The Cottages of Durham, durham-nh

Living at The Cottages has been a positive experience overall, though not without its drawbacks. When I first came across The Cottages through a quick Google search for “UNH apartments,” I was immediately drawn in. The ad highlighted many of my must-haves: a private bathroom, a full kitchen, air conditioning and heat, WiFi, and furnished living spaces. Additional amenities like the gym, hot tub, sauna, and proximity to a shuttle were nice bonuses. Most of my must-haves have lived up to expectations, with one notable exception: the WiFi. There have been multiple outages, including during exam weeks, which significantly impacted my ability to study and complete assignments. While a new internet provider is reportedly being introduced, the delay in addressing such a critical issue reflects a lack of urgency in maintaining essential services. After living here for less than a year, I have also added another priority to my list when searching for future housing: sound insulation. I have never considered myself a light sleeper, but the lack of soundproofing between walls and separate floors made it difficult to get consistent rest. Everyday movements, such as walking or getting ready, are clearly heard throughout the unit. This remained an issue despite my use of earplugs, white noise machines, a fan, and even rugs placed upstairs. In summary, The Cottages offer many appealing features and a convenient location. However, the handling of essential amenities like internet service and the poor sound insulation are important concerns that future residents should take into account.

Almost all of the 5-star reviews are from Cottages employees or people who have only toured the property and do not have experience living in the community. The Cottages of Durham is run as a money-hungry business and will undermine any residential issue claiming it is "in the lease", otherwise managers Samantha (Sammie) and Nakieda will become virtually unavailable to talk to residents/guarantors. If you go to the office they will say they are in a meeting and hide in their office with the door closed until the resident leaves. This community is a fair option compared to other housing options in Durham, it comes furnished, and it is a luxury to have your own room and bathroom. However, the bus does not bring you to campus after 6pm on Fridays and only stops from 11am-3pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Visitors via car will be towed if they do not secure one of the fifty guest passes before they are all reserved. The maintenance team is good and very active in the community to try and resolve the many mold issues and pipe bursts. The hot tub maintenance seems to be overlooked, the parts needed to fix the hot tub were on "backorder" for several months. If you are on the fence about living at the cottages or renting a house with a landlord, I recommend renting the house. It may cost less than paying rent, water/sewage, electricity, and gas... along with any charges you may get for paint chips or pre-existing damage that you didn't report upon the first 24 hours of your lease. The picture is mold I found in my closet while moving out.

Any good reviews are made by students who have just toured and are asked to leave positive reviews by tour guides. I would know, because that was my experience. If I could turn back time and rent at Madcom again, I would. I would never live here again. They are lacking in every single way possible. Where can I even think to begin? Probably with the wifi experiencing full outages during not only midterms, but finals. The Cottages uses Single Digits, the cheapest and most unreliable internet service available. We went almost a week without wifi one time. During the winter, you will trudge through feet of snow. They do not do snow removal until sometimes almost a week after the snow has fallen. Ice doesn't get salted, be prepared to buy your own and have your own shovels. In the house, it is disgusting. They never power washed our deck and porch prior to move in. Mold, wolf spiders, and wasp nests everywhere. Our water came through our ceiling one day. The water is so full of sulfur, it smells as though somebody defecated in the pipes. Brushing my teeth is nauseating. The HVAC system is horrendous. We keep it set to a reasonable 69 degrees, and our upstairs regularly sits at about 75 degrees. Something is wrong with the condenser, it constantly cycles up and down without rhyme or reason. It is so far from campus. The buses are unreliable and barely run outside of class time. Utilities and expenses add up incredibly. It is not cheap. Amenities are always unworking. Living here has been draining, gross, and made my senior year difficult. I'm sure they'll thank me for my review and honest experience. They'll never do anything to change the way of living is here. Save yourself, live anywhere else.

Maintenance was prompt and reactive with our concerns, outside of that I would not recommend leasing with The Cottages. Overall construction of the houses were very cheap, very thin walls, lots of wind noise, you can hear everyone's moves in the house. But that's to be expected in a larger mass produced campus neighborhood. Initial move went fine and well, around 6 months in, I began to get sick, and we found LOTS of black mold in our boiler room which had been there for at least a year. We were moved into a different unit on the spot, which we later found also had black mold in it. While moving our stuff, we overheard the maintenance guys chatting with ServePro, and joking about how they have become frequent flyers with them as so many units have had these issues (or bursting sink pipes according to our former neighbors) We had to move on the spot, and they had ServePro come in as we were moving out. While we were packing, they set up fans and started blowing them directly into my 17 year old cat's crate while I packed up her stuff for the impromptu move... A little upset about that. After 2 months, I had to move out due to relocating for work and such, and relet my unit following their process. This was settled in June for a late July move out. At the end of August, I received an invoice via mail (instead of the resident portal like they usual do) with nearly $500 in fees, $300 was the relet fee which I expected but the rest were charges I have paid along with my rent... I have reached out to the email listed on the invoice weekly, as they stated not to reach out to the leasing office, and not a single response back... I have yet to hear back from A Hughes, nor have I received my security deposit back. Coming from a college student who had paid for his rent and fees himself, I feel as though their only focus was taking our money, and shutting us out for all else. I am not recommending The Cottages to anyone for future renting needs, I had far better experiences with other on campus options for even less rent.

Often times service requests don't get done right away or they say they are done, but aren't. Units aren't really cleaned prior to move in. My house smelt like dog & the floors were filthy. For the price we are paying, a thorough clean of the house should have been done. Prices are very expensive compared to other American Campus communities. I lived there for two years, my rent went up $50 for my second year. Management is a revolving door. Nobody seems to know what’s going on either. However, Student CA’s were great. Overall, I would not recommend this place. Go to the Lodges or somewhere on main street. Not worth your money and they try to stick you with random charges you have to pay. Plus a $250 sublet fee just to get out of your lease. Hot tub was broken for 5+ months too, paying for amenities that don’t even work.