Lida Lake Estates 433 Willis Avenue, Rochelle, IL 61068

"This was my first renting experience. I was a homeowner prior; we sold our home in preparation for my husband to retire and relocation in the next 1-2 yrs since the market was good. We rented a 3BR unit. It was clean and did not smell (we’re not smokers). Neighbors nice. The unit had just been vacated and they were still patching a large portion of the wall. No big deal - they came and finished after we moved in. We were told after a year, lease would be month-to-month. All the walls are white; we were told we couldn’t paint and we weren’t to put anything on the walls - so we didn’t. There was mismatched white paint throughout the unit from previous patches but we were only planning to be there a yr or so. No big deal. The water heater is small in that unit. It’s a 3BR and has the smallest water heater - the 2BR next door has a bigger water heater. That’s my biggest complaint. It went out the first month we were there. They quickly responded and fixed it. It happens. Small inconvenience. We have a small dog. She’s house trained. We pick up her poop. Others are not so good about that. I picked up others poop a lot because I don’t want to step in it. It’s rude, but whatever, that’s apartment life. We had our year inspection. Everything was fine except we had shower caddy’s hanging from the shower heads we had to take down so they don’t pull on the shower heads, and I was using the wrong filters in the furnace (right size, wrong type). I immediately fixed both issues. NOTHING ELSE was an issue. At this point we were looking to rent a house. We wanted a yard again. My son’s car was hit in the parking lot (it happens) and we just wanted the privacy. Lida Lakes knew this because I had actually inquired about one of their other properties (a duplex). Two months after our year lease, we found a house, gave 2 months notice. THEN IT ALL CHANGED…. We were told we had $500 fee for breaking lease. What? I thought we were month to month? They failed to inform us that if we wanted to go month to month, we had to ask, and there’s an additional fee. Dumb me, first time renter, I didn’t know this. I took them at their word. We were also told that if a new renter could not be found to rent our unit, we would be responsible for the monthly rent for the remaining 10 months on the year long lease. Again, dumb first time renter - when I resigned the lease, didn’t realize I was locked in. We had already signed our new lease and gave deposit. I was panicking and upset. Eventually they said they did have people interested in a 3BR. Now you tell me! We CLEANED the unit top to bottom per their instructions. I missed pulling out the stove, and she said the side of one of the cabinets had spots (I’m pretty unsure about that but hey, who am I to argue?) and that I didn’t get enough of the Lyme buildup off the shower heads. So we were charged $65 cleaning fee out of our deposit because I only had 2 days notice to go back and redo it (I work!). THEN, we had an area by the door where we had a keypad attached with command strips (we use SimpliSafe security). Katie had informed use not to use Command Strips after we had attached it - which I know why now because it tore the drywall. We took it off right away - like a month after moving in and my husband patched it. We then used tach to hold it in place (worked great- no issues). My husband decided to add more patching to that area when we went to move out. It was a 3x4 inch area. We were charged $360 out of our deposit for painting of the apartment because of this. Remember- there were all those mismatched white patches on the walls throughout the apartment? I’m pretty sure we paid for those. We also paid $250 for the carpet cleaned (required and expected). Remember we gave 2 months notice? We were out in 2 weeks per their request because they wanted to have it ready to move new tenants in by Thanksgiving. We had paid for the FULL month. Did we get any rent back? I’m pretty easygoing but I’m hurt by how we were treated. It’s not even about money but how I was made to feel when we were good tenants."

"The owners that have had this the last 5 years have done a great job of making it a great place to live. Any issues that need attention are handled promptly."

"Great place to live , great neighbors and great landlords ! This neighborhood is always quiet and feels safe. -JP"

"It is clear that Lida Lakes takes pride in their property and hopes the same for their residents. Everyone is so friendly and respectful and treats the property like a community. Definitely recommend living here!"

"The staff is amazing here. They really make it feel like home. Everyone is real friendly. This has got to be the friendliest place I’ve ever been too. And for the apartments. They are huge for a great price. Me and my family love it here."