Over charged my sons on move out for damage that was there upon move in. Also charged for normal wear and tear! A money grab!!! I donot recommend renting from Darden! read more

Update We moved out several days early and spent almost a week cleaning the place from top to bottom. We painted over holes, had the carpets cleaned, replaced air filters, swept/cleaned the porches, scrubbed baseboards, windows, etc. This place was spotless when we vacated the premise. When we finally got our deposit, with almost all of it deducted. We were told we could dispute the charges. We did exactly as we were instructed, writing a letter and getting it to them within 15 days. We reached out 2 weeks later asking if there was a time frame in which we should expect a response, or just a rundown of their process. No response. We have sent, in total, FIVE emails simply asking for an update, with Malloree Boynton and Patrick Darden both included, and have received absolutely nothing back. It has now been 4 weeks since we turned in the letter and 12 weeks since the end of our lease. This has gotten to the point where we have now gotten legal help in order to move forward and end this three month long battle. They have been the biggest pain to work with. I am constantly shocked at their lack of customer service skills and blatant attitudes towards customers. All we want is an update. They take advantage of young students who do not know their legal rights. They skirt around laws to where "technically" what they are doing is legal, but not completely. They have no integrity as a company. They are dishonest. They don't care about their tenants in the least. The number of bad reviews is shocking and to be honest, I'm surprised they are still in business. Home owners really need to take a deeper look into how their properties are being maintained (or NOT being maintained) and how many properties are still vacant because people just really don't want to work with Darden. read more

I had a window that was broken for 7 years that was never repaired. The window was broken prior to me even moving into the place. I was told it was going to be fixed. It never was. The stove never worked. There was mold in the garage when I moved in. I was told to spray it with dilute bleach. The tiles cracked in the kitchen. I was told they were never going to be repairable because the foundation of the property was not level. My backyard fence was broken from Hurricane Michael and NEVER repaired despite multiple attempts. Then the company had the audacity to charge frivolous fees and not return my deposit. Stay away at all costs! These people are crooks to the core. read more

run FAR away from this company. among a ton of issues with a roach infestation and broken appliances (waiting over a month for our fridge to get fixed, freezing cold water for 2+ weeks at a time) our BIGGEST issue was a black mold problem. there was black mold on our ceilings, doors, and walls, spreading out over 3 feet in some spots in each direction. darden refused to do anything about it, told us to clean it ourselves (a huge health hazard) and then painted over it despite my roommates and i asking him several times not to. this happened during the pandemic, when we had to spend all day every day at home. i became sick several times, constantly going to urgent care for respiratory issues and getting prescribed inhalers. when we continued asking him to take care of the issue (hire a mold remediation company/test the mold/properly get rid of it) he told us to our faces he did not care that we were sick and he was just there to collect his rent money. the mold spread onto my clothes and shoes because it was such a huge problem. we wanted to go to court for this but we were broke college students and they knew that. for your own safety and money and health, do not rent from this company read more

