The Worst Apartments
in Tuscaloosa
Cockroaches in the ice maker. A fatal home invasion inside a gated complex. Raw sewage on move-in day. What online reviews and court filings reveal about the local rental market — and the landlords renters say you should avoid.
Every August, tens of thousands of students and new residents descend on Tuscaloosa looking for a place to call home. The brochures are glossy. The amenity lists are long. The promises — resort-style pools, gated security, luxury finishes — are seductive. And then, for some renters, reality sets in.
🚀 Get Your Property Featured
Reach thousands of students searching for housing in Tuscaloosa.
Advertise With UsAcross platforms including ApartmentRatings.com, RateMyApartments.com, Yelp, Google Reviews, PissedConsumer, and the Better Business Bureau, Tuscaloosa’s rental market carries an aggregate average of just 2 out of 5 stars — a figure derived from more than 3,600 reviews across 74 apartment communities.[1] That’s not one bad property. That’s a pattern.
What follows is a review of the properties and management companies that appear most frequently — and most severely — in tenant complaints. All complaints referenced below come directly from public reviews, court filings, or news reports. We name the sources. You can read them yourself.
The Worst Apartments in Tuscaloosa, Ranked by Complaints
No property in Tuscaloosa has generated the kind of documented, institutional failure that The Hub has. According to a 2018 report by ABC 33/40 News, more than 100 residents took legal action against the complex, with attorneys at the Humble Law Firm accusing management of violating the Alabama Landlord Tenant Act.[2]
The notice of claims listed raw sewage, flooding water, and black mold among the conditions residents were living in. Multiple residents told ABC 33/40 that management knew the complex was not move-in ready when they handed over keys on August 17th. “Every morning, I wake up and walk through a pile of dust,” resident Tommy McHugh told the station. “I think we deserve a refund of some sort,” said Devin Gallo. “They should be paying us to live here because it’s so terrible.”[2]
The City of Tuscaloosa had issued only a temporary certificate of occupancy. When attorneys asked city officials to re-inspect the building, a meeting set with city representatives was canceled with no explanation. In a statement cited by ABC 33/40, Hub management acknowledged that “what was promised to residents was not delivered.”[2] The Hub is listed as not BBB-accredited, with an ongoing complaint record.[3]
It has gone by multiple names — The Woodlands, the “Hoodlands” (as residents took to calling it in reviews), and now Redpoint Tuscaloosa — but the complaints have remained remarkably consistent across rebrands. Based on 103 reviews at ApartmentRatings.com, the complex scores 1 out of 5 stars for both staff quality and safety — the site’s lowest possible rating.[4]
On RateMyApartments.com, a 2024 resident wrote that management “told me as a student, I did not have any rights here.” The same reviewer described employees entering their apartment unannounced while they were in the shower — a potential violation of Alabama’s landlord notice requirements.[5] Other reviews on ApartmentRatings describe roach-infested units on move-in day, non-functional security gates, multiple on-site shootings, and cars broken into so frequently that “the police are always there.”[4]
One reviewer described arriving to find their unit in such poor condition that five people spent six hours killing roaches before unpacking a single item: “I should have called the News and blasted this place. No one should pay their hard earned money and move into a ROACH INFESTED HOUSE.”[4] On security, another wrote: “I would rather live in my car than sign a lease there.”[4]
“I would not recommend it to anybody. I’m very disappointed with what they told us would be done. Nothing has been done.”
— Hub Tuscaloosa resident, quoted by ABC 33/40 News [2]The Links presents itself as a premium gated community. Residents on ApartmentRatings.com describe something rather different. “There have been multiple robberies reported and even a fatality as a result of a home invasion,” wrote one reviewer. “I cannot even get a pizza delivered out here because the vendors will not enter the gate because of robberies at gunpoint.” Management, the reviewer noted, refused to release them from their lease despite the documented violence.[6]
That 1.3/5 staff rating comes from 103 individual votes. The complex also scores 2/5 for grounds, 2/5 for noise, 2.3/5 for safety, and 2.7/5 for neighborhood quality.[6] Multiple reviewers made complaints about pitch-dark parking lots. According to one: “Several complaints on Tuscaloosa 311 has been made BEGGING to get street lights & building number indications that you can actually read. Nothing’s done about it.”[6]
A January 2025 review on RateMyApartments describes the experience at The Crimson bluntly: “Look somewhere else for your kids!” The reviewer cited dirty common areas, broken appliances, and a maintenance team that required multiple attempts before responding — and when they did respond, management blamed students for the broken dishwasher, claiming they were using “the wrong dishwasher soap.”[7]
The same reviewer flagged improper move-out charges for old or pre-existing carpet damage, with management excusing missing complaint records by citing a “new management” transition. The complex’s elevators are described across multiple reviews as frequently broken and foul-smelling. The RateMyApartments ORA (Overall Rating) score sits at 66/100.[7]
Formerly known as The Avenue, The Grand at Rum Creek rebranded but, according to tenant reviews, did not substantially change. On ApartmentRatings.com, one resident described a roach infestation so severe that food had to be stored inside the microwave — “the safest place to keep my leftovers safe from these pests.” When they requested to leave the lease, management offered to move them to another unit that also had roaches in the refrigerator.[8]
Multiple reviewers documented two separate shootings on the property. At least one resident wrote that the safety situation compelled them to purchase a firearm. The off-duty Tuscaloosa Police Department officers hired for security were described as “lazy as hell” by one reviewer, who added that security may not answer calls at all.[8]
“Cockroaches in the refrigerator. I had to store my food in the microwave because that was the safest place to keep my leftovers safe from these pests.”
