Don't be fooled by the "luxury" look of the cottages online, with the "extravagant" gym and hot tub amenities. Living at the cottages was the worst overall living experience out of the 4 years at UNH. The rooms are fine (for the most part), but for the thousands of dollars they get from you, it is not fine. When I moved in, I noticed that there were some broken things and the bathrooms were not "deep cleaned" like it said they were gonna be. I will attach photos of this as it looks like a dog lived in my unit before me and the bathroom was a mess, cabinets under the sink were chewed, and the floor was dirty. Our washer and dryer constantly broke and it would take them days to even weeks to send out maintenance after calling multiple times and submitting a ticket. When maintenance finally came, they made an absolute mess, stained the carpet with rust and other dirty water from moving the washer and dryer (I will attach photo). Second problem, the WIFI. The cottages guaranteed high speed WIFI. That wasn't the case. Having to do homework and zoom classes somewhere else becomes a problem when the WIFI was constantly down. You would think that they charge each person nearly $1,000/month that they would have good WIFI, no its simply a greedy company just profiting off of college students. Next negative thing goes to the hot tub. they show multiple pictures, advertise all over social media, and promote how they have this wonderful hot tub. Sure, it is great when it is actually working. But look at previous reviews here, it breaks every single year and they do not care to fix it in a timely manner. I would go there almost every night with my roommates to enjoy it for the first month or two, and then it magically broke. They did not fix it until the second semester and close to the end of the lease. That is just the cottages being lazy and not caring about promised amenities. Lets move onto paying for the cottages. Well if you want to pay using a credit or debit card, get ready to pay a $19.95 fee every time you pay for something whether it is rent, water use, or simply a balance on the account. Just let that sink in, you are going to pay over $1,000 per month to live there, ridiculous utilities costs, and then $20/month on top of everything? The cottages are very very greedy and love charging excessive fees. So if you do decide to live here, use a check from your parents. How about the process of redoing the floors? Every cottage had carpet in the rooms as well as the stairs. Well, they decided at the end of the lease to start removing the carpet and replacing it with laminate. We couldn't use the rooms when the workers were in there and they gave no compensation back....But yet we pay to live there and they say we can't use our own rooms... Another great one is moving on to the move out process, which was awful. I went down to the clubhouse and did a walkthrough with one of the managers. I recorded the entire walkthrough and confirmed with the manager that there was no visible damage or excessive things that they were going to charge me for when I moved out, she confirmed that and said just minor cleaning fees. That seamed reasonable when I heard the response. Well, I as well as my roommates and many other friends living in the cottages, were in for a very rude awakening when I saw the balance on my account afterwards. They tried charging me nearly $400 for ridiculous things. A $100 ozone cleaning fee, an $80 cleaning fee, "trash fee" which was ridiculous, as well as many others.... If you don't stand up for yourself, which they are expecting, they will walk all over you and drain your bank account. I eventually got the charge down to $80 because I sent proof all of the charges were made up and ridiculous, but it took months to even get a response... At the end of the day, they don't care about the residents and just want your money. The student staff are very nice and helpful, but they have no say on the bigger things. I fully recommend living anywhere else - THE LODGES, RIVERS EDGE, MAIN ST APARTMENTS. ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE. read more

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This place is so god awful I swear if I could give it zero stars I would. Do not waste your time applying here. I think it would take me literally driving my Jeep through the side of the clubhouse to get some professional assistance. They throw these goodie-goodie employees at the front desk who aren't informed of anything relatively important, so it's pointless to ask them anything mildly important like services or utilities. The property manger "doesn't do weekends" and is impossible to contact. Despite this being an apartment complex for mostly college students, the internet hardly works, hard-wired or WiFi, so doing school work is a total toss up. What am I paying $900 a month for? Seriously hating my time here the whole place needs new management. read more

That luxurious looking hot tub? It has been broken since January, this month making it 8 months without access to residents. I used it once during my 11 months of living there. The study room offered in their clubhouse, is right next to their conference room -- not an ideal place if you are looking for a quiet location. They offer an alarm system that's already installed-- you have to pay to activate it though. The walls are thin too, so the residents are in more of a need for heat or A/C -- causing, the separate, utility bills to be higher than it could be. I do not recommend if you are trying to save money read more

I have never been more unimpressed with a housing situation. The staff is far too young and inexperienced to provide service for the hundreds of people that live here. No one in the company seems to care for the safety and well being with tenants, instead only caring about getting as much money as they can from you with every chip you accidentally make in their paper houses. Ironic that you will pay almost as much as your college tuition for every 'violation' but the staff cannot be bothered to fix any of the broken amenities that they charge you for. Very disappointed. read more

