Apartment Review for Runaway Bay Apartments

I have been living at this complex for several months now. When I initially moved in, the staff was helpful and accomodating. Those staff members have since left. I will start with the positive. Unfortunately, the only positive thing I can say is that the maintenance staff is great and quick to respond. Maintenance repsonsiveness is certainly a major issue, but that's the only thing they do well here.

Now for the neagative :( I want to qualify this by saying I have lived in several different apartment communities, mostly in Florida, but also in NYC and Boston. This is one of the worst complex's I have ever lived in. This is not the best of areas and the rent is pretty cheap in comparison to the surrounding areas. The office staff is consistently overwhelmed because of lack of staff with too much work. So, when you go into the office, you are ignored and have to wait in line (for something as simple as picking up a package) for them to attend to several other potential customers. They care much more about getting you in here then about those who are already paying residents. They never answer the phone It's very impersonal. :( The gate system is a ridiculous joke. It doesn't really keep people out and the system is very old and doesn't allow for out of area code numbers to be programmed in.

They advertise themselves as a pet friendly community and they indeed allow pets for ridiculous fees. That's to be expected; the annoying part of it is, they do not provide waste bins or doggie bags anywhere on the property. I have never lived in a community where I had to pay extra for parking AND trash pick up. Every month, my rent is over $100 more than the base rate because of pet fees, trash, parking, fees, etc. Ironicially, I have never lived in a place with such poor trash service. There are 2 seperate entrances and the complex does not connect, so you can only get to your apartment through one entrance. There is one trash bin per entrance. As you can imagine, the trash is always overflowing and disgusing. Also, for those of us living in the back using the back gate, the trash bin is the first thing you see as you drive in and it is quite the eyesore. The whole community is filled with trash. People put trash on their cars to drive it to the bin and they forget, or it falls off along the way, and no one picks it up. There are several ducks and birds all over the places, so there is a lot of bird waste all over the community. I have found residents to be very inconsiderate and leave their trash out in the hallways for days with foul odor and attracting ants/bugs. Residents typically have many more people living with them then what is on the lease, and it tends to be loud at all times.

I could go on and on. I have not talked to anyone who is happy here and I also don't know of anyone in my building who has renewed their lease! The apartment themselves are ok. I could not afford the upgraded model, so my apartment is old and very worn. I don't recommend this place. I chose it primarily because of a small budget, but it has not been the best of experiences and I am looking forward to moving on.