This is the worst management staff I have ever encountered. One time, a yellow liquid started dripping from the ceiling of my bathroom. Convinced that the upstairs neighbor's urine was dripping all over my toiletries again, I ran to management to ask for emergency maintenance help. There is one guy with long greasy hair who sits in the office. I explained the situation using small words and an urgent voice. But he refused to call maintenance, assuring me that the yellow liquid was dripping from the upstairs toilet tank (the back part), and not the bowl. The water in the toilet tank, he said, is clean and not something to worry about. (It probably isn't his fault -- compulsive lying can be a medical condition.) Fifteen minutes later the yellow liquid stopped dripping, and started gushing out of the ceiling.

On another occasion, I went to the office to ask the manager for maintenance help, because a brown liquid was rapidly soaking the walls of my living room. This wasn't quite as urgent as the urine issue, but anytime the wall is damp enough to stick your hand through, you have a problem. But the manager did not consider this a priority. It happened to be a day where someone had disconnected the magnet lock on the door of my building. Because I happened to reside in that building, the manager threatened me with criminal prosecution "if it was me." One week and two requests later, they sent maintenance to paint over the damp brown stains on my wall.

Many times I was convinced that the Cloisters management must be breaking the law somehow. How could this small group of dedicated rental unit practitioners treat their paying tenants with so much malice, so much determination to prove them wrong' But while their behavior almost certainly is in violation of the letter of DC law, they always adhered to the lease contracts. How did they do this' Well, the Cloisters does not offer you a standard DC lease. A lawyer had fun with this one. When you sign this document, you will be signing away every single tenant right you could possibly have, even to the point of having to give 60 days rather than 30 days notice not to renew your lease after it expires.

As for the apartments: we did not have mice ourselves. But you should also know that the advertised "short stroll" to the metro takes 20 minutes. The nearest grocery store is about 2-3 miles away through crime-laden streets. The walls are paper thin, you will learn a great deal about your neighbors' bowel movements. The apartment complex does not accept package deliveries, so don't shop online. In the winter, wind passes straight through the paper thin windows. The "heat" in my apartment blew out cold air. If your window faces the inside of the complex, you will hear drunk people outside your window at 3am. If your window faces Michigan Ave, you will hear ambulance and police sirens blaring throughout the night. Police and fire trucks frequently enter the complex, often well past midnight, and on at least one occasion in the past year, someone has been arrested directly in front of my building. If you're a woman, expect to be followed by shady characters when you're walking on Michigan Ave (and not just at night). The management will charge you hidden, bogus fees without any explanation. Our living room had nice sunlight during the afternoon.

User Responses
From: iHateTheCloisters2008	Date: 05/15/2008
Completely agree with everything you said. I almost feel like your 2 star review of the maintenance was a bit generous though.

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