Fairfax Square Apartments

littlepeoplebigworld

Resident • 2006

Apt complex charges illegal security deposit

I decided not to rent at Fairfax Square because they require you to pay a $450 non-refundable "redecoration fee". I asked what this fee would be used for and the property manager told me that it is for "replacing the carpet after each tenant, re-painting, etc." <br><br>It is illegal for an apartment complex to demand a non-refundable security deposit, which is exactly what this "redecoration fee" is. It is also illegal for them to keep any part of your security deposit in order to cover damages for ordinary wear and tear. You can look it up in the Virginia code: Va. Code Ann. 55-248.15:1 (title 55, chapter 13.2, article 2).<br><br>I told the property manager this, and was informed that they would not rent to me if I did not pay this fee. So if you feel like getting ripped off, rent here. I didn't, so I'm not.

Current Resident 905262

Resident • 2004 - 2006

Do you like rats, roaches and other pests? Do you like to see dog poop in front of your apartment? Do you want to see trash strewn around? If so, this is your apartment. The management is very high handed and screw you over when you leave the apartment. The location and the clubhouse are the only positives but your own day to day stay will be a nightmare...guaranteed!!! My two cents.

Current Resident 988590

Resident • 2000 - 2006

Management is unreliable, rent keeps going up, walls are thin, roaches all over!

I lived here for a long time (in different unit), only because of its location. Management (including service and accounts!) and maintenance was so bad in the beginning that I avoided contacting if I could help it. All the employeees have somehow changed since then. Now, new employees are nice but they don't know anything and have to refer to senior employees who are as usual unfriendly and often defensive. If you need anything to be followed up, don't bet on it. We were infested with roaches but the exterminator came and went several times and they are still with us. Noise levels - walls are thin, you hear lots of sounds. They worry so much about outside facade, mowing the grass so often that nobody can have a sleep-in. Parking is a nightmare if you choose to go out at night. Fairfax square looks much better outside than inside. Don't let that nice new club house or the face of the leasing agent fool you.

turbo_focus

Resident • 2006

Old, but community is ok.

Old buildings, if you want to have any hope of convieniant or reliable tv, phone, or cable internet service do not come here. There is 2 phone jacks, and 1 cable jack in my apartment which is a THREE BEDROOM. That may be ok for 1970 but not today. Price is decent for the area, just old dull buildings. Community seems well been here about 7 months now and no security or crime problems that I know about. I am moving out at the end of my lease however.

Current Resident 530005

Resident • 2006

Hopefully your neighbor doesn't think she's a porn star

Hmmm.....how can i say this nicely, well I can't, so I won't try. My neighbor thinks she's a porn star and lucky for me I get to listen to it for hours in the middle of the night. Lets just say I can hear everything, from the squeaky bed, to the moaning, the groaning, the thrusting, the breathing (yes the breathing), the floors are like an oragami paper house, and then the pillow talk. I wish I could say this happened only occasionally, but I find myself praying that her male friend does not show up.

Current Resident 790901

Resident • 2005 - 2006

The horror!

Do yourself a favor and heed the negative reviews of this hole that you find at this site and others. Most of the reviewers posting negative comments are actually being far too kind. The buildings are in terrible shape. You will hear every sound that your neighbors make. You will witness drug deals in the parking lots at night. If you decide to rent here anyway, then every interaction with the management will be marked by deception, hostility, and fraud. You were warned.

Current Resident 795458

Resident • 2005 - 2006

beautiful!

Fairfax Square is a beautiful community with a friendly office staff and a responsive maintenance team.

happyrenter2258

Resident • 2006

Great Place

I moved in a year ago and really do enjoy living here. The apartments are older but I like that with older communitys you get larger floor plans and the grounds are beautiful with all the trees etc. I have to give compliments were compliments are due and Mark the assistant maintenance supervisor is by far the most knowledgable maintenance man I have run into in all my years of renting. They made a mistake by not making him the supervisor. He is very friendly and always willing to stop what he is doing to fix a problem. The office staff is also very friendly and are always willing to help out in any situation. It is clear that I will be calling Fairfax square my home for many years to come.

Current Resident 750351

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Enjoyed living there!!!

