The Tala at Washington Hill — Attraction in Baltimore

My wife and I lived in the tala for 4 years and had an overall decent experience here! We were on the 4th floor overlooking the pool.

PROS: -One of the nicer priced/well kept apartments in the area -Very clean (no bugs or rodents) -Bike room is very convenient -Package system is extremely nice -Maintenance is very kind and responds quickly -Parking garage felt safe to us -Building felt safe at all times -Natalia one of the managers while we were there is really responsive and kind when you have a question -if you don’t have to deal with the front desk/leasing office after you move in this place is phenomenal. If you do then it becomes quite a hassle from my and other tenants experiences. (except for one or two front desk people who are great)

CONS: (When the apartment was named Jefferson square) -When the parking gate to the garage landed ON TOP OF our car and damaged the gate they tried to charge us 6K to repair the gate even though our insurance said that we weren’t liable as the gate landed ON TOP OF our car. Apparently the manager at the time was aggressive towards our insurance agent which was documented and our insurance decided to pay the charge for the damaged gate but list us as “not at fault” so we wouldn’t be punished on our insurance plan and so that the apartment wouldn’t be vindictive towards us.

(When the apartment switched hands and is now the Tala) -when adding a new roommate we gave them a month in advance notice and our new roommate gave all of their information to them over the phone so everything would be settled once she arrived (she needed a key and a parking spot). A week before her arrival we checked back in to see if we could pick up her stuff and they had lost all of her information and it had to be taken down again. When she arrived and went to get her key/parking spot they once again did not have her information and had to write down her information for a third time and it was another 2 weeks until she was able to get an apartment key and a parking spot. We were also not appreciative of how the situation was handled as the staff made it seem like it was our fault they didn’t have all of the information even though we contacted them a month in advance and gave them her information three times.

-the main elevator was broken for 4 months in a row while we lived here.

-our A/c was malfunctioning for over 2 months (the fourth year we lived here) (aug/September/Oct) before it was 'fixed'. The maintenance team was on top of this and hired outside contractors to come help as well it was just very annoying to not have reliable AC for 2 months and repair people in our apartment every week. It was getting up to 87 degrees in our apartment almost every night and it just wasn't an ideal situation.

During our A/C issues while maintenance was in and out of our apartment we received an email from management stating that we had undocumented pets in the apartment. We had been paying for these pets for 3.5 years at that point. We notified them that all they had to do was check our monthly payments that show that we pay the pet rent. They responded with their system must have lost all of our information again and made us re-sign a pet addendum with our pets information again. This situation was just extremely strange to me as we had been paying for these pets for multiple years and they just randomly brought it up as an issue when we were having issues with our apartment? It just seemed like they were looking for any reason to charge...

Unfortunately, myself and multiple friends and colleagues have experienced significant difficulties with the leasing office staff while living here. For this reason, I definitely can not recommend living here.

I received a renewal letter back in March at which time I promptly returned the letter indicating my interest in renewing my lease. At that time, I made a request to modify the end date on my lease. It is now November (8 months later!) and I still do not have a lease to sign. I have continuously requested this lease and this has continuously fallen through the cracks due to mistakes of the leasing office. I was told by multiple leasing office staff members that they would get a new lease to me with the correct end date with zero follow through. I have made multiple phone calls to the office as well as their property management group that have not been returned. There is no communication between staff members either.

Due to poor communication and follow through on their part, Jefferson Square has now withheld my lease for months and started charging me on a month-to-month rate of over $700 more than the rent I signed for!! Each time I talk to someone new they indicate they will fix the issue and then weeks go by without a solution and delayed responding. By the time they get back to me, more time has passed and they have already charged another month with an additional $700 up-charge.

It is unprofessional, deceitful, and simply illegal to withhold a lease from a tenant while overcharging rent for "not signing." Most recently I have been told that I agreed to the up-charged rent because my previous lease indicated that would be the case if I did not sign a new lease....yet, they have not given me a lease to sign. Once I escalated the problem, local staff told their property management that they "reached out multiple times" ..... I assure you that was not the case and I have spent countless hours trying to find someone to resolve this. I was asked why I waited until October to raise the issue..... which is simply appalling since I raised the issue back in March and have continued to raise this issue since. I don't know why anyone who indicated they wanted to renew their lease would willingly pay an additional $700 each month for no reason. One person offered to refund 50% of the overcharge..... But I am still not sure why they have not fixed the entirety of their mistakes immediately upon hearing about the problems I have experienced.

I have had a great experience with all other aspects of Jefferson square (front desk staff, apartment, amenities, work requests, etc.) but the leasing office has continued to be highly problematic. I don't post reviews often but believe it is important for others to hear about my experience...

Update 12/28/23: The leasing office and staff have become more difficult to get a hold of. There are so many platforms to use with the building and management and I have no idea how to reach the building management directly. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to have a direct line for questions. I would say they send out announcements in a timely manner, but they kind of lag. ¯(ツ)/¯ So conclusion, communication is lacking from building management. I can always get in touch with the concierge, but it’s definitely not their job to know the answers to my questions. Also fire alarms… false alarms have gone off 5-6 times while I’ve lived here. I think they need to be more communicative during these false alarms and use a better platform to get word to all the residents instead of word of mouth. The grounds are clean and I still feel very safe living here. Just not 100% sure that they really care about keeping communication open with the residents here.

Original Post - 08/2023 Leasing Process: I was impressed with their staff when working with them to obtain an apartment. I explained to Sabrina that I was looking to move in mid August and she explained to me the process without telling me a flat out no. I appreciated her honesty in the process because I've had way too many encounters with leasing agents just wanting to get you into an apartment quickly. Sabrina explained their waitlist process and extensively took note of my preferences (budget, apartment size, move-in date). I didn't expect much since I did not know the size of their waitlist, but Sabrina contacted me pretty quickly once she had a resident who submitted their letter of lease termination. I'd work with Sabrina in a heartbeat for any of my leasing needs. She really cares about your preferences and keeps them in mind.

Move In Process: I was worried about sending packages and getting my apartment set up in advance. Cool thing about The Tala... if your lease begins before you get there, they will work with you for any deliveries you need and keep your packages safe until you get here. This little thing took a lot of anxiety out of my move to the Tala.

Safety: If I'm in the building, I feel safe since all residents need access to gain entry to...