The Academy on Charles

Despite our providing a rental insurance policy from the beginning the staff erroneously charged for their additional rental insurance, refused to refund and stop charging, and threatened eviction if we didn’t pay. We had to involve an attorney because the staff won’t communicate with us timely and we have to consider legal action to resolve.

The common areas are nice and the building is well maintained. The problem is the apartments themselves: the cheap construction, paper-thin walls, and incredibly tiny rooms are hugely overpriced, especially for Baltimore. As others have noted, they add insult to injury with trumped-up move-out charges. JHU students should look elsewhere.

All fake reviews. Capping so hard. These guys do not care about any student.

As a former resident of The Academy, I am extremely disappointed with my experience living here, as I have found many times to be frustrated dealing with management as well as the maintenance staff, which seems to be a common theme amongst other residents. First of all, the management at The Academy is super poor, as they have issues with not only communication, but are sometimes just plain incompetent. There are two groups of people in The Academy, one of which is the front office staff, while the other is the general manager, Brittney. The front office staff are frequently not very helpful, and will tell you they don't know the answer to the questions you have, or will not give you help. If you want to speak to someone who can actually resolve your issues, the general manager is there, but she is almost never available to talk as she is either busy in meetings or on calls, and takes forever to respond to emails. They try to take advantage of students by tacking on fees all the time without clarifying with students first. They try to overcharge you on every single little thing whether and they know they can do it because they think they can take advantage of students who need a place to live near campus. Secondly, the way The Academy handles maintenance is horrible and if you ever have issues with your apartment, be prepared for an unpleasant experience. The maintenance guy or guys will never let you know when they are coming into your apartment to repair something even though they could easily implement such a system on the resident portal where they make you create the requests, but instead they will go to your apartment without warning (several times at inconvenient and absurd hours) and knock on the door very loudly until you open it. From my experience, the maintenance staff are very rude, several times they were seemingly mad at us for things being worn out, as if it was our fault or we had deliberately broken things (which we didn't). They would often leave tools behind and wouldn't come back for them. Completely unprofessional and they should learn how to deal with people in a polite and respectful manner.

The apartments are nice, but small. However, my main grievance with the academy is the management. I lived at the academy for two years as a loyal tenet. However, my three roommates and I had our apartment rented out to someone else without being given prier notice or an option to renew. Only a month into our lease term, we were sent emails about renewing, but we were never given a deadline that we had to renew by. It was never communicated that we were going to lose our apartment, and when I did call to renew, I was informed that our apartment was no longer available. Essentially in the middle of the school semester, my three roommates and I found out that would have no place to live next year and are now scrambling to find a new apartment. If you're considering renting from the academy, think twice about it. They WILL sell your apartment and leave you stranded.

The Academy is fine for college students, especially pre-Covid when you hardly spend any time home. While the apartments look nice they're generally poorly constructed with cheap materials. When I moved out, my roommates and I were charged unbelievably high amounts for "damage" and "cleaning". The team submitted photos as proof, claiming that since we had nail holes in the wall, or a small scuff, they would have to repaint the entire room. They provide you with a paper that breaks down all the costs and it's obvious they charge you about three times as much as it would actually cost to fix any damage. Despite being very respectful and clean, I paid about $1,000 in additional fees after moving out. This complaint has been echoed by nearly everyone I knew that also moved out.

Apartment is well appointed, but I am giving them a 3 star because of experience with fees. State of MD only allows $25 application fee, so they charge a large “administrative fee” at the beginning of the lease. Then they charge a “move in fee” for $200 which isn’t written up anywhere, but is supposedly for cleaning charges. They do not provide detailed explanation of either charges. When you leave, they assess fees for cleaning up up the apartment and making it ready for the next renter. And their charges are high compared to charges for similar services elsewhere in MD or even other states. Typically landlords take care of this wear and tear from their rent income, and other apartments near JHU are less expensive and sneaky about charges. So yes, unless you don’t mind large unexpected charges, or have an attorney to negotiate on your behalf, this experience can go south

I went into the office recently to sign a new lease into a different apartment, the new manager Brittany was so nice and made the process easy! She was available and answered any questions I have. Also, Sean and Terry are awesome and the building is always so clean. I haven’t interacted much with the new manager but she was very friendly as well to me!

I was charged $2000 upon leaving for “cleaning” which prior to me leaving we’ve NEVER charged that to a tenant. I was not very sad to leave because the environment with the new being so negative literally gave me anxiety. The Academy won’t be able to maintain a leasing staff as long as she remains the manager. I worked and lived on-site. The original manager I was hired with was very graceful , organized and professional. I also adored my leasing team , they were an amazing positive group . Corporate was also very helpful and although i didn’t get the proper training until my second year , I also had resources to answer my questions. Things went downhill for me and team when they hired the very unprofessional and negative property manager. Her use of profanity is excessive and she was extremely negative about the team. She also made it very clear she wasn’t comfortable with my housing situation since it was budgeted in. She often made comments about it and my salary which was very uncomfortable for me.

I really like maintenance guy, Shaw, and office manager, Frank. They are really helpful. The are the best ever! ------Bohan

The Academy on Charles has been great the last year or so, after the new management company took over. Don't listen to the other reviews because as usual, places only get reviewed if they're doing very poorly or if they're going above and beyond your expectations. The office staff is beyond friendly, maintenance has taken care of requests in a timely manner, and did I mention the resident events?! Absolutely love how there are events, at least once a month, to get the residents engaged outside of school / work to just relax and how much the staff shows their appreciation for their residents. Even though there are only 3 visitor spots out front, you are able to find parking pretty quickly and unlike most places, their parking prices are not going to burn a hole in your pocket. I think $100 / month for surface parking and $130 / month for garage parking is doable. Even with an older facade for the building, once you're inside, you get to see that the apartment homes are fully-furnished (excluding a TV for the common area), Queen sized-beds in each bedroom and granite counter tops, heard they renovated this place a few years ago and I must say, they did a BEAUTIFUL job with renovations! All utilities are included, only steps away from JHU Homewood Campus, Hampden area and a 20-minute ride to downtown Baltimore? What more could you ask for? Living at The Academy on Charles has its perks, so again, if you take any review to heart, take mine and see that this place gets you more for your money. Remember, you get what you pay for. So with that said, must be nice to have an all inclusive rent that includes all utilities, one-of-a-kind amenities (rooftop terrace, fitness center, a study room and a business center), a big enough lobby to just chill or have friends visit, and the most friendliest staff. Definitely would recommend !