I must say this was the nicest apartment I have lived in. The office staff has been very helpful, although there are alot of new faces now. Whenever I had a question or concern, I would contact Chris G., who was the "Communities Captain". Chris was very informative and never hestitated to help out when needed. He helped make my stay @ Fairfax Square a pleasureable one. Hats off to Chris.

kurth

Resident • 2004 - 2006

Pretty good.. just depends on your neighbors

I lived there for two years and here are my thoughts. when i moved in, they were still working on the clubhouse and the rental office was a converted apartment. The staff was very pleasant to work with. They built the fancy clubhouse/leasing office/pool/workout building and It seemed like they hired more staff and I did not recognize any of the staff any more. I did not deal with them much so I can not comment. Maintanence was prompt if you had a serious issue, like a broken appliance, but for a minor issue It took me several calls to get things fixed. One review mentioned that the water pressure was not good, but I disagree, in fact I found that the water pressure was excellent, really great in the shower. The units have washer & dryer in unit... It's a small stacked unit, but it is much better than coin op laundry. Depending on the building you live in parking can be Great or a problem. There are a few buildings where the closest parking spots are kind of far away, but my building had alot of spots right in front of the building and parking was only a problem if you came home at 2 am on a friday or a saturday. as of the time of this writing they did not have parking permits so you do not have to worry about visitor parking passes and predatory towing. Other places I lived it was a pain to worry about your friends getting towed. I had a two bedroom, and I find the rooms were a bit on the small side, and there is not alot of closet space. The appliances are from the past 10 or 15 years and are standard low end but sufficent apartment fare. My unit had fairly new cabinents that were nice. You can sometimes hear people walking around above you, and you can hear screaming/fighting/domestic violence and crying babies. If you do move there and live on second or third floor please use speaker stands and forget about using a subwoofer, it will annoy the people below you. Loud music and bass will come right through. A music instrument like an accoustic guitar can be heard loud and clear through the floor as well. If the people above you are doing laundry you can only hear it if they have a off balance load and the machine starts shaking violently. It just depends on your neighbors. My carpeting looked like it was pretty new.. not brand new but recent. Gas can get expensive in the winter so budget for that. Since this is an older community the are lots of big trees and depending on the location of your unit you can have a nice shadey area to look at whilst sitting on your patio. there is a area with a little stream but I never walked over there. I never went to the pool or the fitness center so I can not comment on that. As far as apartments go it is pretty good. you just have the annoyances of apartments, the things inevetiable when you have people living above, below, and next to you.

Current Resident 311327

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Little Havana

If you like Salsa Music....move here. The apartment below me was housing at least 12 people and the Salsa Music never stopped. <br><br>If you like garbage piled up on the front lawn of your building.....move here. I loved walking outside every morning and seeing cases of empty Corona bottles all over the grass.<br><br>

Current Resident 577090

Resident • 2005 - 2006

My lease and my opinion

The complex should be updated a bit more to suit the needs of the guess or visitors. The inside of the dwellings are quite outdated for the price charged. The maintanence is good, but does not compare to other places that I have resided.

