place people call home in my life! For what people pay to live here, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Absolutely horrendous living conditions!! Gross!!! Doesn't deserve any stars, but I had no choice.

I don't know what is happening with the ownership of management of this place, but it continues to go downhill. Everything is dirty and old. Rent is 1500, being raised to 1800 and for what?? The hallways stink, the laundry room is always dirty, the grounds are not kept up, there is garbage in the "pond" and around the trails. The apartments themselves are really run down and not kept up or maintained. The paint on cabinets are old and flaky, the bathrooms are really outdated. Also, there was no hot water for 2 days. I honestly have nothing positive to say about this place. It has turned into a horribly expensive crappy place to live.

The last few months have been the most frustrating months to leave here, and it's no use trying to reach out to management as they do their best to cover things up on their end. I have lived here for several years and never been pushed to the edge like this time.... maintenance issues not tended to for over a month.... mold and mildew constantly spraying to prevent this from happening. But now that I have small babies I can no longer continue spraying this strong stuff. Be very careful especially when you move in the downstairs apartments. Everyone has their own experiences but if could give zero stars I would. You clean your bathroom and walls daily but at the end this still happens. Everything is perfect at move in a couple months down and your endless list of problems start.

The area isn't so bad, kids run around without parents so you can tell it's safe. The apartments are decently sized and fairly nice... However, I would trade all of this for a leasing office and maintenance crew who didn't completely suck. It took over a month to get a water leak fixed. The so called amenities are either a pain or don't work at all. Dog park? Yes, if your dog weighs 3 lbs and finds 20 ft a good exercise run. Packages delivered to your door? Nope not after they put in this new system making you walk to the office to pick it up... oh and it's $10 a day if you don't get it right away, plus you can't get in after hours! So for those of us getting home from work after 6 pm we can't pick up a package, but we sure have to pay to not be able to pick it up! Same with the fitness center... can't get in after the leasing office is closed. The leasing process was a complete pain with more then one person flat out lying about things. And don't even get me started on the maintenance... we had a water leak that took over a month to get resolved. You would think that a big company would want to protect their investment from mold and water damage right? But I had to put in at least 4 maintenance requests, 3 emails, and finally just calling them almost every day for them to make it a priority. Also the "smoke free community" is not upheld in any way shape or form. People who work here sit on the doorstep into the buildings smoking cigarettes, and you have to pass their stink to get home, and no one cares. If you don't mind dealing with stupid people, and stupid procedures, and a complete pain to do practically anything with these people, then the actual brick and mortar isn't so bad. But personally I would NEVER have leased here had I known how many problems they have with management.

Horrible service takes weeks for a service request to be handled, unprofessional in the manner they handled Situations, and I was also told I would not have college students living in the same building as me and that was a lie. I'm paying good money to basically live life with college students that do as they please, cause they won't be here long and the community gets stuck dealing with the bull.. I recommend talking to residents before you apply for this community..

Parked for less than 8hrs to visit a resident. I live 2hrs away. Car was towed in the morning. Literally stranded. The resident that lived there had no idea you needed a guest permit. I called Royal Crest and they said they sent out an email about guest passes? Resident never got one. Look out for the roaming tows in the middle of the night, during a pandemic. Royal Crest literally hired a towing company to tow vehicles parked in the middle of the night, like vultures. Makes me sick. The front office was closed, there was no way for me to get a guest pass. River Valley Towing, was also the worst experience I've ever dealt with.

I used to live at building 23 and now I know where no to live . It took 3 hours to do 1 load of laundry AVOID THIS AREA IF POSSIBLE

I have lived at Royal for three years, two yeats were in one building and the third year was in another building. Both have been a complete disgrace, specifically with mold and water leaks. I am not somebody who likes to send complaints but I do not recommended this complex to anyone as it was unlivable for me. The bathroom had an absurd amount of water damage from the second I moved in,you could tell by smelling the musty mildew smell and looking at all the wrinkled paint on the woodwork. There were leaks coming from upstairs into my bathroom all year. When we call for maintenance it's just brushed off and nothing is properly fixed. They ill just paint over the mold and say the issue stems from upstairs. I got many notifications saying my bathroom water battery constantly needed checking. I was sick for half of the year as I am sleeping with mold and mildew each night. The amount of times I went to urgent care for a sore throat was absurd due to the mold. I spent 8 of my 11 month lease commuting because it was beyond unbearable and I know from the previous two years in my first building the mold and leaks are not taken seriously as my entire ceiling vent popped off when a shower upstairs leaked into mine causing 2inches of water in my bathroom. My whole bathroom was flooded when I got home, the vent was completely popped off due to how much water came in. When moving out of my apt taking pictures,etc off the walls they were absurdly moist and wet due to all the moisture in the air from the leaks. When you stepped into my bedroom or bathroom it reeked of a disgusting mold smell. No matter how much air freshener would not mask it. These apartments are disgusting and they are never fixed by the root of the problem just bandaids. I would seriously not recommend these to anyone as I dont want someone experiencing the type of sickness and waste of rent money I did.

The first night I moved in, an outlet was sparking uncontrollably and had to be replaced through the emergency maintenance line. We also had a flea problem but do not have pets... it was from another apartment and somehow infected the whole floor... in addition, their parking has been awful. The first night I moved in, I got towed. It was really frustrating because although I did not have a sticker, they have all of my car information, and I was parked right where my apartment is. Yet other cars parked all over the road were fine to stay there. Since then I have spent 20-30 minutes hunting for parking. If you are not a college student at merrimack college, don't bother. There isn't parking for normal people. They'll just tow you.

