Merrifield

I lived here for 2 years because it was the only cheap option while in school. While living at Merrifield I was bitten by bedbugs that were living in the Murphy bed in my studio apt, then the next year my apartment flooded and ruined atleast half of my stuff. When it came time to move out, I cleaned my apartment and absolutely nothing was broken. They kept money out of my security deposit and then started calling me telling me to send them more money. I lived here years ago and the place still gives me nightmares.

When we moved in a few months ago, our studio apartment was nothing short of a biohazard. Black mold was growing in our bathtub, toilet, and kitchen sink. The ceiling leaked and had suffered an enormous amount of water damage that caused the paint to peel and turn brown. Several items from the previous tenant had not been removed and long-since expired food was sitting in the cabinets and fridge. I should also mention that we had been promised a full-sized fridge, but instead were provided with a mini that lacked a freezer and could only hold a few cans of soda. The kitchen floor was not wood, as it was said to be, but rather filthy, bubbled tiles. The walls were covered in heavily stained wall paper and, on top of this, none of the ceiling lights worked. The front door was about 3/4 of an inch too small for the door frame near the floor and let all of the heat/AC out. When we brought these issues up to our property manager, they were shrugged off and we were told to clean and repair the apartment ourselves. The only issue they would handle was replacing our lights. After conferring with several neighboring residents, we were informed that this was a common issue of which the apartments were not cleaned or maintained between tenants and would sit filthy for months. Needless to say, we broke out of our 12 month contract and moved out as quickly as we could.

The apartments are cheap, and there is a reason for it. The buildings were constructed in the 70's and have not been updated since. The "thermostat" is a tiny window unit without any temperature gauge on it, rather it has red and blue for hot and cold. Be prepared to pay A LOT for your heat and AC.