“Dear PoPville,
I have been renting an apartment that uses third-party billing (Conservice) to manage the building’s utility fees for several years. I recently moved out to my own place and I added someone to my lease so that she could take over, but there was a one-week gap between me moving out and her moving in. I’m a foreigner and I didn’t know that utilities need to be in the residents’ name at all times, so now I have received a Conservice bill of US$75 for this period (US$50 “vacant service fee” and US$25 “vacant electric fee”). Is this legal? Read More
“Dear PoPville,
I hope I’m not the only one sending a message about the new e-check fee being applied to pay rent on many units across the city. AppFolio is now charging tenants $2.49 for e-checks. They were already charging a fee for credit card payments. Read More
“Dear PoPville,
The last week of May, the co-op next to our co-op experienced a major malfunction of their HVAC system. Their response was to have a crane deliver a temporary HVAC unit the size of a school bus and a gasoline powered generator the size of a box truck.
The way the buildings are arranged, the neighbors’ mixed use (residential
and business) parking lot is between us along an entire side of our building, and within about ten feet of the exterior wall of our building.
Both of these machines were parked on the very edge of the parking lot, as close to our building as possible.
The generator was removed after four or five weeks. The HVAC machine remains (it has been seven weeks so far) and os possibly going to be here through October.
The HVAC machine sounds like a cross between a jet engine ready for take-off, the train-crossing alarm, a tornado warning siren, a glass harmonica, and someone sanding floors. This sound goes on around the clock. The sound is LOUD. The sound is both deep AND high pitched, so it both shakes our walls and floor AND penetrates through the glass and a variety of types of earplugs.
We have been told: Read More
“Dear PoPville,
Seeking advice on how to deal with a difficult resident situation in my apartment complex. There is a resident in this complex that is experiencing a severe mental health crisis and it is seriously impacting other residents’ ability to live safely in our own apartments.
First, I do want to say that I am incredibly sympathetic to this resident’s current situation. I don’t want them to end up experiencing homelessness, and I don’t want to escalate this to the police if I can help it. From what I have gathered from dealing with management for months, they are not in a city program and their family is unwilling to help, so I am at a loss as to what our options are. Management’s only option at this time is a suggestion to move. Read More
photo by Tim Brown
“Dear PoPville,
What should I do if dc water tells me the place I’m renting has lead pipes? Problem is my landlord is quite unfriendly so likely will not greet this news well”
“Dear PoPville,
Is this legal? The property management company for our building (we rent someone’s condo) has without warning implemented a $100 fee to use the bike storage room. The room is now controlled by fob access, and fobs won’t work until you pay the $100/bike. What’s the legality of the company just imposing a charge like this without warning? Anyone else had to deal with this?”
photo by Erin
“Dear PoPville,
I’ve recently moved to a building that controls the switch between A/C and heat and they are refusing to turn on the A/C prior to the May 15th date that’s mandated by DC law. My apartment has been above 80 degrees for over two days despite fans running, blinds closed, and every other measure I could take to mitigate the heat inside my unit. In addition, DC Public Schools are also dealing with this and students are expected to learn in classrooms that are also over 80 degrees. Read More
“Dear PoPville,
On Friday they dropped the attached memo at everyone’s door. To summarize, it states that marijuana will not be allowed at all in any the building even if the user has a medical prescription. I’m wondering if this is happening elsewhere in the city?”
They cite: Read More
“Dear PoPville,
“Explore other options”
Are they suggesting a forced adoption of my toddler? Pretty sure even Canada stopped doing that too….
My toddler comes from daycare at 530 and is in bed by 730/8 pm”
Notice OP received: Read More
“Dear PoPville,
I am curious if any readers have also had a bad experience with 7th Flats, the apartment building in Shaw. I moved out this summer and they have yet to give me my security deposit back despite regular communication from me. Read More
