Now that I have lived at the Brittany for a year (and signed on for another year), I can give an accurate & thorough review. As written in other reviews, Linda, the office manager, is extremely nice and helpful. I have gone to her numerous times with questions and a couple complaints (which I will write about below). She is always professional and is pretty quick to get your issue straightened out. Only once or twice have I had to get on her before because she forgot.
It is pretty quiet at the Brittany, especially during the day. You could hear a pin drop! The walls are a little thin, and I can hear my neighbor peeing if we're both in our bathrooms. I can hear when he starts his shower, and I've also heard other noises if you know what I mean. Those things don't really bother me because they're very muffled and you wouldn't even hear it if you weren't in the room directly next to your neighbors. However, I do hear his music/surround sound tv quite often and THAT is annoying. I have gone over to his apartment at night to tell him to turn it down, and he seemed okay with it, although I don't think he turned it down very much. His noise level comes and goes so it's not a daily occurence, but there have been nights of pounding on the wall and wearing earplugs. My next step is to go to Linda if it starts up again. On a related note, my apt. overlooks the courtyard & pool, and as you would expect, it gets noisy sometimes with children playing and people having fun in the pool. Other than that, it's quiet & peaceful.
The grounds are kept up nicely and I can't even tell you how fast the snow removal is taken care of! I took my dog out at quarter to 6 a.m. and the snow was already being removed. Trees and bushes are trimmed as needed, there are flowers and a variety of trees & shrubs, and the lawn is green and healthy. The pool (which is heated) area is nice, too--lots of tables and lounge chairs, and it makes a pretty view at night from my balcony.
I have never felt unsafe at the Brittany. Most of the neighbors are families and also friendly. The underground parking is well-lit and secure, as is the laundry room, fitness center, and pool. When I moved in I requested a chain lock be put on my door, and they were happy to put one on for me. The outside parking lot does seem a little dark, but I've never had any problems out there. I even left my car windows down more than once by accident and never had any issues. There is ample parking outside.
Since I have lived here, the following has been updated: new linoleum in my kitchen (old linoleum was cracked, stained, and just nasty!), energy-efficient lighting and low-flow shower heads installed (they even left several energy-efficient bulbs for free), and they re-did the fitness center. The fitness center is small, but they put in new carpet, two new elliptical machines, one new treadmill, two new bikes, and two flat-screen tv's (one with a dvd player). They also have a multi-purpose strength-training machine in there and will be putting up fans for better air circulation.
Bugs: I have had a lot of silverfish in my apartment and one giant centipede that was the size of my index finger. I can't even tell you how bad I flipped out after I saw that sitting in my bathtub. If you despise bugs, I highly recommend letting Linda know that you would like the pest control guy to spray your apartment. He comes in once a month, and Linda is happy to have him go into your apartment. This has drastically reduced the number of bugs. It won't eliminate them all, but hey, it's an older building. Also, I would recommend buying those sonar wave plug-in's (they are $15 for two at Target) to ward off mice in the winter. I heard one scratching in the wall, bought the plugs, and never heard it again.
Rent: I started at $645 per month, pet is $10 a month, heated underground parking is $20 a month (and you don't have to do it all year). For my renewal lease, rent went up to $660. Laundry system uses a SmartCard, so you put money on the card and just use that when you do laundry. No saving quarters.
The downsides to living at the Brittany (bugs, neighbor's music) are minimal, and I would highly recommend this apartment complex! The buildings aren't very attractive on the outside (just an older style that was probably cool in the 70's), but it's a great place to live. It's also very close to everything on the west side, 7 miles from downtown Madison, and in a nice, quiet residential area. Walking trails are right out the door, too! You can also paint! I even sanded, primed and painted my kitchen & bathroom cabinets because they were dark brown (which I think is ugly) and in bad shape. Much nicer!

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