If you want to get scammed and waste money, the cottages is the place for you. The staff is incompetent, rude and only after your money. I was forced into living with strangers, despite signing a lease with my friends. I had no choice but to live with strangers and it ruined my senior year. When I expressed my discomfort and how I was mislead I was met with a rudeness from the staff. I only found out about my living situation a few weeks before move in, preventing me from finding another living situation.They're always looking for ways to get more money out of you. There are constant problems with WiFi and many of the houses are run down. We had to pay rent for the entire month of August, despite the earliest date we could move in being 8/28. I have friends who were forced to live with a 6th person who was not on their lease because the staff refused to do their jobs and enforce the terms of their lease. The cottages made them jump through hoops lasting months in order for them to get rid of the unwanted person not on the lease only to do nothing. This resulted in higher utility bills, mental/emotional stress and general discomfort in their own home. I strongly advise living elsewhere, I had a terrible experience. You can find much better options in Durham. The cottages is a scam and a giant waste of time and money. read more

I sublet a lease from someone, worse mistake. Before I even moved in a received a fine for trash being on the porch ("mistake on their end"). Moving in they gave me a key that decided when it wanted to work, resulting in me getting locked out multiple times. The people who lived there before me left a ton of their belonging and when I moved out they told me the charges would be put on the last person to leave (totally unfair). Someone's personal belonging should not be a burden for another person in my opinion. My microwave takes 4 mins to heat something that takes a minute. The drier never fully dried my clothes, no matter how small the load. I also had a rodent issue, which I don't believe was handled properly. There was a rodent stuck in the inside plastic of my bath tub, I called the clubhouse and they sent someone right away. I tried to have him listen to the videos I had took, but he was uninterested and stuck a glue trap on the floor of my bathroom, said that he'd be back to check in the next day and left. Never did someone come back to check. The animal was stuck (which I tried explaining bc i had been listening to it scratching all night) and I'm assuming died in there bc I started noticing a slight smell. On move out day, I wasn't notified what exact time I had to be out by, resulting in me getting a $200 fine. I called the clubhouse they told me I must have unsubscribed from emails. I have received multiple email and calls from them trying to get me to resign a lease, so no I didn't unsubscribe. I finished moving out 3 hours after the time i was suppose to be out. I understand its a rule and in the lease, but $200 for 3 hours come on, I am a college student I can't afford to just throw away $200. I drive a sedan and had to take a few trips, not having any help it took longer than I had hoped. I noticed they credited it back into my bill which I was so happy to see. But then I see charges for not handing in my keys, which I handed in when I moved out. While having your own bathroom and parking is nice I don't believe its worth the price considering the problems I had in just a 3 month period. read more

Terrible place to live. They wring you dry money-wise with any charge they can and customer service is awful. Dave the property manager is stubborn and impossible to deal with. Look elsewhere! read more

Never EVER live here, they will screw you over. They only want your money and will charge you the stupidest things and fight you about it for months. They are inconsiderate and not good to work with. Their staff is clearly inexperienced and when it comes to serious matters they will push it aside until it is necessary to deal with. Anyway here is my story, I decided to sublet during the summer this year and I enjoyed my time there, but the whole process to sublet was a disaster and now I am dealing with damage charges that are not even mine (because I was a sublet). I lived there for TWO MONTHS and they charged me over $400 in damages and cleaning fees which is absurd in my opinion. Before I moved in, they made me sign a ton of things that were unclear including an "As is form". As I said, they sent these forms to me without a clear explanation about what it is or why I need to sign it which seemed off to me at the start since every other place I have leased had been clear and very helpful. Yes I read the forms and understood them, but it was not clear that they would use this "As is form" against me when I moved out as they charged me a ridiculous amount of money for damages from the previous leaser. And this leaser was amazing and knew she had damages, and she told the cottages and made it clear before she moved out that any damages I am moving into should go to HER. They also said before I moved in they would tidy up the place and at least clean it a little bit but they never did and I spent hours cleaning the filth. And now it is pretty ironic at the moment how they are charging ME ridiculous cleaning fees (ex: a windowsill clean: SORRY I HAVE PLANTS; its a little dirt relax) when I moved into literal disgust. Not to mention that right after I moved in and spent days organizing and getting settled (which was EXHAUSTING), they demanded we move out for like a day or two to redo the floors -- only giving us a like a two day notice in advance. Keep this also in mind, they told us before we moved in the floors would be taken care of as well so we wouldn't have an inconvenience moving out, another fib. When my roomies and I returned, there was dust and just filth everywhere in our rooms and they did not clean it, another irony since they are so quick to blame someone who lived there for TWO MONTHS ridiculous cleaning fees. So yea, moral of the story this place sucks and they only care about your money not you as a person! read more

Over charge tenants and charge way too much for the smallest "violations". Make false claims. Houses are made of toothpicks. Bad spot for the price and customer service read more

Previous poor reviews tell the truth! Apparently this used to be the place to be, but these days it is nothing close to that. Hot tub is frequently broken, as many have said, "free printing" was not working a decent amount of time as well. Glad to have been paying for broken amenities! Not to mention we had to pay for lights that were left on the whole summer before we moved in. I experienced a terrible roommate situation which I could talk about for hours, went to management about it, they informed me they would happily set up a meeting about it (that's part of their JOB)! What did they actually do??? NOTHING! EVER! Every problem I ever had resulted in them ignoring it! Will not be returning, despite the persistent emails they send asking me to renew my lease! No thanks! read more

