I have always been a good tenant everywhere I have rented. I understand that people have bad days and let things go and have always been treated fairly and courteously. That all changed when I came here. It's true, if you don't bother the management, they pretty much will not bother you. But heaven forbid you ask for anything that is promised in the brochure for the place or want to move out, then you're really asking for major headaches, disappointments and hassles. I will try to list all of the issues I have had here in the most fair way I can think of. I did read these apartment ratings before I came and thought, oh that stuff only happens to other people, I've always been a good tenant, I always form good relationships with people where I live, I won't have a problem. But here is the list anyway, as I write in great disappointment of having to waste my time feeling the need to inform others of what may happen to you, even the best-intentioned tenant.

-SAFETY: There were two shootings in the neigborhood and one right outside the neighborhood while I lived here, one year. I think this was due to all of the ghetto people who hang around there all day and fix cars out of the parking lot and do drug deals, I saw one at 230 in the afternoon, and play basketball on the courts. Nothing is done to ask people to leave who don't live at the apartment. Also a lady was assaulted by the basketball courts in late evening due to VERY poor lighting. Yes, bad things happen, but we were NEVER informed of what was going on in order to better protect ourselves, except for the assault, never anything about the shootings. But we were informed about car vandalism which happend more often than not. A motorcycle was stolen one night also, so I'd watch you don't leave something you care about out. There are a lot of poorly lit areas so I don't recommend walking around the complex alone or without at least a large dog.

Also, there are a lot of ghetto residents mostly because Avalon is required to subsidize some housing for under-privileged families. The only three-bedroom apartments in the community are reserved for this subsidized housing. This often meant huge families shoved in small apartment, with many members of the family hanging around all day with no jobs. Those were also the very crappy, beat-up, junky cars hanging around the complex. Jobless friends would then join together during the day throughout the complex, sitting around, spitting, leaving junk like bikes and mini fridges and boogie boards all over the lawns in front of their apartments.

Throughout the community large puddles fill in dips in sidewalks, usually in front of exits to the buildings, that freeze over in the winter and have caused accidents.

-MAINTENANCE: Generally the most pleasant people at the complex though they come sporadically to fix issues with the apartment. If it is something easy, they will come quickly and if it is labor-intensive don't ever expect to see them. When it rained, water would leak through the walls and in 8 months, they never came to fix it, meaning if I got mold because of it, that was my responsibility according to the lease, so it would then be my problem. Once maitenance came in to do routine service without notifying residents. I hated feeling like I couldn't trust that no one would come into my house when I wasn't there. That is also against the law.

-CLEANLINESS: There is dog poop everywhere, watch your step. Otherwise the place stays pretty clean. One girl ended up with rats in her apartment because of a hole in her closet, that she had not put in there, and the community gave her SUCH a hard time about fixing it, claiming it wasn't an emergency and making her wait over a week. THEN telling her they were doing her a favor by not charging her for moving apartment. That IS a health issue, having rats pooping all over your apartment.

-CUSTOMER SERVICE: In my one year here, management has changed twice, and never for the better. Constantly I was promised calls back regarding maintenance and issues I had, and never did I receive a call back. I also asked on two separate occasions for large packages I knew were being delivered to be put directly into my apartment, a service supposedly offered by Avalon, and was told to write a letter allowing them to open my door, etc. I did, and both times ended up carrying up the packages, 3 boxes from Dell with a home PC, and a 105 lb. box containing a stationary bike.

Upon moving out I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom and was charged almost my entire security deposit for things that they can not explain. Most of the charges seemed like stock charges they would charge everyone for. My advice is to just not bother cleaning because you'll waste 14 hours of your time and still not receive your security deposit back. The lease states that normal wear and tear, I would assume such as normal traffic stains on a carpet, are ok, but they will charge you. They are required by law to paint and steam clean the carpets anyway, but they will charge you for those services too.

Also I was told by an employee that my utilities would be transferred and they were not, except water, and now I am stuck with an 80 dollar bill, part of which is for the tenants that moved in after me!

Most of these issues were with one certain employee who no longer works there, but management will not take responsibility for things that she said and did while she worked there. That seems like a cop out to me. The only way to get anything taken care of is to call the Regional Manager in Baltimore, who will take care of everything quickly and easily for you.

-BOTTOM LINE: The appartments are run of the mill, nothing great, whatever places. The people I have met who live here are nice and I love being around all of the dogs in the community, but I would not recommend this place. I won't go into all of the problems that my friends have had here, because there are just too many to write. Also, the rent is high to make up for the subsidized housing and for these prices you can rent a townhouse in the area.

User Responses
From: olddecoverlyrenter	Date: 06/07/2005
Having lived at the apartments during this same period I can corroborate some of this review. The review is correct in regards to safety. There were assaults and shootings and we were not notified of the shootings. the new management notified us of the assault. There is a definite ghetto factor there. I never could figure out why since it appears to be a nice area, but the review is right in regards to the crappy cars etc. The odd thing is that they reserve all of the 3 bedrooms for section 8. In other words lets see how many people we can fit in an apt. I never had a problem with the timeliness of maintenance, but for the most part they are inept. I disagree with the dog poop. I'm a dog owner and did a lot of walking in the grass and don't recall ever seeing any. As for the office, there were defintiely some clueless folks in there when I was there. I'm guessing I know the "she" the reviewer is talking about was the same one I had issues with. she was completely useless. For example, I was moving into a furnished apt and she told me it was ready when it didn't have any furniture yet. I almost ended up sleeping on the floor because of her cluelessness.

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