The Cottages Dothan — Local services in Dothan

When I first moved in in March 2025, Caroline was the manager. The move in process was very smooth and I was very impressed with everything including Caroline, and the maintenance team. However, Caroline went on maternity leave in June 2025. Since then, the new assistant manager has taken over and she is lackluster and subpar in every way.

Last week, I called at the office MULTIPLE times over 3 days. On days 2 and 3 (Wednesday and Thursday) I left a voicemail wanting to know when my lease ended and an ETA on when I needed to put a notice in for my non renewal. No response. Not an email, not a call back, NOTHING. I didn’t have my lease readily available as it was saved on a computer I don’t have access to and I didn’t have access to the resident portal (been having issues since day 1 with my portal).

On Saturday, I went to my apartment for the first time in over a month, as I am almost never at my cottage. I received a notice on my door that I owed $122 - for which I had no idea what it was for. The letter, dated July 10, said I had 7 days to pay before an eviction process. I saw the notice on my door July 26, 9 days after it was “due”. I went to the leasing office immediately and patiently waited to speak to the assistant manager. When I was finally able to speak to her, she immediately greeted both myself and my friend with a sour face and attitude. I politely told her I received the notice and questioned what it was for and if I needed to pay it on the spot or just wait to pay it with my rent. I also apologized and told her I would have paid it much sooner had I known about it via an email or phone call because I am never home. She abruptly and rudely stated that “we are only legally required to post it on your door”. I said “okay, well I’m almost never home and I can’t pay it if I don’t know about it”. With it being a potential eviction fine, I would have expected better/urgent communication. She then said “it looks like the fee was reversed”. If that was the case, the note should have been removed from my door or an email/phone notification informing me of the reversal.

After the fee conversation, I said “I’ve been reaching out over the last few days and left a couple of voicemails and have not heard back. I am looking to see when my least formally ends and when I need to enter my notice to vacate.” Again, rudely she answered with “do you not have your lease with you to show that?” I said “not readily available”. She ROLLED HER EYES before giving me the information I was looking for. It took her 2 minutes to do this. TWO!

Once I signed my notice to vacate (because I certainly don’t want to renew with her in a management position), she gave me her business card. She snarkily said “I’m a one person show right now. If you need me, email is the best way to reach me”. Ummm EXCUSE ME?! I left you 2 voicemails and called several times several days ago and you couldn’t bother to acknowledge them?! Isn’t that as easy as answering an email? Caroline was a one person show for quite some time and she handled it with grace. If she couldn’t get it immediately, she would let me at least know she would work on it. The new girl is truly a poor look for the community that I know caroline has worked very hard to keep in a good position.

Further, some kind of rent Dropbox should be available, especially when there is only one person working the office. I was almost late on my rent because I wasn’t able to ever catch someone in the office this past July. Not the new asst managers fault, just an observation.

I give this place 3/5 stars because Caroline. I know she will be back and will have this place back to 5 stars in no time. Maintenance Lawn care team/grounds upkeep

-2. For the new assistant manager. Truly a gross attitude and not made for property management in...

updatedon Aug 24th, 2025 I was told that The Cottages reported to my Credit that I owed past due rent from my eviction. Went to the Cottages on Aug 19th to show them the court paper signed by the judge that I had payed it in full and it was to be picked up at the Dale county courthouse. The owner Mr. Meyers was there and proceeded to tell me that I was not allowed on the property and I had a restraining order against me. Which, I laughed and said no I don’t, call the cops. Instead he called his lawyers and in the meantime one of his office staff made a copy of my court paper signed by the judge and showed it to the owner. After some time, Mr. Meyers came back in the bldg (no cops showed up BTW, bc I caught him in a lie) and said the wording is to vague and I needed to show receipts from Dale county courthouse that I actually paid it. 🙄 uh, no I don’t, the COURT paper is the receipt and it says The Cottages dothan, shall receive the amount of $ 5680, PREVIOUSLY PAID INTO THE CLERK OF COURT BY THE DEFENDANT (which is me) for the appeal bond $2840 and rent owed $2840 ( add that up it totals $ 5680) The clerk of court is hereby ordered to remit said funds to counsel for plaintiff. I believe you received the $5680 from your lawyers and still thought I owed you 2mths rent bc you have no idea that when a tenant is fighting an eviction, they have to pay the rent into the court house. Instead of admitting that YOU messed up and fixing the problem with me, you became defiant and lie again about a restraining order. You sir need to take courses on how to run a sustainable business, instead of bullying your residents when they stand up for themselves. You are a coward, lier and a bully. As a human being you should be ashamed of yourself.

They are over priced rentals for what you get. The brand new appliances are horrible. The refrigerator kept freezing my milk & water. One of the stove top burners wouldn’t work. The dishwasher doesn’t dry the dishes. The fire detectors go off ALL THE TIME whether you’re burning a candle or just heating up the stove.

They advertise quarterly bug spraying & air conditioner filter replacement. However, in the 10 mths living there it was only done 1 time. The sprinklers rarely work. The State of the Art fitness center is a joke. In the 6 mths it’s been open several of the machines have already broke. You can’t use any of the apps on the machines unless you pay for it out of pocket. Which is ridiculous when you are already paying an outrageous amount in rent. The resort style pool is ok. The lounge chairs are very uncomfortable. The hot tub is being used as a kiddie pool. You can smell pot coming out of many units when walking around...

If you decide to stay here, be warned. We had a small breed dog who rarely ever has accidents. We paid a security deposit and pet fee. Our lease ended and we are expected to cover what was 1,000 for the carpet but after our deposit left us owing 300. Point is be warned this may be an expected fee after you leave. I have stayed in multiple apartments and have never owed the apartment complex money. We were not told this at our signing. If you decide to stay here, expect to owe. We also had to find out from other tenants that multiple cars were broken into during our stay. Management did not create any open communication on this ordeal and it made us very uncomfortable. I literally found out while I was on a run my neighbor stopped me to make sure I was okay and that my vehicle was okay.

To add to the point of uncomfortable, they come into your apartment unannounced to “check the air filter” or “spray for pest control” for multiple day spans. It’s not time slots so for the next couple days you are to prepare for someone to randomly come into your space. I worked night shift at the time, living by myself, and at 10 am two grown men banged on the door from pest control while I was asleep and I guess assumed if no answer could come in. This gave me crazy anxiety because I never knew when they would come. Great space for couples. The apartment is what you make it. Management on the other hand… makes staying there not worth it. This apartment complex needs to work out a couple kinks to...