Review for Carrington Place At Tyvola Apartments

Southwest Charlotte has gone completely downhill over the past year and the fledgling apartment complexes are struggling to stay afloat with the obviously rare responsible rent-paying tenants who haven't yet figured out that there are nicer, less-crime ridden parts of Charlotte that are just-as-affordable, if not more so than the "growing and developing" Steel Creek/Town of Arsley area.

Carrington Place is a perfect example of a complex that despite major company backing, refuses to pour any more money into their homes besides minor repairs, a mundane office staff and a maintenance staff that is barely worthy of being called mongoloid. I use the term mongoloid loosely as these guys are basically glorified dog-sh|t custodians, a job that they are still completely under qualified for judging from the feces-ridden grounds.

I moved into my apartment at the beginning of June, 2006 and remained an active resident until the end of my 12-month term in 2007. My roommate and I paid our bills on time, kept the apartment in good condition and were never a source of any problems whatsoever.

When we moved in, things were looking very positive. The new shopping development down the road was very convenient and Carrington Place was in the process of installing a new fence around the entire complex. It was approximately 2 months into our lease that things started to go downhill. The air conditioner began to go on the fritz within the first month of moving in: bills were absolutely outrageous and there was a constant rattling sound from the cleverly-locked closet in which it was housed. After repeatedly bothering the front office for a repair or even an energy efficiency rating (something which I believe is required by law, but it wasn't worth my time looking into) the maintenance mongoloid eventually resolved the whole issue by spraying carpenters foam around the ducts to dampen the noise. Ok, fine, I can deal with this.

Then began the steady increase in crime. At first, the car break-ins were reported to residents via hushed communications from the front office. As they began to increase and a new, shadier crowd began to move in, the communication came to a halt and the only thing keeping neighbors informed was the word-of-mouth about flashing emergency vehicles and a seedy crowd.

Sure, we had the fence, but it doesn't wrap around the entire complex and is hardly as much of a deterrent as a selling-point. Our neighbors across the street, notorious local drug dealers, would stay up to all-hours of the morning partying and littering the parking lot with riff raft. I watched a car window get smashed, heard a gun-shot right outside of my apartment and began increasingly scared to walk my dog in the evening. Thank God for the fire and police training center next door; any of the gunshots in the distance can easily be masked by the firing range across the street! (Is that a bomb I just heard go off?)

We discovered about midway into our lease that even our original leasing agent had fled for greener pastures.

The gates were a mess, hardly ever functional (but when are they ever at any complex?) The pizza-delivery guy gate code was so popular that even my dad knew it. Despite the dog sh|t, the duck sh|t (from the lovely residents, Huey, Louey, Dewey and Shanika I think?) began to pile up around the lake. The landscaping, despite being mowed every week, has fallen unkempt with trash-ridden bushes, mangy trees and my dog began making the pleasant discovery of cockroaches during the final few months of our lease.

Despite our complaints, our pleas for change, Carrington Place still had the audacity to charge us a move-out fee with ridiculous charges (can someone please explain to me what a market value fee is?) The apartment was in immaculate condition before we left and the nearly-$400 in deposit and pet fees we paid should have more-than-covered any type of out-of-the-ordinary cleaning fees (even though every complex is required to be painted and undergo carpet cleaning before rental BY LAW.)

I'm not even sure how they justify it, but I can assure you that my $839 a month is much better spent on a much-nicer complex in South Park run by a company that obviously actually screens their tenants before move-in (Camden, one of the most reputable companies in Charlotte.)

All in all, avoid this place at all costs unless of course you're a driveling, drug-dealing, piece of low-life scum, in which case Carrington Place is probably perfect for you