Review History for OverWithRenting

They'll Treat You Like a Number

They treated me like a number after 4 and a half years. I rented from MAA at Post Carlyle Square in Alexandria, VA, from March of 2019, to what will be early June of 2023. Instead of my normal monthly rate, they demanded a month-to-month rate of nearly $4,000 for me to transition-out of the apartment. I was buying a house, and couldn’t give notice until my real estate contract was final and my closing was scheduled. By the time I gave my 60 days notice, it went past my lease end date by about 3 weeks. I asked if they could work with me and give me a rate other than the nearly $4,000. They stated there was nothing they could do. I made 4 and a half years of prompt rent payments, and they couldn’t work with me on the rate for those 3 weeks???!! They said that they don't negotiate rates because then they would have to do that for everybody. But I knew this to not be true, because with the prior property manager, in past renewal years, if you got a renewal offer that seemed inordinately high, he would look in his system and pull up a lower rate they could offer, to keep you. And this would be an unpublished rate that was different from your renewal letter. You had to ask to get it. Perhaps the most egregious new term I've noticed in the past renewal year or two, is that, unheard of anywhere else, rent is now due on the 1st AND LATE ON THE 2nd!!! Yes, that means a late fee of 9.95% of your monthly rent is now due. Is your rent on that one-bedroom $2600? That'll be about a $260 fee due on the 2nd of the month. I've been renting for 21 years, and everywhere I've rented before, rent was due on the 1st, but you had until the 3rd or 5th to physically get your payment in. They said they made that change to be consistent throughout all of their properties in other states. Want to go month-to-month after serving out your 12 month lease? While at many places, your lease will automatically roll into a month-to-month arrangement with 60 days notice, with MAA at Post Carlyle Square, you can plan on tacking on another $2,000 to that rental bill. If they were in DC, they wouldn't be able to punish residents for going month-to-month like that because rent increases are capped at like 5% per year. In addition, over the past nearly 4 and a half years, I have watched amenities fall into disrepair, coffee stations (which you pay for in your rent) constantly not being stocked, or out of service. I'm seeing shut-down amenities too, which can no longer be blamed on COVID; things like the smaller rooftop pool being closed, and commercial icemaker in the club house still being shut down. I had heard from other tenants that the prior owner of Post Carlyle Square, before MAA, was great, and that things had gone downhill under the management by MAA. They also now lock convenient side-gates to Post Carlyle Square rental tenants, due to condo owners who share the property, throwing their status around. So if you’re a tenant and want to enjoy the amenities in the building across the street, like the gym, pool, etc., you now have to walk all the way around the block. I would highly recommend staying as far away from Post Carlyle Square or MAA as possible. Do not rent from these people. They will rip you off when it comes time to renew, or move out.