MAA James Island

This is an amazing place! Management and staff are awesome! The pond and fountain are always in spectacular condition. 10/10 recommend walks around the well-kept pond.
Mar 13th, 2024

Its a beautiful place that my Granddaughter and her parents live. Everything there including the surrounding there are always on point. The maintenance there is top notch.
Mar 7th, 2024

Mar 1st, 2024

I just moved out of MAA James Island, due to a home purchase, and I have nothing bad to say about this property. The grounds are kept up with weekly, and maintenance is very knowledgeable and quick to answer all my work orders. I went to the dog park daily and all the other dog owner residents are always so nice and friendly. Always a great part of my day to go there and have enough space to throw a frisbee with my dog. I really never had noise issues from my neighbors as well, as its more of a chill community. It is in such a prime location you cant really beat being able to walk over to Publix. Never really needed help from the front office but when I did go up there they are nothing but nice and accommodating. I cant recommend this place enough to live at. A fantastic MAA property!
Apr 5th, 2024

I am SO glad to finally be out of this place. The only upside for MAA James Island was the location, which was great. I dont normally write reviews, but this experience was traumatizing for my family: Upon move-in, there was visible mold in the vents and on the ceilings. After MAA was notified, it was cleaned (aka more popcorn ceiling was sprayed over it), however, it reappeared within a month. When my wife and I brought it up again, we were told it was a result of us burning candles in the apartment. My wife and dog were both sick with a horrible cough for the first 3 months living here. The maintenance team is a joke. The washing machine produced an awful odor and dryer took nearly 3 cycles to dry 1 load. Five maintenance requests were submitted for the issue before we gave up. The team basically just adjusted the vent each time. Not sure what you need to do to get them replaced. Beware, the team will also enter your apartment without you there & minimal notification beforehand. The trash compactor goes down frequently & recycling is rarely ever pulled. Residents are notified of fines if trash/recycling is left outside the compactor on the ramp or outside the recycling dumpster (despite both being out of service) and are basically told to keep trash in apartments until the issue is resolved. If you are found to have a cardboard box that is not deemed fully broken down, you will receive a note on your door with a fine (despite large trash littering the fire lane next to the bin at all times). The pond fountain was down for multiple months resulting in algae blooms and a horrible dead fish odor. Walls are paper thin. Expect to be listening to whatever your neighbors are watching (or smell whatever they are smoking). Be ready for bugs all spring/summer/fall long. Living in Charleston, I expect to encounter a few bugs inside from time to time, but my god this place has a problem. Think winter will save you? Wrong. The gaps under every door and uninsulated walls will make your electricity bill skyrocket. You are required to get Xfinity internet which is comically bad throughout the complex. The dog park (aka concrete pad with some sparse mulch) gets used daily by the adjacent condos residents. We encountered several aggressive dogs & witnessed one dog bite a chunk off anothers ear. We were too afraid to take our dog in as it is largely unregulated by MAA. I could go on and on with all the issues, but dealing with the management team takes the cake. Staff cannot be bothered to have a conversation before handing out fines & get extremely defensive when confronted. They are rude, incompetent, unprofessional, and genuinely could not care less about the property or its residents. Want to get away from all this BS? Terminating your lease will run you upwards of 5k so buckle up. So many neighbors share the same sentiment & the turnover rate is insanely high because of the living conditions. During move out, I accidentally left my laptop behind a door. Instead of doing the halfway decent thing and notifying me, I was sent a photo of the item & given a fine. When I requested to pick up my belongings less than 24 hours later, I was told the laptop had been thrown away. Im not sure how it went so wrong with MAA James Island. Most of the staff live at a sister property that is surely nicer & I lived in a MAA complex in Columbia with no issues. It seems like rebranding from Quarterdeck to MAA was a feeble attempt to retain some of their reputation? It certainly got rid of quite a few bad reviews (suspicious). Rent is increased astronomically ($300+/month) if you choose to re-sign despite multiple units being vacant at all times. At the rate its going, youre better off at any other apartment (Riverland Woods, Avalon, Aspire, Spyglass Seaside) on JI that isnt 30+ years old and neglected. I urge anyone to do their due diligence and thoroughly read reviews before signing a lease here. MAA JI is an abomination.
Mar 10th, 2024