Braddock Lee

Stay Away - Hidden Fees and Price Gouging I've lived here for a while, and things have gone downhill fast. Management is suddenly adding fees and raising costs without warning or any signed agreement. It feels like they're price-gouging the tenants who are just trying to live peacefully. There's no transparency, no communication -just new charges showing up out of nowhere. If you're thinking of moving here, be prepared for your rent to go up without explanation. Extremely disappointed and would not recommend.

I've lived here for 10 years because the rent is affordable, and the neighborhood is quiet. However, over the years, the building has deteriorated. There have been recurring plumbing issues, leaking water pipes, and my bathroom ceiling had to be replaced. During a heatwave, the A/C was out for an entire week, and in winter, the broken heat pump left me freezing. The mice and roach problem is persistent—despite scheduling pest control four times a year, they never fully go away. I think Alexandria just has a general pest issue. Parking is also a challenge; after 8 PM, it’s hard to find a spot, so getting home early is a must. I paid for parking at the time, which was $60 per month. The office staff is unreliable—they rarely answer the phone, don’t return messages, and the office is often closed. On the positive side, the location is great, with easy access to I-395, Old Town Alexandria, Shirlington, D.C., and Arlington. The maintenance team is friendly and usually fixes issues within 24-48 hours. The neighborhood feels safe, and package theft isn’t a concern. Would I ever move back? Nope.

I've lived here for about 2 months now and the first few weeks were a stressful nightmare. Two days before we were supposed to move in, I find out that the unit we signed a lease for would not be ready in time so we had to sign a whole new lease and I had to change my renter's insurance. They agreed to keep our current rent amount despite the new unit being more expensive due to interior upgrades. The leasing office is understaffed and they are very rarely available and most of the time do not pick up my calls. I heard they hired someone new so hopefully that helps. After the whole unit change debacle, I discovered the dish washer was broken. They took almost a month to order the new part and fix it. The bathroom does not vent properly and humidity gets trapped in there. Smells from the unit above come down in through the bathroom and make it smell pretty awful. The person in the unit above us definitely smokes which is not allowed and the smells stay concentrated in the bathroom. We have noticed a few roaches but no mice. Now for some positive stuff: The maintenance people are amazing and very quick to respond and help out. Luckily I have not had any issues with parking. The neighbors in your building determine what kind of experience you have and we have gotten fairly lucky with that too. They are mostly quiet which is great. The electricity has gone out once so far but was fixed within a few hours. I have not had any issues with packages getting stolen either. They had put a fresh coat of paint and new carpet in our unit before we moved in which was nice. The location is great for my commute and I like that the street is pretty quiet. Considering my last place had a ton of mold, asbestos, and theft issues, this is a step up from that. Basically if you don't need anything from the leasing office you'll be fine. Overall it's a decent place to live.

We dealt with roaches from day one of moving in, we see at least 5 large roaches every single day in our apartment even though we regularly clean and leave nothing in our sinks. The pest control did nothing every time we called, all they would do was leave dust everywhere and claim it would stop the roaches. The A/C broke multiple times in our one year stay, and the office would take multiple days to even acknowledge what happened. After that, it would take even longer, with no updates from the office, to fix the problem. If you don't have in unit washer and dryer, be prepared for the card refill machine to break multiple times, and be prepared for the office to once again provide minimal help in dealing with the situation. Finally, after all of these, the office has the audacity to attempt to increase our rent by close to $100. Between paying more to live among roaches and a horrifically managed office or moving out, it was a pretty easy decision. The only thing I can thank Braddock Lee for is I now know what to look for to stop myself from renting at such a horribly run place.

