An expensive apartment building is so full of rats that the residents can’t sleep or cook, so they always carry something to keep the rodents away.
The Flats at Dupont Circle, in a popular neighborhood in downtown Washington DC, rents studios from $2,000 and two-bedroom apartments for $4,300.
But despite the desirable amenities, such as a gym, 24-hour concierge, yoga studio, pool, sun deck and dry cleaning, dozens of people are eager to leave.
A survey found that 78 of the 145 residents who responded had seen a rat in their apartment in the past six weeks, and even had photos taken of them in the gym.
An expensive apartment building is so overrun with huge rats that residents can’t sleep or cook, and always carry something with them to ward off the rodents
A rat is captured on security camera running through a kitchen in the building
Tenants filmed the ‘cat-sized’ rats running through their apartments, found their floors covered in feces after a holiday or were woken up by the noise.
Some go to bed with sticks to ward off the creeps, others bang on the walls when they hear the creeps inside, or they walk around with objects they can throw at the creeps.
The rats are persistent and clever. They gnaw through walls and masonry, squeeze past sheet metal and sneak in through garbage cans.
Residents alleged that the building management company, Equity Residential, largely ignored their complaints and failed to resolve the problem.
The company sent an email last month telling residents it was downplaying the problem, despite dozens of complaints over the past few months.
While only a small percentage of our apartment complexes have been affected, please rest assured that we are working hard to address every reported case.
The Flats at Dupont Circle, in a popular downtown neighborhood of Washington DC, rents studios from $2,000 and two-bedroom apartments for $4,300
A rat caught in a trap set by one of the residents in their apartment
They said they were closing off the rats’ entry points into the building and their pest control company was inspecting the apartments and performing drilling and dusting treatments to track the rodents to their burrows with a tracking powder.
“We could use your help to keep potential food sources off counters, keep trash containers empty, garbage disposals clean/tidy up, and report anything you see.”
A resident wrote in a post on a local social media page that “many of us are concerned about our health.”
‘Apparently there is a problem with horseflies in the lobby of the building due to dying rodents in the walls and a stench that has been addressed several times.[s] “For the same reason,” they wrote.
The problem is so serious that on July 1, DC Health ordered the building’s management to provide proof that work was being done to remove the “active rat holes.”
Two weeks later, the company was fined $500, or more if the problem remained unresolved.
A rat runs through the gym in the luxurious building full of amenities
A rat jumps onto a shelf as the startled tenant films his break-in
Residents, who could not simply leave because of the high fines for breaking the lease, had had enough and created a WhatsApp group called ‘The rats at DuPont circle’. They wanted to share stories and evidence and organize the investigation and demands to management.
“I have been woken up almost every night for the past month by giant rats in my apartment,” one commenter on the survey said, according to the Washington Post.
“They have died in the walls multiple times and the management does nothing. The smell is so horrible and if you have asthma it gets worse,” added another.
‘No matter how many times you open the window or clean it, it won’t work if you can’t find the source! Even air purifiers didn’t help!’
A third wrote: ‘Rats are taking over, there is a lot of evidence of rats and I have seen them in my unit several times. I am going to make them pay rent.’
A fourth recalled: ‘[One] ‘attacked my foot while I was cooking and then ran under the stove. Then another one ran from under my dishwasher and also ran under the stove. 2 rats in my kitchen.’
Ben Lowe, 25, the de facto leader of the residents’ group, told the newspaper that he was so sleep deprived by the rats that colleagues asked him if he was ill.
He became so irritated that he caught a rat in a trap and left it in the leasing manager’s office to make his point.
The building management sent an email last month that residents saw as a way to minimize the problem, despite dozens of complaints in recent months
Another tenant, Maria Peña, grabs a stick to hit the wall when she hears rats inside. She is so scared that she paid for her brother to come from Bogotá, Colombia, to stay with her for six months.
“I burst into tears,” she said of a time when she slept so little that she couldn’t function at work.
At least one resident has sued Equity Residential, and others are likely to follow.
Kayla Goodman-Weinbaum took the company to court and was granted permission to terminate her leave without penalty and was also given a portion of her rent back.
She said the rat infestation was so bad that she had put a sofa on her balcony and slept there, despite a summer heatwave, only to discover that a rat had chewed off a lollipop and left the rest under the hair.
“Getting money for a bad experience is also no substitute for competent and effective pest control,” she said.