Ultris at Courthouse Square

I moved here in November of 2015 and have had nothing but good experiences with the complex and the staff. The grounds are always kept extremely well manicured, the pool is pristine, and the various amenities (on site gym, café, and car wash) are all excellent. All of the staff that I have encountered are extremely friendly and go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Additionally, the location is great, close to shopping and within in commuting distance of some major business areas. I would definitely recommend Ultris Courthouse Square to anyone looking for apartments in the Stafford/​Fredericksburg area.

STAY AWAY ITS AWFUL. The office staff are rude and they NEVER call you back. They lie about prices then say they will refund the difference and NEVER do. The places are crap they are not luxury like they say. JUST STAY AWAY!
Cobblestone Apts is the place to be if you deal with the commute they are the best all the way around. I left Cobblestone to move closer to work and went to Ultris and OMG it was a nightmare so I moved back to Cobblestone.

Moved in a few months ago. Everyone in the leasing office has been great and accomodating. Maintenence is always working hard neighborhood stays nice and clean. Great place for families or professionals. No complaints!

Horible… Horrible…Horrible service. First off I just want to say that the maintenance team was great but when you start to mess with my money and think it’s okay… it’s a problem. I shouldn’t have to recorrect the office with the money I was paying… This place will happy charge you… So glad my rent was up and I moved out.
Tip: Please give a 60 day notice because if not they will be happy to up charge month to month without a friendly reminder. Like I said I’m not all here for you should «blah blah blah»…yeah no like I said the money I was paying I should have got a friendly customer service with that. Oh. Also even if you do give a 60 day notice they will still give a notice on your door stating they havnt heard from you… WHAT??? Just horrible and inconvenient… KEEP RECORDS OF EVERYTHING!
Apartments: Do not settle for less as I did… first red flag was ANTS… ANTS…ANTS…cheap blinds kept breaking… shouldn’t have to call maintenance all da dag on time.
BYE THE AVENTINE or ULTRIS of POLTERGEIST!!!

They are absolutely horrible. It is now under a new management but the folks who work in the office do not understand what «follow up with the customer» means. My biggest complaint has to do with that. Plus, they messed up my account from the beginning and it seems like their answer to any issues that started from sometime ago is «that was under the old mgmt.» However, I will say that their maintenance team is pretty good; usually they come out right away. The apt itself isn’t bad. But I am very big on customer service and follow ups. I can’t wait to get out of this place. I should have never moved here.

AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE!
When I first moved here two years ago, the apartment complex had a wonderful staff. I could always count on them to take care of any issue I brought to them. Fast forward to now and three property owners later…
The current property manager, Amy Sheperd, is not helpful nor is she inclined to help anyone. I have reported issues with noise levels within the apartment complex to include when the police have had to show up multiple times (three times in one night once) and her response has been underwhelming. She has ignored voicemails, emails, and generally gives people the run around or empty promises instead of actually trying to fix the situation.
The most recent shenanigans involves the lack of records concerning car garage rentals. Everyone received a flyer on their garages asking people to come in a register their garage or else they were going to assumed to be vacant. VACANT! Even though we all pay rent on them. The excuse given was that the previous company did not take good records. This is a symptom of a bigger issue though.
With each new property owner that we have had, they have purged all of the original staff. The original leasing staff and maintenance staff have all quit because the new owners weren’t willing to pay for their experience. So what ends up happening is the renters have to deal with either brand new leasing agents or temporary employees that can do little more than hand out packages.
Since I have been here, I have all manner of issues. Here is a partial list of the biggest ones:
* You cannot switch between air conditioning and heating. This requires the maintenance staff to make an adjustment so during the Spring and Fall months you are either too hot or freezing.
* The website that you use to pay rent or make maintenance requests was down for an entire year. Currently it is up and running but it still goes down periodically and the email function doesn’t always work when trying to contact the staff (as per Amy Sheperd’s words).
* The property has had a turn in clientele due to the crappy property management. In the past year, I have had neighbors that want to have shouting matches in the breezeways between apartments, loud parties going into 2 in the morning on week days, and beer cans/​bottles littered throughout the complex. I have even witnessed people urinating on the side of apartment buildings.
I cannot wait to move from here. I would advise potential residents to take a few minutes to wander around the complex and take a look for themselves. The broken lamps, trash, and general disrepair isn’t hard to find. Do yourself a favor and find a different apartment complex.