Current Resident 713428

Resident • 2004 - 2006

Pretty decent for the price

My wife and I lived in one of the tuckaways for two years. The tuckaways are semi-submerged units underneath the townhomes -- what they call "English basement" apartments around here. One side of the apartment (the side that corresponds with the front of the townhomes) has small basement-sized windows near the top of the wall, but the other side, where the front doors are located (around the back side of the townhomes), is above ground and has full-size windows. So natural lighting is somewhat of a problem in half of the apartment, but the exposed side pretty well makes up for it.<br><br>The big plus with the tuckaways is that you get a LOT of square footage for the money. These are older apartments, and so the rooms are nice and big, compared with a lot of the dinkier and higher-priced newer cookie-cutter complexes I looked at before choosing Fairfax Square. I can't speak for the other apartments or the townhomes, but the tuckaways were a really good bargain and had a lot of character. They extend under the entire length of two townhomes. <br><br>Another huge plus is that we never saw any nasty bugs, other than a couple of ant outbreaks that were easily dealt with. If you keep your living quarters clean, you're not going to see any roaches and rats.<br><br>The maintenance and grounds crew gets an "A." All of the guys were incredibly friendly and would wave to us when we came home, if they were out nearby and saw us. And if we had a problem, they'd be at our apartment very promptly. The grounds were always kept up very well, too.<br><br>The area itself is quite safe. We never felt afraid that our car or our apartment was in danger of being broken into. And as a bonus, you're right on the CUE and Metrobus (29K) line. Both buses stop at the complex, and the CUE will take you to the Vienna/Fairfax Metro station. Both buses will take you to George Mason University.<br><br>If you have pets, this may just be the place for you. It's VERY pet-friendly. Our pets caused some minimal damage in our two years at our apartment -- frayed carpet corners from scratching, basically -- and we got NO grief about it during our closing walk-through. As long as you come clean up front about the animals you have when you move in, and you don't mind paying the pet deposit, you will NOT have a problem. We had a cat and three ferrets, plus an aquarium. And as I said, no problems.<br><br>The drawbacks: Well, again, these are old apartments. The tub was small, and the appliances are on the older side. Some of our closet doors stuck or fell off their tracks with regularity, and there were some tiny dings in the walls and the linoleum. And you can easily trip a circuit if you have too many electronics running at the same time ... we'd have to remember to shut off some lights when we fired up the vacuum cleaner, for example. Small stuff, fortunately. But if you're looking for pristine and upscale, go try out one of those newer cookie-cutter complexes I was talking about. <br><br>Also, this may have been just a tuckaway thing, but we could always hear the people walking above us. Their floors (our ceiling) squeaked all the time. We learned to tune it out after a while, but shortly before we moved, a new family with a small, very hyperactive child and an energetic dog moved in above us, and it suddenly turned into Grand Central. It sounded like there was an elephant pounding on the floors above us.<br><br>Heating and cooling: For their age, these places were pretty efficient. We never had any huge heating and cooling bills. But one thing you should know is that you don't pay just your own gas bill. The apartment complex bills your entire building cluster and then divides up the price per unit, according to whatever metric they used -- square footage, number of tenants ... I can't remember. But it was really a weird setup.<br><br>Other utilities: There is a water surcharge. But judging from what one other person has said here, it seems that the complex gives you free water for the first year but then makes you start paying the surcharge if you sign a new lease. That's what happened to us, but I thought it was a universal policy change that affected everyone, established tenants and new ones alike, to help defray costs. Maybe not. If not, it's a pretty sneaky policy, and I don't know why the complex wouldn't just come out and say you get free water for your first year, and then you have to start paying for it.<br><br>Parking: The tuckaway/townhouse section had assigned parking. But if someone didn't pay any attention to the signs, or couldn't see the numbers painted on to the spots (our number was almost completely worn away), you'd often get someone parked in your spot. Fortunately, the tow trucks were usually pretty quick to get to the site.<br><br>Trash: Nobody followed the trash rules, and the complex just encouraged the rule breakers by picking up the garbage on Sundays, which was supposed to be a non-trash day. Every once in a while, though, management would decide to do some selective enforcement and try to scare the tenants with warnings and fines. We got a warning once for tossing out a pizza box without putting it in a trash bag. Someone actually went to the trouble of digging through the trash pile, taking the pizza box to the office, photocopying the label on the box with our name on it, mailing us a letter with the photocopy, and serving us with a warning about proper disposal. This from people who pick up trash when they're not supposed to and who seemingly turned a blind eye when others would toss out sofas, ping-pong tables, TVs, you name it -- all of which was supposed to be taken directly to the dumpster area, not left for the complex to clean up.<br><br>And speaking of selective enforcement, don't leave ANYTHING on your patio or balcony if you don't want a warning to show up in your mailbox one day. We lived way at the back of the complex, where nobody could even see our patio, and we got two warnings for leaving our bikes out. Yes, our BIKES. This, while other people with patios and balconies in plain sight would leave BBQs, empty boxes, toys, pieces of furniture, and, yes, bikes on theirs, and nothing was ever done.<br><br>Management is generally clueless, but that seems to be the same at just about every complex. You always have to take the good with the bad, I suppose.<br><br>One other thing: I noticed that in one ad for this complex, you see what looks like a really fancy building. Well, it is a fancy building, but it's not one of the apartment buildings. It's the office building. Don't be fooled. As decent as the apartment buildings themselves are, they're nowhere near as swank as the office complex, which was built just a year or so ago. Have fun paying for that with your rent increases!<br><br>Pool looks nice. That's new, too. Never used it. If you're into fitness, there's a nice workout room on the second floor of the office complex.<br><br>Overall, the good outweighs the bad. Just be ready to deal with a little noise and dumb management, and you'll have yourself a pretty good bargain.

