My Girlfriend and I moved into Aventine in late June of 2022. We've currently been tenants for a year and a half now. While there are some positives to living here; we've had to deal with a plethora of issues that have made our stay here rather cumbersome.
The Gnats:
Shortly after we moved in, we submitted a maintenance request to have someone come and investigate the gnats. The first response we received from Orkin was "it's summer time in Texas. There's gonna be gnats". I could not accept this as I've lived in Texas for 20+ years and I have never seen a gnat problem this bad. We bought UV light traps. We bought jugs of gnat killer drain gel to pour down our drains. We've also bought flying insect spray. These did nothing. It wasn't until late September 23' that the issue got out of control. I got home from work around 6:30pm and noticed the refuse room door was wide open. HUNDREDS of gnats were on my front door. I couldn't open my door without letting them all in so I drove to Home Depot and got another can of spray. After 15 minutes of spraying, I was able to get inside. I submitted another maintenance request the next day to have pest control come out again. The technician that met with us told us the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor refuse rooms have a drainage system that runs between them. The gnats festering in the refuse room are using those drains to go between the 1st, 2nd, and, 3rd floors. This made it clear as to why despite all our efforts, the gnats were still everywhere. We were told not to buy products to deal with the gnats because it's "wasting money". That may be, but if we don't do anything, who will? We can't even invite our friends or family over due to the gnats buzzing in people's faces and landing in food and drinks. It's annoying and very unsanitary.
The Refuse Room:
We unfortunately live in a unit that is next to a refuse room. I can't think of many positives that come from living next to a room full of garbage, but we have had to deal with all of the negatives for sure. I've already detailed how the gnat infestation (and to a lower extent the occasional roach) is due to the refuse room, however there are other issues as well. Recently the refuse rooms have been getting emptied out more frequently, which is a positive, however the big issue we've encountered is with other tenants. There are times when the refuse room is reaching it's capacity and tenants will decide to just leave their trash outside the refuse room (ie our front door). Similarly, tenants don't even care enough to close the refuse room door all the way. I've already detailed how this affects us with the gnats, but I've also caught roaches making their way from the refuse room cracked door to our unit. It has become a part time job having to fend off insects from getting in our unit, dealing with the insects that do get in our unit, and cleaning up after other adults that don't have the decency to properly take care of their own garbage. Too many times I've had to properly dispose of other tenants' garbage to prevent a chain reaction of garbage being left at our door. I work a full time job and have my own responsibilities. I pay WAY too much money to be here and be forced to look after other adults to keep my unit clean.
The Neighbors:
We have very loud and disruptive upstairs neighbors. We'd like to report them to Aventine, however Aventine does not deal with such issues directly. Sometime earlier in 2023 a number was provided to all tenants to call in the event of emergencies and noise complaints. We've called that number many times and given detailed descriptions of our issues as well as our information. Not once has anyone come to respond to our complaints. A very serious domestic dispute broke out from the neighbors. I called the number Aventine provided as well as Dallas PD berceuse a life was threatened. Neither one ever showed up. Loud music and constant banging and crashing noises are one thing, but when a life was potentially in danger, not a single soul showed up. We don't know what else to do.
Jason Miller
December 27, 2023