It should be known royal crest offers incentives for positive reviews online. Worst place to live, infiltrated with Merrimack college students so families have that dorm life experience, rude management and zero safety concerns.

The place on the outside is beautiful...lots of trees, pretty quiet (apart from the occasional fighting you hear from the neighbors), good area in general BUT the rent increases SUBSTANTIALLY after your first lease is up! Management is HORRIBLE - they don't work with your requests, they don't resolve issues in a timely manner, they don't accomodate you whatsoever! DO NOT BOTHER using their gym.... when it rains it's constantly flooded, smells disgusting, machines/weights look incredibly OLD, the bathrooms in the GYM I won't even go there. Move in at your own RISK!! BEWARE!!

This Staff here is rude and disgusting only Marisol is nice and respectful the others are rude and racist I don't know when he became ok for the property to come to your home without notice or warning and just try to walk in not even giving the residents the courtesy of knocking first It doesn't matter what the issue you cannot just walk into someone's apartment unannounced and whenever you feel like it There will be a complaint as well as an attorney being contacted just ridiculous and not worse the 1977 being paid The hallways have wallpaper peeling off carpet always has a wet mildew smell So not worth it definitely moving out this month

I moved in here about 3 months back and since then there are issues and issues. No one cares for your problems, there is no staff to fix the issues and even sometimes they take 3-6 weeks to fix the problem. But they need rent on very first date of the month and even for open on road parking, you need to pay. Laundry is also paid. Gym equipments are too old and no maintenance happens. Water gets clogged inside the Gym, Believe me it is true. I would suggest never move in this apartment. It is most worst Maintenance I have ever seen. I have escalated to Management but no body listens here. They will just cancel your Service Requests without fixing the problem but Survey will come for sure to rate them. Even after my feedback, if you choose to move in here, its an foolish decision. Rest is up to you. Thanks Nalin

Very Bad Service Altitude and Always find every excuse to charge you more fee.

If you enjoy living in the middle of a Frat house for almost 2K a month this is your place. Want to come home at 10 pm from work and have to walk half a mile because the other units in your building are being rented as MC dorms- where each occupant ( 4 people to a two bedroom) has a vehicle, as do their intoxicated annoying-screaming-in-the-hallway-at-all-hours- booty calls who are there parking in a parking space I am required to pay monthly for five nights a week? THIS IS YOUR PLACE.

I would absolutely never, EVER, reccomend a collegue of mine to live here. We moved in almost two years ago. The staff all quit a few months after because the community was so terrible. We were promised a gated community atmosphere - they literally removed the gates. We were promised security on duty at all times - he is there on Friday & Saturday nights for 3 hours. My car has gotten broken into twice and they have done nothing about it. We, along with several other residents, have been moved from a basement unit to a second or third floor unit due to the BUG and MOLD infestation. Its absolutely disgusting. It is extremely over priced and not worth the hassle. They treat their tenants like garbage - especially the new community manager and refuse to react to critism. Last year, one of their landscapers ran over a gas line and there was a HUGE gas leak..we were not allowed in our apartments for 48 hours. Had I known this place was referred to as the 'joke of North Andover', I would not have moved here. Dont do it. PS. Kevin P. below just moved in to my building. Your cheery attitude towards this pathetic excuse for a 'community' is temporary, I assure you.

If I could leave negative stars, I would gladly do so. This place is an absolute nightmare. We had raw sewage pouring out of the toilet and tub probably 8+ times (with pictures to prove it) and met with little to no concern from maintenance or management. College kids have overrun this place, cops getting called every weekend and broken glass litters the entire grounds - really safe for children and dogs!! This is by far the worst property I've ever lived at, would not recommend to anyone.

If I could give this place a zero stars I would. Don't live here if you are considering it. The management company treats their customers terrible. They are extremely rude and act like you are an inconvenience when they are supposed to be doing their jobs. They only care about getting their money. You will experience cockroaches, mice, ants, halls that are never cleaned, a room inside that is for trash which makes the whole complex smell and creepy men break in and entering.

They are so disorganized with their paperwork-they really need to hire like another person to work in their office. Extremely pissed and made living here so incredibly stressful

This was the worst place I've ever dreamed of living. It's literally falling apart at the seams. All of the utilities cost a ton. The appliances are old. There were electrical fires from time to time. It's really a run down dump. Good for college, terrible for quality.

These are some of the pictures I took in the buildings I lived in. And one was from a separate apartment in my building who wanted to share their issue.

This place is disgusting ! And the manager Maria, is the most unprofessional person I've never met! Very rude !! Oh and you can't leave your car there for 5 mins without it getting towed. This place is trash!

If you are smart, you will live in a homeless shelter instead of here. I speak from experience. Management is awful. They put a piece of paper somewhere in the building and if you dont see it, ,...well at least they tried to tell you. They will take your things without asking. Management took my kids bikes because they didnt have a sticker on them (no one told us we needed one when signing the lease 3 weeks prior) and then they lost 3 of the 4 them. They offered no restitution and told our kids, "well you should have locked up your stuff" those were the words from the property manager to my 8 and 14 year old!! Also, they will walk into your apartment with or without your permission!! They will even go so far as to unlock your door and let themselves in! If you need work done on your apartment, be prepared to put in several work orders. We have submitted 5 work orders for our AC not working alone. They dont care!! Now there are 3 people that work in the leasing office that are pretty nice and the assistant property manager is a nice guy but thats all there is to it. And as for "luxury" apartment living.....its a lie. Our tub has tiles missing from it when we moved in, the cabinets are original 1940s....not refinished. The AC doesnt work. Half the heaters didnt even have knobs on them to see which way or how high you were turning them. The list goes on.... There is an elementary school touching the property that is great school rated a 10 but the kids crom this apartment complex is bussed 2 miles down the road to their zoned great schools rated 5. Just be smart and look elsewhere. We will be when our lease is coming towards the end.