MCangel

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Great place to live!

I moved in here in October of 2005, and love it. Maintenance responds VERY, VERY quickly to any request that you put in. They replaced my broken refrigerator on a Sunday night, they came out on a holiday to fix my heater, etc.<br><br>I'm on the ground floor and do notice some insects now and then, but that happens in any house in the summer months. <br><br>The only complaint I would have is that my bedroom being on a corner made it almost impossible to heat during the winter. I had to buy a space heater, and even then I was battling $300 gas bills because the heater had to work overtime to try to heat my frigid bedroom. <br><br>I do hear my upstairs neighbors walk around, but that's what comes with living on the ground floor. I had a large selection of apartments to choose from when moving in--they hardly "force" you to choose an expensive one. I don't hear my next-door neighbors at ALL, save the occasional noisy bath time, and they have 2 small children.<br><br>Overall though, it's been a great experience; much better than previous apartments in the area. Parking is great because you don't need a special permit to park there--so if you have a friend over, they can actually just come over without fear of being towed. The fitness center/pool is really nice, and I find the staff to be very helpful.<br><br>Since I'm an actual resident and not a staff member, I know at least MY positive review is for real, and imagine many of the others are as well.

Current Resident 316347

Resident • 2006

Very Nice Place to Live

I recently moved in a townhouse here and it's wonderful, I even stay next to some college students and it's not noisy at all. Yes, tenants are required to put trash in designated areas at designated times (630am to 830am M-Sat), but the trash is picked up shortly afterwards. The only complaint I currently have is the lease - the lease is approximately 50 pages long and requires signing on each page - not tenant friendly at all. You can hear squeaking when walking but that's normal wear and tear for a building so old. It can be expensive living in this area, but that's the price you pay to live closer to work.

Current Resident 416849

Resident • 2006

I'm surprised to see so many negative comments on this site, I've lived at Fairfax Square for 6 months and it's been great. It's very pet friendly, very clean, and I've never had a problem with noise or major appliance issues.

Current Resident 698701

Resident • 2004 - 2006

Worst Place I've Ever Lived

Most reviewers here have summarized the Fairfax Square experience dead-on. You can tell that the groups of 5.0 ratings are fake ones from the staff. Below are the bad things to expect from living here:<br><br>1. The Noise: After moving here, I had to start wearing ear plugs every night due to the noise of adjacent apartments and from outside. There is NO insulation between apartments. Unfortunately I live on the middle floor so I hear from below a middle schooler practice his trombone and the loudest snorer I've ever heard in my life. From above I can hear every single footstep the people take. The creaking and groaning of upstairs noise and walking actually reverberates through my bedroom walls. It's what use to wake me up mulitiple times at night until I got earplugs. You can also hear fighting, sex, and my favorite: people going to the bathroom. Also if they're doing construction outside in the morning it sounds like someone is hammering right next to your head.<br><br>2. The Upkeep of the Apartments: My carpet is at least 20 years old and the stains prove it. My roommate and I are embarrassed to have company over because it looks like several people died on the carpet or at least threw up on it. The kitchen has old appliances, there are no cable outlets in the bedrooms (you have to pay Cox Cable to personally install one), and there is no fan in the bathroom.<br><br>3. The Smell: There are all sorts of ethnicities in Fairfax Square, which doesn't bother me, but the combined smell of all of their strange cooking...coming into my apartment...does bother me. Sometimes it smells like a cooking dumpster and other times it smells like someone is cooking rotted meat with burnt oil. Either way it comes through our electrical outlets, vents, and somehow it comes into my closet and stinks up my clothes. Other residents also put up with such smells but also with the combination of smoke.<br><br>4. Appearance, Accommodations, and Trash: I find it HILARIOUS that Fairfax Sq spent millions of dollars to built that nice looking clubhouse with the grand piano in it and fountains outside. It's solely there to trick potential residents into thinking these are luxury apartments. Yet outside next to every curb you find disgusting garbage rotting 24/7. One time I received a $25 fine for garbage because I took my garbage out 30 minutes after the 2 hour time period. They knew it was my trash because they rooted around in the garbage until they found a piece of junkmail inside with my name on it. Other residents have caught onto this too because now everyone just removes their names and addresses from anything that goes in the trash. Also Fairfax Sq has no system for residents to safely drop off outgoing mail. Nothing. The staff tells you to stick your outgoing letters up above the mailboxes. I recently had some online dvd rentals stolen because of this system. Anyone can steal your outgoing mail. Parking isn't so hot either. You can't find a space in front of your building anytime after 8 or 9. They make the spaces super tight so lots of cars hit one another or get rear ended because of this.<br><br>5. Safety: I have never personally had anything happen to me but their outdoor lighting system does not make me feel safe. I've lived here for almost 2 years and my roommate had to put in 5 request to have several streetlights replaced before the staff actually did something about it. <br><br>6. Staff and Cost: Like everyone else has said, the staff doesn't care that your apartment conditions suck. They tell you they won't do anything about the noise your neighbors make. One of the trash collectors actually screamed at and denigrated 2 residents for taking their trash out at the wrong time of day. As for cost, it may be considered 'cheap' for the area but you get what you pay for. Most people find out after moving in that there are actually nicer apartments in the area for the same price. The rental office also scams residents when they renew their lease for an additional "water charge" that was always there, they just want to charge more for your second year there.<br><br>I am so glad I am moving out next month.

