River Oaks

It is 05/15/26 and the grass in the backyard of our 2 bedroom apartment has not been cut yet. The grass is actually taller than our dog! DO NOT RENT HERE! VERY VERY BAD MANAGEMENT!

For 10 months, we had no air (hot or cold) in the master bedroom. No one in the maintenance team was competent to know what to do. Until we took them to court and then it was fixed. They market these as luxury but even their toilets leak. Multiple tenants have reported AC water leakage during the summer including us, our foyer was submerged for 2 weeks.

I recently moved out of River Oaks. I had a positive review of this property when I first moved in but I had to delete to make room for my updated review. I wanted to write a new review however google will only allow you to edit reviews. Looking back the positive review was only for Tommy, the leasing agent, and Dave, the maintenance man. They were the only lights in the dark place that is River Oaks. I ended up staying for two years out of laziness and not wanting search for a new place to live during the start of COVID. However I was unhappy with River Oaks within the first 3 months. I was seeing unethical behavior, management would add random fees and raise rates to your utilities, and they would not respond to maintenance requests. When paying your rent and utilities, they are due whether it is a holiday or not. However, they charged you a convenience fee to use there online system that they nearly force you to use. They say we accept checks but when I arrived with check in hand they directed me to a Kiosk that added the fee. I had to explicitly say no here is the check. If they are closed you either have to drop your check in a un-secure drop box or pay the extra convenience fee. Additionally, I had a contract with Spectrum where I was paying $25/month for internet. They stepped in and canceled the contract and changed my internet and began charging me $100/month. Then in the middle of a lease they raised the bill from $100 to $140/month. All this was done without consent. From this issue an unknown resident attempted to create an action group to try and fight this. River Oaks responded with an email condemning the actions of that resident. When it comes to maintenance issues. It is 4:30pm during business hours. I get a call from a guest in my apartment advising there was a constant stream of water coming from the ceiling of my unit. I immediately called the office advising them of the issue. They first said no you cannot call me, call another number instead. I responded with no I am calling you, the number I called was the office number on google. He then responded with ok after a brief silence, then said well the tenant needs to call to report this issue. I responded with "no I am tenant, there is water flooding my bathroom you need to get someone there," He eventually broke and sent Dave. Dave apologized for the action of the office. Finally, at move out they give you a check list of things to do in order to get your security deposit back. I completed every point. However they did not give my security deposit back. Below you can see pictures of the unit. They cited that the unit needed to be painted. This issue is important to note because the walls were clean, they did have general use but nothing out of the ordinary. When turning over a property for the next tenant it is common practice to paint between the tenants. Dave confirmed this when discussing with him months before I moved out. With every tenant when you move out there is a remaining utility balance. I paid this balance when I moved out. River Oaks proceeded to take part of my deposit to pay this. Now they have acknowledged that they need to reimburse this but i have not received the funds yet and it has been 2 months. These four issues are not the worst issues I experienced but they are the first in a long list of issues. When looking at this place look at the negative reviews. They are actually pretty accurate. These is a Facebook Group against the Holding Company The Connor Group. The BBB has a low rating for this company. Also notice the positive reviews tend to people who have have just moved in. This is because Management begs and pleads people to write reviews. Also they will be the best when you move in to get you under a lease. After you sign you slowly begin to see unethical behavior emerge.

I lived here from Aug 2024 - Aug 2025. Literally as soon as my lease was up I left. First off, when I was touring the place for the first time, the lady showing me around told me they would have a 2nd floor available and “wasn’t sure” if it be 3rd floor but would let me know”, mind you this is a gated community and I didn’t have the code yet, so there was no way I could check for myself, I had to just wait for her to tell me. I told her I was ready to apply because I fell in love with the place and PREFERRED a 2nd floor in which I told her on many occasions. This woman decides to wait until after I’ve signed the lease and come in the office to tell me that my apartment is on the 3rd floor ! I feel like she knew all along & didn’t say anything because then I wouldn’t have signed the lease and she wouldn’t have gotten her stupid commission check. I felt she took advantage of the fact that I was a 1st time renter. 2nd thing that pissed me off was when I came in to pick up the keys and see my apartment for the first time the ENTIRE carpet was soaked wet with cleaning solution. We called maintenance and the same apt lady who I signed with right away and guess their response ? “Well today was the only day the carpet cleaning service was available”? As if they weren’t available days before I moved in? That was just sloppy and cost me a pretty penny in my electric bill the following month because I had to keep that fan blowing on my carpet for almost 24hrs until it was dry. 3rd bs that happened was a fly infestation. I had just moved into the apt and it was squeaky clean so I had no clue how they came about but that was an issue and they handled that pretty well. 4th thing: packages frequently would go missing and be stolen! How ironic because it’s a gated community, but that was my last straw when I had my package stolen. I went to the apt people for help and they were 0 help. I still got my refund back on the item that was stolen from the website but it’s just the principal. I hope they’ve stepped up their security game because soo many residents would complain on the community app about stolen packages and people lost a ton of money. I’ll finish by saying this: It’s a lovely apartment and I made the best of it for that year, i know that lady who sold that apt to me doesn’t work there anymore and there’s a lot of new faces by the the time I left who were very kind and cared more. Also, maintenance was probably the best thing about this place and they were very nice. I just didn’t feel like renewing my lease at a place where I didn’t trust anymore.

