I was caught in a classic bait-and-switch rent scheme at 3003 Van Ness apartments. The apt was advertised for $1800.00 a month online -- no mention of "concessions." When I came in to sign the lease, James, the leasing agent, told me to (and I am NOT making this up), "pay no attention to the other $3200.00 a month rent numbers and language about concessions, you don't need to worry about that. . .

Moved to DC into The Albemarle (4501 Connecticut under Avalon) expecting a normal rent controlled apartment and naive to the concept of a concession lease.  The next year, instead of my rent going up 3.5%, it went up 11%, because Avalon upped the reported rent but decreased my concession. . .

I have been dealing with Equity Residential and their abuse of rent concessions since 2014. They routinely propose rental increases of 10% or more to re-sign and threaten to remove the concession entirely if I went month to month. . .

My rent keeps going up and up every year. The only way I can get a break is by signing a new lease (which I won't do). And it's all based on a fictitious rent that I would be paying in the landlord's ideal fantasy world.

Last year, I lived in a building owned by Equity Residential, and my roommate and I were held to the concessions scam in order to force us into year-long leases rather than be able to use the month-to-month options offered by DC law. . .

I challenged Equity and they FOLDED 100% acknowledging they had abused the rent control law. . .

I had to move out of 3003 Van Ness Apartments because of, among other things, the concession scam was not allowing me the flexibility to have a month-to-month lease (as is required by DC law after a lease expires). . .

My rent keeps going up and up every year. The only way I can get a break is by signing a new lease (which I won't do). And it's all based on a fictitious rent that I would be paying in the landlord's ideal fantasy world. . .