Cr0we

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Far better than rating

I have lived at Fairfax Square for almost a year.<br><br>Upon moving in there were some issues with non working appliances, leaking bath, broken microwave etc....<br><br>However, once that was cleared up, we have had very few problems. Our refrigerator died one night and the maintenance crew replaced it that night, albeit with one that desperately needed a cleaning.<br><br>Speedie (The Maintenance guy) is great as well as the others.<br><br>The only problem we have had is as others have mentioned: I hear absolutely EVERY step my upstairs neighbor takes. Whether they are walking on their heels, stamping, or it is amplified in some way, I am unsure. But at 2am it is horrible. <br><br>Next door neighbors have shouting matches as well.<br><br>I have never felt unsafe and my daughter walks around without fear.<br><br>Overall, a nice place though a bit pricey. But that's DC for you, and the reason I am moving to Memphis.

Current Resident 657097

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Worst apartments

These apartments are in very bad shape. They leak,crack,have very bad insulation,bad heaters and AC. The only thing good is the proximity to Mason. If I were you, I would chose to live at a distance in a better place than living in this place.<br><br><br>

renterva76

Resident • 2003 - 2006

Fairfax Square was great

I have lived here almost three years but moving out shortly due to relocation. I don't have any negative comments. We never had a vermin problem in our time and maintenance was able to respond the same day we would call. I've lived in other deplorable apartments with roaches and maintenance that doesn't do work or never comes but Fairfax isn't like that. A new pool also adds to the charm. We've never had problems with neighbors and it seems very family oriented. We have three neighbors and all have children.

Current Resident 822048

Resident • 2006

Really bad!!

<br>Fairfax Square is a really bad place to live.These are very badly built apartments. As they are very old, they tend to leak at lot of places. Getting them repaired didn't help much..they started to leak again in about 5 months time..we had such teething problems with the management that we swore never to return back again. <br><br>One thing I should tell you guys here..The management reads all these reviews in this website and also writes their own positive reviews..So, if you see someone giving these apartments a very good rating, never believe them. This is coz no one who has ever lived here would give them such a rating..<br><br>