Lived there for two years loud college kids, maintenance staff walked in unannounced while I was nursing my baby. They took two weeks to fix my sink. Was told at move in they clean and paint anyways just got word they took 85% of my deposit. Screw them don't move in

Don't live here unless you absolutely have to. Merrimack college has completely ruined living at Royal. The students are terrible and have no respect for anyone else. Royal won't do shit about it, it's all about the money. The apartments are also disgusting and poorly maintained. Good luck having family or friends over to your home because guest parking is just nonexistent. And if they do park there, good chance they'll get towed because Royal/Valley Towing is notorious for towing you no matter what. Also the customer service is awful. The leasing center is completely useless. Either they are closed or will never answer the phone/emails. So sad to see such a used-to-be-decent place go to shit.

The worse place to live. I was pregnant and almost died because of this place. I was sick, My daughter was always sick, coughing non-stop. The humidity was unbearable, bugs everywhere. There was this smell that we could never tell where it was coming from. Management was not helping or they didn't care, period. When we complained, they said the smell could be from our furniture which was brand new by the way. During winter, the apartment was always cold no matter how high we put the heat. Everything in the apartment was dated. The dishwasher was completely useless. If we wanted any appliance changed, there was a charge for that. We strongly believed there was mold in that apartment that was well hidden. According to what we heard, there used to be mold in our apartment. We don't think this problem was ever resolved. We had to move out fast. We only lived there for 5 months. We didn't want to lose the baby over this. We would not recommend such a place even to someone we would consider enemy.

Absolutely deplorable for those that do not attend Merrimack College. Our apartment homes were turned into dorms for Merrimack and police had to be called several times. There was even a shooting outside of my apartment. The management people are unresponsive and lack follow through. I should've backed out of my lease when I moved into a disgusting apartment with dead and live mice. In the end, the joke was on me. The remaining charges were through the roof for damage the previous tenants did. I wouldn't go back here if they gave me free rent for 10 years!

One of the worst Communities to live .I won't recommend anyone to stay here. No security at this place. My package's got stolen 2 times and no one cared when i gave a complaint My car got hit twice and no one cared but they charge us $10 every month for parking They don't mention anything such as(separate heating charges and all ) at the time of leasing. Last but not the least forget about your deposit money For the same price i would recommend Andover place apartments at 650 Bulfinch Dr,Andover place apartments 01810.

Managers do not respond to our requests by email. We had delays on the payment dates. However we do not leave a month without paying, we pay every month. And now they want the agent to leave the apartment. I already sent 4 emails and went to the office and they do not want to give us one last chance. As of May our expenses will decrease and we will be able to pay the rent on time. I have two small children and we do not want to move from here because they love school. But managers should not have problems in life and therefore are not understanding. The only people who tried to always help us and gave their best in this office was Marissol, she is special!

We managed to survive 3 months of our 12 month lease. Initially this sounded ideal for myself and my toddler son. It became an absolute nightmare, unfortunately. I moved into Royal Crest in November 2013 and moved out by February. Initially upon moving in I was shown the apartment which was in good condition. Very outdated but I knew I could make it feel like home for us. During our walk through I was shown the thermostat in the living room which would control the heat. Easy enough? Little did I know that my base boards also all had their own controls which were jacked up from the day I moved in. Once maintenance came out and apologized for the lack of information upon moving in the heat was adjusted. Going forward the house was beyond freezing and my electricity bill, as it is electric heat was over 400 for the 3 months I lived there. I had the property manager out several times to check everything out to discover that was "normal" and there was nothing wrong in the apartment. Please note in my new apartment I'm not sure I have gone over 130.00 in the winter. I didn't forget that yes we had a very cold winter last year. Had I been warm and comfortable in the apartment I would understand, however my son had to sleep in my room due to his room being so cold. His closet door was stuffed with blankets as it was not insulated at all to keep the draft from escaping out. He cried every morning getting ready for school because he was so cold. We were on the bottom unit. Absolute nightmare. My first night cooking dinner in the apartment I heard water leaking. I opened the cabinet under my kitchen sink and had inches of water. The garbage disposal was not hooked up properly and there was water under the sink. I called maintenance and requested that the small piece of wood be replaced for fear of mold having a toddler in the house. I came home and was told the wood was replaced when in fact it was only painted white to cover the grime that was now underneath. Unfortunately after settling and getting through the holidays I knew there was no way I could keep my son in such conditions. I requested to terminate my lease and they refused. I put up over 3k to move into a new apartment where I can now sleep comfortable and I am happy to rest my head at night. Royal Crest has since added my account to collections requesting I pay them over 6k. Over my dead body. I have since hired an attorney and am disputing the charges the best that I can. Whatever you do, do your research before you give these people a thought. Unfortunately I have learned my lesson the hard way but am happy to be out of there for the health and well being of my son.

