I've worked with several Property Management companies in the region over the last 12 years. Flat Fee Landlord is as good as it gets. Great understanding of the market, were able to find a good tenant in a few weeks and always provide good feedback and guidance. Their web portal makes transactions and record keeping easy. I've read some of the negative reviews about lack of communication, but my experience working mostly through Alex Cholet, and briefly with Mo has been very positive. On all occasions they have been prompt, courteous and helpful. read more

I've been using Flat Fee Landlord to manage my property and am pretty dissatified with the service. They are unorganized and communicate poorly. Flat Fee did not set up an online account for my property until 2 months into the lease, nor did they communicate with me to confirm the status of the property. I couldn't check my account balance/had no way to verify if the rent payment was actually coming in. When I attempted to contact them to ask, I had a very hard time getting anyone on the phone. Also, one set of the keys I left was lost even before the tenant moved in. In attempting to schedule a repair for the property, they scheduled an appointment with the wrong type of repairman (HVAC for a plumbing issue). I'm just hoping the travel fee from the HVAC repairman doesn't get passed on to me. read more

Brutal service. Our kitchen sink has been sitting full of water for 5 days because they are unresponsive to maintenance requests. Now it is about to be the weekend, so we likely won't hear until next week (guarantee they respond to this review though *eyeroll*). I've rented through them for three years now and it has been an awful experience. Recently they even added a $5 service charge when you pay your rent. $ grubbers. Thankfully, I will be out of this lease soon. Do yourself a favor and use another service if possible. read more

I had a great experience with this company, especially Alex Cholet. He was a great help when I was going through the rental process!

Wow! I'm not sure where to begin! I agree with all of the 1 star posts on here and I wish that I could say that I had a better experience. It's such a nice home but the property management is pretty subpar to be such a seemingly established business in Virginia. I have never had such a negative experience with property management in my life! As a landlord myself, I am aware of tenant laws and how a tenant should be treated. We have had several major issues which all happened on the weekend. If anything happens to your property on a Friday, you can forget about them being responsive and taking care of it. Your call goes straight to their after hours third party line and they have no clue about what's going on. Then during the week they want you to send a message through their portal vs. calling and still not responsive. It's going on 2 weeks since we reported that our AC is not working and the issue still isn't fixed. (Note: it's 90 degrees here in the DMV and we have small children). I had to nearly harass them to respond and send someone out to check it out and the issue still isn't fixed. It feels like they ignore your calls. I would have to write a book if I go into the other issues that we've had since being here (only in the last 6 months). They really hope they make some changes soon because this is unacceptable service to be charging such a high price in rent. If I would have read these reviews before renting this house, I would not be here. The issues that we have had with this house and management company have caused unnecessary stress on my family especially while in the midst of moving from another state and starting a new job. read more

DO NOT USE FLAT FEE LANDLORD!! I wish i would have read the review by Tony prior to using flat fee landlord because I would have never used them. I wish i could give ZERO STARS! I had a very similar experience and cannot emphasize enough to not use them. you will regret it. I am still regretting it because still have issues with them failing to do their job and already ended my service with them. Hmm...where to start? Lots of problems with Mo from the beginning which should have been a warning sign but I never used a property manager prior to flat fee so wasn't really sure what to expect. He was difficult to get in touch with and always had some sort of personal issue (got married, honeymoon, had a baby) that seemed to prevent him from returning calls or answering questions. I had an issue in my home that needed repair and maintenance guy was called to repair without using the home warranty information that I had provided. I was told they were not able to get in touch with the home warranty company and needed to move forward with repairs, however, I contacted and had no issues. I have doubts that they ever tried to process the repair through my warranty company...costing me $300 more than my deductible. I was randomly swapped to a different property manager within flat fee (don't even remember his name because had so little contact with him) but was never even told. It wasn't until after I frustrated with Mo not returning my calls that I called the main office only to find out that I had a new property manager. I had many issues with my house/tenants that I feel flat landlord never addressed. I had repeated complaints from my HOA about the lawn maintenance and noise...I ended up having friends go and check on my house to see what the issues were and the yard was completely overgrown (maybe not ever mowed). I get it that there are bad tenants...but I expected that a management company would manage my property to ensure that the tenants upheld their agreement in the lease which included lawn maintenance. When I asked for information about the inspections, I was told that the house was a little messy but no issues. I was always told to check the portal for information/pictures of the inspections...but those were not available on the portal despite having requested multiple times. While trying to rent my property to new tenants at the end of the original tenants' lease, there was extreme difficulty in renting the house. I was advised to reduce the rental price to lower than had been rented before and lower than the area. The old tenants moved out prior to finding new tenants. I happened to be in town the weekend they moved out and went by the house to check on it. The house was unsecured...the tenants had "moved out" several days prior and flat fee landlord had still failed to complete the final inspection. The house was a WRECK and still had a bunch of the previous tenants crap in it (furniture, food in fridge, liquor bottles all over counter). There was mold in the bathrooms (something the lease specifically addressed). The house was filthy and a professional cleaning was not completed in accordance with the lease. There was damage to the walls and carpets. The yard was a jungle with cigarette butts all over it. Again...I get that there are bad tenants...but my expectation of a property management company is that they would MANAGE my property to include making sure the lease was upheld. None of the damage happened overnight so I believe this was a complete lack of management during the year long lease. No wonder why my house wasn't renting...i would have even wanted to live in it. I immediately called Flat Fee landlord but couldn't get in touch with anyone since it was a weekend and I didn't hear back from them until the following Wed. I still think that my concerns were not addressed and it took more than a month to make all the repairs through Flat Fee Landlord...oh and by the way...my house still wasn't being rented because of the condition. If I had never seen the property, they would have never let me know the actual condition of it. I switched property management companies and was a pain to go through Flat Fee to settle out the security deposit to make all the repairs from the old tenant. Mo contacted me at one point to apologize and ask what could be done to fix the situation and I asked to be reimbursed the prorated rent for the time that my house was not able to be rented due to their lack of management during the previous tenants' lease. He said he would work on it but I never heard from him again. They did reimburse me a couple of months of the flat fee landlord payment due to my dissatisfaction with the company. I could go on and on...lots of other issues that I left out...but bottom line...look elsewhere. I love my new property manager and wish I had never used flat fee landlord. read more

