I lived at the Cedar Trace apartments in Jacksonville for 7 years. I loved the location and the apartment itself, but J. Brittain management is literally the worst property management company ever. For several years, I lived next to pot smokers who smoked 24/7 and made my apartment reak day and night. I told J. Brittain about it and they literally did NOTHING. I got police reports that documented the smell and multiple neighbors smelled it and made similar complaints, and the pot smokers lived there for two and a half years. I attempted multiple times to end my lease with them, but the mysterious, anonymous owner refused to break my lease.
Upom actually vacating the premises, I got a measly $25.00 back out of my deposit. I've always had my deposit returned 100% of the time. I was blamed for damaged linoleum floor and it was clear the damage had been there before. I was also charged for blinds that fell due to old age and dry rot. After disputing the charges and waiting TWO MONTHS for the response from the owner they finally refunded the blinds charges and not the linoleum floor charge. I literally had to threaten small claims court to even get a response out of them, after multiple emails and phone calls to the office asking for an update.
If you have to unfortunately rent from them, be sure to document everything. They will try and rip you off of your security deposit because they can and truly do not care about their tenants.
It's unfortunate they have a monopoly over rental property in Jacksonville because the majority of renters have to rent from them as there are no other options. But if you have options, STAY AWAY FROM J. BRITTAIN AND ASSOCIATES. THEY ARE THE WORST EVER! read more