maintenance

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Tenant association inspection of 3003 finds minor improvements, many problems

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An informal inspection of 3003 Van Ness by the Van Ness South Tenant Association conducted today that after many months of resident complaints, both exterior doors from Veazey Terrace are working properly. They lock automatically when the doors close, they open with a fob, and they won’t open without a fob. The tenant association has reported problems with these doors for well over two years, and residents are pleased that finally they have been repaired.

On the other hand, the tenant association inspection of 3003 Van Ness found many other problems — some which have been reported dozens of times in the past.

For example, many of the doors leading from the underground garages to the main buildings remain broken. Some open easily without a fob; others won’t open at all even with a fob. The tenant association has reported the broken doors many times in the past, recording approximately 100 short videos of broken doors over a period of more than two years, posting them on its YouTube channel.

The elevators in both 11-story buildings have been in and out of service for more than five years. Currently, of the four elevators in the 11-story West building, two have been completely out of service since December. Often, one of the remaining elevators is used for employees, contractors or resident moves, leaving only one in service. Of the three elevators in the 11-story South building, only one was operating during the inspection of Feb. 2 — the others were stuck on floors with no sign to indicate why they are not working.

In addition, the inspection revealed that there are still large holes in some parts of the ceiling in the garages, some heavy metal hatches hang from the ceiling so low that they could cause injury, ceiling panels in elevators are missing, some fire extinguishers are missing from their locations and are being used to hold open laundry room doors, and dozens of laundry carts remain parked in hallways.

Non-residents may find it hard to believe that this is a substantial improvement from conditions in recent years.

See photos and videos below from our February 23, 2025 inspection of 3003 Van Ness.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS:

The main door leading from Veazey Terrace to the West building has been repaired, including an industrial-strength handle over the locking mechanism. However, the fob reader has already been broken, and residents on Monday reported that a fob would not unlock the door.

After more than two years of complaints by the tenant association, the second Veazey Terrace door leading into the G-2 level garage has also been repaired and is working properly.


NOW THE BAD NEWS:

1) ELEVATORS OUT OF SERVICE

Two of the four elevators in the West building have been out of service since mid-December. Management says that this is due to the massive flooding that occurred in the West building in December. While this may be the proximate cause of the problem, ALL elevators in both buildings have been out of order intermittently for several years, causing considerable frustration for residents.

In the West building on the day of the inspection, the two elevators on the north side of the West building (near Veazey Terrace) remained out of service. In addition, one of the two remaining elevators was stuck on an upper floor, so residents were forced to choose between waiting a long time for an elevator or walking the stairs of the 11-story West building.

Residents have become irate about the situation with the elevators in the West building. Management says that they won’t be repaired or replaced for months.

Sign on the door of an elevator that has been out of service since mid-December.

One of the two remaining elevators in the West building is temporarily out of service, leaving residents to wait for a long time or to walk.

South building elevators

On the day of the inspection, one of the two elevators in the South building was stuck on the fourth floor. While it appears that the elevator was later back in service, for a period of time the elevator couldn’t be used by residents.


2) SEVERAL SECURITY DOORS DON’T LOCK AND CAN BE ENTERED WITHOUT A FOB

Unfortunately, several of the doors leading from the underground garages are still broken, allowing easy access to the buildings for anyone who gets into the garages. It is easy to get into the garages because the loading dock door is frequently left wide open, and also because people on foot can follow cars through the garage door.

Residents are highly concerned about the fact that intruders can easily walk off the street into the buildings because 3003 Van Ness has experienced an elevated level of crime and extreme nuisance behavior in recent years.

Equity Residential has been told about the doors that do not lock many times. At times, it has made half-hearted attempts to fix the doors, using residential-grade materials that are easily broken.

The tenant association has recorded approximately 100 videos of broken doors at 3003 Van Ness over the past two and a half years, and it has posted the videos to its YouTube channel.

Door from G-2 garage into the West building doesn’t lock

This door has been almost continuously broken for more than two years, with management evidently making little effort to repair it. Through this door, an intruder who has entered the underground garages can easily enter the West building on the G-2 level near the fitness room. From there, no fob is needed to enter the hallways or main lobby .

Door A from the G-1 garage to the West building doesn’t lock

Despite reassurances from management to a resident that this door was being repaired this week, Door A remains broken, allowing easy access from the G-1 level garage to the West building. This door has been broken almost continuously for more than two years.

