The Essential, baltimore-md

I’ve been a resident here for ~2 yrs (since 07/2024). I am not renewing my lease for the following reasons: 1. Repeated flooding incidents: My unit was severely flooded, destroying my belongings and causing a significant disruption to my life for over a month. This occurred after another flooding incident in neighboring units two months prior, and a building-wide flooding incident before that. This is just one illustration of the failing and poorly maintained building infrastructure. The flooding started while I was out. I returned to my unit at 9 pm and notified the building immediately, but it took >3 hrs for them to respond. I did not have a place to sleep that night, and the building did not provide any emergency assistance. 2. Hot water outage: the most recent management fiasco (likely not their last, based on my experience). Other reviews have addressed this already. Essentially (pun intended), many units didn’t have hot water for at least 2 weeks, and many units, including mine, continued to lack consistent hot water for 3-4 weeks. Despite everyone’s reporting, the management “mistakenly announced” that hot water had been fully restored after 2 weeks, so we had to bring someone from outside to verify the persisting hot water outage in our units (please let that sink in). The management promised rent credit for the duration of impact but subsequently denied the full credit to many residents based on the “thorough review of their documentations,” which they’ve refused to share. 3. Building-wide water outages are frequent. 4. Elevators regularly out of service (notably concerning in a 20-story building with restricted stair access) 5. Severe, persistent cockroach infestation: My unit has had this issue since day one. Other residents report the same, so this is clearly a building-wide issue. Despite this, management treats infestations on a unit-by-unit basis. I’ve had their “heavy treatment” twice (a very disruptive process requiring you to clear the entire unit with no assistance from the building). Unsurprisingly, the treatments haven’t been effective. When I raised this again to the management, they insisted that all units are cleared and “verified” pest-free before each lease and insinuated that tenants bring the pests with them. This is not true, as my new roommate recently moved into my unit, which has been infested for over a year. This is to illustrate what their “verifications” and “documentations” are worth. 6. Many amenities, including the coffee machine, rooftop heaters, and gym equipment are frequently out of service. In my experience, those running the building are professional, corporate-type stonewallers. They write elaborate responses to reviews and offer cute apologies, but that's where their efforts in addressing your concerns end. Of course, I can’t speak on anyone else’s behalf, but the tenants I know personally share similar sentiments, which also makes me quite skeptical of most of the positive reviews here. I also know of one case, where a tenant wanting to take legal action against the building was legally intimidated. If you still choose to live here regardless and are out of options, I wish you the best of luck and strongly recommend documenting every issue and interaction with the people running the building.

I was charged a $250 holdover fee for returning my keys just two hours after my lease ended. My monthly rent was $900, yet management charged more than one-quarter of a month's rent for a 120-minute delay. What makes this even more frustrating is that I never received any email or other notification stating that move-out was required by **12:00 PM**. When I contacted the leasing office to resolve the issue, I was simply told that an email had been sent to all residents. However, I received **no such email**. Had I been properly notified of the noon deadline, I would have ensured I moved out before that time. I formally disputed the charge and asked management to explain whether my two-hour delay caused any actual disruption, including delayed inspections, cleaning, maintenance, an incoming resident's move-in, or any additional costs. They provided no evidence of any actual harm or financial loss. Their only response was that the fee is automatically applied under the lease. In my view, this charge is inconsistent with Maryland law, which provides that a holdover tenant is liable for actual damages caused by the holdover. Applying a flat $250 charge for a two-hour delay without identifying any actual damages is, in my opinion, unreasonable and punitive. This experience left me extremely disappointed with how management handled what could have been resolved reasonably. I encourage anyone considering this property to carefully review every fee provision, verify all move-out deadlines in writing, and keep copies of every communication, as management may strictly enforce substantial fees even where no actual harm is identified. PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU SIGN A LEASE WITH THEM.

This is one of the most poorly managed buildings in Baltimore and the worst place I've ever lived in, I wish I could give it 0 stars!! move in: when I first moved in, there were information missing from my folder, and the staff provided no assistance to me. I had to get the wifi information from other residents because when I tried to call them, no on answered. repeated issues with water and HVAC: water will be cold during the winter and ac will break during the summer, plus the water will just get turned off with VERY short notice. poorly maintained amenities: there is mold growing in my bath room and the windows/screens are very faulty, this is not fixed despite the fact that during turnover period, there are people walking in and out of my apartment with no warning or prior communications, and they left the door open multiple times. An email saying "maintenance will be doing inspections between these days" isn't helpful when I don't know when or where they will be doing inspections. There was a time when someone opened my door without knocking while I was changing to clean the carpets even though I did not want them to do that and it wasn't communicated to me beforehand. rude management staff: they are NOT friendly, the way they talk to you when you are not complaining is just plain condescending. The events are also centered around the staff's convenience instead of the residents'. So many events are from 10am-3pm when most people are in class or at work, and they will start significantly later than scheduled. I went to an event 10 minutes after it started and they were still setting up. I thought they were done considering all the food, utensils, etc were set up but they told me to get out of the way so they could take a picture of themselves...10 minutes AFTER the start of the event...with many people waiting on them. The communications materials are clearly written with AI, and they will send multiple emails with conflicting information/different wording. 20 years old RAs for undergrad dorms can manage this building better.

Thank you, manager Stanley and his team for a great move- in of our daughter. She is safe an happy there near John Hopkins! They responded immediately to any request she had. We could help her move, be guests and have free parking! It really helped a lot.

really great place to live! friendly staff, fun events, good community. I enjoyed my time at The Essential and would easily recommend it to anyone in the Johns Hopkins community looking for a good place to live!