This is how Circle Towers works.
You move in, into a new apartment, and there are some kinks here and there. You inform the leasing office. They do nothing. And the cycle goes on.
Once its time for your lease to expire, its quite possible that the management has changed (I stayed there for a lil more than two years and the management changed at least 3 times). So when you go down to the leasing office to settle some matters, they have some tactics up there sleeve.
UDR Group (the current ones) always ask you to leave your email id and phone number so that one of the managers will get back in touch with them soon (but that never happens)
Once you have moved out, you'll be charged a minimum of 300 to 400 dollars for no mistake of yours!
Worst was when we saw our FAS report (Final Account Settlement), after having stayed at CT for 2 years, and not defaulting on a single rent/utility payment, the reason for moving out was written as "Money problems". I have personally gone to the management and requested to talk to the manager N number of times, but the usual thing happens, they take my contact details, and the details are trashed once I leave the office I guess!
It doesn't stop quite there. The items that a lease holder has to return (Keys, Access Cards, Parking Stickers and Visitor Parking tags) upon the expiry of the lease, we returned in trusting the management. Later we see that we have been charged for loss of access cards and mailbox keys.
Another thing these guys do is that they come in two or three days before your lease expires and charge you for stuff that you are yet to move. (we were charged for a cabinet that we had moved ourselves!)
My Opinion: Its a nice place to stay, excellent location and decent facilities. Except for the management, which I seriously feel is quite racist! (I am not over reacting, but this is my personal opinion) The management, at least the UDR group fleeces the students (a majority being -------) until they leave. The problem is that they dont find a solution for the existing problems with noise and dirty tenants. They just want to single out people from a particular country and shoe them away.
My suggestion: Don't get bogged down negative reviews, its a nice place to stay. Just be over cautious, take a video of the house when you move in and when you move out. That gives you enough proof to support your claim. The management refuses to give you an acknowledgment of all the stuff that you return, so that's a risk you should be ready to take (about $100 fines for that).
Another suggestion: Try to take a video when you move in, along with someone from the management. Because CT management has a culture, where it is customary to refuse to accept what the old management told you. I may be asking you too much, but try to record the conversations you have with the management (most new cell phones have this feature of voice recording), it will be very useful in the future.
Last suggestion: There are move in deals and many of the associates can give you good prices (some deals are so good, they give you 20 to 25% discount on the existing rates). So if you are having a flexible move in time, try to negotiate with the management, you'll get excellent prices. If you get these discounted prices, I doubt if there is any place around that can beat those prices! Caution: Read every single line in the fine print, read it twice or thrice to make sure you are not being charged anything extra without your knowledge.
Bottomline: If I had a requirement to move back to that area, I'd definitely not go to CT again! I have lost close to 300$ after returning the apartment cleaner than it was when we moved it. I dont have the patience to lose another 300!
PS: I wont be surprised if there is a review of the apartment saying CT is an excellent place. Thats how it is on this website. The apartment guys will keep an eye on the reviews and try to keep the ratings up

User Responses
From: c.sutphin	Date: 06/16/2009
Dear Anonymous, It sounds as though you had some concerns during your move out process. I understand how frustrating it must have been for you to have dealt with an office staff change so many times during your stay. It is hard on both the residents and the management team when taking over a new community. I am not familiar with your move out charges but can only explain how the process works. When a resident moves out, we fill out a key return checklist with the former resident and have them sign off on the keys, parking passes and building cards they have returned. Our maintenance supervisor will then go to the apartment and perform a move-out inspection (the resident can request to be present during this). This consists of taking pictures of potential damages. The pictures are copied to a disk and given to the Assistant Community Director. The former residents move-in inspection form is compared with the move-out inspection form and if there is more than just normal wear and tear that is when charges are applied. It does not benefit the management team to charge a resident for damages that they did not create as we legally can not do this and we do not want to have an unhappy resident/former resident. I apologize for the troubles you have experienced and wish you the best of luck. If I can be of any help with previous issues you have had, please contact me anytime. Thank you, Christine Sutphin Assistant Community Director Circle Towers csutphin@udr.com

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