When problems between Samantha Palans and her roommate escalated to the point where cohabitation was impossible, Palans went to the manager of her apartment building, Woodley Park's South Cathedral Mansions, and asked for help. Management's willingness to find a solution to the conflict impressed her.
"My impressions of the rental company are good and have become more positive over time," Palans said.
When hunting for an apartment, tenants and others said, take the time to look beyond the quality of the appliances to the quality of customer service the company offers. The degree of promptness and competence of management can make a visible difference in the daily life of an apartment building.
Poor customer service can turn a good apartment into a miserable place to live. When the ownership of Capitol Park Plaza in Southwest changed hands in the fall of 2002, major changes began that prompted tenant complaints and acrimonious law suits. Resident Tom Seidman recently composed an open letter to the owners and managers: "Long after you were obligated to complete your alleged renovations, here I am still beset on an almost daily basis by workers seeking access to my apartment, without any notice, or with improper notice," he wrote. "I am tired of these invasions of my privacy. I am tired of repeatedly calling for service that I do not get. I am tired of your attitude when I request a repair and it does not happen. I am tired of the entire generic indifference that informs every level of your corporate structure and culture."
The situation at Capitol Park Plaza and the neighboring Capitol Park Twin Towers is unusual. The new owners were primarily funded by the D.C. Housing Finance Agency after agreeing to designate 65 percent of the units as low-income housing. Because the $30 million from the agency was public money, the building was taken out of the District's rent stabilization program. The residents, even those qualifying for the low-income housing, will experience a yearly 12 percent rent increase until prices reach the market rate. D.C. officials said the change helped retain affordable housing, but many tenants say they got a raw deal.
The complex's owners would not comment because of the pending lawsuits.
The tenants association says residents were unaware of the ownership change until the new owners posted notices of the 12 percent rent increase and began demolishing balconies without warning. While the D.C. landlord-tenant laws require that residents have the right of first refusal in buying their building if it is to be sold, that rule applies only if the entire building is sold. In recent years, many building owners have retained a small interest in their properties while selling the bulk of control to other investors, thus circumventing this requirement. That is what the previous owners of Capitol Park Plaza did.
Situations this extreme are rare, but worth investigating before signing on the dotted line. There are several ways a potential renter can reduce the chances of moving into a building with poor customer service. Determine if the building has an on-site maintenance staff, which will help ensure a speedy response to requests. If looking to live somewhere other than an apartment complex, make sure the manager lives nearby instead of in another city or state. Elise Moore's landlords, for example, live two doors down from her own brownstone near U Street, and one of them is always available when something needs to be fixed. "I could not ask for better landlords for such a great house and at such a great price," she said.
Another way of gauging the quality of customer service is to spend some time speaking with current residents to get their opinions. At the very least, check out Internet sites such as www.apartmentratings.com, which has a database of apartment reviews written by tenants. It is searchable by building name, number of reviews, price and overall rating.
Monico Veloz, the building manager at South Cathedral Mansions, suggested inquiring about tenant and employee longevity. He also advised that a potential resident explore the surrounding neighborhood and avoid places offering unusually low rent, which can imply low service.
Observe the availability and helpfulness of the staff when applying for an apartment. Alain Sagoua says that the leasing office of Silver Spring's Montgomery White Oak apartment complex was more than willing to work with him to get on the lease in spite of a lack of credit history. Other companies might simply refuse any applicant without a solid credit and rental history.
It is important to ask leasing office staffers how they communicate with residents on subjects such as maintenance and rent increases. Some complexes have newsletters and a 24-hour maintenance number, while others are more difficult to get in touch with when an issue comes up. Leslie Sharfman lives in Waterside Towers in Southwest and reports that her experience has been good until recently, when the power repeatedly failed. "I never know if I will have hot water in the morning or if the power will be on," she said.
Teresa Barker, a representative of United Dominion, the company that owns Waterside Towers, said that the power outages were the result of generators that were brought in to keep power flowing to the building after an electrical fire had destroyed switches in the basement.
Each time the generators were shut down for servicing, the power went out in the building. Waterside Towers management held a resident meeting to explain the situation, but Sharfman says she was unaware of what was happening until nearly a month later when she was still experiencing power outages.
Many apartment complexes and buildings advertise superior customer service. In addition to a front desk, many buildings also include a shuttle to a nearby Metro station and on-site day care. One local building even advertises complimentary cookies and coffee.
Joe Fisher, who lives in the River House Apartments in Arlington, said that the grounds of the building are always well maintained. "They also try to plan various community and philanthropic events to help people integrate," he said.
These aspects of apartment living are as important as the square footage or size of the windows, so looking at places that advertise stellar customer service is a good start. Just be sure to do enough research to ensure that the service holds up to the claims.
