A.J. Dwoskin & Associates, Inc. - Fairfax, Virginia

C

Stuart Woods Apartments
The management here is incredibly rude and unhelpful. They don't seem to care about the residents or the issues we face. When I moved in, the carpet and floor were extremely dirty, which was a terrible first impression. The apartment conditions have only gotten worse—it's extremely noisy, and there are constant problems with bugs and slugs.

I've had slugs in my kitchen multiple times, which is absolutely disgusting. Despite reporting this issue several times, the management refuses to believe it and hasn't done anything meaningful to resolve it. Living here has been a terrible experience, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

B R.

Woodlee Terrance Apartments

Living here for about 6 months now, but in my third month (March) my apartment door was left open by staff member
( Property Manger) and contractor services. I'd specify, I didn't want anyone if I wasn't present to enter my home. Staff member said she would accompany the service contractor at 11ish. When I'd reach home around 5, my door with the rental office key stuck in the top lock was wide open. Things were taken/stolen. We are in the middle of May. I had to repay for what was stolen out of my home. Still wait on who is taking responsibly for my items missing out of my home!!!! Their hasn't been any communication about what is going on!!!!

Not only that the parking is horrible, you can only get two parking passes a month!!!

Traveler

This "company" owns and operates several mobile home parks. I briefly inquired about Property Management services as advertised on their website. After several attempts, I was connected to the rude Michael McGregor. He stated they were not interested in gaining any new clients and especially not managing manufactured/trailer parks. I had to check the number twice to make sure I called the right office. Stay far from these looney crooks.

Dee C.

On November 12th I applied for an apartment at Woodlee Terrace (a AJ Dwoskin property) and paid the application fee of $50 (nonrefundable) and a $300 reservation fee, that is refundable if you cancel your application within 48 hours or if you are denied. On November 14th I learned that I was going to be denied so I asked for my application to be cancel and my reservation fee to refunded. I didn't get a response and I have sent 2 follow up emails but still have not received a response. I would like to have my reservation fee returned to me as promised, it has been over a month.

I also contact the corporate office of A.J. Dwoskin on December 14th and I was told that no one could speak to and that they would contact the property manager and have her contact me. She called and told me she would reach out to the Accounting department to find out the status of my refund, but I still have not received an update on my refund.

Phillip F.

Let me preface by saying that this management is not above the misrepresentation of the apartments to potential renters, nor are they above charging excessive fees to loyal tenants, or sending hostile/aggressive email to their tenants, including pregnant women. Indeed, some of the managers seem to have no concern for their own tenants or a sense of morality. So add a grain of salt to any responses posted to this by management. They will not attempt to actually resolve issues or do right by their tenants. I’ve called Dwoskin & Associates multiple times. And they have not responded after quite a while so far, despite posts by management claiming to want to help.

Here we go: Read their contracts carefully. You will notice that the terms are absurd and most likely based in greed (couldn't imagine what else it could be). They're so absurd that the contracts are surprising. For instance, they want to charge about as much as two months rent AFTER a lease is terminated (even if you need to move because you were lied to about the noise level in the first place), and would you even believe that?

The lawyer we spoke to was amazed at the amount they wanted to charge, and he has decades of experience. Forget the responsibility to mitigate/find new tenants--they write greed into their contracts. And they basically pray on people who aren’t rich so A.J. Dwoskin and Associates can stay very rich. You might want to reevaluate whether you would want to sign a contract with such a company. I've been renting for decades, and I have never encountered such unreasonable contracts.

Worse than their contracts are their observed business practices. As alluded to above, my wife was deceived before we moved here from the midwest. This was blatant and obvious deception, a material misstatement that influenced our decision to rent here. Moreover, although some of the staff are friendly, other staff and managers are callous and malicious. In fact, one manager expressed her callousness today and decided that it didn't matter if the floors in the building were slippery or that I had slipped and fallen on one occasion and almost fell on various occasions at the entrance or on the stairs.