Current Resident 31484

Resident • 2005 - 2006

Absolutely would recommend Fairfax Square

I've lived here for approximately seven months with so few problems that they almost aren't worth mentioning.<br><br>Everyone in the office has been friendly and helpful since the first time we toured the property.<br><br>This being an unrefurbished unit, we have had some minor appliance problems. Our dryer was repaired within one day of submitting a maintenance request. It took them all of four days to order and install our replacement dishwasher. Maintenance replaced our dining room blinds the very day the old ones fell out of their brackets. All of the maintenance men are helpful, capable, and friendly. One of them even waves to me when I see him at the grocery store!<br><br>Our apartment is on the ground floor and surrounded by trees and bushes. Nonetheless, we haven't had any bug or rodent problems. Sure, we get the occasional insect, but no more than an average house would.<br><br>Our building is very quiet, except for one tenant who seems to think he's the only one who lives here. Management issued him a warning the day after I submitted a complaint in writing. If I'm in the bathroom I can hear my neighbors' plumbing, but that's normal. I can occasionally hear my upstairs neighbors moving furniture around, but again, it's no different from the noise you'd hear in a reasonably well-built two-story house.<br><br>Parking is tight, yes. That's to be expected since this is an older complex, built before Fairfax County's population explosion. I often come home from work late at night and can't park in front of my building, but I can always find a spot less than a two-minute walk away. And I've *never* felt threatened or unsafe walking back from my car.<br><br>In short, the only real problems we've had have been with old appliances - which were addressed immediately - and one horribly loud neighbor - which was also addressed immediately.<br><br>We're very happy here, will definitely be renewing our lease, and would absolutely recommend Fairfax Square to anyone.

Current Resident 910423

Resident • 2005

Avoid!

During and shortly after college, we lived in several rather bad apartments. As mid-career professionals we vowed to never live in such places again. Imagine our horror when we realized after the first month at relatively expensive Fairfax Square that we were living in the worst apartment thus far. The paint cracked in two rooms because the walls underneath were crumbling. The appliances failed more often than they worked. The incredibly amplified creaking of the floors above and the lack of insulation anywhere would have been comical in a movie. The vermin problem was disgusting. The management was nothing other than hostile. Do not even consider "living" at Fairfax Square!

Current Resident 989446

Resident • 2004 - 2005

Perfect place for new-to-area folks, college kids, and DC workers.

Excellent apartments if you can afford to spend a little extra for all new appliances(even if you cannot the old ones run better and longer than any other apartment i've been in and Faifax Square always has a maint. man on duty to help when i need). The property is minutes within highway 66 and 495 which practically lead everywhere not to mention in between two colleges, NoVA(only a 2 year), and George Mason (one of the areas top law schools). I've heard of pest problems but that seems to happen anywhere and killing them is practically impossible when your neighbors do not clean up after themselves, but this is not the properties fault and one should take care of the matter personally if they want to KNOW that something is being done about it(instead of people whome are afraid of confrontation against people who ignorantly cause chaos). Anyone who seems to have a bad complaint about this place sounds to me as if they might've been a problem resident whome i've seen demanding things of the leasing agents rediculously and refuse to pay for it. As far as noise and any problems at night, the police station is right down the road and usually has cars in the area(so i do not have to worry about a lengthy response time). This property is right next to Old Towne Fairfax which has a ton of culture and things to do (within walking distance of the not-so-lazy or a short 5 minute drive can do) and even has a local area High School (Woodson) closer than anything else. PERFECT if you have a teen. When i first moved in here i was also given a packet with coupons for the area's food shops and stores which helped me get to know the surrounding area a lot better(along with the people!). The club house here is amazing with a weight room, a computer center, a lounge area, and a huge pool specifically for adults to swim laps around in (3 1/2 ft all around for swimming as an exersise and deteers children from crowding and being a menace because they'll want deeper pools(which if you want as well is not too far from here)) and the biggest area outside to hang around and get a tan with other residents. They even have a bar area upstairs with refreshments and on holidays they throw parties to get everyone in the community together. This property was a lot cleaner than either of the two i lived in before and definatly is worth the cost (reasonable for those who work for a living instead of sucking the life out of tax dollars). All in all i completely reccomend this property to ANYONE looking around in the area. Anyone who has a complaint previous to this probably complained at any property and will continue to for the rest of their lives. Try it out for your self and make your own opinion. In mine, this place is great!

yokel1

Resident • 2004 - 2005

Pretty bad place for families and hell for students..

I lived here for 1 year and all I can say is that if you are a student, don't even dare to live here. Being a student will make you get treated really bad..and I mean really bad. It's not just with me, it happened with my friends too who happened to live just few blocks away from us. <br><br>Families are going to suffer because of bad management of the apartments(Students too..but i guess they can manage). Most of the apartments are very old and have cockroaches and bugs. There will be a hefty move in fee and they will force you t o take an apartment with fire place and such extras even if you don't need them. Most of the stuff in the apartment is prone to repairs because of the substandard stuff used.<br>