Apartment Review for S & S Properties - Arlington, VA

I moved into this apartment in August 2003 after my previous landlord (also in VA, Falls Church), gave me thirty days to move so he could sell the house (in which I rented the basement) to a local gas station owner. I didnt have long to look and here are some of the bad things about not looking long enough: Laundry Room The laundry room which always has at least two of the 4 dryers not working and rarely has all three washers working is regularly inhabited (in the storage cages - no locks)by local homeless people. They will walk behind you when you are doing laundry and ask for money. They urinate and worse in the laundry room. They drink with their cohorts in the eveing hours in the laundry room which is unlocked and poorly lit. Good luck getting your money back from the machines. You can call the vending company that owns the machines and they will take two weeks maybe more to fix the machines but rarely refund your money. Parking Parking is on the extremely busy public streets and the area is poorly lit at night almost pitch black. Tickets are given out liberally so mind the parking zones that change unannouced from time to time on side streets. Usually you will park 10 minutes from your entrance if you come in after 7pm. Heat 1 week per month. Im not kidding. I am tired of asking. A/C Old rundown air conditioners that have frozen coils 1 hour after running them. You are not allowed to put your own energy efficient a/c unit in their new windows. New Windows I came home one day to find all my venetian blinds on the floor, nails and brackets strewn about the place, noisy rude handymen in the hallways. They were putting in new windows. Good for their heating bill which should be low since they rarely provide it. I put my blinds back up myself. The signs for the windows was not posted in my building...who knew? Rodents etc. There are gaping holes and entire sections of wall missing in my kitchen behind the stove. I have killed off a few mice since my tenure here... Roaches They evidently breed here. I exterminate on a weekly basis. Plumbing Like coming home to no water? It happens a lot here. I keep gallon jugs of water in the cabinets so I can cook, bathe and flush the toilet on the days they cut off the water. When they cutoff the water the laundry room washers appear to work but dont put out water. You lose your money finding this out. No sign posted in laundry room about washers temporarily out of order. Maintenance Landscaping is done on Saturdays so if you like being awakened by leaf blowers at 8 am be my guest. I had a pipe burst on New Year's Eve last year and flooded the bathroom. A maintenance man came and attached a garden hose to the pipe and let the water run into the tub until the next day when he brought a fitting that fit and completed the repair...on New Year's Day. Safety I was sitting at my pc last night when I smelled smoke. I went next door and banged loudly for along time because when I looked out my bedroom window which faces the kitchen and bedroom window next door I saw lights on but shades drawn. Noone would answer. I called 911 and turned my fans and a/c on. I continued to knock and prop the building doors open with rocks. Noone in the building opened their door or called the police. Finally one tenant, who lives there, came home. He does not speak English. The apt. is owned by a contractor and is a home to many immigrants looking for work(another story entirely). He put the key in the door to open it and I was trying to tell him wait for the fire dept...no luck. He opened the door and black smoke billowed into the hall and into my apt. next door. I ran outside coughing and the fire truck was coming up the street. They found a very drunk man in the apt. and brought him out...lucky for him. Another tenant from the same apt. came home during this incident who I see almost everyday and speak to...he can say hi and bye. When it was all over and their apt. was saved and their friends life was saved they said not one word to me... Yes I do plan to move as soon as I can save enough over and above the $50/year rent increases we get... It is Dec. 21, 2006. I can't wait to see what the New Year surprises in this property will bring...