See all

RUN!!!!... These people are crooks and ruthless. They do not take accountability for things they are supposed to fix. I regretted rented with them in one of their properties in Tallahassee,FL. Save yourself the trouble & money! I wish I listened to the reviews. I thought it would be different for me but it was not, I had a horrible experience with DARDEN. I wish could BREAK MY LEASE. DO NOT RENT with Darden!!! You will REGRET it!!!!! Jerell Bennett is the assistant property manager. He may seem nice but when it comes to his job, he is incompetent. He first told me pest control was not included that I had to take care of it myself. After leaving the office he called me & said he spoke to Patrick & pest control is included. I should've taken this as a warning & not rent with them but I was getting tired of sleeping at my friend's place and needed my own space. To make a long story short Jerell told me the apt was cleaned & move in ready. Well I got there it still had the aroma of the previous tenant & it was not cleaned. There were dead cock roaches, mold in the bathroom tub & toilet. The refrigerator was extremely dirty & had mold all around. I was missing a fire extinguisher & porch light bulb. A few bulbs were missing in the living room,bedroom & bathroom. The doorbell was not working & the kitchen counter top was loose. So yes Jerrell did NOT inspect the apartment & did not make sure everything was cleaned & fixed before giving me the keys. I had to delay me moving in so they can clean & make the repairs. The final straw was PLUMBING. Jerrel did not ensure plumbing & the pipes were in good condition before renting the apt to me. As it turns out there was a leakage in the pipes outside the bldg. It was not the cities meter. It was the pipe that goes towards the bldg. I had extremely HIGH water bills in the $200s, the city were the ones who notified me that there may be a leakage somewhere & to contact a plumber. I informed Darden although they repaired the leakage they DID NOT CARE about the damages they caused with making me have a heightened water bill. Both Jerrell & Patrick kept telling me to take it up with the city. Of course the city could not help me since it was not their equipment that was broken. Darden property didn't try to work anything out with me & not even an apology. Oh Patrick also told me to contact renter's insurance to reimburse me for the high water bill. (It was a 1 bedroom apt by the way). So yea I will NOT RENEW & NEVER rent from Darden. read more

Do not rent any property from this TLH or Darden!! They are nothing but liars and crooks. They say they will fix stuff and never do. The property I know about was filthy on move in day! The air filter for air conditioner hadn't been changed in probably years. So disgusting!! Numerous times they've been asked to fix something but never do. A property that costs over $900 a month shouldn't be nasty and falling apart!! I don't know how you sleep at night given the way you treat your tenants! You disgust me!! read more

Don't do it! I wish I had read reviews before renting. I usually do, but we were wanting to get out of the apartment lease we had and into a house. Too bad this was way worse. The grass is definitely not always greener on the other side. Everything negative everyone has written, I wouldn't put it past them. Even if you don't believe ALL the reviews, I'd bet on the side of caution. You're spending your hard earned money on a place that you're going to call home, so don't do it through Darden. The property wasn't completely clean when we got there. Work orders won't be done or they'll be done WHENEVER they get around to it. They're done half-assed. They blamed us for doing things to the place after we just moved in. Communication is poor. They really will do drop in inspections. They rang the door twice and started opening the door. I was sleeping because I work night shift. They said they sent a letter. Never got that! No email, call or anything. Good thing I actually got up to the door in time otherwise I might've got the shotgun out. And I wouldn't be surprised if they take our deposit later even if we leave this place better than when we got it. Please, please, please! Just save yourself the headache. Don't rent from him/them for anything. If you value you're money, it's not worth it. read more

Darden Property Management has been managing several units for me since early 2012. It is nice to find a company who can handle all aspects of property management seamlessly. Anyone who has rental units knows that not all tenants are created equally, however the true test of a company is when everything goes wrong. We just had one of "those" tenants and Darden made the transition to new tenants a simple non stressful thing. It's nice to have have people on top of everything and that know how to communicate and respond quickly. Thanks Alicia, Emily, Patrick and the rest of the Darden Family. We look forward to continued growth with your company. read more

I have been living in a Darden property for about 8 months now. Originally, there were three tenants living here, two of which moved out. When two of us moved in to replace them, instead of creating a new lease the people at Darden said we should simply renew and transfer the existing lease over from the two exiting tenants to the two new tenants. Well, one of the old tenants left over $200 in fees in the account, and Darden as been horrible in managing this situation. Instead of harassing the previous tenant, they've threatened us EVERY MONTH with letters on our door asking for the money, and for the past two months completely denying our rent payments until the previous tenant would promise to pay. On top of that, since they were DENYING our payments they were going to tag on more late fees on us because rent hadn't been paid. Well, the previous tenant never came through to pay his debts, so now the current tenant who has been living here during both leases is now footing the bill. Darden Property Management has been horrible. I will not only NOT recommend Darden to people, I will actively dissuade anyone from leasing a Darden Property. Every interaction I've had with my lease manager, Jerrell (one in person when I signed my lease, and the rest over email), gives you the sense that you're annoying him. Despite liking this home I will be looking elsewhere for my next lease. read more