After living here for 2 years, I have confirmed my belief. If you are an adult, the staff will treat you normally. However, if you are a student living here, good luck sir. The staff here is unbelievably discriminant towards students. The moment I go in the leasing office, the workers always have an unpleasant frown on their face. I have complained to the leasing office multiple times for them to fix the appliances in my apartment, but they still won't help. I had to talk to my Father to drive up to Royal Crest to complain to them and of course they listened. The only reason why I gave them a 1 star review is because you have so much freedom in this complex that it's ridiculous. The staff just doesn't care whats happening, as long as the leasing office looks nice they are satisfied. For example, apparently there was a meth lab in one of the apartments and there were police in and out of the apartment. I don't know the whole story but my friend lives there and talked to the officer. The officer said there were 29 more meth labs in royal crest still under investigation. Like I said earlier before, they just don't care. Bottom line: If student = do not live here If adult = still do not live here If you live here = natural selection

I've lived here for the past 15 months and I honestly feel like I've been robbed of my money. First of all, the laundry room has no rules. People can take your clothes out of the washer and dryer with no consequence or fear of repercussions from the leasing office. People also leave their clothes in the washer/dryer for days at a time and don't bother to pick them up. Then there is the issue of Merrimack College students. Royal Crest allowed 4 apartments in my building to be rented out as dorms for these children who don't respect the fact that they are living in a building with other people. Needless to say the cleanliness of the complex should be a crime and the buildings smell like a dumpster filled with 6 month old rotting food. The entire complex has been turned into party central, there are beer can see and liquor bottles littering almost every square foot of grass on the property. The kids in the apartment belowe me smoke so much weed that it smells in my apartment. The entire hallway in my building from the basement to the third floor constantly smells like weed. When I bring it up to the leasing office they tell me they will do an inspection. I've brought it up 3 times in the last month and the hallway and my bathrooms still smell like weed. I agreed to pay over 1600 bucks a month for what I thought was going to be a great living experience and now, a week away from my lease end date, I'm feeling relieved to be leaving and also like I've been robbed of all that money. I could have lived in Lynn for half the money and got the same experience. The parking is another issue. Out of the clear blue sky towards the end of last year, they decided they were going to change the parking set up, and since then, my pregnant wife (about 5 times a week) has to walk an unnecessary distance to get to our building. People who don't have parking passes or visiting passes stay in spots for days without being towed or moved for the people that are FORCED TO PAY for parking spots when they move in. I work long days and I work hard to pay my rent and pay my bills and the last thing I want when I get home is to have to walk a mile to get to my building and a woman who is 7 months pregnant shouldn't have to do that either. Other residents let their dogs run around with no leashes, the residents SPEED through the complex roads and parking lots, I've almost been run down a few times and got into shouting matches with a couple of these people. It's apparent to me, after spending this much time here, that Royal Crest doesn't give a shit about anyone in the place. It's a complete free for all, but as long as they can take almost 20000 (1 years worth of rent) dollars of your hard earned money, they will look the other way. A LOT. If I could give them no stars I would. I urge everyone to take a minute and read the negative reviews because you will see that almost all of the complaints are the same, if not VERY similar. BEWARE OF BUGS, if you like creepy crawlers in your building, then this is just the place for you. And the "response from owner" seems to pass the buck into someone else with a promise to make things right. These complaints have been going back atleast 2 years, it's kind of funny that 2 years later I have the same complaints that were suppose to be made right. RENTER BEWARE. YOU WILL BE GETTING ROBBED.

This place is about as crap as it gets. They want 2,300$ a month for a Two bed and two bath. Mind you they haven't been renovated in god knows how long, so you have cabinets falling about, dry wall peeling off, and showers growing Mold. The maintenance team is the only good part about this place, and that's probably because in the two years I was there I saw them more than my neighbours. Speaking of neighbours, if you love rats/mice, this place is for you! They live in the walls and you can hear them all night. Plus all this news now of people breaking into the buildings and trying to find unlocked doors to get into.... On the website they say "your new home features smart technology"..... all it is, is a door lock that you can lock with your phone. Great. Nothing else is. Also the parking situation is an absolute joke. You can buy a parking space but no one listens to them and the tow company is the worst company, fitting really for the apartment complex they work with. Honestly, even if you're desperate, don't live here. Hold out, you'll regret every minute you do live there if you do.

The kitchen in our floor plan is very small. This would be fine, but the oven blocks ALL of the drawers in the kitchen because it is stuffed into a corner that is too small for it, rendering 1/3rd of the storage space in the kitchen unusable. The refrigerator sticks out and blocks the oven door so you can only open it 3/4 of the way. We noticed and complained about this the day we moved in and were told "It has been a problem for many of the apartments." The guy basically said "too bad, you have to live with it." They will NOT tell you in advance whether your apartment will have this problem. I spent 8 months trying to work with the leasing and maintenance people to get this resolved. They gave us a small credit on our account along with the promise that it would be fixed, but it never was. My realtor friend tells me this is a building code violation in the state of Massachusetts. When I mentioned this to Royal Crest they did not bat an eye. We had a huge leak (3' x 3')in our ceiling from the apartment above. It took MONTHS and multiple complaints to get them to fix it. There was also a wet patch that spontaneously appeared on our wall on the other side of the room. When we FINALLY got them to come in to fix it and address the oven problem, they fixed the leak but did not fix the wall or oven problem. The maintenance staff had left boot prints on our carpet and moved all of the things in our kitchen up into the cabinets- presumably so they could take one look at the oven problem and proceed to ignore it. They also unplugged all of our electronics to make room for ladders and did not return them to the state in which they found them. We had to stay at a hotel for a few nights while they did this. The leasing office promised us a food reimbursement since we were forced to eat out, but then changed their story and would not honor their promise. We had to chase them down for another several weeks to get them to pay up. They then assured us they would call and follow up about the ignored kitchen problem... they never did. The sprinklers spontaneously went off in our apartment. The maintenance staff unscrewed them, leaving exposed wires hanging from the ceiling. They said they would be back two days later to finish the job. Needless to say they never returned. The apartment is infested with house centipedes. (If you don't know, these are disgusting three to four-inch-long million-legged vermin that run as fast as a small dog and jump out of the tissue when you try to kill them. Good luck sleeping tonight. You're welcome.) The closet is full of mold. There are wiring problems in the kitchen, such that when you flip the switch for the kitchen light, it may turn on. But then again it may not. Who's to say? Because of the way the ventilation system is set up, our bathroom smells like our upstairs-neighbors' kitchen, so no matter how much I clean it, it still smells like old bacon. (You won't notice this when they show you vacant apartments because the carpets will be shampooed and the walls will be painted, masking it.) The fire alarm is broken and went off at least once a month. The bathroom sink doesn't drain. They advertise that they are a "gated community". The gates have been literally ripped off their hinges by God-knows-what. (Take a look yourself if you visit the complex- gate posts and no gates.) They also laid off one of their security guys, so there is very little surveillance. The laundry room has two washers and two dryers for all 12 apartments. They break often and leave the deodorant stains on your clothes. The laundry room is also the same room as the garbage room (separated by a door). So if you drop your laundry, you have dropped it on the garbage room floor. Yum. There is no recycling. There are sirens. This is particularly bad for us since they stuck us in an apartment that is very close to the main road- of course they did not tell us this beforehand. The only thing Aimco cares about is how their grounds look. So while you are sleeping at 7 AM in your hole of an apartment on a Saturday, there will be landscapers with heavy machinery blasting away right next to your head. There are no noise ordinances- or no enforcement. So, after all this they had the gall to increase our rent by 11% at lease renewal. Not a typo. ELEVEN PERCENT. The rates you are finding on apartment websites do not accurately reflect what you can expect to pay. They offered us a lease at $1,000 and then we blinked and it was $100 more expensive at signing. Needless to say we are seeking other housing.