I have to say, since the new management, the office staff have not been very courteous at all. I received a notice to get a package. The female staff member could not find it and told me to come back tomorrow (brushed me aside as if I were crazy). I checked my records to verify that the package had been received and went back to the office. Another staff member found the package. I was not offered an apology by the first staff member.
I was filling my water bottles, after going to the gym, when the female staff member (same one) gave me a very dirty look, as if I were stealing. When I went to give her my rent, she asked me if I am a resident here (why wouldn’t I be if I were paying rent?!).
I made sure to give my 60 day notice. When I did, the leasing staff member (the same female). Rudely asked me to fill it out in the waiting area.
A year ago, I would have given this place 4 years when it was managed by Venator. Unfortunately, with the new management company, they need to reflect what quality customer service means.
Update: as rent is paid on the 1^st, it is expected that the landlord would give the tenant a prorated rent for the last month, especially if the lease ends before the last day of the month. I had to call the leasing office to get the cost of the pro-​rated rent (leasing office not proactive at all). Furthermore, when I did call, the SAME leasing staff member replied «you need to pay the entire month’s rent,» (someone please help her at her job…). Contractually, this is wrong, since I move out on the 20^th. I had to correct HER. When she said she would verify this, she never called back. Again, I had to call her back for verification. To be honest, I am no longer surprised by her lack of professionalism, she obviously need more training.

I really like this place. The gym is decent, the pool is okay, management is always trying to appease the residents. I see some people complain writing two stars over a board sticking out… Is it too difficult to just get a nail and hammer? The rent is decent but people just want to be very spoiled.

Moving Out:
Document every service request and the apartment’s cleanliness upon moving out. They WILL charge you for anything they can. I knew two couples that move out before me. I personally steam cleaned and shampooed their carpets with an industrial vacuum… they were charged 900 (Hamilton) and 840 (Jefferson) to have their carpets replaced. Also be sure to give them 60 days notice that you want to move out. They can legally hold you to another month (or two) if you do not give the required 60 day notice. MANY complexes give you a courtesy reminder 60-​something days before your lease is up asking if you want to renew, go month-​to-​month or leave. They did no such thing. Instead, they gave us a reminder 30 days before our lease ended that we will be going to the month-​to-​month rate unless we renew, which isn’t even allowed. They cannot charge you extra without first asking if you want to go month-​to-​month.
Apartment:
Generally speaking, the construction is solid/​well-​built. Windows are smooth and sturdy, doors are solid, walls are sturdy, etc. Having said that, let’s move on to the negatives.
–ANTS. ANTS living in our walls. They sprayed regularly but this didn’t kill the buggers living in our walls. This was localized to around the windows in the living room.
–Laminate flooring. Not all apartments have this, but ours did. The tiles were coming up everywhere. We called maintenance to fix a few of the tiles, but they did a terrible job. The floor was uneven after they ‘fixed’ the tiles.
–Balcony. We had a bowed piece of wood in the middle of our balcony sticking up 4 – 5 inches above the floor. We called maintenance but they said there was nothing they could do about it. This caused me bloody toes on several occasions. Also, the spaces between the floorboards were rather large. If you are active on your balcony this will be an issue. Anything you drop/​spill is liable to fall to the balcony below you.
Surrounding area:
–No issues with noise.
–Dog poop on nearly every plot of grass. They do have maintenance pick up poop but it isn’t enough.
–Neighbors lived on second of three floors. The person’s dog above them would regularly pee on the balcony, causing it to drip down. They complained to the main office several times but the issue did not stop. After a little over a month of this the apartment staff told our neighbors that the person upstairs will be moving out soon, which is a violation. Staff is not allowed to disclose that information.
–Large plots of grass are nice but there is no flat grass, everything is on an angle.
–Be prepared for a fine if you are caught with your dog off leash.
–Trash compactor often is overflowed with trash all over the sidewalk, causing it to smell extra nasty.
Main building/​staff/​pool/​gym:
–Staff are evil, heartless people. They are not rude or unpleasant upfront but they WILL do anything they can to get more of your money. They will lie to you and basically do whatever they want. I’ve seen the manager stumbling around outside drunk. Her boyfriend kindly apologized to me for her behavior.
–One day I saw a dead bird on the doorstep of the main building. I’m not the only one to despise these people.
–The hallway leading to the pool/​gym/​bathrooms/​common room ALWAYS smells disgusting.
–They serve waffles on Sundays and have a coffee machine in the common room, which is nice.
–The gym is good for a complex gym. However, some equipment is faulty and if something breaks it will take weeks/​months to fix or replace.
–The pool is nice, although the only entrance is in the main building so of that is closed you are SOL. This becomes an issue on Sundays during the summer. You can’t get into the pool area (without hopping the fence) before 1pm.
Misc:
–Maintenance men went into our apt without any notification to replace our WORKING fridge with a leaky one. Additionally, they didn’t even put all the food back in the fridge. I came home to a dirty carpet, food everywhere, lights left on, and my juice and soda in the freezer… They later apologized for having the wrong apartment.
–Maintenance, on several occasions, have left our lights on and floors dirty after coming in while I wasn’t home.
–No recycling!
–Never had a problem with lost packages.
–Monthly fees and random extra fees are infuriating.
Closing remarks:
–Unfortunately, this complex is in a prime location. It is 2 minutes from i95, well built (for the most part), and in a decent neighborhood. The staff and owners know this, so they are able to get away with horrible service and doing everything they want/​can to get more money from their residents.
–If you have to live in the area I highly suggest looking somewhere else.
–There are people that enjoy it at this complex. However, out of the 7 other people I made friends with while living there, they all hated it.
–For the same price you can live closer to DC or in the Fredericksburg area. I suggest both other this place.

