SHL is a community of almost 3000 apts which makes it the largest on the east coast. With a property this large, you have to understand that there are gonna be many issues. PPl want to complain about roaches and mice, but the fact still remains that some of these issues come from ppl moving in and bringing them with them. It begins with the resident and then they want to hold everyone else responsible. As with any city or state for that matter, there are going to be concerns, but it is up to the resident to contribute equally. They dont want to pay rent on time, they bring roaches with them and they have multiple lease violations, but they want to complain about the neighborhood. All I can say is do your part and the staff at SHL will do theirs. To have a better quality of living, the community needs a better kind of resident. It begins with YOU!!!

User Responses
From: reviewer03	Date: 06/16/2008
I agree some of this review. Some of the residents are a major pain-in-the-butt with out of control children, drug related nonsense and basically anti-social and/or criminal behavior. On the flip-side, the apartments were poorly built meaning that every noise from neighbors is audible. Add to that children doing tumbling and jumping off furniture and playing in the halls and people playing their stereos at full blast is one part of the problem that makes living at SHL impossible for a sane person. Add to that, the chronic roach problem, the slow response to maintenance problems, the funky carpets and SHL is not a place that a responsible person wants to live. The behavior problems (drug activity, destructive children, loud noise etc) of residents ARE a responsibility of SHL management along with insuring proper maintenance of the apartments.
From: desorja	Date: 06/16/2008
As a former resident I can tell you alot of the responsibility falls on SHL and AIMCO for allowing the horribly poor service to continue. I wrote in a previous about multiple flooding in my apartment and how it became unlivable for nearly 3 weeks and it seemed like a joke to them. Well actually the joke was on me when I waited 1 hour and 48 minutes for maintenance supervisor to discuss my issues because the regular staff couldn't help me. The office personel kept calling him and each time he would say he was on his way. The office closed and I had to leave and he never showed up. The joke is on me. There was a huge hole in the wall around where the gas pipe to the stove went into the wall. I didn't realize this until after a few times when I cam home and I saw mice running into the space between the burners. After I lift the range hood and pulled it out I saw the huge opening. Almost a year later the hole was still there despite my repeated complaints to mgmtn. Unfriendly staff, unresponsive maintenace and an obvious lack of caring about the residence and the property. If you read the local crime sections in the local papers you almost always read about a car being broken into, apartment being rob or some sort of assualt. What does AIMCO do about this...nothing. Please sing your song about a better kind of resident...a better kind of mgmt is where the change starts....Honestly SHL is nothing more than a high class slum. Never heard that term before? Move to SHL.
From: Blind2ItAll	Date: 06/17/2008
The employee that wrote this has some nerve getting on here acting like they don't anything wrong. I lived there and I didn't bring any roaches, I did hangout and I pay my taxes and rent on time and I was still talk to like a dog from your staff when I complained about not having any heat and air condition for months. When I went up there to complain your Crack Staff...talk to me like I was an animal off the street and that was with saying you all needed better training. I feel the whole staff needs to be fired (including you) and AIMCO needs to hire more season workers who have had some diversity and customer service training but AIMCO is crooked too. I guess it is right when they say birds of a feather flock together. SHL hear the complaints but as long as it is not your personal problem you don't care. You don't care if families are displaced (The Fires) we all heard nightmares about that. You don't except responsibility for not knowing what you are doing and messing up (Maintenance). I have no problem letting people know that there are some parts of SHL that are okay but the bad outweighs the good. I have seen with my own eyes you local Police Officers overlook the drug dealers that hang out at the local corner store and carryout, I stop going up there after seeing that and I knew it was time me and my family to go. Those "Thugs" know you all are a joke because some of your staff is in with them too. It only takes one person to make a difference are you that person. It is so much negatively up there in that office and in the neighborhood, if you are the only positive person there at SHL offices, Good Luck. The Community Relations Person Needs to Really, Really, Really Step Up Her Game or Step Down.
