University Garden — Local services in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

If I could give them negative stars I would!! NEGATIVE 10! ! I've been living here for a year now. I'm SOOO TIRED OF THIS PLACE! I lived in the high rise. It's $485 a month, which is the only reason I signed the lease. But, the pools are constantly green and growing smudge, or whatever the thick green sludge is, along the edges. The doors are all cheap, you can hear everything out in the halls as if your door wasn't closed. One time walking into my apartment, I could hear the neighbor getting on his "business" as if the door was open when it was completely shut. I was embarrassed and ran into my apartment. The hallways, though just renovated, smell like old buildings and are very stuffy. I have two ACs in my apartment. Both worked WONDERFULLY the first day I moved in. Everyday after and continuing, THEY HAVE NOT WORKED. They have CONSTANTLY BEEN A WASTE OF ELECTRICITY. I've contacted maintenance and they've come out twice, both after multiple calls, and they still do not work, simply blows room temperature air. Also, the office alarm has a habit of going off at 11pm, 12 am, all through 5am. At first I thought it was an accident. Now it happens constantly at least once every two weeks. ITS VERY IRRITATING when you have to work at 8am or classes! Don't live here unless you really don't have any money. Otherwise, it's decent enough. I'm just extremely tired of it. Also, the parking lot is full of cracks and potholes and the spacing is wrong so a lot of times you get stuck trying to get out.

Update!! This place is even worse!! After their fake renovations, they are now demanding $100 more!! And it's not even worth it! I have no idea where the rent is going because maintenance can't seem to fix anything in a timely manner. Their painters "renovating" the front of the high rise ripped off my screen door and it took a month and a half for the guys to come fix it!! I put in 4 requests!! There is a roach infestation!! The pest control is constantly by! But no matter, there are still thousands! No matter how much I clean there are still thousands of them!! Also, apparently they don't have enough money for real renovations since the elevator from time to time is broken and only the front side of the highrise is capable of being painted. Also the $5 increase in trash is unreasonable since they still only have one trash disposal that was broken for a week. And apparently they can't do anything right. Since I refuse to stay in this horrid enviornment I've been applying to other apartments. After two weeks of not having my rent history faxed I had to call the office and walk down there repeatedly to make sure they had gotten the fax for my renter history request so I can be approved at the other place. They lost BOTH the 1st as nd 2nd requests faxed. One old lady with glasses was soo rude! She asked me "What do you want?!" after I TOLD THEM 3 TIMES!! AND ON DIFFERENT TRIPS! And then told me she didn't have time to deal with me cause she was in the middle of a "renewal" after she had just been running around talking to the maintenance guys who clearly were not doing anything! The next day my rent history was STILL NOT SENT! The apartment I was applying to just gave up and overrode it saying they trusted me and accepted me into their complex. University Gardens is clearly a TERRIBLE PLACE! Do NOT LEASE HERE!! WASTE OF MONEY! They will not work with...

I know this is long, but this is very important to read if you are considering living here.

Before I go on, please be aware that practically no apartment or community will ever get rated 5 stars honestly. Be wary of waves of 5-star reviews, as management companies do not shy away from attempting to tip their averages higher by offering benefits to their tenants.

I don't need to talk about the roach infestation, the foul-smelling hallways, the incompetence and disorganization found in the offices, or the seemingly non-existent screening process that the management supposedly employs for applying tenants. I have two words for you: Bed bugs.

My girlfriend and I lived here for two years and really weren't incredibly bothered by the lack of cleanliness of the complex or some of the items mentioned above. It was an insanely cheap place to live and we knew there would be severe drawbacks. It was halfway through our second year that something that was supposed to be amazing happened: we were going to get a new A/C unit (the other one could barely keep the 1-bedroom apt cool enough to not sweat). One week late, but still very welcomed, two gentlemen arrived one afternoon to do the installment and remodeling. They were cordial and--even though it was painfully obvious they had absolutely no idea what they were doing--very nice and we were happy to have their services. I talked to him about the delay and he said we were the last apartment to get the new model (I get it, we were on the top floor) and that they actually visited a great deal of the apartments that afternoon to put final touches on the units. They finished up, leaving noticeable gaps around the unit that rendered the new A/C somewhat useless, and two days later my girlfriend woke up with red, itchy bumps on her back. We were in denial. Neither of us had slept or even laid down anywhere other than our own apartment for weeks, and here were were with bed bugs in our apartment. Better yet, it was brought into our home by apartment maintenance workers. I reported this to the office to which I was told I could not prove my case. Ever had bed bugs? You have to throw away everything that is made of cloth or is encased in a similar material. That is, unless you would like to seal it in a bag for at least 1 year to be sure all the critters are dead. In addition, we had to stay in a hotel while a professional exterminator took care of the apartment--having to remove light switch covers, treat even our framed wall art, etc. Of course, the apartment paid for at least some of this? Absolutely not. If I were to guess--with the hotel room and the exterminator, and not to mention the sheer stress of it all--we spent about $700 to fix a problem caused by the complex. More importantly, that number doesn't reflect the money needed to replace clothing, bags, and furniture we had no choice but to throw out. All that being said, let me remind you that I am not going into detail about (as stated above) the roach infestation, the foul-smelling hallways, the incompetence and disorganization found in the offices, or the seemingly non-existent screening process that the management supposedly employs for applying tenants.

Do not live here. You will regret it. If not for any reason stated here, then...

The entire complex has a German roach infestation. I lived there for maybe 10 days and couldn't handle it anymore. The first apartment (I7) I was supposed to move into had a broken window, it was filthy and had baby roaches crawling in it. I was offered off brand bug spray as an option. They reluctantly allowed me to stay in the model for a few days until they could find me some place else. I was then moved a few apartments down (H10). They said that there had been a full clean out and that I should have any issues. Once I started to move in I awoke the infestation. They were EVERYWHERE. I had one crawl across my leg in the bed. In the 2nd bedroom. In the bathroom. In the fridge. The oven. Everywhere I looked. Turns out the previous tenant (who lives below) had hygiene that was not so great and brought on the infestation, which is why she moved but the problem lingered. It wasn't just my apartment either. In the short time I was there I mean about 5 or 6 other resident who lived in different buildings who also told me about their roach problem. The girl Eryn at the front desk even told me I wasn't the only person to come to her with this concern. They have gone through three or four pest control companies because they refuse to pay the extra money to take care of the residents. There was nothing I could do to stop the problem. I called orkin and he said to even attempt to get it under control it could take up to a year and then after that there would still be more work to be done. I was getting sick not only from the bugs but from all the chemicals I would spray to try to stop the issue. In the end I had to leave because no one should have to live like that. Even my neighbors left. I contacted the health department, the management company that owns it as well as a law firm. In the end I got a letter from them charging me over $2,000 for leaving even if it was because the place was inhabitable due to their lack of concern. Besides the roach issue the buildings are really old, walls are paper thin, the surrounding area is run down. I don't want anyone to go through what I did which is why I wrote this. They make it seem like it is such a great place to live but its not. The only person on the staff who genuinely cares is Eryn. Please go find another place to live and spend the extra money to live happily because it will not happen at...