Double doors from G-2 garage into the South building did not lock

The main doors from the G-2 garage into the South Building have usually been working properly in recent months, with new heavy-duty metal doors and hardware. However, on Sunday Feb. 23, the doors could easily be opened without a fob — see video — allowing easy access to the South building.

Door Q from the G-3 level of the garage to the West building does not lock

This door has been broken continuously for many months. An intruder who has entered the underground garages can enter the building through Door Q without a fob.


3) SEVERAL SECURITY DOORS CANNOT BE OPENED EVEN WITHOUT A FOB

Door D from the G-1 garage to the South building cannot be opened, even with a fob.

This door has been broken continuously for many months.

Door N from the G-2 garage cannot be opened even with a fob

This door has been mostly broken for more than two years.

Door O from the G-2 garage the building does not open even with a fob

This door has been mostly broken for more than two years.

4) FIRE EXTINGUISHERS USED TO PROP OPEN LAUNDRY ROOM DOORS

For reasons difficult to understand, the doors to laundry rooms are sometimes propped open with whatever is at hand, including fire extinguishers. This means that the fire extinguishers aren’t in the boxes where they are supposed to be, a possible problem in the case of an actual fire.

4) HOLES IN GARAGE CEILINGS

In 2022, the tenant association released an extensive report about severe maintenance issues, especially leaks and water damage, in the underground garages of 3003 Van Ness. This report led to inspections by the Department of Buildings, which cited Equity Residential for violations, forcing the company to do extensive repairs.

Nevertheless, problems with the ceilings of the garages still remain. Some of them, like metal hatch left open at head height, could cause injury.

5) SHOPPING CARTS LITTER THE HALLWAYS

Some residents have a habit of taking shopping carts from the nearby Giant supermarket and using them to transport their groceries back to 3003 Van Ness. Often, they remain in the hallways for a long time, making the halls look like a shopping cart junkyard.

CONCLUSION

Because of time constraints, the tenant association did not do a complete inspection of common areas of 3003 Van Ness. In any case, that should be left to the professionals at the DC Department of Buildings.

However, the partial inspection conducted by the tenant association on February 23 found that while two important repairs have been made — the exterior doors leading from Veazey Terrace — many other problems remain, including elevators out of service, security doors from the garages to the buildings that either don’t lock or don’t open, safety hazards in the garages, and dozens of grocery carts that make the halls look like a junkyard.

The DC Department of Buildings continues its inspections for 3003 Van Ness, responding to complaints by residents. Over the past year, DOB has assessed Equity Residential with more than $1.2 million in fines, although DOB subsequently forgave most of those fines because it decided that the housing violations were adequately addressed.

Residents of 3003 Van Ness simply want to live in a clean, well-maintained building, with adequate security, and operational elevators, which fully complies with the DC Housing Code.

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City Paper finds more fines at 3003 Van Ness than any other building in DC

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The Washington City Paper published a story today finding that in August 2023, the owners of 3003 Van Ness owed the city more than $1.2 million in unpaid fines for housing code violations. This affirms a previous report by the tenant association, which also included a detailed list of those fines.

The WCP story reports that more than $1 million in fines had been wiped away in recent months, despite ongoing housing code violations at 3003 Van Ness.

A recent informal inspection by the tenant association found that extensive problems persisted even after the Department of Buildings conducted inspections of 3003 Van Ness for more than a year.

Many apartment doors lack self-closing, fire-safety mechanisms even after two arson attempts at 3003 Van Ness.

The Department of Buildings plans to continue inspections of 3003 Van Ness this month.

Data source: DC Department of Buildings

““The District’s decision to forgive the property’s fines only underscore that the current system does not incentivize landlords to provide timely responses to safety concerns. The fact that DOB forgives fines—even more than $1 million of them—means that a landlord can ignore serious housing code violations for a long time. The company does not fear the Department of Buildings, so it does not repair serious problems that put their residents at risk.””
— Harry Gural
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Tenant association reminds residents to sign inspection permission forms NOW

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The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent a newsletter to all members, reminding them to fill out permission forms to get their apartments inspected by the Department of Buildings.

Between August 2023 and fall 2024, the DC Department of Buildings conducted a “proactive inspection” of many units at 3003 Van Ness, assessing well over $1 million in fines for violations of the housing code. Some of those violations were potentially life-threatening, e.g., the lack of GFCI electrical outlets and self-closing fire safety doors.

DOB was not able to inspect all units at 3003 Van Ness.