From: Blind2ItAll	Date: 06/17/2008
The employee that wrote this has some nerve getting on here acting like they don't anything wrong. I lived there and I didn't bring any roaches, I did hangout and I pay my taxes and rent on time and I was still talk to like a dog from your staff when I complained about not having any heat and air condition for months. When I went up there to complain your Crack Staff...talk to me like I was an animal off the street and that was with saying you all needed better training. I feel the whole staff needs to be fired (including you) and AIMCO needs to hire more season workers who have had some diversity and customer service training but AIMCO is crooked too. I guess it is right when they say birds of a feather flock together. SHL hear the complaints but as long as it is not your personal problem you don't care. You don't care if families are displaced (The Fires) we all heard nightmares about that. You don't except responsibility for not knowing what you are doing and messing up (Maintenance). I have no problem letting people know that there are some parts of SHL that are okay but the bad outweighs the good. I have seen with my own eyes you local Police Officers overlook the drug dealers that hang out at the local corner store and carryout, I stop going up there after seeing that and I knew it was time me and my family to go. Those "Thugs" know you all are a joke because some of your staff is in with them too. It only takes one person to make a difference are you that person. It is so much negatively up there in that office and in the neighborhood, if you are the only positive person there at SHL offices, Good Luck. The Community Relations Person Needs to Really, Really, Really Step Up Her Game or Step Down.
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/19/2008
This post is obviously from an employee of SHL. I pity that person. It must be difficult to keep up with all the maintenance requests of 3,000 units. However, 3,000 units is a reason to hire more staff, use collection agencies, utilize eviction notices, and increase the quality and timeliness of maintenance staff. Tenants are sometimes to blame. Their own cleanliness or lack thereof DOES have an influence on the existing roach problem. The SHL staff has no way to regulate cleanliness of its tenants. All SHL can do is try to keep the roach population in check by chemically treating the units more frequently. The tenantts will have to realize that its their responsibility to clean up crumbs and food spills so that they don't attract any more roaches.
From: justdtruth4u	Date: 06/28/2008
Its' easy to shift the blame but I have seen a turnover in the staff at SHL that has been totally outrageous. The good people are gone and the lazy, I don't care people are left doing nothing. Unfortunately, I know it's not easy working for a company who doesn't care. If they don't take the time to care for their apartment units, they certainly will not take the time out to care for their employees. Aimco sucks! Thus they are left with individuals like the one who wrote "The facts".
From: anmdrenter	Date: 07/10/2008
Dude, seriously, I was the kind of renter that Springhill Lake wish they could have in all of their apartments. I always paid my rent on time and I never caused a problem. However, the staff still treated me like crap, especially when the A/c went out during a heat wave, and when my back door was broken. It should not take 3 weeks to fix a door, and it should not take 5 days of making phone calls to maintenance to report that my apartment is now over 90F because the A/c does not work. I was not sorry to leave.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/31/2008
Springhill Lake Apartments are the worst. I pay my rent on time and am a compliant renter. I have made several complaints to maintenance and community relations, and I can't even get a phone call (how professional is that). The maintenance doesn't even have pride in the work that is done, so that leads to more complaints because nothing is ever done correctly the first time. Also, management isn't proactive in preventing future problems. They wait until the problem is well out of control before they (if they) correct it. I encorage anyone not to waste their hard earn money by renting at this property.