Worst place to rent from by far, DO NOT rent from here. First of all, the day I moved in there was trash left from the previous tenant all throughout the front yard, and I could not move in on the original date because they needed to clean. I had to figure out where to live for three days because of their "cleaning." The trash in the yard should have been a clue as to what the house was like. The house smelled moldy and the place was not clean on the inside at all. So the move in date was pretty much pointless as far as the "cleaning" that they had to do. Darden Management and Darden are completely untrustworthy and unreliable. I rented from them last year and was in the process of moving out because I was moving to a different city. I paid for all the requirements (cleaning, carpet, etc..) and did an early walk through of the apartment with Patrick Darden. Patrick Darden said the apartment was in perfect condition and that I could expect my deposit back. I took pictures of the apartment before leaving town to ensure that the place as I left it was clean (because my experience with them made me feel that sketchy.) A few weeks go by, I get a letter in the mail saying that I owe them over $100. So not only did they take my deposit but I owe them over $100 for "damages" that they are making up. Sent them two letters disputing the charges and they only sent back one letter with NEW charges. So it is obvious, that they are pulling these numbers out of nowhere. I left the apartment in July 2015 got a letter for the charges in September 2015, I still have not had any response back (its January 2016 now) and I have called, emailed, and sent letters This is on top of the many maintenance requests that simply got ignored and the horrible attitudes from the employees. I guarantee if you rent from this place you will regret it. I wish there was an option to give them no stars, awful place. read more

If I could give a zero- I would 1. Darden isn't using there correct address on their leases 2. The bank they use for their security deposits isn't the bank that is listed in their lease- by law the must provided this and keep the information up to date at all times. This is illegal and will bring more lawsuits to their business These two things make their leases void and null. They never fix anything when requested They lie constantly They won't provide their vendors being used so you can properly file a lawsuit against them to get your security deposit back Basically Slumlords! read more

Don't let them find out you're a realtor, they will ghost you. Seems like they want to represent both sides. Trying to buy one they have for sale, but no one will speak with me now that they know I'm a realtor. read more

I lived with Darden for a short while. Paid rent on time. Had no major conflicts with them, yet with a spotless house at move out I was stilled charged for cleaning. I was also charged for other supposed damages that they still have yet to prove existed. (I have pictures). I was a great and ideal tenant so that's not the issue. This company and its people including Ginger Hall and her counterpart Jessica are unethical and unprofessional. These are two of the nastiest people I have ever met and they will cost their company money. I've never in my life experienced living with a company with so little integrity. They are bullies and unless you personally know them you will get the short end of the stick. Don't waste your time arguing. Take them to court and be prepared for a fight; they are messy. read more

RUN like the wind! Do not rent from Darden as this is a despicable company. Bill is the resident lackey and mouthpiece for the company. they will do nothing to help. Mold infested apartments and my kid has mushrooms growing from the carpets. Darden does nothing to help and can care less about the uninhabitable living conditions. read more

So when I moved into their property, I thought everything was going to be great! The property manager seemed sweet enough, and the house seemed nice. Don't get me wrong-the house it's self is nice aside from the location but that's not what's giving them a one star review. They have no respect for their tenants and the property WE ARE PAYING FOR. They seem to forget even tho it is their property, we are paying them to lease it. In my case, I have 5 animals, I paid the 1200 dollar pet fee (which is fine whatever.) It is coming to the end of my lease so they have been showing my house to people during the week, again totally fine, but what ISNT totally fine is them putting their HANDS on MY animals and putting them in the back yard UNSUPERVISED where my one dog can get out of the shitty fence in the backyard if she's not watched. they handled my 3 cats WITHOUT permission after I asked them to please reschedule this ONE showing because I was not going to be able to properly watch my animals or keep them anywhere. If ANY of my pets got out I will HAPPILY sue Darden. Patrick, Mallory, all of them :) I hope everyone thinking about renting from them reads this and decides against it. If you love being disrespected and pushed under the rug, rent from Darden. read more