Nevertheless, residents report that many some violations in apartments have not been repaired. Also, serious problems in common areas persist, e.g., two elevators in the West building that have been out of order since December, and apparently won’t work again until at least the end of the year.

For these reasons, the tenant association has asked DOB to inspect all remaining units that have potential housing code violations, as well as all common areas.

However, for residents to get an inspection, they must fill out a permission form and send it to the Department of buildings at DOB.OAR@dc.gov.

See more information below in the newsletter that was sent to tenants.

DON'T MISS THIS LAST CHANCE TO GET PROBLEMS IN YOUR UNIT FIXED

Thanks to the advocacy of members of our tenant association, the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) has decided to inspect 3003 Van Ness AGAIN. This is a critical opportunity to get long-standing problems in your apartment and in common areas addressed.

PROBLEMS IN YOUR APARTMENT

For DOB to inspect your apartment, you MUST fill out a permission form and send it to DOB. Without this form, DOB will not be able to inspect your unit.

NOTE: In the past, even when residents filled out permission forms, DOB had trouble getting into apartments because Equity Residential did not make an effort to make this possible. DOB says that this time Equity has pledge to cooperate.

If you have any of the problems listed below, please print the permission form (English or Spanish), and email it to the DOB at DOB.OAR@dc.gov. Please cc: the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

If you have issues in your apartment, now is the time to act. If DOB finds housing code violations, it will order Equity Residential to fix the problems or face a steep fine. 

Examples of Possible Housing Code Violations:

  • Door to the hallway doesn't close by itself (fire hazard)

  • Electrical outlets without circuit breakers in the kitchen or bathroom (electrocution risk)

  • Problems with heat or air conditioning

  • Rodents

  • Insects

  • Mold

  • Peeling paint

  • Plumbing leaks

  • Broken appliances

  • Lights that don’t work

  • Warped flooring or other effects from the recent flooding

  • Other problems 

PROBLEMS IN COMMON AREAS

As you know, we also have experienced many problems in common areas -- broken elevators, malfunctioning exterior doors, leaks, loose floor tiles, rodents, etc. The tenant association has reported many of these problems to the Department of Buildings, along with extensive video evidence in many cases.

If you know of problems that you think may not have been reported, please take photos and video of the problem, including both close-ups and medium shots (to help show the location). Please send these to the tenant association, along with a description and more details about the location, so we can forward these to the Department of Buildings.

DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE

This may be the last chance you will have in a long time to get problems in your apartment or in common areas fixed. This rare opportunity was only made possible by many hours of work. Don't miss your chance to get things fixed so you can enjoy 3003 Van Ness again!

““The landlord must ensure that your unit and all common areas are safe and sanitary as of the first day of your tenancy. This is known as the “warranty of habitability.” The landlord must maintain your apartment and all common areas of the building in compliance with the housing code, including keeping the premises safe and secure and free of rodents and pests, keeping the structure and facilities of the building in good repair, and ensuring adequate heat, lighting, and ventilation.””
— DC Tenant Bill of Rights
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New Year's Eve inspection finds chronic security and maintenance problems

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An informal inspection by members of the Van Ness South Tenants Association found that many of the same security problems that have been reported in the past have not been addressed. The tenant association has recorded well over 80 videos of malfunctioning security doors over the past two and a half years.

Many of the problems recorded on video on December 31st are the same issues that were witnessed by the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) during an official inspection of 3003 Van Ness on December 17th. The DOB discover many malfunctioning security doors, and it issued a 21-page Notice of Infraction to Equity Residential and levied $609 in fines.

On December 31st, two weeks after the DOB inspection, the tenant association found that only two doors had been repaired, while many others remain broken. One door that was repaired is the second Veazey Terrace entrance, which has been broken almost continuously for more than two years — it now has a reinforced handle and lock mechanism. The main entrance from Veazey Terrace also received a stronger door handle, but the hinge mechanism still does not work properly so the door does not close automatically.

The chronically broken security doors are of especially serious concern given that an intruder attempted to light a resident’s apartment door on fire on Monday, December 30th. Equity Residential management has not informed residents about this incident, and it is not clear whether it has taken any steps to prevent the intruder from entering the building again. In any case, as the videos below indicate, it is extremely easy for anyone to enter 3003 Van Ness.

An intruder attempted to light a fire outside a resident’s apartment.