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/29/2008
Its completey understandable that you may have some people that are not great residents. But what about the people that pay there rent on time, keep there units clean, and mind their business. The hardworking people of this community. Out of the 3000 people that live here please dont label everyone. Springhill lake or their new cover up name Empirian village. Same nasty place different name. Its truly a shame that some of the living conditions are the way they are.The buildings are outdated and gross. There are mice,roaches,rats, and bed bugs in the units. I've seen them all personally. Im not the tye of person that doesnt want to pay his rent. I take pride in paying my rent every mouth. It the fact of being able to take care of your family. But it ets to the point when your payng 1200 amonth and not getting the type of service you deserve. For the conditions provided here,at SHL you can get better in SE Dc on section 8 in the ghetto. There are so many issues from the plumping, leaks, rodents,floors, drugs, cleaning of builds. That i would need my own web page to complete. I'm at the point that moving is the only option. The staff has no care, and Please dont try to contact Ms Christion the community relations manager. She must me like the god father, Because since June Ive left her 20 plus message, and she is never available. Not sure what community she relates to, because its sure not the one that helps pay there salary. At this point I am, so upset with this place, even after I move i will make it a person misson of mine to see action take, for the people that can't move in to a house or a better place. I've already contacted the local newspaper, and newsstation. I will be contactingthem again with the pictures that i take. I will be creating a email were you all can email, and maybe together our voice can be heard. They can disrespect us one by one, but I feel if we all stand up together with these issues. Maybe someone in our local government will help and make some changes. I will be back up here in a couple of days with the email addr. Please save all of you papers and if you can take picture. Pictures tell the true. Have documention of all of your issues. and again please take pictures, they speak wonders.
From: fgthomas	Date: 09/07/2008
Emperian Village Apartments (formerly Springhill Lake Apartments) is the worst place to live in the country. The property manager, maintenance manager and personnel are the most incompentent, unconcern and "getto" attitude people I have ever met. Management does not enforce rules and allow drug dealings and other illegal activities to take place. It is not because they are unware of it; but simply turn a blind eye to it. The maintenance manager and department do not respond promptly (if at all) to maintenance requests. I have been requesting repairs inside my apartment for almost one year. Not until I contacted the property management company did anything get done. Even then, I had to make several follow-up calls. My thought is that the entire management team of this apartment complex needs to be replaced with someone of a reasonable professional level of customer service and results oriented.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/24/2009
I moved to SHL in '01 and it was nice. I lived in the 9300 blk of Edmonston Rd., it was very quiet and the apartments were clean inside and out. It was brought to my attention this was a crime ridden neighborhood back then, but I would've never known had I not read the local paper's crime watch section. I had a small child who was just learning how to walk and was informed 3 days before we were told we had to move that there had been three letters slipped under my door about the child who was walking across the floor. This was an older white woman who worked in a back office at the time and she said I had three days to move because I never responded to the letters I never received and my neighbor and his roommates, who had VERY LOUD sex what seemed like all day and all damn night had complained about my son who was walking across the floor and falling every few steps. My complaints about them and the obscene noises that came from their apartment went unnoticed. I moved out two days later and here I am in '09, and I'm back!! The oh so ghetto ass broads, not women, walking around the office in tight jeans, short skirts, low cut tops and sandals are so unprofessional. Professionalism begins on the inside and comes out to in your appearance and I may have seen one person with it and that may have been here off day for being a hoe at a desk. As for maintenance they ride around in these truck 2-3 deep looking at the women walk up and down the damn street or they be playing with the damn fountain in the lake!!! I've had to call maintenance a few times for a leaking ceiling which took 24 hours to respond to, and to have my place exterminated because I saw a roach and a damn cricket feel out of my damn vent when I was sitting on the couch with a date watching tv!!!! The house I was in had it's occasional spider in the damp basement, but we ain't have this bs here! I don't do no damn roaches!! I saw one and the very next day I set foggers off and did it weekly for 2 months. These ghetto ass bugs still showed face, so when the exterminator came out, that was