I still live there but as soon as my new house is built I am out and will not miss it.
I live on the 3^rd floor and the apt never seems to cool off. I have the A/​C set to 76 most times with an occassional drop to 75 when it is really warm. The A/​C seems to never reach that temp as it runs almost continuously. The rooms closest to the thermostat get semi-​cool but the master bedroom and bath are consistently 5 – 10 degrees warmer. YOU CAN ACTUALLY FEEL THE DIFFERENCE. It feels like a heater is on in those rooms.
The maintenance conducted a walk-​through and gave the reassuring feedback: Yeah these rooms are always hotter.
Apt is less than 1000 sqft and my electric bill has been higher than my bill for my previous 2500 sqft 2 bedroom house.
Washing Machine: Have had the maintenance crew in three times to service (from mid June to mid Aug 2014).
1: The water was draining into a drain pan on the floor instead of out of the hose on the back. (resolved after 3 days of calling) was told that this was not an emergency so the crew would get to it when they could.
2 and 3: Spin cycle didn’t remove all of the water from the tub. After the service, the cycle removed most standing water but the clothes were still soaked in water. Currently running the machine through (2) spin cycles to get them dry enough not to drip water when moving to the dryer. The front office told to call again if still not working properly but I haven’t. Don’t really see the point other than being inconvenienced again by having to wait for maintenance or let them come in when I am not around.
Stove: One night had to turn off the breaker because the range would not turn off. (maintenance resolved the issue the next morning)
Microwave: There isn’t one. What kind of apt doesn’t have a microwave?
Rates/​Lease: This is the primary reason we moved here. Needed a short-​term lease (3 – 4) months. Price was reasonable 1,650ish a month, but now that I need an extra month the price is going up to almost $ 1900. I have given my 60 days notice.
The trash compactor was overfilled yesterday 8-​25-​2014. I placed my bag neatly on top of the 50 others that had stacked up.
Trying to resolve my water bill today. For a 3 bedroom my bill is almost $ 90 this month. This includes a $ 5 service fee. Not sure what the fee is but will post once the property manager calls back. She must be very busy because it has been over an hour since I called and spoke with the front office.
Also, don’t expect to be able to not accept a package that is mailed to you. I cancelled my subscription to a mail order wine service. The shipment arrived and since all packages go to the front office (even alcohol that requires signature), it was accepted and I could not refuse the package. Not sure what arrangment this office has but the whole post system is jacked up. We had packages in the office for a month and never received a notice. Finally they called (4 weeks later).
The two stars is only because the flexible leases.

The people under us blast loud music and the staff can do nothing about it, people speed through the streets like its freaking cool, our AC has been broken for 3 days, the people who wrork in the office are a bunch of preppy daddies money bitchy girls, and we over pay like a mother. OH AND the office isn’t open after 6pm so I never get my packages because I work most days until 6:30pm.

Lived there for almost two years. On multiple occasions the trash compactor broke down and people had to stack bags of garbage almost to the street. There were some other nuisances, but the worst part of living here is dealing with any office issues.
When we moved out we paid for the cleaning service to come in as well as the carpet cleaners (both their people). We wrote them a check for the cleaning service, they double billed us, they messed up the pet deposit, and after paying the final bill, they sent us to a debt collector. Luckily we paid via our bank and had records of payments made and when they were cashed.
Avoid them.