The Sutton Apartments — Local services in Woodbridge

If you’re looking to move somewhere with all the bells and whistles then the Sutton is the place. Now if you’re looking for a place with bells, whistles, customer service support, safe and a quiet location, then the Sutton is not it.

Leasing: Before signing my lease, I was not shown my apartment until the day before moving in. The woman who provided the tour did not have verse knowledge about the apartments and provided false information.

Front office: Whenever you want them to solve problems or conflict with your neighbors or the apartment complex, they will not care to do it. They have no sense in urgency or consideration for the tenants nor their well-being. If you are not discussing money, they will not care to address your concerns. The manager avoids any problem and allows the employees in the front to handle any conflict. If you do not request to speak with her personally she is a phantom. Their service is terrible as they never fix anything. Our power went out for 6 hours and they did not notify anyone in the complex about it until a 1.5 hours later. If I had not called the main number I would not have know anything. The communication between the main office and the leasing office is poor. They constantly send out “fun” invites for events but ignore any real concerns the tenants have.

Structure: If you’re looking for a building that is quiet. This is not the location for you. You can hear everything the neighbors are doing in all directions. The people above you sound like elephants walking around, when in actuality the neighbors could be walking regularly. You can hear everyone’s conversation in all directions. You can hear the cars from the road at all hours of the day and night because they do not have a noise barrier wall to block the noise from the road. The water heater is not the appropriate size for any of these apartments. Don’t try to shower long because your water will get cold fast and if someone else wishes to shower you will have to wait a hour or so.

Safety: The parking garage looks like it’s safe. It is not. People have been able to walk into the parking garage from the stairway and have been breaking into peoples cars. Because the garage does not have video cameras you can never find them. Myself and another tenant actually found the person who was attempting to break into peoples cars and when we informed the front office staff they called the police. However after speaking with the tenant. The person we saw has been reported several times to the front office and the front office has been negligent with informing the tenants in the building. People are able to come from the woods and walk right into the parking garage.

Engineers: They maintenance staff have always been very pleasant and helpful. They respond very quickly and efficiently. Now if you’re trying to have an exterminator come. Forget it. They only come once a month and if they miss your house it’s an oh well from them and the front office.

Parking: Now for a place like this and the money people pay. There are not enough spaces for everyone that lives here. Some people Park on the street instead of the parking garage. The visitor parking spaces you have to pay $5 for people to park in the garage. The reserved spaces have overwhelmed the garage and taken over some of the spaces people could park to be closer to their entryway. Reserved spaces do require a fee. Remember nothing at the Sutton is free.

Gym/ Amenities: People do not adhere to COViD, not wear a mask in the hallways, lounge or in the gym. The front office puts up signs for people to follow. However people continue to not wear masks and nothing has been done about the behaviors of people in the gym who will not wear a mask. You pay all this money for amenities with the fear of not reaping the benefits of it because people do not wear masks and the office does not monitor the gyms appropriately. Instead they cut off certain machines thinking it would cut back on the number of people. However it has only made larger groups migrate to...

My review is very lengthy so I’ve broken it down for convenience. I’ve been living at the Sutton for almost a year. The community is beautiful. The grounds are well maintained is very pet friendly.

(Pricing) You’ll notice that the Sutton is priced a little higher than other complexes and is completely justified as other complexes do not boast the same features as far as space and amenities are concerned. Sadly we decided not to renew our lease due to the rent increase. Management is well within their rights to raise the rent. It's not uncommon, but we are trying to save and when you factor in the $25 Trash Valet Fee, the water, our storage space and other utilities, the expense became a little pricey. If we could, we would have stayed another year.

(Amenities) The Sutton boasts of amenities but unfortunately the fire pit did not work all year and I called about it numerous times. Other than that the pool is great and the outdoor spaces are beautiful. There are plenty of grills and seating space. The workout spaces are beautiful, I just wish they were cooler. The cardio room gets hot. The game room could use an upgrade but it's still a nice space. When you move in, your allowed to reserve the moving dock and freight elevator which is a huge help. There is also a dog park!

