William C. Smith & Company Inc Unsafe Living Conditions In Their Southeast Property - Penn View Apartments Washington, District of Columbia

William C. Smith & Company owns Penn View Apartments, located at 2515 R Street, SE. It is a 92 unit building that they acquired in December 2007. 

They charge market rate rent for these apartments that are poorly managed. There are infestations with mice, roaches, cockroaches, water intrusion, leaking roof, MOLD, rusted pipes, rotten wood flooring, buckled floors, peeling paint, leaking gas stoves, malfunctioning refrigerators, and offensive odors in the hallways from the trash rooms. They also have a Boiler Room that have on-going problems with water intrusion, which is the haven for cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and other insects.

They spend more time and money on beautifying the outside, rather than the inside units where people are going to live. They also are famous for showing you a unit that is fixed up, but move you into a different unit, that is totally different from the unit they showed you. That unit's conditions are in hidden poor conditions.

There is a leasing office in the building, but it is not staffed by anyone. There is a Community Manager who lives on the property, but works daily at Shipley Park Apartments, which is another William C. Smith & Company property.

Repairs are made by a handy-man, who lives on the property, and cannot communicate with the tenants, because he only speaks Spanish, and he tells the tenants that his boss, Patrick McKenzie, Property Manager has instructed him to not talk to any of the tenants. His repair work is very unexceptable and not of good quality. He has to be called back 3-4 times to redo the same repairs. Most of the time, you have suffered damages to your personal property, which they will not reimburse you.

The poor conditions in the building has made me and a lot of tenants sick, and some possibly died, without knowing what really killed. There are a lot of units that have mold in them and the company tries to hide these conditions from tenants.

Maintenance requests are mostly ignored, or you are promised that someone will come to make the repairs, but don't. My apartment keys were given to contractors to enter my unit by themselves, when I was not at home, without a escort from the complex.

William C. Smith & Company continues to charge market rate rent, apply for rent increases yearly, while the building is full of housing code violations.

Be wise, do your research before considering moving yourself and loves ones on any of their property. It might cost you and your love one life!

There also appears to me that there are major cover-up from the District of Columbia Government, who are suppose to protect tenants rights, investigate complaints, and fine the company. William C. Smith & Company is protected from their wrongdoings because of their community work in the District of Columbia. There are news articles regarding William C. Smith & Company made repairs on Council member Vincent Gray's home. Read it for yourself, by Googling it.