I agree with everybody else who reviewed this place. I'm still leaving here, moved this year but I'm leaving at the end of my contract for sure. Management is really bad!!! It's not all that! It's not what it looks like...

Been here a few months. The heater in the unit sold to me was broken, cost a fortune and couldn't keep the apartment above 60 degrees. Asked the staff about it, they told me it was my fault and I should put plastic on the windows. And then threatened me if I didnt keep the place above 55 degrees. Something their heating unit flat out couldn't do. Stay here if you enjoy being treated like a Snowman.

Everything is wrong with this apartment complex. My partner just moved out of it, and I just moved in, both apartments are absolutely atrocious. Her apartment was disgusting, filled with mice that came from the walls, millipedes and ants came through the drains, and the tons of spiders that accumulate on a daily basis. The door to the building had no lock, and the mailbox didn't even close correctly. Parking is a nightmare because no one can only ever take 1 parallel spot. Your electric service is through National Grid, which is 10x more expensive than it should be. Royal Crest also charged my partner with a $50 "vacant fees" at the end of her time there, as well as an extra $215 for reasons we're still trying to figure out. In my apartment, the sinks leak, the kitchen sink doesn't turn off half the time, and the garbage disposal is shotty at best. The hallways in both of the buildings smell like mold and mildew, and the neighbor's kids ring your door alarm at all hours bc they're too young to have keys (meaning they shouldn't be alone to be outside? They're like 5 years old). Neighbors also complain way too much about the Merrimack Students when said neighbors are really the ones making the place worse.

As a college student living here, it seems like a good, cheap alternative to being a resident at my school. I share an apartment with 4 other students and we end up paying a lot less than we would if we payed for housing at our school. However, after about a year and a half of living here, you start to notice how much of a money grab this place is. Not only have they increased our rent multiple times for no apparent reason, but it seems like they look for any excuse to hit you with an extra fee of some sort. Not to mention most of the amenities that they advertise are either not maintained well or just impractical. Also, because of the current pandemic, my roommates and I have tried to talk to them about cancelling the lease, because many of us lost jobs that we could rely on to make some money during school and we simply can't afford it anymore. They have no sympathy and are still making us pay 5 months of rent to cover the cancellation fee. I understand that we signed the lease, but they could at least take it easy on full time students that are already focused on school let alone paying for an apartment. But no, they aren't offering any help whatsoever during a worldwide pandemic. Even if we were able keep the apartment and pay for it, the rent is due to increase again for our next renewal. The only positive thing I can say about this place is that the maintenance workers are very friendly.

They let college kids in to buildings where small children live. Up all night dealing with young kids that aren't mine. Not a campuss area wish they would stop letting college kids in.Hall smells like marijuana

Very poor community maintenant ... Full of students who party every night yelling loud music ....not good for families neither for a good night sleep . Expensive for what you will experience.

Are you interested in paying 2k to live in a dorm? Do you enjoy paying $15 a month to park your car but not having a place to park? If your answer is yes then this is the place for you. Absolute worst renting experience I've ever had. Apartments are dated and common areas such as hallways and other areas are disgusting. Every building has a trash room which is a breeding ground for a horrible smell in the halls and bugs. We had a major centipede problem that was addressed by maintainence and an exterminator but was never completely solved. The parking is the main issue. Each vehicle costs $10 a month to park but when college is back in session there are no spots. They refuse to stop giving out visitors passes and the lots fill up before 7pm. You are then forced to park far away and walk which is a nightmare in the winter. I understand that everyone has a vehicle and there will be times where parking is tight, but to actually charge for parking when this is a major issue throughout the complex? Give me a break. The best part is along with raising our rent if we renew by $200, they actually are raising the parking passes by $5 each. The Office staff and maintenance staff are incredibly helpful and professional but management is a a joke. Stay away at all costs unless you are made of money and willing to live in a dump.

Despite being here sometime at 10 Royal Crest Drv, it appears that a tenant in the bottom apts smokes in the apt on regular basis for years and management fails to deal with this. I am a nonsmoker. so why do they allow this to continue...

