Reneau Property Management

Please, please do not live in 1721 T Street or give your money to Mr. Reneau. Yes, the location is great. But you will have to put up with rats, bugs, filthiness, constant repairs, and a landlord — Mr. Reneau –and a building manager — Mr. Hopkins — who only care about squeezing money out of you (i.e. they will try to raise the rent even when the building is rent controlled — PLEASE KNOW THAT THE BUILDING IS RENT CONTROLLED and they can only raise it a certain (low) amount). Go to the DC Housing Office to look up the rent they are supposed to charge you. They will count on you not doing this. Do it. Do not let them bully you.
Any repairs they have reluctantly made have been the cheapest and sloppiest repairs possible. On top of entering the apartment with no warning, ignoring complaints and emails, and forcing tenants out in various ways when they protest against anything, I have an extremely low opinion of both Mr. Reneau and Mr. Hopkins. I wish I had read a Unilocal review warning me from living here before I moved in. What they have done to tenants here is definitely unethical and possibly illegal. Please do not live here.
You can also look up past court cases with Mr. Reneau, where he has been ruled against for being disingenuous to tenants. (See:
)
DO NOT LIVE HERE OR GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THESE PEOPLE.

I lived at 1721 T St. for 2 ½ years until I finally left a year ago to move to cleaner and safer place to live. I lived there for that long mainly because the rent was cheap (the previous girl lived there for 4 years) for the location it was in. Fortunately I graduated, got a job, and was able to find much better living conditions.
While I was there, all I can say is that it was a series of unfortunate events. It took 3 months to get the ceiling leakage/​collapse over the kitchen fixed. While I was on travel, my roommates had to deal w ith some flood into the apartment because the drainage outside wasn’t working properly. One of my roommates had to deal with a mysterious leak in her floor at times, which they were never able to figure out.
The final straw was when the rats came back the second time around, and they caught 7 mice on one glue trap, and there was a rotting smell coming from the storage room that we reported and Stan the «maintenance» guy went to check it out and said he didn’t smell anything. I finally called the inspector on them after a month and half of nonsense, and afterwards they painted the walls and made everything look clean and tried raising the rent for having to clean up the apartment.
It was a basement apartment, but I don’t think its right to write it off as «ehh, but it was a basement apartment, you should expect rats». It was just a badly maintained apartment building, with incompetent maintenance guys and a slumlord (which the inspector pointed out, not me). My roommates decided to stick to the place after the apartment was cleaned up because of its location, but I definitely learned that it was not worth my time and health to deal with Reneau.

Hold onto your panties…
One of THE worst living experiences of MY entire life!!!
Rat infestation
Bedbug infestation
Mice infestation
Roach infestation
…to name a few…
Ken Ross tried to get me to pay for electrical issues in my apartment that were clearly Reneaus responsibility to pay as I was a renter. The «electricians» stated it was «incorrect installation of a lightbulb.». I laughed a hard one.
Ken Ross also allowed some inept fools into my place when was not there and they knocked over my desk and broke my computer and digital camera. I had to take them to court to get my money back. He would come into my apartment after I told him I did not want anyone in my place and I needed atleast 24hrs notice. He never listened. Didn’t care.
Ken Ross tried to get me to pay for a leaky tub which caused the floor that was already rotted, and had leaked onto the ceiling of the downstairs neighbor.
There were rats running all over that place. I had a baby rat climb onto my couch and die on my sofa. Of course I had a guest staying with me at the time. Great!
There were so many things that happened while I was there. The place is a complete shithole. It’s gross, dirty, people smoke in the hallways, there are/​were multiple people living in one apartment meant for one person. Once, a family had to move out because of the mold all over their ceiling and walls. They couldn’t speak English well and I later found out the glorious Ken Ross made them pay for things that were the properties responsibility to pay.
Ken Ross, you are a piece of shit! You will pay for all the nasty, under handed, snake in the grass things you’ve done to people.

I lived in a Reneau property for four years. For the first two years, frankly, it was not great. Then, everything changed. The hallways were painted, the water pressure improved, the laundry room was renovated, etc. etc.
The improvement was due to a large staff shake-​up, and I can honestly say that Ken, the current manager, has got it down to a science. The buildings aren’t new, so go in with the appropriate expectations and you will be pleased.

My (and my roommates) experiences with Reneau have been mostly fine. It definitely seems like the quality of service provided by Reneau varies a lot, depending on the property. We rent a three bedroom place in Mount Pleasant that was recently remodeled. No problems with bugs or rodents, and overall we really like the apartment.
The main problem we had, is that our dishwasher was broken for about a month and a half. Ken Ross told us that there was only one person in the city who could fix the dishwasher and it was hard to book him to come for repairs. It got fixed eventually, but we were frustrated waiting for so long.
The other repairs, etc that we have needed have gotten done quickly, within the week. Overall I would say Reneau is a fine place to rent from, as long as your expectations aren’t super high.

Yes, yes, the location can not be argued with, but after a year of living on Vernon Street, I am more than ready to find somewhere else.
Me: Hey Reneau we have a slight roach problem, can we get an exterminator in to spray?
Reneau: Sure, they come during normal business hours the first Wednesday of the month.
Me: Um, I work then, is there no way to arrange to do this another time? Can I have a manager let them in?
Reneau: I told you the exterminator comes during normal business hours the first Wed. of each month.
Etc., etc., etc.
My roommate: Holy s**t I just stepped on a rat while taking the trash out in my flip flops!
Me: Dude, haven’t you learned by now? The rats OWN the back of this building after dark.
My friends: Why is it so hot in here (rapidly shedding winter layers)?
Me: Radiators are out of control. But hey, where else in DC can you comfortably open the windows in February?
In short, I do NOT recommend this place, rude management, decaying building, stuffy, no-​circulation apartment during the summer, broken, blazing radiators during the winter.

The reason I am giving two stars and not one is because their properties are in prime locations… but i guess that doesn’t make sense because it would be like giving the entire adams morgan area a star just for being in existence… but whatever
eh hem…
Dear Reneau,
Thank you for keeping our apartment building unsecure, so that when our fuze box blew for the fifth time and I would venture down to that dank ass basement i would find a fellow «cleaning up» (with a 16oz can of coors light in his hand…)
Thank you for not fixing our radiators so our living room windows were open primarily in the months of december through february because we were too hot.
Thank you for every time that I called needing something (which, mind you, was not often) you were a complete and utter bitch (can i say that here?)
Thank you for not taking the fact that I had a RAT in my room not very seriously.
Since I have moved out, I thank you for thinking that when the kitchen ceiling caved in on my former roommate and her current roomate it really wasn’t an emergency at all.
The point is… living in that apartment on vernon was great due to close proximity to everything… but all of the above mentioned issues should have been handled differently… so think twice