University House Tempe

Hello, my name is Aidan Smith, and I recently finished my sophomore year here at UH. After living here for the past year, I honestly feel like people deserve to know what they’re actually paying for before signing a lease here, because this has easily been one of the most frustrating living experiences I’ve ever dealt with. I usually don’t even write reviews, but this place pushed me to the point where I genuinely feel like I need to say something. For the amount of money students are paying to live here, the conditions and management are honestly embarrassing. The biggest issue was when the building went almost FOUR DAYS without water. Not a couple hours. Not one day. Almost four full days. We couldn’t shower, wash dishes, use the sinks normally, or even use the restroom comfortably. I’m sorry, but how are people paying this much money every month just to not even have access to basic necessities? This is supposed to be an “upscale” student apartment, yet residents had to deal with living conditions that felt completely unacceptable for the price. Nobody should be paying expensive rent just to come home and not even be able to do basic things like shower or use water normally. Then there’s the AC situation. The AC was constantly going out, especially at the worst times. Arizona heat is no joke, and having the AC stop working over and over again made the apartment miserable to be in. It felt like every other week there was some kind of issue with either the AC, water, elevators, or something else in the building. Speaking of elevators, they were probably one of the most annoying parts about living here. Almost every week at least one elevator would be broken, and somehow management thought it was a smart idea to dedicate one elevator only for the “express floors” on 16–19. Meanwhile the regular elevators barely worked half the time. I lived on the 11th floor, so whenever elevators went down, I had to walk up 11 flights of stairs constantly. After class, work, workouts, or just a long day in general, the last thing anybody wants to do is climb that many stairs because management can’t keep elevators functioning properly. The maintenance work was also disappointing. One of my drawers broke, and instead of just fixing the actual issue, maintenance basically replaced everything in the most careless way possible. They installed screws sticking out near the toilet paper holder area, which literally became a hazard. A lot of the “repairs” here felt rushed and low quality. Things technically got fixed, but somehow came back worse than before. It honestly made the apartment feel cheaply built overall. Another thing people should know before moving here is the football game situation. Yes, the apartment is close to ASU and the stadium, which sounds cool at first, but during games and events they start doing wristband restrictions and limiting how many people can enter. For how expensive this place is, residents should not have to deal with that kind of inconvenience just to get into the building or have friends over. And honestly, for the price they charge, this place is just not worth it. You’re mainly paying for the location and the look of the building from the outside. That’s it. Once you actually live here, you start noticing how poorly managed and cheaply maintained everything is. The crazy part is I remember reading reviews before moving in and thinking maybe people were just exaggerating or being dramatic. But after living here myself, I can honestly say they were telling the truth. Almost every complaint people leave about this place is something I personally experienced too. The only good thing about UH is the location being close to campus, restaurants, and the stadiums. Other than that, I genuinely would not recommend living here, especially for the price students are expected to pay.