The informal inspection of 3003 Van Ness by the tenant association found that exterior security doors were left open, and other security doors malfunctioned or had broken locks and could be opened without a fob.

The door at the main entrance from Veazey Terrace does not close automatically.

The door in the G2-level garage to the West building by the gym can be opened without a fob, allowing easy access to the West building.

Door N to the South building in the G-2 garage can be opened without a fob, allowing easy access to the South building.

This door has been broken for months, allowing easy access to the apartment building from the underground garage. It is easy to get into the underground garage from other entrances, so it is easy to walk off the street into the garage and then into the apartment area.

Door G on the G-1 level of the garage into the South building won’t open with a fob. As a result, someone frequently props it open with a fire extinguisher, allowing easy access to the building.

Door Q on the G-3 level of the garage remains broken, allowing easy access to the buiding.

The loading dock door is left open at approximately 10 am on December 31st. There is no Equity Residential employee in sight.

The same loading dock door is still open four hours later, allowing easy access to the building.

Two of the four elevators in the West building are broken, including the only freight elevator. One of the remaining elevators is frequently used by contractors, so only one elevator is operational for residents of the 11-story West building.

In the 11-floor South building, one of the three elevators is out of service.

One of three elevators in the South building is out of service.

Residents of 3003 Van Ness are extremely concerned about the fact that there are not enough working elevators to serve the residents of the two large apartment buildings. Older and disabled residents cannot climb the stairs or exit the building easily. Other residents are forced to wait a long time for an elevator. Residents cannot move large furniture in or out of the building due to lack of a service elevator.

LAUNDRY ROOMS

Residents largely welcome the recent upgrade of laundry rooms, with the installation of new washers and dryers.

However, it seems like some of the new washers are leaking or were incorrectly connected to the plumbing. One resident recently alerted management to this leak on the 5th floor laundry room in the West building.

BROKEN LIGHTS

Residents also report that many lights are out in stairwells and some hallways.

While management has claimed that the broken lights are due to the recent massive flood in the West building, residents say that many of these lights have been out for a long time. In fact, there is a lot of email evidence between residents and management showing that residents have complained about broken lighting in stairwells long before the flood.

Long “dolly shot” of maintenance problems in stairwells and hallways of 3003 Van Ness

MORE bROKEN LIGHTS

Residents have recorded more videos of broken lights. The videos below were recorded on January 6th in stairwells 1 and 2 near the 10th floor in the West building. Both show that many lights are out in these stairwells.

We are concerned about this safety and security issue, in part because two elevators are out of service in the West building, forcing residents to walk up or down stairs in some cases.

How to get help if your apartment was flooded

If your apartment or belongings were damaged by the widespread flooding in the West building on December 16th, here are some tips for getting help.

  1. Report the incident to Equity Residential management for 3003 Van Ness. Equity has an online portal for reporting maintenance problems. However, we strongly recommend that you also email the building manager, Dan Burkes, at dburkes@eqr.com. You should cc the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

  2. Take extensive photos and video of the damage. If it isn’t repaired in a timely manner, take more photos and videos as evidence that it was not repaired.

  3. Fill out this important survey by the tenant association so we know about your problem and can help.

  4. File a request with the DC Department of Buildings for an inspection of your unit. The DOB is closely aware of the situation, and it will send someone to inspect your apartment for damage.

If you have additional questions, email the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

You can help your neighbors by making sure that they receive this information. While many residents of 3003 Van Ness are on the tenant association email newsletter distribution list, some residents are not. You can help share the information above by printing a few copies of this one-page flyer and posting them on your hall or slipping them under the doors of nearby apartments. (If you slip them under the door, please be sure to slip them all the way under.)

Thank you!

At least two of four elevators in the West building are out of service

The recent massive flooding in the West building of 3003 Van Ness has seriously damaged elevators #3 and #4 in the West building (those closest to Veazey Terrace.)

Residents report that one of the other two elevators in the West building has been sporadically out of service, apparently due to workers removing washers and dryers from all of the laundry rooms in the West building. As a result, in recent days residents of the 11-story West building often have had access to only one elevator. Many residents, especially senior citizens, have expressed their concern.

According to management, “it will take some time for the other two elevators to be up and running as they have extensive damage due to the flood.”

See below a photo taken on the day of the flood of one of the elevators that was severely damaged. This elevator and the one adjacent to it are now out of service.

Flood in elevator (Dec. 16, 2024)

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DC Department of Buildings inspects broken security doors

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At the request of the Van Ness South Tenants Association, the DC Department of Buildings today inspected broken security doors at 3003 Van Ness.