You can never call this place your home. They attract you with lower price to start with and when your lease ends and if you decide to renew they will increase the monthly rent by 20 to 30% of your initial rent. And for any reason if you need to break your lease they will charge you two months rent plus three months advanced notice so you are looking at total 5 months worth of rent money.

The amount they charge for such a low-quality apartment is astounding. It is technically the average price (around this area) for a two bedroom apartment... but these are below average apartments. I've spoken with people from other buildings and the rumor is that aluminum wiring is still used in the buildings? That hasn't been used since the 60-70's. We have had maintenance issues since day one and we need to call them into the apartment at least once a week. Don't get me wrong, the maintenance guys are actually really good, but there are so few of them (4 guys for nearly 600 units). They're dedicated, punctual, and professional. However, it's like trying to fight a wildfire with a garden hose. It doesn't help that these buildings were probably built by an ancient race of people who lived here long before human records. You know, people from the 60's. Let me tell you a story about one of their maintenance workers named Dan. We originally had a garbage disposal held together with little more than hopes and dreams and it leaked something fierce. Dan ordered a new one which was supposed to arrive the next day (the day I'm writing this), but it did not. This guy went into his OWN apartment and got his OWN newer garbage disposal and put it into our sink. On top of that, he cleaned every square inch of space he was working in and then some. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is. So to reiterate: Maintenance department= excellent, management= horrendous.

I lived at Royal crest for 2 years and wish I could get those 2 years back, the apartments are outdated m, the building aren't well kept, it's broken glass palooza so be careful walking your animals. The leasing staff besides 1 or 2 people were very hostile. We always had issues trying to get maintenance to do general repairs. We didn't have a warm and fuzzy experience, and then they wanted to raise our rent $500 yeah no thanks..

I am totally disappointed with Royal Crest in North Andover. If you want to rent an apartment here, please read this carefully before you do so. I moved out on May 18, 2015. Yes, that was just a week ago. Now I have received an email from the Royal Crest urging me to pay $2,699, which includes a $2,004 Notice Fee, $600 Damage Charges, and $95 Cleaning Charges. And if I do not pay this amount of money to them in a few weeks, the pending charges will be doubled. Here are the facts: (1) About the $2,004 "Notice Fee": We have been planning to move out in May since this January. In February, my roommates and I went to the lease office for at least three times: I went there twice, once by myself, once with my roommate. My roommate also went there twice, once by himself, once with me. We were trying to notify the lease office that we are going to move out in May, or say, 3 months later. But each time, we were told by different people that we came here too early and that we should only notify them 30 days prior to the day we move out. I had been so convinced that 30 days would be an enough period for a written move-out notice, because the gentlemen and ladies working there said so. HOWEVER, now they say they are all 100% sure that we should notify them 60 days prior to the move-out day. And they are going to charge us $2,004 for the so-called "Notice Fee". In my humble opinion, this is deception. How do they calculate the "Notice Fee"? 32 days times a market value of $62.63 per day. For nearly two years, we are paying our rent at $1,457/month. That is roughly $47-$48 per day. I really do not know what this $62.63 market value is based on. Make Your Profit. (2) The $600 Damage Charges is attributed to "the burnt counter top". The is one of the most common "reasons" they use to charge you something more. Many of my friends have exprienced the same "reason". Let me just quote Varshnya S. written on 4/15/2014 (http://www.yelp.com/biz/royal-crest-marlboro-apartment-homes-marlborough-2) It seems that Royal Crest in Marlboro has a lot in common with Royal Crest in North Andover. (3) $95 Cleaning Charges. I am pretty sure that we have cleaned the whole apartment from the inside out. Of course they can have a different opinion. (4) What is ironic is that when we had their people inspect the whole apartment and their response was: EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT. Dear Royal Crest, why didn't you tell it to my face, at the time when you do your inspection, that I OWE YOU such a LARGE AMOUNT of MONEY?!

Son lived here as a college student. The property is half college students. They all move in and out at the same time. The owners of this property charged us a $1000 dollar penalty for lack of notice of move out. This property is 50% college students and as a practical matter they knew the college students were moving out as their property manager came and inspected the premises This was a money grab on their part and they harassed us with phone calls and threatened us with a collection agency. So the kids moved out when school ended and then they went and put new tenants in the property while we still had the premises under lease. Plus the buildings are very old wood structures with open stairwells and no centrally monitored alarm systems. Big time corporate ownership that only cares about one thing $ and they have still not refunded our security deposit avoid these old decrepit buildings at all cost

I recently visited Royal Crest Estates with my girlfriend to view several units since we are planning to move due to several conflicts with our current landlord. My girlfriend had lived here several years ago by herself before we started dating and had nothing bad to say about her experience. Upon arriving we met with someone in the rental office who seemed distracted and disinterested in helping us. She began our tour by showing us the club house which was seriously worn and out of date. The woman from the rental office gave us some brief information regarding the apartment complex it's perks, fees, etc and then explained she only had two units currently available for $1,350 each. When I inquired about the other units they were currently advertising for as much as $300 less she informed me she had no idea what I was talking about and this was all that was available and that she wasn't responsible for updating their website or advertisements. We then inquired about what units she might have coming available in the next month or two and she brushed us off saying that she wouldn't know for another several weeks and that units rent fast so we shouldn't wait. She then took us on a tour of a model unit which included her standing by the door in silence as we wandered around the apartment alone. I will say overall that the unit did appear to be nice by the few minutes I had to assess it but the demeanor and customer service skills of the rental agent left alot to be desired and made me question what future experiences there would be like. My girlfriend and I ultimately decided to look else where as we are trying to save money and the price they were asking was more than we wanted to spend. We did view Appleton Square later the same day in Methuen, and had a great experience with Michelle who was friendly, informative and helpful. In addition the units and the complex were nicer, less expensive with fewer fees, and included washer/dryer in unit and are significantly closer to 495. Plus parking is included! Needless to say we were much happier with our experience there and wound up going with one of their units.