(Parking) There’s a parking garage, but we’ve only used it twice because there’s never really any space. Since we live in the 2300 building we normally park on the street and never really had a problem. When we first moved in I parked in the visitor spaces on the side and was towed. I didn’t realize that we didn’t own those spaces. I was never told until a few months later when Management wrote it in an email. My husband was also towed from the garage after he parked in the visitors space. He thought he could park anywhere with his pass. He was very wrong. When we spoke with Dominion Towing, they stated that the office had called to tow our car. I was very disappointed and upset. I wish they would have called us first or sent out an email. Recently they sent out an email to notify a tenant that their car would be towed due to parking in a visitor space with a resident tag, so at least they are trying to work with you now. There are only 8 visitors spaces and you are only allowed to pay for 2 visitor passes. I hope they eventually fix this. With 400 units there should be more than 8 visitor spaces.

(Maintenance) I only had to put in a maintenance request twice. Once to replace the water filter and the second to change bathroom light bulb. My bulb happen to go out because of water coming from the ceiling upstairs. I have no idea what was happening up there but maintenance took care of it very quickly and I never had an issue. Inspections and filter changes are done regularly just be sure to keep your vent clean. The building overall is well maintained. It is cleaned daily and always smells fresh. There’s an issue with tenants not curbing their dogs but management is work very hard to address this. They send out constant reminders.

(Communication) Management sends out emails weekly with all types of reminders and notice. I’d say they do a great job with communicating policy and changes. I wish they had a texting system. The building often host events which I think is a really nice touch. I get notified whenever I have a package, which I love!

(Safety) The area is very safe. My only complaint is that cars speed down Vantage Drive. They should really install speed bumps.

(Space) Our apartment is a one bed 735 sqft, which is one of the apartments on the smaller end, but it feels very spacious. The Kitchen cabinets are huge so there is plenty of storage.I absolutely loved my counter space and had plenty of room for my appliances. The bathroom has a huge tub and plenty of linen storage and under the sink storage. There’s lots of light and plenty of drawers. The walk in closet is very spacious. The walls and doors are painted which immediately make it...

I'll start off by saying all these recent 5 star reviews is because The Sutton is doing a contest for residents to write a review on here to compete for a $1000 gift card. They are paying and desperate for positive reviews.

I’ve lived at The Sutton for almost 2 years and cannot recommend it as a great place to rent. My biggest concern and main reason for this review is the safety and security of the community. There are many things I can write about that gives reason for my 1 star but I want to highlight the biggest at this time (January 2024). My vehicle was broken into in July of 2023 along with another that same night. I recently found out from another resident that a vehicle with the same make/model as mine was stolen from the “secured” parking garage a few weeks ago. It was parked a few spots away from mine. Thieves have easy access to upper levels of the parking garage and do not need gate access to steal vehicles…they will just wait until someone opens it up. There are cameras at the entrances, but they do absolutely nothing to prevent or deter theft. I’ve talked to many other residents and no one feels their property nor cars/trucks/SUVs are safe. After my break in I have invested into increasing my vehicles security but still feel vulnerable in this apartment. I’ve reached out to the local police department and they have told me that this community has a top 3 vehicle break in/theft in the Woodbridge area. When my vehicle got broken into last year, I talked to the officers that did the investigation and asked if more patrol could be done overnight around the apartment and parking garage. The answer I received was that “We’ve asked to but the management office denied it”. I’ve asked the property management team to do something and have yet to receive a response. Beside posting new signs showing the parking garage is under surveillance, I don’t anticipate anything else to be done.

Bottom line…don’t rent here. It looks like a nice place online but I promise you it is not. Like I said in the beginning, there are many more reasons but decided to not list them at this point. Please don’t make the same mistake I and other residents have made.

Update to the Management response: They did not provide “immediate investigation assistance”. My vehicle was broken into on an early Saturday morning and the security footage along with a meeting with the property manager did not happen until 2 days later. So no, nothing from management moved “swiftly”. Even Prince William County Police say this neighborhood is not safe and they are out here weekly. Additionally, if The Sutton has secure access…why do vehicles keep getting broken into and stolen from the parking garage? There should be cameras on every level...not just the entrances and on-site physical overnight security presence. We pay for amenities and security needs to be added back. Furthermore, the latest vehicle that was stolen was the on-site courtesy officer’s truck! I would love to discuss this further in person, but when I emailed the property manager on 1/9/24 I have yet to receive a response. To be honest, I never receive responses to my emails, messages or requests to set up appointments or answer questions. Please, something needs to be done about the safety and security of resident’s property in the...