Review for The Durham Apartments

This has been one of the worst places I have ever lived. In the year that I lived at the Durham I had many issues, maintenance was horrible, management was a total joke, and the building as a whole was not all that great.

To start off when I initially looked the Durham Apartments the office staff was nice, the building looked ok and it seemed like it would be a great place to call home. After getting moved in and getting settled I started noticing little things; mold, poor upkeep of the building, and just overall un-concern from the office. When I moved in my apartment was not clean at all, the kitchen had a thin layer of grease all over everything, the bathrooms were gross - floors were sticky and counter tops still had crap from the previous resident (toothpaste, mystery crust) the laminate was coming off the counter top in the main bathroom, the toilet was leaking and had a thin layer of mold underneath the tank along with a mess behind the toilet from the leaking.

When I initially moved into the Durham Apartments they had me parking in the South towers parking garage. I lived in the North tower. I brought this up to the office as soon as I moved in – they would constantly say “come back next week and well see what we can do” – this went on for almost the whole time I lived there. Once the new manager #2 came into the picture I was moved to the North tower parking garage. This was a major headache mostly because I felt like a was chasing my tail the whole time, had someone said no, we cannot move your parking spot – I probably would have dropped it and been content with where I was.

The first three months I lived at the Durham I had to heat my apartment with a space heater because the furnace was broke and maintenance had no clue how to fix it. This never did get fixed initially; once it warmed up the AC mysteriously worked and they decided not to do anything about it till the following Fall. Once Fall came it was like getting teeth pulled to get it fixed. After the maintenance manager (#2) almost electrocuted himself they decided to get an outside vendor to come fix it

While property manager #1 & #2 worked at the Durham apartments the office staff had this “Just Deal with It” attitude – never gave a crap about anything. “Fill in” property manager #3 seemed to have some concern for people but had this strange way of trying to fog the truth. When one would talk about the mold problem in the building; he would refer to it as “discoloring” not mold. Leakey windows were not from neglect it was from “poor design” quite entertaining to some degree. Property manager #4 has this “I care – But I really don’t” When confronted with some issues regarding my security deposit common sense was about 1% and greed was 99%. (I will get into this in more detail later).

Maintenance was absolutely horrible. Anything that came up usually took at least three or four times to fix. While the maintenance guys were always nice, they never seemed to have a clue how to fix anything. Maintenance manager #2 must have gotten some brain washing from “Fill-in Property Manager” #2 – I had a good laugh when I brought up the mold in my second bathroom, he also referred to it as discoloring – even going so far as saying “we call it discoloring because residents don’t like hearing that there’s mold in the building” – Interesting.

One of the most annoying aspects of maintenance & management for me was when I had to make repairs on my own. Maintenance replaced my screens on my patio doors because they were full of holes. Only problem is the ones that they replaced them with were in worse shape then the ones I had. Out of pure disgust I took them out and brought them to the local hardware store myself. I forked out almost $100 getting screens replaced; now getting nothing in return even with proof (receipts) that they were replaced. Management was a real peace of work on this subject.

At one point last summer, I was having some issues that never seemed to get taken care of. I was getting so mad nothing was getting done; I went to the office one day and they told me to “just deal with it” I snapped. I ended up going to the main office in Chicago and getting in touch with the President of RMK – the management company that oversees the Durham Apartments. Then and only then did anything get taken care of – other than my parking issue.

As a whole rent is way over priced for what you get at the Durham Apartments. Most apartments in the Edina area have in unit laundry, free cable, and better common areas – along with much newer/remodeled apartments for the same rent - cost wise. After looking at other apartments in the area I found that the Durham is a bit of a rip off for what you get.

After moving out everything was cleaned (minus the refrigerator). I was charged $20 because the refrigerator was not cleaned and “Items were left behind” I left four cans of pop behind – thought the refrigerator had been cleaned but found that my friend that was helping me did not clean it out – I thought he cleaned it and he thought I cleaned it. Oups!

I was also charged $35 because there was “soap scum” in the main bathroom on the tile in the shower. Funny thing is that shower was never used in the whole time I lived there other than to clean out the litter box and shower plants from time to time. When I confronted the current property manager she sais there’s nothing I can do to get this back, what a joke.

I guess I can say I was warned as I have seen multiple reviews throughout the web that say the Durham is notorious for holding security deposits over ridiculous little crap. I have never had security deposits held in my whole life and have left places in worse shape than the Durham.

Overall I do not recommend this apartment. It is one of the worst apartments I have ever lived in. The “building utility” is insane in the winter; when I moved in I was told that this would be around $25 a month in the summer and maybe hit $50 during the winter months – in reality it was more like $40 a month in the summer and peaked out at $150 a month in the winter. I am not convinced that the new management is any better – right before I moved out “Maintenance manager #4” came into the picture. I can’t say weather or not he’s any better than the other characters that they had.

I’m just happy at this point that I NEVER have to deal with this place ever again!