I wish I had read these reviews before we applied. This is an awful service. All the tenant reviews are horrible, and after applying for a home with them I understand why. They told us our credit was lower than it is, we ran it ourselves to be sure. They suggested we pay a double deposit to move in. On walk through the home had not been cleaned properly and there were groceries in the refrigerator. The house has been listed for two months but basic repairs were left unmade, like the banister tops being loose and hanging on the sides. I really wanted to rent this home, but now I think maybe it really is for the best that these people did not become our land lords. I am amazed that they have any positive reviews at all. read more

My wife & I are homeowners and started working with FFL in 2013. They found good tenants for the property and continue to manage it for us. FFL now manages 2 properties for us and Hashem Realty served as our buyer's broker on that second property as well. We have not had any tenant issues and they address the problems that arise in a cost-efficient manner. Maybe in another year they will manage a 3rd property for us. read more

We decided to rent our condo in Alexandria when we found out we'd be moving out of state. I called around to several property managers to evaluate rates, pricing and customer service. I spoke with Flat Fee Landlord during my original evaluation, but eventually decided to go with Long & Foster because I believed, at the time, that the brand association of Long & Foster would generate more rapid response to our property listing. We signed with Long & Foster in July. Then, August went by. September went by. They claimed they were showing it to potential renters, but no one was interested. We found this hard to believe considering our property had an excellent location, a beautiful and huge landscaped patio, and was reasonably priced. L&F evaded our phone calls and never responded to emails. When we did hear from them, it was always an excuse. When we happened to be in town in early October, we stopped by our property and discovered that no one had, in fact, visited the property most likely since we moved out in July. The weeds were overgrown, newspapers were piled up; the place was a mess. We felt dismissed and frustrated. I was starting to regret the idea of renting out our condo. By that Monday, I wanted out of the L&F contract - I had had it! Sam at Flat Fee Landlord must have read my mind. He sent me an email that day citing our conversation back in July and asked me if we had found a property manager and had experienced success in renting our property. So, I shared with him my story. Sam couldn't have been more helpful. He shared with me properties in the same complex that Flat Fee Landlord had rented out in only 9 days! I told Sam that all I was looking for is someone who makes our unit a priority and does everything in their power to fill our property with a tenant. As soon as we got out of the L&F contract, we signed with Sam and Flat Fee Landlord and I set my expectations that within 30 days (about industry average), our property would be rented. Well, we didn't even need to wait that long! Sam found a wonderful tenant in only 10 days! The tenant's background check was great and he made the process so easy for us by allowing us to sign the contract digitally (since we are out of state). Throughout the entire process, Sam and his team have been communicative, helpful, and responsive to every one of our questions and requests. Now, our property has a tenant, we have a great property manager, and our stresses of caring for a property out of state are alleviated. Sam was a blessing to us in our situation and I am so grateful for his help. I highly recommend Flat Fee Landlord because they came through for us. read more

Don't trust this company to manage your property and sure as hell don't rent a place they manage. They do not have a clue what they are doing and are completely incompetent. Will tell you what you want to hear so you sign a lease. Don't expect them to fix any simple problem in a timely or convenient manner. Moved into a filthy home with none of what was promised taken care of and now going on well over a month with out a washer and dryer. read more

The owner of this company reach out to me and fixed all the issues I had been having in literally 3 hours! he was very apologetics and didn't make any excuses for his employees lack of attentions instead he resolved all our issues and some which is all we ever wanted. If all of the employees were Mo then it would be a great company, unfortunately a company is only good as it's employees. I highly recommend you reach out to him with any issues as he can't know unless he's told. I'm still amazed by his response time definitely feeling optimistic about our new place and our landlords. read more

Flat Fee Landlord made it so easy at a tenant moving to a new place! I can't say enough good things about their office personnel and the professionalism they have helping with unexpected problems. Every issue that arose was taken care of immediately and they made sure it accommodated our busy schedule and that they weren't interrupting our family time. read more

