Yugo Highbranch Gainesville

If you are a parent reading this review, I want you to pay very close attention to what I say. This place is an absolute nightmare to deal with and, if you are looking for a complex that will give you peace of mind that your child is safe and taken care of in their housing, this is not the place for you. Not only does this complex ask you to sign your paperwork and get your keys before you even go to your unit to inspect it for problems, you can rest assured that the problems you do find will not be dealt with in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe. Over the course of the last year I have called the office no less than two dozen times, only to be treated unprofessionally by its employees who are unresponsive every time we have an issue. I have thought very seriously about consulting with an attorney and putting together a class-action lawsuit because you will not meet anyone who is satisfied with their living situation at Yugo Highbranch. Please pay attention to this review because I can guarantee you that you Will remember it every time you have a problem if you choose to live here.

I am extremely disappointed with the conditions of this school housing. The cost of living here is far too high for the level of maintenance and care being provided. For several days, the girls have repeatedly complained about the air conditioning not working properly, yet nothing has been fixed. The temperature inside the rooms has been around 85 degrees, which is completely unacceptable and creates an unhealthy and uncomfortable living environment. No student paying these prices should have to live in those conditions. What is most concerning is the lack of urgency and accountability from management. Instead of addressing the issue promptly, complaints seem to be ignored. At this point, residents are beginning to consider legal action if the situation is not resolved immediately. Students deserve safe, properly maintained housing — especially when paying those prices. This situation needs to be corrected without delays!

I don’t usually leave reviews, but my experience at The Retreat Gainesville warrants one. The biggest issue by far is management. They are extremely difficult to reach by phone, and even showing up in person often feels like pulling teeth just to get basic help. Communication is poor, follow-through is inconsistent, and resident concerns clearly aren’t a priority. WiFi is unreliable, and maintenance requests routinely take far longer than they should. The most frustrating part of my experience was a lease takeover. For several months this past fall, I tried to complete the required paperwork, but the online system did not even list my floor plan or room as an option—despite being told the new tenant had to select them. I went to the office repeatedly and was continually told “it’ll be fixed in a few days,” with no alternative process offered, even after asking multiple times. While I understand this was a software issue, there should be a manual workaround when residents are paying significant transfer fees. The issue was only taken seriously after I contacted upper management, and it was finally resolved at the end of December after months of unnecessary effort on my end. On top of that, I was charged a $500 lease transfer/relet fee and was explicitly told it would not go toward cleaning or redecorating the unit (essentially pure profit for them conveniently). Because of this, I deep-cleaned not only my room but the entire apartment for the next tenant. Despite that, I was later told I would only receive about half of my security deposit back, with no clear explanation and several questionable move-out charges. I have followed up multiple times asking for clarification on what was deducted—especially since nothing should have been—and have yet to receive any response. I handled my time here with patience and more leniency than I should have. Given the amount of inconvenience and lack of professionalism throughout the lease transfer, I don’t believe I should have been charged the $500 fee at all—let alone lose a significant portion of my deposit afterward. The property itself is fine, but management seriously detracts from the experience. I would strongly caution anyone considering living here to factor that in.

Ever since they switched management companies it has been impossible to reach anyone in the front office, and in addition, trying to access the resident portal in order to pay rent, put in a maintenance request, etc. has been impossible due to problems they’ve had trying to put current residents into the new resident portals. During their supposed “open” hours no one is answering phones and half the time the phones send you to an automated messaging system. In addition, ever since management companies have switched the WiFi has been entirely nonexistent, making everyone unable to do schoolwork without any problems. I had no issues and loved everyone working in the office as well as I have always been able to get to someone by calling before they switched management companies. Do better!

STAY FAR AWAY FROM THE RETREAT GAINESVILLE UPDATE- Retreat replied with an AI generated reply, so if you think they’re going to care about you they won’t, they don’t even bother to write their own replies. Where do I start, Internet is very bad, doesn’t work at the busiest time of the day. Taking a honorlock exam on the wifi is very questionable decision, always worry it will drop. Coming back to this now over a year later. Had many problems with the retreat over my 3 years. Biggest issue was moving into a room that didn’t have a bathroom door, no door at all. (Definitely charged the person that lived before and never replaced it in time) I included pictures because to this day I still can’t believe it, also of all the bad finishes and dirty parts of the apartment on move in day. Took over a month for maintenance to install a new one and even then it was the wrong door and size. Took over a week to get it properly adjusted and still wouldn’t close properly. Maintaince crew wasn’t on top of their game, saw them drinking outside of the Gator Liquor store right outside of the retreat as I would walk back to class at noon. Submitted over 20 complaints and calls and nothing was done with the management after Sam left to the legacy and was replaced with Felicia (who responds to reviews to have a positive image, but never does anything about them) . Whole property went down hill after she left. Next issue was being charged over $300 for a mattress I didn’t even use upon moving out due to “damages” it’s a terrible quality mattress that’s not even worth half. Had to pay it to move into my new unit at the retreat. Another issue, Gave me the wrong room for my new unit even though I was the first to sign to it. Once I resigned at that unit, they wouldn’t give me a $250 gift card that was promised when renewing my lease, never got it, but not surprised because they’re know for trying to not give out promised gift cards, happened to three of my friends as well. And now even after moving out they’re trying to charge me for bs charges. Didn’t get my intial deposit back to cover the charges they deemed I did, in this case a carpet. Now they’re trying to charge me $300 on top of it for a new carpet months after leaving and using sending it to collections as a threat to try and force any pennies they can get out of residents. A brand new cheap carpeting for the whole room that the retreat uses isn’t worth that. These are only the issues off the top of my head. Also aren’t answering emails after a week and won’t pick up the phone even though I call early, sends to voicemail. I would look at other apartments when looking for a place in Gainesville, not worth the headaches here’s, feel stupid for spending over 30k during my time here. DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID