Sterling Oaks Apartments at 100 Sterling Oaks Drive, Chico, California.

I lived at Sterling Oaks for roughly 5-6 years. I’m convinced that I would never rent a Hignell owned property again and here’s why.

-Kiss your security deposit goodbye. I left the apartment clean and well maintained. Yet, I was charged over 700 dollars for their most expensive cleaning package. Their service letter is a joke. They request that you return the apartment as received, “move in ready”. What place does that? Not to mention they charged me for items that had normal wear and tear from use...a new toilet seat.

-Regular increase of rent by an average of 60 dollars every 6 months. My rent was steadily increased every 6 months by 40-60 dollars to, “current market value”. For what? A mortgage? When I asked if I could sign a lease for 12 months they said that they didn’t offer leases for a full year, only 6 months. I asked what the point was in that if they were just going to jack up the rent every 6 months anyway?

-Lazy staff, try to coordinate anything with the front office? Good luck! Need something repaired? Get ready to pay. The staff is terrible and maitence typically didn’t know what they were doing. I was better off fixing the majority of problems (running toilet, faulty door bell, door stops falling off he wall), by myself.

-Neighbors, I had a few great neighbors here! People were generally polite. But, I had multiple poor neighbors upstairs from me. I would hear screaming and arguing at all hours of the night. When the Sterling Oaks staff failed to resolve the issue I had to result in threatening to contact the police. My other neighbor was also very noisy, slamming things around at all hours of the night. He would constantly disturb me, Again, no help from the staff to resolve the issue.

Besides all this, the apartment layout IS nice. But, not nearly worth what they charge for it. Hignell is a slimy company that doesn’t care about their long term tenants. Don’t rent from them. You can find a better place for less money in Chico. Hell, you can rent a HOUSE for what they charge there.