it. I haven't seen a bug since early October '08 and it's the end of January '09 (I hope I'm not speaking too soon). When my daughter fell through our window during an asthma attack I called maintenance and a dude, I won't name his lying ass, but he came out boarded it up in less than 30 min, it was replaced in three weeks. I also had a flood in my kids' room and the carpet was soaked in their closet, and underneath their dressers that were damaged by the water. I called maintenance and the same lil dude came out and said he'd be back to fix the problem and never did. I called maintenance for three consecutive days and on that third day I was placed on hold, then hung up on by some giggly b*tch. I put my shoes on, grabbed my son and told him we had to make a quick run. I ran across the street and the office fell silent. I asked for the giggly girl, whose name I will not disclose, and they said no one worked there by that name. Then I asked for the giggly b*tch who hung up on me, and one of them was like, "I don't know who that would be because I been here all morning by myself". I looked at her like, all morning? B*tch it's 9:11!! Anyway, I told them what was going on, who had been out to my home and he never came back to finish the job as he stated. Two hours later an older gentleman came out to handle the problem and stated the pipes from the outside unit should have been flushed before I moved in, they are doing half ass jobs around here, and he then looked at some other leaks I had complained about and he just kept saying half ass jobs all over the place. Lately I've been having problems with the women who are suppose to clean the hallways and they don't. These broads be sitting on the basement floor having a damn picnic and DON'T move when they see you coming! They will block the stairwell, some be sitting up under the staircase and in the middle of the walkway and will keep talking to each other with you walking towards them. I've kicked one once and after that they move, but my thing is you are being paid to do a damn job, do it, get it done and have your pow wow later. I've also had problems with strange men entering the laundry room. This is a reason why there should be locks on the front doors of EVERY building and/or a key pad and coded. These guys I've seen exiting the laundry room are the same guys who hang outside of Giant selling some crap saying it's for charity, the Black guy is always singing and the White guy smoking a cigarette. They are probably the same ones who urinate in there too as I found out from a neighbor today, but it's really pathetic. Neither one of these guys live in this building and how in the world do they get back here to piss and sing in my building, lol!! (HELL NAH IT AIN'T ME, I GOT A MAN & I'M HAPPY, LOL!!) This is also a crime ridden neighborhood. If management took it serious and would evict the one's who they have proof who are bringing in the negativity, then it would eventually cease. There are some folks who DON'T live around here who do their dirt and then leave. Then you have these dudes with these pitbulls and other dogs letting them run around off the leash shittin' every damn where even up by the leasing office before they moved to their temporary location. It's nothing like talking a walk to Target to save on gas and you have to step over turds in the middle of the sidewalk!! Now for the lil' monkeys that be running around here all year that are very rude and disrespectful, it's the parents fault. The parents are probably young rude, disrespectful, and ignorant also so they think it's ok for their child to be the same way. These bad ass kids who tear up the playgrounds, the trees and leave trash at the dirty ass pool need to go too. OMG, the pool!!! That pool is sooooo dirty I could throw up. I go when they first open, because they have cleaned it and scrubbed the sides and everything from the day before. I went there and broke out in a rash all along my torso and thighs and immediately knew it was the pool. I went the next day to question them if anyone ever said anything about breaking out and they said no. I thought if I covered those areas in Vaseline I'd be ok, hot before I got in the water, but ok. That mess ate through the Vaseline and I was messed up for another week. I've been to pols all over Canada, NY, DC, MD, FL & VA as well as numerous beaches and have NEVER EVER broke out like this. My kids were disappointed they couldn't go back, but I explained to them it was dirty and it's making mommy sick. Empirian Village (did they really mean to spell it that way) needs to step it up and not paint random buildings first, but put in speed bumps in these drag race parking lots, put locks on ALL of the entrance doors to buildings, clean up their maintenance/cleaning departments, exterminate Community Relations/Accounting/Rental Divisions, and maybe have an internal security division, Greenbelt can't be here all the time, they are Greenbelt Police not Empirian Village Police.
From: squatch101	Date: 03/01/2009
I DIDNT BRING NO DAM ROACHES W/ME.. RENT IS ALWAYS PAYED ON TIME. I WENT TO THE OFFICE LAST WEEK TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE HEAT AND THE GIRL ROLLED HER EYES AND SAID "WE WORKIN ON IT" I TOLD HER I PAY TOO MUCH MONEY TO BE SLEEPING W/THE F$$$ING OVEN ON AND OPEN!

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