If 0 stars with an option I would use that . worst apartment complex in the history .Merrimack students are living here there's no parking spot because four people in one apartment so for cars plus boyfriends it's retarded also I mentioned they fix nothing it takes 6 to 8 weeks. Can't wait to get out of this crap hole

Not even worth 1 STAR ! The management is ignorant and uncaring of the residents. They seem to care until you sign the lease. If you have kids this is a very unsafe place to live. The Merrimack College kids have parties most weekends, and the management does not care. Their look is that residetns have to monitor the safety after business hours, and "their job is to lease apartments, not control the safety after they leave for the day." If they would stop renting to irresponsible people then this place would be how it was before.

Lived here in 2015/2016. The rent was over 2k/month, but the amenities including being a smoke free community, gym, pool, snow removal, and a tennis court made it seem reasonable. We lived in a garden level, 3-bedroom apartment. The positives we experienced were: - The pool is large and only 4 feet deep. The lifeguards are wonderful! - 3 bedrooms have laundry in unit - Lots of green space for kids to run around and play - Quick walk to the Franklin Elementary school park (path through the woods makes it easy!) - Convenient to shopping, Merrimack and the highway (93/495) is not too far - Well lit parking lots always had spots available in our lot - All the staff we interacted with (maintenance and office staff) were very nice Some of the negative things we experienced: - Residents smoking cigarettes and what smelled like other illegal substances directly outside of our building with no care for who was around - My daughter's bike was stolen by a young girl who swore at me when asked to return it - Men urinating on trees in broad daylight one Sunday afternoon - Targeted at the pool by a resident who asked if my kids were mine and requested that lifeguard check (The woman told me that she "wanted to be sure" they were all on my lease and was unhappy with people bringing their large families to the pool) - Dirty cat litter left on the walkway for over a week (We did put in a maintenance request) - Filthy gym equipment that hadn't been cleaned seemingly in months - A group of DOC Work Release Prisoners left unsupervised in the gym's male restroom (approximately 9 of them) for 10-15 minutes. The three officers waited outside for them. I was the only person in the gym at the time. - The hallway carpet is run down and smells, common area doors, railings and walls were dirty and dented. The common area was not thoroughly cleaned or touched up with paint during my 13 months there, but when we moved out - they expected me to ensure they have little to NO work to do to prepare my apartment for new tenants. At move out, it was made clear that unless we used their cleaning package, the Service Manager has the authority to deem my cleaning inadequate and take a $95 fee out of my deposit to "hire a cleaning crew". They also are starting a paint fee. Meaning, they'll give you paint and you can try to touch up your apartment yourself, but if it's not up to Aimco standards they can keep more of your deposit. It's all in the lease so read CAREFULLY when you sign. It's evident they had zero intention of refunding my full deposit. Had they said there was a fee for cleaning when I rented, I would have been prepared to loose that money and not spent ANY time cleaning at all. It's a catch 22. The Royal Crest is one of the only places to rent in town so they are the monopoly. I realize the manager is probably bombarded with complaints, but rather than improving the safety and security of the community, he said he feels these are matters for the police. I would have liked to see them hire a security staff rather than installing a dog park. To be fair, the leasing office staff and maintenance staff are positive about the property. They all seem so genuine and nice. It's unfortunate we aren't leaving with an overly positive experience. Bottom line, it's a low-average apartment complex with some nice amenities which are not all well cared for. For over $2000 per month, I expected so much more. EDIT: 10/01/2016: I did reach out to the Business Manager and further explained my complaints. I also filled out the MOVE OUT survey I was sent and outlined my complaints. I received an email yesterday that the Royal Crest is going to refund my $95.00 that was withheld. I feel that is extremely fair of them. I do still recommend people READ the lease before signing and be clear on what is expected. I also told the AIMCO corporation that I recommend they review their policies and potentially REVISE this area to be more explicit. EDIT: 01/07/2017: As of today, I've received a refund of .32 cents. I never got a check for the full $95.00. I do not know why I never got the refund they promised and have followed up with them regarding this.

I tend to avoid writing reviews when I am super happy or angry, so I waited for few days for the feeling to sink in and here I am. Overview: Horrible maintenance, Building 32. I have submitted the same maintenance request number of times in the last 4-5 weeks but in vain. The issue is cold air coming from the air conditioning (a/c) unit and its window. It's even more worse in this peak winter months. No matter how much heat we keep, the freezing breeze gives chills. I have been told that they forgot to put the a/c cover from the outside but now its been 2 months since I last heard from them. I have been calling them numerous times but I could never talk to the manager "Erin Sheppard" as she is unavailable (I can understand why she is absconding). The person on phone "Roxane" kept me on hold twice and then disconnected the phone. Visiting the office is also of no use, they give a standard excuse "I am sending the maintenance person right away", "He is busy but will surely attend you, you are at priority", "we have circulated your request to the maintenance manager". Even though I know this review will lead to an automatic email from Erin and nothing will be done but I still wanted to let you (everyone) know what a mess the management has created. Thanks for reading.

