When we first agreed to pay $2261/mo for a 2BR plus $500 non-refundable pet deposit plus $50/mo in pet rent (plus $130/mo per parking spot and there is no resident parking stickers allowed on street) we were told that the outlandish $500 was used to replace the carpets in every dog owners' apartment after they moved out. This made some sense to us, since we were worried about it anyway with our 1 yr old dog who tends to have accidents from time to time.
Little did we know that when we moved out they would charge us $800 to replace parts of the rug, claiming that the person who told us it was already taken care of no longer works there - and we were responsible. We've since contacted the BBB.
In addition, halfway into our lease they decided to ban dogs from the elevators and lobby. This means that technically we were forced to take the stairs down 3 floors, walk out the back and around a steep dirt hill with no path to leave the building with our dog. Obviously, if we had known they would pull this we never would have moved there.
Also, they claimed that we would be able to get resident parking permits and park on the street but the DMV does not allow people living at that address to receive resident stickers. So that means parking on Mass. Ave where you can only park on one side of the street between 7am-10am and the OTHER side 4pm-6:30pm. So you would have to move your car everyday if you wanted to park there, or force yourself to pay the $130/mo for a spot. And why wouldn't you have a car' The place is nowhere near the metro, over a 20 minute walk. And the bus lines are as unreliable as anywhere in the city.
Also, our toilet fill-stop mechanism malfunctioned and our bedroom carpet flooded. It was a fluke thing, but the lifetimes on the gaskets are very predictable and routine maintenance would have prevented it. Rather than replace the carpet, they aired it out with a fan, requiring us to clear our soaked possessions out of the room for 3 days. Mildew smell for weeks.
Also, our washer overflowed due to poor drainage 3 times.
The couple before us moved out due to cockroaches, although when we put traps out we were able to catch most of them.
Minor note, but there is no grilling anywhere on the balconies and the grill they provide on the roof worked 1 out of 5 times I tried to use it. It was often out of gas, and they didn't replace it often.
Finally, the reviews about the AU kids is mainly true. It's especially in the summer when most of them are out of school.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/11/2007
Hmmn, I have never lived here, but I have lived at other places in DC. Was not allowed to get parking permit with DC because of lots of parking at my apt building. Also the whole grill thing is a fire code or something. Too bad you are too dumb to realize this and just want to blame management. Why are people always so negative on this site. This whole site is a JOKE.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/06/2009
You can say that, but I have also read reviews which were consistently positive. I like Avalon, but find their prices inexcusably steep -- more along the lines that they charge high rates simply because they can and feel entitled to the money. But I can't discern commensurate value to the resident.

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