Evergreen Court Apartment

So…
I’m going to try to do this matter-​of-​factly and not like this place irks me to no end.
1. It is dirty. I mean… it’s disgusting. Not just like, «Oh look, there’s a couple of cockroaches» more like, «Is our fridge being moved by cockroaches?» disgusting. I had to get a specially made chemical compound from my company’s pest people in order to get the cockroaches to get out of my place because they would spray one apartment at a time and just move the bugs over. In the next building, there were bed bugs. Imagine how I felt when I heard that, and that there is nothing they would do about it if the bugs moved into our building.
When I kind of worried out loud to the Manager, Judy, that the bed bugs might transfer via the shared laundry facility (which is dirty as well) she told me, «Well, you don’t have to do your laundry here. You can go elsewhere.» So I had to. For three months I did my laundry off site because I was terrified of getting bed bugs.
I am almost 100% sure they do not hire anyone to come in and clean the units before someone else moves in. There is also like 200+ layers of paint on the walls (I’m exaggerating… a little bit) and you have to be aware that some of that paint is definitely lead based, and that lead based paint is definitely chipping off and into the hands of your little kids!
2. The management is, quite simply, what you would call «slum lords.» They charge too much for the apartments for the people who live there that are not on section 8, and then do nothing to help the people who ARE on section 8. The manager who was there while I lived there was generally polite to me, but would complain and complain about how awful her job was having to deal with «these people» who lived there. I work in customer service too… I have difficult customers too… I don’t want to hear that my fellow residents are difficult to deal with. Plus, wouldn’t you have compassion if half of your residents had mental and physical disabilities? No?
3. TAKE PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING AND BE FIRM WHEN YOU MOVE OUT!!! They WILL try to take advantage of you, and I’m sure it is because they know that most of the people who live there are either incapable of knowing they’re about to be screwed over, or you’re too poor to hire an attorney, or you have no time to fight it. Luckily, I did have the ability to find and send them the laws regarding things like tenant laws regarding repainting the units, etc. She tried to tell me that my apartment smelled bad when I was moving out, but when I moved in there were scent plug ins in every single outlet in my apartment. She argued until I asked if she wanted to see the photos I had. She also tried to charge me to paint the entire apartment because of a crayon mark on the front door. When I finally threatened to call a lawyer and the city health department, they gave me more of the deposit than what they previously stated I should get. I mean… she even stood at the front window on the outside, and ran her finger on THE OUTSIDE WINDOW PANE and said they’d fine me because that wasn’t clean… I’m sorry, but the outside windows are not the tenant’s responsibility. When I asked what the upstairs neighbors had to do to clean their windows, she just shrugged. There is no way the upstairs people would be able to adequately clean their windows in order not to be fined. They tried to charge me for the bathroom sink because the tile on it was missing… again, something that had happened long before I had ever moved in.
4. You can hear everything from the neighbors around you. It is quite a new experience to be awake at 2AM while the neighbor above you is having loud, raucous sex and the one next to you is snoring so loud you worry for their health. And hope to GOD your kid never has a fit because someone will call the cops on you thinking your child is being abused. That was fun to deal with… That visit ended with the cop telling me I was a good mom and I was legally allowed to spank my son because the time out wasn’t working, haha. But still… just keep your kids as quiet as possible.
5. Actually… just don’t live here with kids. It is dangerous, and the cops get called at least once every two weeks to subdue fights. There is drug deals going on, etc. I sat there with my kid and boyfriend at one point while people were screaming, etc, and we called the cops just in case because it was getting really awful. They came with coffee and donuts like it was a routine visit, absolutely no joke.
Plus, there’s not much for the little ones to do here. There is a sandbox… but I mean… gross. It’s not covered, cats wander… you get the idea.
6. Just forget about getting anything fixed while you live here. They are too busy trying to maintain the outside so it doesn’t fall apart than to come in and fix a tub that is chipping every time you use it, or flooding, or the toilet backing up. The water is rusty a lot and I had to invest in bottled water because my Brita couldn’t keep up.

If the idea of living in a vile slum is appealing to you, then this is the place for you. Otherwise, my advice would be to avoid this place at all costs. It is easily the worst place I have lived in my entire life.
When I moved in I had just taken a new job in the area and didn’t have enough time to spend time to find something decent, I chose this place because the move-​in costs were low and they had availability. In retrospect, what a huge mistake that was.
The entire complex is completely run down. Not only that, it’s in a bad neighborhood. The noise level is constant and unbearable. It’s situated right on top of M Street so there are cars whizzing by day and night. It sounds like you’re living within inches of a busy highway like I-​5.
Parking is a huge issue, and management does not bother to get involved in it. During the summer months the already small parking lot was constantly full, so there were times I had to park a few blocks away. There was a ratty U-​Haul truck that was parked in the same spot for 2 straight months during the summer. All management did about the parking situation was put a notice up saying essentially, «It’s come to our attention that parking is a problem here. You may want to ensure your vehicle runs, or it might get towed.»
I can only assume a good deal of crime occurs here. It’d be an exaggeration to say the cops are there daily, but it would not be to say that they’re there weekly. Many a night I’d be trying to get to sleep and my room would be illuminated by flashing police lights down below in the parking lot.
Not only did they refuse to return my security deposit, they said that because I lived there for less than 3 years it was my responsibility to pay 80% of the cost to repaint the entire unit, which was in excess of $ 300. There was no language pertaining to this in the lease agreement; they just sprung it on me as part of the «move out instructions.» I’m a non-​smoker and the only change in the paint was that I hung up a few pictures on the wall, so there were 3 – 4 tiny holes from the nails — which is regular wear and tear. Management refused to even talk to me. When I asked the manager to explain how they even had the right to do this, she informed me that I was «stressing» her out. I spoke to a lawyer who said Evergreen Apartments was in the wrong, but that it would cost me more to fight them. They did «graciously» agree to reduce the amount of the extortion by only charging me 50% of the painting cost, which was not needed, and probably not even done in the first place. It wouldn’t sting as much if Evergreen Apartments took any pride in its appearance and didn’t look awful.
Trust me, you can do better than this place. If you need a place to live, keep looking.