The Brookwood Apartments By Barsala

While I was visiting my girlfriend, maintenance man Jeremy came in and did his thing. He was professional and finished quickly. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The stove installation was flawless and much faster than I expected. He was respectful and knowledgeable, and checked that everything was level, secure, and working properly. Nothing felt rushed, and I appreciated the attention to safety and detail. Dependable service like this is hard to find. I'll recommend them to friends and family without hesitation.

The mold and mildew were a constant problem during our year in the unit. Mold was in the vents and AC handler, and the walls had mold painted over. The AC filter was black when we moved in and wasn't routinely changed. Our clothes and linens stayed damp in closets and drawers even after proper laundering, so we ran a whole-home humidifier at our expense and had higher power bills. We had to wash clothes several times to remove the musty odor, steam-clean the cloth furniture and wash its slipcovers, and throw out the rugs. Hallways flooded in heavy rain, and puddles were left to dry without being mopped, adding more mildew. Staff and maintenance were told about the mold and mildew repeatedly, verbally and in writing. We sent photos by email and asked several times to have the air ducts cleaned, but they never arranged professional mold services. Maintenance replaced the moldy, rusty vent covers and sent someone with a little Clorox and a brush, but didn't address the underlying causes. They also knew about our preexisting health conditions and the medical-grade equipment we kept in the unit, which shouldn't have been exposed to mold and mildew. Our health declined while we lived there. Alabama has no laws governing mold in residential buildings, only commercial ones. There were other issues too. The smoke detectors had dead batteries when we moved in and tested them. The lease says tenants are responsible for changing batteries routinely, but I expected them to work at move-in; finding them dead suggested maintenance hadn't tested them. Response times were slow, staff competence was uneven, and turnover was ridiculous. It took almost 90 days to get the security deposit back: our lease ended July 11, and the refund arrived October 10. Keep a copy of the move-in damage form if you rent here. They lost ours, which we discovered shortly before moving out. Thankfully, we weren't charged for existing damage, including a bottom kitchen drawer that wouldn't open. The pool was often closed, and the propane tanks for the grills were often empty or the grills weren't working. I'd advise looking elsewhere instead of settling for one of these units. We used home mold test kits, including surface swabs and air-growth tests. Our photos of the mold at move-in and the test results were shared with staff. They later said they wished they'd had the chance to make things right while we were still there, but they'd been given multiple opportunities.

Maintenance has been quick to respond, and the place is conveniently close to Samford. I've had a great experience overall, even though AC problems cropped up about once a week during a rough winter. Maintenance kept at it until they were fixed.

My girlfriend and I moved in at the end of August, and it was my best moving experience so far. Victoria helped us through the whole process and made sure the apartment was ready, which made a real difference. I live on the second floor of the leasing office building and couldn't be happier. The apartment is super clean and spacious for two of us, at 850 sqft. There's a pool, a gym, and plenty of places to walk around.