— ApartmentRatings review, The Grand at Rum Creek [8]Country Club Apartments generated complaints across several distinct categories on ApartmentRatings.com. One reviewer described being shown a 1-bed/1-bath unit during the tour, only to be told at lease signing that no such unit was available — the only option was a more expensive 2-bed/1.5-bath. The unit they received smelled of dog urine and was covered in dog hair. “Needless to say it was not cleaned,” the reviewer wrote.[9]
A separate 2022 review described ongoing maintenance failures from August 2021 through April 2022: “It takes months for someone to come out to fix things (and that’s if they even come)… my ceilings seem like it’s raining every time I take a shower.” Cockroach sightings were documented across multiple independent reviews.[9] Reviews are notably mixed — some residents report positive experiences — suggesting quality varies significantly by unit or management era.
The Management Companies Worth Knowing About
Some of Tuscaloosa’s most persistent rental problems aren’t tied to a single address — they’re tied to the companies managing multiple properties across the city.
Peerless Properties
Peerless Properties manages numerous Tuscaloosa rentals and has accumulated a substantial complaint record on PissedConsumer.com, where reviewers describe opaque application decisions, unprofessional conduct, and allegations of financial dishonesty toward both tenants and property owners. One review states: “Owners beware! Do not use Peerless to rent your homes because they steal your money, lie to tenants, and are dishonest from the get-go.”[10] Multiple reviewers echoed concerns about accountability within the organization.
Pritchett-Moore
Pritchett-Moore manages properties including Point-O-View Apartments (1130 River Road NE), where tenant reviews on ApartmentRatings.com describe a balcony collapse that injured a resident, rotting drywall from an unrepaired gutter leak, and early move-out demands for non-renewing tenants. One former resident specifically warned others about the company’s reach: “Pritchett-Moore is a dirty company that doesn’t take care of its tenants, yet they manage so many of the rentals in Tuscaloosa — so be careful.”[11]
Common Threads: What Renters Complain About Most
Looking across the Tuscaloosa rental landscape, certain categories of complaints appear with striking regularity — not just at the worst properties, but broadly across the market:
Pest infestations. Roaches on countertops, in refrigerators, in ice makers. Multiple properties in this list received separate, unrelated reviews documenting infestations. In several cases, residents describe units in this condition at move-in.
Violent crime inside gated communities. Shootings are documented at Redpoint Tuscaloosa, The Grand at Rum Creek, and The Links. In at least one case, a fatality occurred inside a property with functioning marketing around its security features.
Maintenance delays measured in months, not days. Review after review describes work orders going unanswered for weeks, followed by multiple callbacks, followed by no resolution. At Country Club, one reviewer noted that staff recognized them by phone number alone — so frequent were the calls.
Non-functional security gates. Across the Links, Redpoint, and others, gate failures are documented so frequently they almost become a Tuscaloosa-specific trope. Multiple reviewers note that the gates’ existence provided psychological comfort to prospective tenants but no actual security to current ones.
Surprise fees and contested deposit deductions. Utility “overages” with no supporting documentation. Move-out carpet charges for pre-existing wear. Fines for trash bags left outside briefly. These patterns appear at Redpoint, The Crimson, and properties managed by Pritchett-Moore.
Before You Sign: What Reviewers Recommend
Across hundreds of reviews, a few pieces of advice repeat often enough to be worth repeating here:
Document everything at move-in. Multiple reviewers — particularly at The Crimson — warn that photos taken on move-in day were the only defense against improper move-out charges. “TAKE PICTURES,” wrote one 2025 reviewer.[7]
Search the address on ApartmentRatings and Google before touring. Several reviewers note that the problems they encountered had been documented by previous tenants — but they simply hadn’t looked.
Ask specific questions about gate and security functionality before signing. Not “do you have a gate?” but “how often is the gate operational?”
Read the lease carefully for utility billing language. Monthly utility overages — billed by third-party services like Conservice — were a source of consistent frustration at multiple properties. Understanding the cap and what triggers overage charges before signing prevents surprises later.
Tuscaloosa’s rental market doesn’t have to be this way. A 2 out of 5 citywide average isn’t gravity — it’s a choice made by the landlords who set these conditions and the property managers who maintain them. The reviews are public. The patterns are clear. And increasingly, so are the addresses.