Now about the apartments: The pool is incredibly dirty. The power went off many times, sometimes for days at a time. (I had to rent a hotel on two separate occasions given the power outages.) They shut the water off several times for hours at a time, and in one instance, three days in a row. They also shut the water off for multiple hours without advanced notice in nonemergency situations. There are rats around the vicinities, and there was once a dead mouse decaying near the playground area for two weeks. They paint each unit before tenants move in, and the smell lasts for months and is incredibly noxious. And the floors and stairs are often very slippery and dangerous, especially after a rain or cleaning.

There's a lot more to say about the apartment itself, but I'll stop here and recommend that you rent elsewhere.

Yanran C.

We rented their Devonshire Square Apartment at 21XX Paul Edwin Ter in Falls Church VA as part of their Tysons Glen Apartment Complex.

We were deceived by the showing staff about the noise level of the apartment unit when we were in midwest. We were told the unit is quiet. But from the day we moved in, we had to deal with constant and high level of noise from hwy 495, 24/7, EVEN WHEN the windows are completely shut overnight when we slept.

According to CDC: Continual exposure to noise can cause stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other health problems. Some people are at higher risk for hearing loss, including those who: are exposed to loud sounds at home and in the community.

We complained to the landlord many times thought out the past year, and we notified them that we wanted to move out through an attorney's letter. The landlord insisted that we have to pay them about $6000 penalty if we move before the lease expires but we can move to a quieter unit free of transfer fee ($700 otherwise).

When I finally found a quieter and same sized apartment in the same neighborhood, I called the staff who deceived us about the noise level of our current unit for a transfer. But, (1)She doesn't honor the renewal increase in our current unit (on the electronic lease) of about 6.5% rent increase for current tenants, and instead she wants us to pay about 21% increase for prospective tenants. (2) She doesn't honor upper management's offer of free transfer fee and insists that everyone has to pay $700 to transfer no matter what. (3) Moreover, she insists that every unit has to be painted all over though I request not to due to my pregnancy. Then, I immediately told her that it's impossible to work with them, I will not seek transfer anymore, and I will not renew the lease.

But when I inquired about how to get the security deposit back at a later time point, they pretended that they never knew that we will not renew the lease, and they insisted that we owe them $5000/month for auto-renewal, which is twice as much as one month of renewal monthly rent.

If you are lucky enough to find a quieter unit with them, be aware that their lease term may increase overtime. For our case, 13 months for the first year, 14 months for the renewal.

Also, they use the worst paint that one can find to paint EVERYWHERE in each unit after tenants move out, and the smell lasted for two months. Bathrooms are hardest to air out. When I'm writing this review, the strong and toxic smell of paint just came to living room from our neighbor's unit. There are only four units on each floor, and all our three neighbors moved out within about 6 months after we moved in last July.

The heath damage caused by this uninhabitable unit due to constant high level of noise is well worth a double refund of our 13-mo rent paid, which is $2279*13*2=$59,254. However, the most ridiculous is that the landlord has been harassing us for paying for auto renewal though we have been made it clear to them that the noisy unit is uninhabitable from Day 1 by oral and written, and that we will definitely move out as soon as possible and as late as the lease expiration date of Aug 23, 2022. They are now marking up the uninhabitable unit by 21% for rent (with move-in date as early as Aug 29, 2022) from what they charged us. At the same time, they want us to pay them through September 2022 for this UNINHABITABLE unit with serious health hazards. Stay away!

One possible solution: (1) do the right thing and stop harassing us (2) contact the fairfax county to install sound wall on this affected portion of hwy 495.

Ron C.

I have lived a Forest Park going on 17 years. Very well kept, very clean community. I also lived at Woodlee Terrace before Forest Park for almost 8 years and loved it there. AJ Dwoskin takes care of thier properties

Rob E.

Never rent from any apartment complex that they run, our current issue with german cockroaches since moving in at Stuart Woods, one of their properties, has been marred by them refusing to let us transfer twice, and trying to squeeze us for $6000.

I will never do business with any complex they manage.

A few pictures of the roaches: