3/17/26
ACTIVE RAT INFESTATION FOR OVER A YEAR. DO NOT RENT HERE.
We have been living in a rat-infested apartment at 5789 Winston Court, Alexandria, VA for over a year. Not a mouse. Not a occasional pest sighting. Rats. Multiple. Active. In several rooms of our apartment. And management’s response has been nothing short of negligent.
We did everything right. We followed every single recommendation from property manager Grindy to the letter — kept all food elevated off the ground, maintained an immaculate apartment, eliminated every possible attractant. We... held up our end of the deal completely. The rats didn’t care. Things got worse.
The pest control company they contracted hasn’t even set foot in our unit in over three months. Three months. And yet somehow management considers this an acceptable, ongoing solution. On the day I write this review, we spotted three live rats inside our small apartment in a single day. This is not a pest problem. This is a public health crisis inside a residential building that management is actively ignoring.
When we brought this to Grindy, her response was to tell us we could “keep submitting maintenance requests.” That’s it. No new pest control company. No inspection. No accountability. No urgency. Just — submit another request into the void. We have submitted request after request. Nothing changes. The rats remain. The rent stays the same.
Let that sink in: we are paying full market rent to live with rats.
This unit is not habitable. Under Virginia law, landlords are required to maintain premises free of infestation. This property is in clear violation of that obligation and of Alexandria’s housing code. We have filed complaints with the City of Alexandria Code Enforcement and are pursuing all legal remedies available to us.
If you are considering renting here, ask yourself: would you pay $[X]/month to share your bedroom, kitchen, and living room with rats? Because that is what life at 5789 Winston Court looks like. There are droppings. There is gnawing. There is the sound of them moving at night. There is the fear of what they’re carrying — leptospirosis, hantavirus, salmonella — diseases that rats are known vectors of, inside an apartment where a family lives.
We have photographs. We have a paper trail of every complaint. We have certified mail. We are not going away.
To future renters: run. To management: we are done being ignored.
Review from Apartments.com