This is one of the worst property management companies in the city. I had no idea how bad they were ripping us off they were doing six month leases instead of one year leases! Which allows them to make double the money in one years time! They cannot come up with any documents and receipts from vendors for myself,my family I sold the property and they held me hostage over 600 and something dollars then they added $3800 in fines because I terminated a nine-year-old agreement which they will not provide??? They simply said it auto renewed at the end of the year & that I did not give them notice at the end of the year 60 days in advance to the end of the year which would've been October so they auto renewed and I had to pay all the fees and earnings as if they were going to manage the two bedroom two bath four unit quadruplex in Tallahassee Florida till the end of the year. Problem is I let him know November 2 that I was terminating those two days created or became my worst nightmare!! Horrible customer service Mr. Darden does not care about his clients that's very obvious. I was held hostage up until the very minute that my attorney intervened this is the truth not somebody that's upset. I owned the property they managed it for me but acted like they owned the property & they held me hostage until I retained an attorney. This is one of the worst property management companies in the city. read more

Darden has bad reviews. Yes. But I just finished living in a beautiful house off Tharpe for 2 years and Patrick Darden and his staff was always professional to me and my family. Any service needed was called and started within 24 hours of telling them. I think with the large number of rentals being primarily students, Darden has had to deal with a number of difficult tenants. I think this is why the bad reviews. If you are an adult and understand how the world works, Darden may be a great experience for you as it was for us. Good luck in this town ! read more

This company will rob you for anything you have. They took the full deposit plus $1500 from the previous tenants for minor damages and then did not fix or clean any of the house for us to move into. We suffered through 2 months of summer with a broken ac unit in or 6 bedroom house. They lied, sent out their own maintenance to "inspect" the ac and told us it was just the age of the house and its poor insulation. We called our own AC guys out and they found a shot AC unit, massive holes and leaks under the house (which we were paying for in utilities). No response from JARRELL BENNETT for weeks until we had to bring a lawyer in and withhold rent. They refused to let us sign an inspection form upon move in, and they are charging us now for every common wear and tear PLUS all of the unfixed damages from the previous tenants that they didn't even use their forfeited deposit money to fix! They did not return our deposit until 18 days after the state statute deadline and JARRELL BENNETT refused to give this "check" over to us until we signed a form saying we received it on time. Then upon opening the envelope-- No check. They're attempting to take our whole deposit plus an additional $500. For minor damage that we have been requesting to have fixed from the previous tenants since move in. This company is a scam, document everything, photograph everything, they deserve to lose their license and business. They are deserving of a class action lawsuit. read more

Rented an apt from them a few years back and it was the worst experience of my children's and I life. very much a slum lord establishment, you would think that wouldn't be an issue from an management company. They wouldn't paint (just touch up), even though it clearly needed to be redone entirely and the carpet was horrible (needed replacing). The place had german roaches (however I called an exterminator and had that fixed, on my own dime of-course) read more

Great team of professionals that always go above and beyond the call to assist property owners. Bill and Shynira have been a joy to work with and I look forward to having them manage my properties for years to come. read more

I signed a lease with this company and the next day they called to cancel the lease, saying that the property owner wanted their family member to live there instead. This was unprofessional, but fine, however, I had already paid for the deposit and the transaction was pending. I was told by a Darden employee by the name of Jerrell ( not sure on the spelling) that I should stop payment on that transaction, and when I did, I acquired a fee of $20.00 with my bank, then when Darden's bank sent the money back, there was a fee of $1.95, equaling $21.95. When I called Darden Property I spoke to Jerrell who told me he never said to stop the payment to Darden property and that he said to void it, I remember him saying "stop", he continued and told me that they will not be reimbursing me for the amount listed above. I would think the trouble that Darden Property management has put me through would warrant a reimbursement just on principal. Instead, they are unapologetic, and unwilling to make the situation right. I can only imagine the year I would have had living at a property under their management. I will be leaving reviews on every website I can find and letting everyone know how they have treated me. read more

STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!! I have been both a renter and a landlord, and these people are snake oil salesmen. If you are a renter, be aware their rental clauses are specifically vague and Darden has mastered the art of bullying and intimidation referring to vague clauses to either threaten you or threaten to take your security deposit for conditions out of your control. The condition of the rental when we moved in was disgusting. They paint over moldy window sills to make things look nice. They claim to have floors professionally cleaned before you move in and then try to charge you upon move out for carpet cleaning after you provide the receipt because the carpet is so old it cant be cleaned and just needs to be replaced. If you are an owner, god help you if you are not in Tallahassee. They claim to have maintenance performed and inspect the property regularly, but that is an outright lie. It didn't seem like they had been out to the property in years and just collecting a check for managing the properties. Slime balls and unprofessional attitudes abound at this place. read more

STAY CLEAR OF ANY AND ALL PROPERTIES THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH! They are the most unprofessional "managers" I have ever had to deal with in my life. Bill and Shynera deal with their clients like they are a piece of s__t! When we had first made an appointment to view the house Bill had scheduled others to look at it at the same time. Very "professional" huh? When we did start to move in we found that the house was filthy and my wife cleaned room to room, floor to ceiling, before we moved anything into the rooms. Obviously, we had not looked close enough at the cleanliness of the house, probably due to feeling rushed by the others looking at the house at the same time as us and by Bill's total uncaring attitude. The first night we were there half of the garage door fell on me. The next day, during 90 degree heat, Darden had called to cut off the electricity. Shynera had promised me at least three days to go downtown to have the utilities switched over but when I called her she acted like she had no idea of what I was talking about. The house we lived in for three years was falling down around us and I fixed most everything and upgraded many things myself because I knew Darden didn't care and wouldn't do anything about it. The last time Bill came over to inspect the house I told him that almost every window in the house was broken and would not stay up, without a stick holding it up, and you know what Bill said? "Glad you are used to it because we aren't going to fix it or even tell the owner of the problem". Real professional huh? Once during Christmas a year ago, while we had family from out of state staying with us, the toilet started leaking all over the floor and not clean water, mind you. I called Darden and spoke with Shynera about it and the urgency of the matter. She asked if we could just turn off the water to the toilet and use the other bathroom until after the holidays. REALLY??? I told her that my 80 year old parents and my 7 year old twins certainly could not wait 2 weeks. She begrudgingly agreed to call a plumber and have them call me to schedule a time to come out. The plumbing company did call and asked what day of the next week would be convenient. I told them that I needed them to come out immediately due to the situation and they were very surprised by that since Shynera had told them we had a small leak and it wasn't a major issue. This was a couple of days before Christmas during the early afternoon and in the middle of the week so it's not like we were asking a plumber to leave their family while gathered around the tree opening presents! Not only unprofessional but just uncaring about people. Now that we had to move so that we can care for my mother, my father passed away in February, Darden is threatening to throw the book at us and ruin us. We left that house cleaner than it had ever been before us living there, painted the walls, doors and shutters, trimmed all of the bushes, hedges and cut the lawn before leaving so that they would just need to replace the old worn out carpet in the bedrooms and be ready to rent it but now they send me a letter saying that we owe them money for carpet cleaning and rent, even though they rented the place within a month of us notifying them of our emergency move, but why does that surprise me? Heartless people, that must not have a family of their own, don't care about anything except themselves. If I owned a house I wouldn't let them manage it either because they aren't doing the owner any favors by letting the house fall down around a tenant instead of taking care of their investment. I vow to tell as many people as I can, through internet and social media, about these evil people until they do the right thing and straighten up their business priorities and start "managing" the property for the good of all parties involved, not just themselves! I had to give them a star or I couldn't post this horror story but they don't deserve even one star!!! STAY CLEAR OF ANY AND ALL PROPERTIES THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH! read more