Don't waste your money here. It is overpriced for what you are getting. Children run the place and they don't clean anything when new tenants move in. Our unit was disgusting. read more

My housemate has a simple routine. He takes his morning leak every morning at either 7:00 or 8:00 sharp, depending on the day of week. He then flushes, and as soon as the toilet refills, he yawns. I don't know this because we're extraordinarily close, but because the walls are paper thin. The wireless Internet is fast but disconnects frequently (on my phone I'm lucky to get one continuous minute, and my Xbox has given up entirely) and the rent is "oh-shit-I-forgot-to-look-for-housing" high. It's not even that close to campus. Bottom line: if you love to party, you can sleep through an H-bomb, and Daddy's paying the bills, this is a great place. Otherwise, just don't. read more

I've been living at the cottages for about 5 months now with 3 other roommates. Pros: We all get our own private room, bathroom, and walk in closet. Parking is easy and almost always right in front of our house. Maintenance is easy to call and they come very quickly. The clubhouse has a gym and hot tub as well as grills to use close to our home. Cons: way too expensive and the company is sneaky with fees. Extreme lack of storage space (no coat closet, no pantry, no communal bathroom, lack of kitchen cabinet space). House is very dusty. Heating, AC, electric, and water bills are pricey. Bus is slow and a hassel (sometimes takes 20 extra minutes to get back). Guest parking is difficult (you need a temp. pass that last 3 days, there is a fee if you return it late). I had no idea there was a monthly water bill until November *after we had already re-signed for next year*. If you re-sign but change your mind, there is a $250 fee. When signing the lease, read through many times. This company has hidden fees all over the place and the lease is extremelly long. The price also goes up every year so keep that in mind before re-signing. read more

They don't care about the residents, they only care about making money. There is no way to op out of a lease, whether you're graduating early, there is a pandemic going on, or the University of New Hampshire is closing. They keep saying you need to get someone to take your lease, but no one wants to because they are over-costed, and oftentimes they lower prices slightly to make it more appealing for newcomers to buy a new lease as opposed to relieving pre-existing lease holder. read more

Lived there for two years, and it got worse each year. Management became more and more controlling with more strict rules, all the amenities of the clubhouse that they offer shut down at 10 pm. They are extremely unpleasant to work with, and all the rules and terrible employees make living there extremely frustrating. Live at rivers edge if you want the same quality of living for much less cost, utilities included, and much more friendly management. Also, you get charged for things that you wrote down in your move in inspection, as well as charged for things that are routine maintenance from wear and tear. Overall not a good place to live. read more

Expensive, internet outages, broken air conditioner in a week of 95/100 degree heat with no repair, response, compensation, or even the decency to return multiple calls from roommates and lease co-signers. Unprofessional, unresponsive, live elsewhere. read more

Extremely disappointed with the Cottages. The house is relatively nice, however I have problem with tree bugs creeping through the cracks of the window and the amount of dust that collects on my surfaces within a week is absurd! I constantly have to swiffer dust in order to keep my room looking clean. Kitchen appliances are trash and very cheap. Washer and Dryer also ruins my clothes. Recently purchased a cotton white shirt and after the first wash the shirt became dingy and pilled. But that's just the house, the worst thing about the cottages is definitely their management. Every time I walk in the office for a guest parking pass, to give them my rent check or just to ask a question in the office the employees are very unprofessional and rude! Many of the girls working the desk are judgy and b*tchy. Not to mention the Cotts love to nickel and dime you with fees for minuscule problems. Oh and forgot to add, the bus system sucks! Anyone looking to live here, I highly don't recommend. If you're going to spend the money go somewhere like the lodges even if it's slightly more expensive. read more

After living in 4 different apartments in Durham, I can say that signing a lease with the Cottages of Durham was my biggest mistake with regards to housing decisions. You can find better-constructed housing for less money just steps away from campus. Additionally, the Cottages have a terrible fly infestation and often smell strongly of cow manure from the tanks at the farm across the street. The management office nickel and dimes you for everything and the grounds crew comes into your house (and room) unannounced. Also, expect to pay more than average for your gas and electric bill because due to the poor construction of the cottages, they do not hold hot and cold air in at all. read more

I am a parent of a UNH student. She signed a lease with this company last summer. They told her many untruths about the cost of this apartment relative to water/sewer costs and expected utility cost. The monthly expenses in addition to her rent are approximately an additional $60.00 to $100.00. That is not a lot of money, but when they told her directly $20-$50 that is a large misrepresentation. Additionally, on her first visit she was told that they. the leasing office, help out with subletting and it is easy to sublet for the end of the lease term when they leave campus; totally untrue. They offer no assistance. Furthermore, being in a unit with 5 bedrooms, the management has offered no support for tenants when they have a complaint against another roommate for violation of terms. (i.e. boyfriends living in the apartment every night of the week). They could not care less. The accomodations are nice and it is relatively convenient to the campus; however, you should know all the details before getting involved with this facility. read more