We came today with my 3 small kids as we have appointment at 3pm for viewing. We arrived 10 mins early, went to the the office BUT it was closed. We tried to knocked several times, called their phone but No answer. There is a noticed on the door '' out for touring new resident, be back at 2:45pm. After few minutes here comes an old man(tenant) who hardly knocked on the door and finally someone opened the door and she shouted whattt??. I'm on my break.... So all along she is there inside. The old man answered her been coming back here since 1 pm. After their conversation. She asked us how can i help you?, my husband replied we have appointment today at 3 pm for viewing. She said I don't have any appointment book today, with high voice, so my husband showed to her our confirmed appointment and then she change her voice tone our system is having a problem. Give me your ID and I will give you the key and you can view the unit, she instructed us to where the unit located. It means that it is a SELF SERVICE TOUR. So, I ask her the apartment that we are going to view is it 2 BR apartment? And she replied NO it's 1BR and she told us you are so many. I was like yeah that why we want to view 2 BR. She is suggesting 3BR BUT she wants us to view 1BR. I told here can we view 2BR she said No I don't have 2BR but in their advertisement in apartment.com they have 4 available.What a unprofessional staff and very rude person.

Have been here 2 years and the apartment itself is nice enough. The maintenance team is great. But over the last couple months, the crime on airbag theft on Hondas has been ridiculous. My car has been vandalized 2 times within 3 weeks ( 1,000 for my deductible). The airbag stolen. My next door neighbors car was vandalized and at least 5 other cars to my knowledge in the past month. When the management was notified, they said they were working with getting more police presence. NOT. Regional office has been notified and ask about any kind of security measurements such as camera’s installed or security. Nothing!!! So if you need and ok apartment, but ride the bus, then this place is a winner!

The maintenance staff is great, the location is stellar, and the price isn’t too bad for the size and quality of the space. However, the front office staff seemingly refuses to do anything for tenants about a month after you move in, which suggests an attitude of “grab their money and run,” similar to the reviews of other residents. We, along with a few of our neighbors as we’ve been told by the front office staff, have complained several times about another neighbor who incessantly blasts music at all hours of the day. The noise is to the point that I can’t hear my own TV, nor can I focus on my schoolwork. In the rare off chance that we actually do get a response from the front office, it’s something to the tune of “there’s nothing we can do.” I’d argue that the front office’s response is actually that they have chosen to continue to collect the troublesome neighbor’s rent in lieu of prioritizing the comfort, health, and sanity of their other residents. And I’m sure I’ll get some sort of reply back to this rating for me to contact the front office so that they can address my concerns. To preempt that, I say please just do something about the last ten times we’ve contacted you. If and when the problem is fixed, I’ll gladly revise my rating to five stars to reflect the overall very positive experience I’ve had living here otherwise.

I lived in several apartment complexes over the years but I never lived in one as poorly managed as Braddock Lee. 1. Noise - I have that neighbors for the past 6 months constantly play their TV/music excessively loud for hours on end. I have been woken up in the middle of the night due to their noise. I had to return to my work office in the middle of the COVID pandemic because otherwise I would be forced to listen to their TV/music 7-9 hours everyday while teleworking from home. I complained to management many times regarding the excessive noise but they proved unwilling to resolve the issue. I know of a few other tenants who have likewise made noise complaints that fell on deaf ears. Braddock Lee is not an environment for people who expect the quiet enjoyment of their units and especially for people who are required to telework from home due to the COVID pandemic. 2. Mold - When you first move in, they make you to sign paperwork to take responsibility for any mold growth in your bathroom. However when I moved in the ventilation fan was not running so I asked them how I can prevent mold growth if the bathroom is not properly ventilated. They never fixed the fan and a year later I had to stand on a chair and use bleach to clean mold off my bathroom ceiling. 3. Parking - At Braddock Lee tenants can pay extra to have a reserved parking space and all other spaces are available to anyone living there. I once left my car in one of the available spaces and took the train out of town to spend a few days with a friend. Later that day I received a phone call from management telling me that the space I parked in is now reserved and I needed to immediately move my car. Turns out they painted "Reserved" on the parking space while my car was physically parked there. I was forced to cancel my plans and return to Braddock Lee that night to move my car or otherwise my car would have been towed.