Don't live here. Ever judge a book by its cover? You can do the same with apartments. On the outside Royal Crest appears to be very regal with its flawless landscaping and superior amenities. The exterior of the apartments look gorgeous. Inside you'll find long, narrow hallways and many dark, windowless areas. There is a security guard watching the entrance to the complex at all times. So how did all of the locked up bikes (including FOUR belonging to my family) get stolen one night? They claim to have storage space available outside of your apartment in public closets within the building. Good luck finding space after your neighbors have decided to make it their personal museum. Oh, and don't even consider leaving anything in the hallway--even if it's muddy shoes on a rainy day or a new bike you don't want stolen--someone comes around to place little orange stickies on items that will be removed by management within 24 hours. They have pretty flowers, a lovely pond with fountains, a pool, and a mini-golf course. But that all comes with a ridiculously high rent, unsafe grounds, and a dungeon for an apartment.

Was very upset because I feel in love with the community, as anyone would, to find out that I wasn't going to be able to live there. It just blows my mind that they accept housing vouchers, but won't help meet the standards of the voucher. When I inquired the apartment was going for around 1520 and the voucher is for 1420. It literally broke my heart to learn that they would accept my voucher but not help me use it. North andovers rent is too high for such a low voucher. Still currently have no where to go for me and my 7 month old. Still dreaming about this wonderful community

No approved parking lot to park after 7 PM . It gets full after 7 PM on most days and have to go around hunting for parking space .This is as of 10/1/2019 .

Generally, this is a nice place to live. The apartment is a good size for the price and the grounds are usually kept nice. From what I have experienced in the past 6 months, the leasing office is very reactive to feedback from the community.

It's a good place to live. Although the apartment is a little bit aged. Nice gym, if the apartment has some problem, just called the maintenance.

The apartments are very open and easy to move around in, they make for good living. I have a large breed dog, and it does not always seem like it she is always welcome here. Although it is very hard to find anything that will rent to someone with a large breed. The community here is mostly friendly.

I am a second-time resident at Royal Crest Estates in North Andover, MA. The first time was from 1996-2000 and the second time (very temporary) began in July 2012 and will continue until February 2013. Some things have changed, some things have stayed the same. 1. Changes - They no longer provide security at the front entrance to screen visitors to the complex. Now, anyone can drive in here. - They allow cats and dogs to live here now. There is a monthly fee per animal. I don't have a pet so don't know the exact amount but believe it's around $45 a month per animal. - They charge you to park a vehicle here - currently $10 a month per vehicle. - On a positive note, they finally added a recycling bin. Prior to this happening, everything was dumped in the trash. - You can no longer have a barbecue outside. They provide communal barbecues near the swimming pool area, but that's not as convenient as heading outside your building and using your own. 2. No Changes - The apartments are referred to as luxury apartments. This would have been a stretch in 2000, never mind 2013. Nothing about the apartments has changed in terms of the HVAC system, appliances, bathrooms, etc. Everything looks just as it did 15 years ago. - You get what you pay for. My wife and I checked out other "luxury" apartment complexes in the area and can confirm that Royal Crest Estates is the most affordable of them all. We only needed a short term lease while we wait for construction of our home to be complete, so the monthly amount is higher than it might otherwise have been had we committed to a 12-month or longer lease. That said, we have a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1450 square foot apartment for much less than much smaller 2-bedroom apartments elsewhere. - The staff--especially the service team--are very friendly and professional. I was sorry to read other reviews that other people have a different view of the staff here, but my experience has always been positive. 3. Other Thoughts - The first time we lived here was in a basement apartment. Heating that place during the winter time was very expensive, in part because the HVAC system is electric and has a hard time pumping warm air to the bedrooms. This time we're in a 2nd floor apartment and have yet to turn on the heat this winter -- and it's December 1st! Perhaps it's because we're in-between apartments, but the temperature in our apartment has never dropped below 70 degrees. So if you decide to move here, opt for the middle floor apartment. Your wallet will thank you later. - We moved here from a single family home, so we really noticed the noise our neighbors make. Perhaps it's because I know I'm only here a short while that I truly don't care about the noise people make. We sometimes here the kids in the building get together and play in the hall. They're ages range from 4 to 10 or so (in my opinion) and they can get quite loud at times. But they're always quiet by 8pm so whatever, right? We sometimes here the people walking around above us, including a young child who seems to sprint everywhere, but again, it's short lived and just reminds us to watch our own steps in consideration of the people below us. For the most part though, no problems to report. - There are Merrimack College students living in our building. They have NEVER been a problem and I have never encountered issues elsewhere on the property from other students. If there were issues in the past, I suspect they were isolated incidents. - The approval process is as onerous as others have pointed out. I don't know how it compares to other rental communities, but if a resident is over 18, they will need to go through the same questionnaire, providing earning information, etc. If, like me, you're in a position where one salary is enough to cover the rent, then say that nobody else works. It's far easier and requires less paperwork. In closing, I would encourage potential new renters to shop around, compare prices, and then make a decision based on what they can afford, which school system they want their kids to attend (if applicable), how much space per dollar the apartment offers, etc. I believe it's possible to find somewhere quieter, smaller, more expensive, etc., and that may be okay with you. I won't say that Royal Crest Estates in North Andover offers the most beautiful apartments, but they are priced competitively for this area and deserve a look. Good luck and happy renting!

Royal Crest North Andover is overall an average place to live but only temporarily. The property manager and leasing staff are awesome and will try their best to help. The grounds are kept as good as they can considering the amount of residents and college kids. Not worth the 2K a month however and you need to make sure your in the right building otherwise it can be awful with the kids from the college. Overall not a bad experience but will not be renewing after a one year lease. If you can afford the extra parking fee get your own spot otherwise in a normal world good luck trying to find parking at night.

A lot of pets in this community..almost every apartment have one or two pets, and this makes the building smells too bad. The management staff are friendly, also the maintenance is fast and professional. The apartment is clean and luxury.