We love living here at River Oaks. We haven’t always had the best experience with their property management but once Alisha started working here, our experience has been amazing! This place is also beyond being dog friendly. So much green space and a very nice dog park to play with our new puppy! Highly recommend if you are looking for a pet friendly and extremely safe community!

The apartment had potential, but our move-out process was stressful and disheartening. My husband and I were consistently reluctant to visit the office due to the receptionist’s persistently unfriendly demeanor toward us. She never greeted us warmly, and I genuinely wondered whether she could smile—until I saw her offer pleasant, smiling interactions to others. The contrast was stark and deeply unsettling. During our sublet attempt, three Latino candidates were treated with unusual scrutiny, including being asked to write their names on sticky notes—a requirement not placed on prior (non-Latino) visitors. This inconsistency was deeply troubling. In addition, each potential sublet was required to pay a $100 non-refundable application fee before even knowing if they'd be accepted. In the case of two applicants, that meant paying $200 upfront—a considerable and discouraging barrier. Despite our efforts, we were unable to secure a qualified sublet and had to pay around $6,000 to break the lease. Our deposit was also reduced due to a “cleaning fee,” despite having thoroughly cleaned the unit and made thoughtful repairs. I still remember my husband making a special trip to Home Depot the day before returning the keys, buying new bulbs and outlet covers to replace worn ones. Ironically, when we moved in, the apartment had visible debris—like hairs in drawers. Throughout this process, we also encountered frequent errors in the paperwork provided, including incorrect names and unit numbers, adding confusion and frustration to an already difficult experience. When we moved to Ohio, we were full of hope. Having lived in two warm, welcoming apartments before, my husband and I felt optimistic about River Oaks. We even signed the lease online before arriving, reassured by the previous leasing agent who kindly shared pictures with us. But in the end, I would never recommend this apartment to any of my friends.

Please look elsewhere for apartments in Columbus!!! the only redeeming things about this place are the proximity to the quarry and the maintenance crew. They were always polite, prompt, and ready to help. The leasing office is one of this biggest reasons I would never consider moving back here. There is a severe lack of communication with tenants, wether it’s online, by phone, or even in person (don’t even try to go into the office the last 30 minutes they’re open, they close early all the time without notice. There hours aren’t even updated on the app tenants use and they tried to blame me for going by those). I’ve had multiple packages stolen while living here, with no help. Not to mention you pay for the amenities they offer when they aren’t even operational (garbage would skip getting picked up then pile up frequently, bugs in unit, clubhouse was closed yet we still paid for access to it, package room door never locked and the package lockers were never used by carriers so items got stolen frequently). Not to mention living here made one of my cats extremely sick (whether it was only dog pee I found under the carpet or the mold maintenance took care of in my hvac room). The unit was disgusting when I moved in, and you can tell the landlord special has been used to hide how old this place is. And the price you pay for such an old building is outlandish. But mainly the leasing office is a pain, extremely unprofessional, and it seems like the staff/management changes every few months. Most the reviews on google are incentivized— don’t find out the hard way like I did.

I just moved into River Oaks and the process was very easy. Michelle in the leasing office was wonderful to work with and happily answered my many questions. I moved to River Oaks because a friend used to live here and recommended it to me. The unit is beautiful, with fresh paint and the carpet seems like it's brand new. The updated kitchen gives the luxury feel and the in unit laundry is awesome! So far, I'm very happy with my decision to move to River Oaks as the one bedrooms have so much room, including a spacious outdoor storage closet! Highly recommend visiting if you're looking for an updated apartment with spacious units and great amenities.