Just two days earlier, VNSTA reviewed the security doors leading from the street into the underground garages, and from the underground garages into the West and South buildings. The tenant association found that it remains easy to enter the residential hallways of 3003 Van Ness from the street, through multiple doors.

The tenant association has recorded more than 80 videos of broken security doors at 3003 Van Ness over more than two years.

VNSTA awaits a report by the Department of Buildings.

See video below recorded on December 15th, 2024.

Equity provides information to residents regarding major mainline water leak

Equity Residential has shared some information with residents regarding the widespread flooding caused by a major pipe that burst on the 10th floor of the West building just after midnight on December 16th. (See information about the flooding along with photos in the previous news item below.)

At 1:03 am last night, Equity sent an email to residents, which said this:

This email is to inform you that we have shut the water off to the building due to an emergency water leak. Our team is on site assessing the issue, once we have a time frame for repairs, we will send a follow up email.

NOTE: An earlier version of this post stated that Equity did not send additional information until 9:30 pm on December 16th. That has proven to be incorrect — management sent a second email, only to residents of the West building, at 11:58 am on that day. This second email stated:

As you are probably already aware we had a major mainline water leak that has caused significant water intrusion on the 10th floor. This affected the common hallways and stairwells areas as well as some apartments. The plumbing repairs are now complete and our team/contractors are working to access damage and start repairs.

Today, a service team member will inspect apartments in the affected areas (consisting of apartment numbers ending 5 through 21) between the 1st floor and the 10th floor. Should you notice any water damages in your home and your apartment number doesn't end in 5 through 21, please reach out and let us know so we can inspect your home as well.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused. We thank you for your understanding and patience during this time.

Another email was sent to residents of the West building at 8:25 am on Tuesday, December 17th. It stated that:

We wanted to provide an update regarding the work being completed in your home due to the water intrusion caused by a mainline pipe malfunction. Contractors will be back today to complete a moisture reading in the areas that were affected in your home. They will begin at 9 am until all apartments are completed. Once the readings are complete we will follow up with next steps.

Thank you for your patience.

Burst pipe causes massive flooding in the West building

After midnight last night, a pipe burst on the 10th or 11th floor of the West building of 3003, causing large-scale flooding all the way down to at least the 2nd floor.

Water poured through ceilings and walls of apartments below. Some residents reported water in their apartments several inches deep. Some electrical outlets crackled, raising concerns for safety. Water flooded some of the hallways and stairwells many floors below the burst pipe.

Residents alerted the front desk staff, who reported that an off-site maintenance team was at least an hour away. Someone set off a fire alarm. The water to the entire building was eventually shut off, but water continued to flood the lower floors for at least several hours.

See photos and video below.

Flooding on the 5th floor of the West building

Flooding on the G1 level of the West building

Flooding in a stairwell

Flooding in the hall of the 3rd floor of the West building

Flooding in one of the elevators

Flooding on the 3rd floor of the West building

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Fines against Equity Residential lowered from $1.2 million to $164 thousand

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In August, we reported that the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) had levied $1,218,612 in fines on Equity Residential for almost 750 violations at 3003 Van Ness over the past three years. Updated data, which shows far less in fines, is now available.

The information was retrieved from the DOB’s SCOUT online data system and Landlord Violations Tool.

The fines were the result of the DOB’s "proactive inspection" of 3003 Van Ness, which was supposed to inspect the entire building. Sixteen months later, only a portion of the building has been inspected, but the exact percentage isn’t known.

It also isn’t clear that any of the $1.2 million in fines has been paid to date.

However, review of Department of Buildings online data for 3003 Van Ness as of Dec. 11th, 2024, shows that the amount has been lowered by more than $1 million to $164,492. It appears that the reason that the amount has dropped so precipitously is that, according to DOB, Equity Residential has fixed the violations that had been cited.

If that is correct, it means that Equity Residential will have paid little or nothing in fines for widespread violations of the housing code.

Moreover, it isn’t clear if Equity Residential has fixed housing code violations in the units that were not inspected by the Department of Buildings.

The Van Ness South Tenants Association will seek clarification from the Department of Buildings about its policy about housing code violations and fines.

Residents of 3003 Van Ness who want to find out if there are any outstanding fines for violations in their units can view the PDF file above or the identical Excel file below.

Download an easier-to-read Excel version of the current fines