The Estates

"Terrible. As everyone else has said, all the bad things mentioned and experienced are indeed true. Dirty apartments, unclean conditions upon move-in, maintenance requests that are never fully completed. Among the myriad of terrible experiences, we had a possum in the crawl space above our ceiling (we live on the top floor). It took weeks and weeks of service requests and maintenance workers saying "Are you sure you're ACTUALLY hearing an animal up there?" for them to finally set traps and get rid of the thing. I had a possum crawling around over my head for about 4 weeks before they finally agreed to trap it. Also, me and my two roommates are all graduate students, and thus start classes earlier than the typical move-in dates given. When we signed our lease - IN MARCH, 6 months ahead of move-in - we were assured by the manager we would be allowed an early move in date. As time approached, we persistently called, and were told every single time we called "We promise, you will be able to move in as soon as your apartment is ready. " Well we ended up not being able to move in until the MORNING AFTER the normal move-in date, because it took them longer than normal to clean our unit. I had to live out of my car for the first 3 days I was back in town before I finally had time to move in. Good office staff, but dirty, sketchy, neglected apartments and only getting worse."

"The apartment was dirty when we moved in. Found a bag of pot in the kitchen cabinets so it was apparent that no one had come to clean in any way. Damage to countertops and kitchen floor and carpet was disgusting. Many things were broken and work orders take days to be reviewed. The front office staff is usually nice but not very knowledgeable. Very disorganized office system. Lost my mail, manager never got back with me. Had to email every staff member for 3 days before I received a response. Even then, they weren't helpful and kept trying to blame me. Manager hides in her office and has the staff tell people that she's not there. Refuses to talk to residents except for the complex-wide emails about rent reminders. Will definitely not be living here again."

"The absolute worst. Everything said is true. When I moved into my apartment, the previous tenants had left meat in the freezer when they left and then unplugged the refrigerator. Even after the maggots were taken care of, the smell persisted for months and after placing three online work orders, two in person, and two on the phone from both me and my mother, I was given a couple boxes of baking soda. The fridge was never replaced. Our A/C was broken most of the 2 years I lived there so we always had overages. The entire place was filthy. Because one of my roommates renewed her lease, they never did a complete deep clean of the apartment between tenants. The carpets were dirty and torn and the tiles had all just been waxed on top of dirt and hair so you could never get it out. Every conversation with the office was like pulling teeth. God forbid I ask for the pest control that comes "included in my rent" when there are roaches in my apartment. They frequently "lost" my rent payments and tried to charge me late fees. Somehow, I did not get laden down with charges when I moved out, but my friend and her two roommates ended up owing over $700 each to replace a carpet that had been damaged when they moved in. The pool and the hot tub would be nice if they weren't always completely dirty and filled with leaves, bugs, and god only knows what else, if the hot tub was turned on at all. The security gates almost never work so they're usually left open, which is actually nice, because about halfway through my time living there they decided to change the gate code and then lie and tell everyone that there was no gate code at all, but you also can't use the call box to call all residents because only certain area codes worked, so basically I had to physically walk down and let every guest in with my pass. Which was especially great because the cheap little plastic on mine broke so it would no longer connect to a key chain and was falling apart and had to be carried separately and when I asked for a replacement they tried to charge me $30 for it. And then that time when they changed the locks over winter break and I called to tell them that I would be getting back into town after hours and would need to get my replacement keys. The girl at the office assured me I could call the after hours maintenance number and they would open the door. I actually called back to confirm the number because I knew how likely it was that something would go wrong. Sure enough, I get to Gainesville and call this "after hours maintenance" number about 20 times and it just rings endlessly, I couldn't even leave a message. None of my other roommates were back in town and I was locked out of my own apartment at 12 am without ever so much as an apology. They give you windows of 1-2 weeks of when they will be doing inspections and as others said, will unlock and burst into personal bedrooms at any time of day. I worked 12am-6am shifts at this time and was woken up constantly at 8 or 9 am for things like a "blinds inspection" or "fire sprinkler inspection" after arguing through the door for ten minutes with my hand on the deadbolt, trying to get dressed without being intruded on by snippy little women on a "schedule". 0/5. The absolute worst. Taking advantage of college kids who don't know better for decades."

"I lived here for three years and the only reason I didn't leave earlier was because of the hassle of moving in general. The only good thing about this place is its location to the UF campus, the management is horrible. They are EXTREMELY rude and are horrible at communication. During my move out I had to call them almost everyday to find out my charges, and every day I was given a new number. When I became frustrated with the accountant regarding the inconsistency, she yelled at me and said that there was nothing she could do about the people who had given me lower figures for my final rent installment the previous day. Also, about a year ago, the toilet in my bathroom broke down 7 times in three months- I put in work order for half of the times this happened and the other times, I called the front office personally to let them know that this was a recurring issue and that I wanted a long term solution. Rather than helping me, they rudely told me that I was probably the problem. It was only after getting other individuals involved did they finally replace the toilet. Overall, this apartment complex is pretty decent, but I would never ever consider living here again due to the management. They have consistently been unhelpful, sarcastic, and generally rude over my three years there as a resident."

"So this is my second year living here and i am glad to say I am leaving. The only reason I stayed an extra year was because I was not familiar with the city and was scared that another complex could actually be worse than this. But i had it and decided to take my chances. The only good thing about this place is maintenance; they are all super nice and will help you out as soon as possible. However, the management team is horrible. They just got rid of their old team and brought in new people who have made the place even more strict (not in a good way). The club house is now closed by 6pm so you can't hang out with your at all after this. They charge you for just about everything and anything. If you have a utility overage they won't let you know until the very last day and then send you an email saying you are now late on your fee have to pay 40 plus dollars for it. They don't care about their residents, all they care about is money! On another note, the place is not as cute as they make it seem. The rooms are tiny and the apartments themselves are super old, yet they charge like $520 for a 4/4. This place is NOT worth this money and headaches at all."