I currently live in Arlington and I have to say Flat Fee Property Management is probably the worst management company that I ever encountered. I am a very patient and flexible person, but the lack of response to the issues below gets very annoying. Initially, they posted a notice that basement construction would happen in our building at the end of June and would be finished in early July. The work didn't start happening until it was the end of August. The work wasn't even finished until end of September. It wasn't until that I called them a month later in that I found out that they had not even found someone until the month of August. We have had multiple problems with the heat and the hot water. It has taken them at least a week to take care of the problem. Additionally, the dryer was broken and it ate 2.25 dollars of my quarters. Flat Fee said they would pay me back, but they haven't. Presently, I just called the emergency line an hour ago at 7:30 on November 12, 2014 and the manager was not accessible. My toilet has overflowed and is clogged. As always, the managers are not available or respond quickly. I don't know Flat Fee Management decides to hire or to employ, but clearly these employees do not care about their job. The employees do not take responsibility when they make mistakes. Whoever is the CEO of this business, I would recommend that your business be dissolved. read more

If I could rate these incompetent people zero stars I would. This has been the worst experience. 3 months into our lease and we still have MOLD and leaking plumbing and they just refuse to do any repairs. They were very prompt with responses and accommodating before we signed the lease but have been terrible since. They rarely return a phone call. We have to do all of the follow up and we feel certain they aren't communicating appropriately with the owners of the property. Alex apologized at one point and offered to 'buy us dinner' one night for all the hassles. To date he hasn't done a single thing to right the situation. Mo, the owner, called at one point and assured me he would make sure all of the issues were handled asap and that was 2 months ago. We haven't heard from him since not have we been able to get in touch with him directly. We have rented many places over the years and currently have tenants in a home we own and we have NEVER dealt with this level of incompetence before. We are currently working with the better business bureau. This company should not be in business. read more

On my second year with them. Any time I needed help they were always available and would send out someone or set up an appointment within 24 hours. read more

I was pleased with the service. They listed the property quickly through numerous listings. I had a total of five applications. They did thorough reviews of the applicants. The first four who applied, had problems with either credit history or renting history. These are things which may not have been easily seen. I worked with Quentin. He responded quickly (usually within hours) to all phone and e-mail inquiries. Some of the photos of the inside of the property could have been better, but overall they did a good job with the marketing. I would recommend them and also use them again. read more

Not an honorable company. They withheld a portion of my security deposit for moveout work that they know was done perfectly because we did the exit inspection together and they said it looked great, PLUS I used the moveout cleaning company that they recommended! When I brought it to their attention after receiving the shorted check, they told me to send receipts for the moveout cleaning I'd paid for and they would get back to me. When I did, they simply ignored me. I called repeatedly, they always said someone would call me back, he never did. When I sent the information to the head of the company, including copies of all receipts and emails, sent certified mail return receipt, and got the post office receipts back showing this was received, this was also ignored. I have moved out of the area and it's probably not worth pursuing in court because it would cost me as much or more in lost work time, but that is likely what they count on. However, I truly believe in karma, and trust that it will work its magic where this company is concerned. read more

As a Polly Anna, I'll start with the positive...I like the house that I'm renting and I like Michael, a new employee at Flat Fee, who is caring & personable. (There was quite a turn over in personnel this fall, so I'll "cut them some slack" and not share info. about people who are no longer there) FlatFee works/communicates through their online portal and that is not always easy for me, since I do not work at my computer, but Michael uses email and phone calls, which works great! It seems that Mo and management are trying to turn things around!! They came to inspect the house last month, so they are looking out for property values. Now the concerns...I began renting a FlatFee property last June, but didn't officially move in until August. It was a bit of a rough start...If I had filled out a survey in September, they would've gotten 0 stars. There was no walk through with me and, although the house was nicely surface cleaned, there were previous tenant belongings in drawers that I needed to dispose of and several repairs/issues that needed attention. The owner refused to do them, so I either did them myself or am living with them the way they are (I'm not picky!). One item that was noted during my own inspection (no joint walk through, just notes sent to a previous employee at FlatFee) was a potential leak in kitchen sink. I called and that was fixed a couple of weeks after I moved in, but I received a bill that I am still trying to get credit for since it was a pre-existing problem and not something I caused. I wish I felt that Flat Fee was advocating for me with the owner....I own 3 rental properties myself, so I understand both sides! Other than that, I've had no issues in the last few months, so I'd say that the review might get up to 4 stars soon! :) read more

Flat Fee Landlord is awesome! I had my property in Falls Church listed with a major real estate firm and the experience was awful. I went to Flat Fee Landlord with my fingers crossed hoping to get a good experience and it's been absolutely wonderful. Mark and Mo got a great tenant very quickly, coordinated the work I needed done, communicated with me all along, and they were very professional and friendly. Fortunately, I've had very few issues with the property, but when I did Samantha was right on top of it. She communicated with me right away. As soon as I authorized the work, she was able to get it done at a reasonable price. The lease with my tenant is about up and Mark proactively contacted me to negotiate a renewal. This is a drastic change from what I am used to and I am very happy with the services I am receiving from Flat Fee Landlord. I truly feel like they are treating my property as their own. read more