Nova Chapel Hill — Local services in Chapel Hill

Living here has truly been the worst apartment experience I have ever had. For the price of rent, the service is absolutely terrible. Management is virtually non-existent. They’re never in the office when it’s supposed to be open. They don’t answer your emails or phone calls. They genuinely do not care one bit about their residents. I will list all the issues I have had since moving here 8 months ago below:

• Upon moving into my apartment, there were multiple repairs needed and it was clear that management had not taken the time to properly flip the apartment after the last resident moved out. The issues included rotted floor boards, a broken exhaust fan, and a warped balcony door. I put in a maintenance request the day after I moved it and repairs didn’t happen until almost a month later.

• Upon moving in, the apartment complex did not have my mailbox key like they were supposed to. I stopped by the office nearly everyday for month and they still did not have the key. It wasn’t until I threatened to withhold rent because my first paycheck from my new job was in that mailbox that they finally got it together and found the key.

• Every single time I put in a maintenance request, I receive a message from maintenance in my resident portal that says “Resident is never home and does not answer phone.” First of all, I am home but not during the day because SHOCKER I’m a working adult. And I gave them permission when I submitted the request to enter my place when I’m not home. Secondly, they may call but I wouldn’t even know because they don’t leave a voicemail and never call from a recognizable number.

• A few months ago, one of my packages was delivered to the office instead of my front door. I attempted to get it from the office EIGHT TIMES but the office was closed during business hours. Every. Single. Time. I called and left a voicemail and no one responded. It wasn’t until I called early in the morning one day that someone actually answered. I asked if they would be working their full shift today and after they guiltily said they would I shockingly was actually able to get my package.

• When I picked up said package in the last bullet point, I notified the leasing agent that my mailbox key had fallen off my key ring and that I needed a replacement. He agreed to reach out to maintenance. The very next week, I stopped by again. He didn’t have a single update but said to stop by the next day and he would have an answer. After that, I stopped by on THREE separate occasions. All of which the office was closed DURING BUSINESS HOURS. So as of now, I have been unable to access my mail for over a month and they have ANOTHER one of my packages that I cannot access.

• I have contacted management via phone three times and left a voicemail and I emailed twice as well. I have gotten zero response and the office continues to be closed during business hours

All this to say, I wouldn’t recommend this apartment complex to my worst enemy. But, if you want to pay overpriced rent for a tiny apartment just to have your mail withheld from you and get no support from management, this is definitely the...

DO NOT MOVE HERE! Year 1: water bugs, wasps, spiders, roof leak, extremely dangerous staircase (loose rails to the point of a child possibly falling from the second floor. Year 2 to 3: ALL OF THE SAME + my employer discount was stripped with no warning AND I started being charged an additional $25 for “valet”garbage pickup ( on top of annual rent increase) for garbage that doesn’t always get picked up. It does, however, end up all over the ground outside next to the overflowing dumpsters. (That’s 3 increases in one year if you did the math) City had to be called for safety violations in order to have the staircase removed and replaced. The pool, at this point, is only accessible for about two weeks out of the entire summer season each year, the fire pit has never worked (I ask every year) and the tennis court is damaged. The pond is decent enough to walk around if you don’t mind dodging goose poop everywhere. All amenities you pay for. Year 4: ALL OF THE SAME + ceiling leak now spreading across the ceiling and down the wall at which time the, then current maintenance team manager, told me he never saw a work request. An older team member had to tell him I put it in about 2 years prior. Did I mention all 4 maintenance teams have been horrible with repairing anything on time and correctly the first time? Yes, I said 4 maintenance teams in 4 years and I believe 3 office managers and even more leasing agents. No consistency. The current leasing office told me they don’t take care of bug problems that happen outside of residents homes and it is up to the residents in response to me asking if a wasp nest, currently being built over my front door, can be removed. So maintenance doesn’t maintain outside spaces in an apartment complex??? Pictures included also show my washing machine leaking into my living room, but what you can’t see is the damage it did in the walls as it leaked into my old downstairs neighbor’s apartment all because it was installed missing a vital piece WHICH has only been repaired with a temporary band.I think I have said enough. I haven’t even said it all by the way. Oh, one more thing. I am probably catching a contact on a nightly basis thanks to my new neighbors since their smoke is now my smoke. I can’t wait to move.

Update: Now the bathroom ceiling is leaking, which most companies would consider an emergency. Not Nova! Now on the 4th or 5th maintenance team (I have officially lost count), the maintenance supervisor, so arrogantly expressed there was no need for him to come out and investigate the leak because there was nothing he could do but put in an order for the contracted company to come in and CHECK the leak sometime between Wednesday and Friday of NEXT WEEK. It is Saturday and a literal hurricane is expected to land in the next 24 to 48 hours. I do not know where these high reviews are coming...

DO NOT MOVE HERE! IT IS NOT SAFE (See issue #2). I am editing my prior review of Nova after three of my children have lived here for ~18 months. 1) The pool, an important amenity that residents pay for in the rent price, is almost never open. At most, the pool has been open 3 of the 8 months it should have been open the past two seasons. 2) The safety lights outside my daughter’s apt have been inoperable for 2-3 months due to a fire in another apartment. We have hounded Matt about getting the outside lights repaired since it is a serious SAFETY ISSUE but were told they are waiting on the insurance settlement to replace them. Last week, a man appeared at my daughter’s door at 11:00pm and scared the daylights out of her and the same night, her fiancé’s car window was broken. The next morning I sent one of my sons over with command strips and solar lights I bought. It wasn’t difficult or expensive but it did require SOMEONE caring about their safety and Nova simply doesn’t. 3) Last month, a rusted spot in the bathtub turned into a 3-inch hole so it is unusable. It was reported the same day but no one has bothered to fix it. 4) Nova charges $15/month for monthly pest control but no one has done any pest control for at least 6 months. 5) When the dishwasher broke, it took weeks for Nova to repair it and 6) when the dryer broke, it took weeks for Nova to replace it and after the new dryer arrived, it sat in a box in their living room, taking up a ton of space, for 2.5 weeks before Nova connected it (a 15-minute task). I guess since Matt, the Nova Apt Manager and Phillip, the maintenance person, weren’t having to drag THEIR laundry to a laundromat or family member’s house, it just wasn’t a priority. 7) Shortly after my daughter moved in, the main toilet broke and when Nova replaced it, my daughter’s fiancé asked them to replace the rusted flange but Nova chose not to. Instead, they repeatedly used sealant on a rusted flange so naturally, the new toilet also broke and was inoperable for 2 or 3 months. If you are seeking an apartment without a functional toilet, dryer, dishwasher, or outside lights for weeks or months at a time and you’ve been looking for a place that will charge you for a pool you can’t use and pest control they don’t provide, then this is the place for you. Sign a lease today or better yet, you can sublet my daughter’s unit! If you actually need functional appliances and prefer to use the amenities you pay for, then you should keep looking. Matt, when we met, you struck me as a good guy, which is why my first review was so positive. If you are willing to make this right, you have my number. I’m far more interested in solutions than writing...