I rented apartments in Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, and on Van Ness and Braddock Lee is by far the best apartments we have ever stayed in. The grounds are well kept and the maintenance crew is responsive. We lived in a spacious two bedroom with new appliances and new carpet throughout. They also have reserved parking or if you prefer you can park in the lot at no cost. Ashley is the manager and she is amazing!! Ahbid works in the office as well and he is super nice! The entire staff is really fantastic! You will absolutely love staying here. We purchased a house or we would still be living at Braddock Lee.

My primary issue was solved eventually after calling numerous times. I was not able to pay my rent and after signing all the documents online it seems I still needed to stop at the office and sign more documents. My profile was finally updated yesterday and I was able to pay my rent. My secondary issue and the reason why I give such a poor rating is that I have a big problem with the way this complex has gone downhill since Harbor Group took over. I will not go into details about my many grievances but will use one example in this message: The parking situation is terrible on the left side of the Van Dorn Street complex due to: - Cars being permanently parked there and kept with flat tires and used as storage. There is a small brown car at the end of the left middle row that has been parked there for years and when you look inside it is full of brown bags. The other car parked on two spots to the left has been there for about a month without being moved and now has a flat tire. - When I signed my lease I read that commercial vehicles are not permitted in our parking yet there are about 2-3 white painters/builders vans that are parked there daily. That means that some people park their two cars and their commercial business van in the lot. I mentioned this to the gentleman when I went to sign my contract but he says there is nothing much that can be done. I hope this message goes to your corporate office and they will take action. I am sick of having to park on the street when I come home late at night and having to walk through the dark street and wooded area in order to get to my apartment.

I have lived at Braddock Lee for several years. The service is always excellent, the staff is friendly. When there are issues they address it in a timely manner. The apartments are clean, and well kept. The grounds are beautiful! Lots of blooming trees, and green spaces. I have 2 dogs, so this is fantastic for me. I cannot recommend Braddock Lee enough.

Great experience signing my lease and moving in with the help of Danielle, really love the neighborhood, location, look and feel of the complex inside and out. So far so good!

I have lived here for about 7 months now. I have really enjoyed having a much larger apartment than my previous high rise in Old Town Alexandria. I am in one of the un-renovated units. The management (while it was still owned by Home Properties) was always generally pleasant and helpful. There were a few mix ups with my original lease and security deposit which of course seemed like a huge red flag at first. Since then everything has been pretty good. Any issues that I've had have been remedied in a relatively quick time frame. There were some issues with the oven in the kitchen which apparently had to do with some electrical modifications a previous tenant made without their knowledge. The staff kept us informed through the entire process. There of course is the dreaded heat vs. air issue that seems to plague every apartment complex in Alexandria so I cannot specifically fault them for that. The biggest benefit I think is the basement storage units. You never realize how much you need places to store things until you have no space. Overall: Nice neighbors, no bugs, quick maintenance, ample parking, great space, quiet and safe neighborhood.

Worse apartment I ever lived in. I recommend not to do it and stay away. Roaches, worse customer service from the leasing office. There are way nicer places around.

it's great unless you ever have a problem. quiet neighborhood, easy bus access. the problem is that management is unconcerned with the experiences of existing residents. i guess they assume that once you're there, you'll stay. for example, the temperature has been spiking, but since the units have to wait till the entire system converts to a/c (which is initiated by management) it's been miserably hot. as someone who frequently works from home during the day, i've had to relocate due to the heat. i also have children who have restless sleep, despite the fans and other measures to make them more comfortable. management insists that they have to make heat available, or, they have a schedule and can't deviate from it (having lived here for a couple of years, i know they have been flexible and responsive in the past) though, the alexandria tenant rights manual clearly says that a/c must be provided when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees in the unit. but why should it even take the temperature getting that high? so, if you work from home or have children (or generally care about your own comfort inside the apartment that you pay money to live it), look elsewhere.

I've always love this neighborhood. My Neighbors are always wonderful. It pains me to have to move at the end of January to have to move due to the fact that I will be unable to afford rent any more because my fiancé passed. We went half on the rent and thank goodness my daughters moved back in to help out. Our community knew us and loved my fiancé. The rental office were so sweet and nice when they heard the news. It would be great to have a fresh start with some help because I would love to stay in the alexanders area.