The Marlowe

Ok, so I’ve lived here 3.5 years. I’m finally moving, and boy am I glad.
The apartment buildings themselves are nice. The grounds are nice. The neighbors are ok, except for the occasional party and people who think that Laurie Lane is a drag strip. So why am I glad to be moving, you ask?
The office staff. Cathy is incompetent and rude. She mismanages the maintenance staff. If she doesn’t know something, she turns condescending and makes it somehow your fault. If you make a mistake, she’s rude instead of trying to work with you. I never had any problems with the office until Cathy came along. Honestly, Jessica should be the property manager. She’s great at her job. Friendly, prompt, and is willing to work with you.
As long as Cathy is manager, don’t move here.
Oh, and they really are overpriced, too.

Been living in one of the 3-​bedroom townhouse models for about 18 months. I’ll get to the bad parts of our experience first, and finish with the positive feedback.
First, the #1 drawback. As other reviewers have noted, the place is not well built and requires a lot of maintenance, and though it looks nice from the outside, this is at least partly superficial and masks problems like old roofing, old bathrooms, etc. (I think this is typical of 1960s-​era housing in Thousand Oaks. It certainly isn’t unique to Marlowe.) The quality of the maintenance varies a lot. Sean’s been consistently prompt and helpful with maintenance requests, but some of the larger refurbishing projects have seemed poorly executed.
Other problems with this complex (also noted by other reviewers) are the trash service fee which is applied evenly to residents regardless of your actual waste output, the excessive landscaping during a drought, and the management’s occasionally slow response to residents’ requests.
And, of course, the rent is too high. You can expect rent to be jacked up about 5−10% each year.
So in light of all that, why four stars? Layout, location, and the management staff.
I can’t speak for all of the units, but the 3-​bed townhouse model is well designed. The kitchen and pantry are large enough for our group of four people, and there’s ample storage space for all our crap. The windows allow for lots of natural light, and we love the back patio where we have room for a second dining space and for gardening.
Marlowe’s central location has been really convenient for us since we all work locally in TO. It’s pretty close to everything.
Finally, the management staff, while at times slow to respond, has gone out of their way to be helpful to us. Jessica is always friendly and on top of things, and Cathy also has been willing to take care of problems that have come up with our unit. When one of our bedrooms was temporarily put out of commission by a bad ceiling leak, we got a very fair rent concession, and compensation for repairs to furniture as well.
So, in sum, Marlowe is a little on the expensive side and not without structural issues, but it’s a good place to live and the management is professional and helpful.

Going on to a 3^rd year with Marlowe. I have had a few to drink tonight and not sure why I chose tonight to write a review but I have, so here you have it…
1) Jessica is awesome. I think we had only interacted 1 to 2 times with her before she knew who we were and what apartment we lived in. Much kudos to her cause I know this complex isn’t small.
2) We are not short of problems but they have not been enough to warrant such negative feedback I’ve seen from others but of course, I can only speak for myself (and my husband and 2 dogs).
3) I agree with a previous reviewer about the condition of the apartments. It is evident that before each new tenant, the flaws are just painted over. With wear, the painted over mildew shows through in the bathrooms (tub and ceilings). The cabinets are misaligned, some due to just the layers of paint. However, I am also a lookey-​lou (is that the word?) So sometimes I peek through other people’s homes as I walk by with my dogs and they appear to have some decent cabinetry so maybe my space is just cheaper?
4) As for maintenance, it is a hit and miss. They answer some but not all or they fix something I didn’t actually want fix and none of what I did. However, none of that stuff has been emergency issues. The only emergency issue we have had within the last 2 years we’ve lived here was responded to within 30 minutes (at about 10pm; someone called and came to our apartment) and resolved by the next morning.
5) the gym sucks… Unless you are pretty much o ly there to do cardio and during peak hours. I think the gym should be available to tenants 24 – 7
6) Our pool key only now (since they have changed locks) works at some doors, which is sort of annoying but an issue I am sure I can fix if I weren’t too lazy to go to the office to get it taken care of
7) The rent prices are reasonable. Before renewing our 2^nd and 3^rd time, I looked elsewhere. Unfortunately, having a dog over 20 lbs and now 2 that will be over 20 lbs really limits our options. So, for the amenities and the dog allowance, this place is the best for its money.
I’ll have to conntinue later cause I keep falling asleep

I’ve been meaning to write a review about this place for a while and after reading the last few recent reviews, I think it’s a good time.
We’ve been living here for about 8 months now. For us personally, we haven’t had any issues with management or maintenance. Every service request we’ve submitted has been resolved in a timely manner. The process is very simple and friendly.
I’ve been impressed with the way things are handled here for the most part; however, I have to agree with one reviewer that the grass is a bit too green given our current drought situation. If this apartment complex wanted to be forward-​thinking, they’d be one of the first in the area to go «drought friendly» by removing all the grass and replacing with drought-​friendly plants. They’d be saving the community lots and lots of money. Great selling point!
If you’re searching for an apartment in central Thousand Oaks, you’ll be remissed not to consider or even deciding to go with Marlowe. Are the apartments old? Yes, but they’ve done a great job working with what they have. All of our appliances our new, which is nice. The community is very quite and I hardly ever hear our neighbors.
If anything changes as we approach our one-​year renewal, I’ll be sure to update my review.

If the rating could go any lower it would. Seriously this place is the worst. The structure of the apartments looks great at first. Until you start realizing all the doors aren’t aligned right on their hinges, making them all stick and making a lot of space at either the top or bottom. The paint job in the entire place is terrible and the paint is just painted over and over in layers. The doors haven’t been sanded and are just slathered on with paint. Not even three months into the place we had to replace all the kitchen floor because the glue wasn’t sticking to the sideboards. Also we had a HUGE cricket problem all over our patio which never got fixed until we paid to spray the patio ourselves. The leasing office is a joke. It’s a slim chance that you actually get them on the phone. The response time is a joke. And in an emergency, where water is leaking under your sink — apparently that’s not an emergency so waiting a week is acceptable to the maintenance. To get my dog on the lease took three months when the problem could have been fixed in not even a week (literally a switch of the breed name). Oh, and that took me talking to the property manager at their other Thousand Oaks location who managed to fix the problem (kuddos to Romaine for helping us out). My boyfriend recently went in to ask about giving a rental referral for our new house (as if it’s a shocker we wouldn’t invest any more money into this place), originally Cathy going to help us as much as the office could… Until my boyfriend mentioned he wasn’t on the lease so if they would need to contact me for any sort of approvals that was more than okay. That’s when she completely shut off and told him that he wasn’t a Marlowe Neighbor and that she wouldn’t be able to answer any questions what so ever. And basically kicked him out of the office. Had he not said anything she would’ve been more than willing to give him all our information. Seriously? To contact the Prometheus management is also a joke and I still haven’t gotten a response back. And I couldn’t talk to anybody in the main office because «there was a giant flood and the only thing we can do at the time is send you to the voicemail or the person and they will contact you ASAP.» … It’s been over a month. Absolute joke.

He came. He saw. He fixed! Yesterday we had a clogged bathroom sink. Mike fixed & cleaned the stinky sink. When we first moved in, the screen was off track and ripped. He was on it, and fixed it fast! Mike has been awesome, and quick with his help. Not to mention, we know he’s been here and fixed our request because he leaves fun notes for us! «All fixed… Go Kings!»
We have had a positive experience with our apartment maintenance so far!
Thank you Mike & Jessica for responding so quickly!

Sewage is backing up into ALL the sinks. the Kitchen and the bathroom. The pipes under the kitchen and sink are leaking additionally. It’s black water and it STINKS. This is what happens when you live at the Mar Blowe.

I would agree with Leigh comments — the maintenance crew is top notch and very reliable and trustworthy. That was the best part of my experiance. On the other hand the management crew — well far from that. They flap their lips a lot, but action is not very on the mark. And best of all and just like Leigh shared and outlined, once you move out, management company take all of your deposit to «spice up» the apartment. I was flabbergasted that even after I personally cleaned, both carpets and apartment and then filled every single hole in wall that they would keep all but $ 10 of my deposit. Watch out peeps — it’s all good till you move.

I love living at The Marlowe! We just renewed our lease for the 3^rd time, and we appreciate all the management staff and maintenance crew do to help us. Everyone is always professional and nice, and quick to address problems. I have never had problems with theft, I have always felt safe and secure there! I live upstairs, so I don’t get any noise from people above me… but I never felt like the walls or floor was thin. Or at least any more thin than any other apartment complex. The pool and gym are kept up well, and they have a great room you can rent for parties. If you like to walk, this place is great. The landscape is really pretty and kept up well, and the Janns Marketplace and all the restaurants there are within walking distance. I’ve lived in many apartments in Simi and TO, and this has been my favorite.

I have been living here for a year now and so far, I have no complaints. The maintenance crew are reliable and trustworthy, the management crew is very friendly and have been accommodating in all my needs throughout my stay. Even the complex is safe and I have no issues of things in my patio getting stolen. So far the community is safe and peaceful. If I have one complaint, the floor upstairs is kind of thin that I can hear footsteps downstairs. That’s about it. I am now in the verge of moving somewhere towards LA now since I prefer to live near that area. But if I’ll go back to thousand oaks, I’ll surely go back to this apartment complex because they are all trustworthy people.

WORST apartment complex EVER! While the maintenance staff is great the management staff is terrible! Groups of teenagers jumping fences, smoking pot, stealing off your front porch among other disgusting issues and the management team does NOTHING!
Floors are thin, walls have water damage but once you try to get your deposit back they make YOU paint, clean carpets and clean EVERY nook and cranny with a Q-​tip even tho the State of CA says they can’t make you do ANY of those things!
I wouldn’t refer my worst enemy to live there. If you are looking to live at the Marlowe BEWARE AND LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE!