PSA for anyone thinking of renting at Webster Apartments (4228 SW Dawson St)
I’m posting this as a PSA for anyone apartment hunting in West Seattle and considering The Webster on SW Dawson & California Ave.
I lived in this building for two years, and for the first 14 months, my experience was mostly great. I lived in a first-floor unit and had some minor moisture/mold around the windows, but nothing I considered outside the realm of “old building in Seattle.” When a two-bedroom opened up on the top floor, management was extremely helpful in transferring my lease, and Samuel, the maintenance technician, was always genuinely kind, helpful, and quick to respond.
Then I moved upstairs.
I moved into the two-bedroom in September. After a few months, once it got consistently cold, mold started growing around the windows. I cleaned it. It came back. I cleaned it again. It came back. Significantly worse than anything I’d experienced in my previous unit.
I reported it repeatedly. Management eventually acknowledged to me in writing that:
“Moisture is a known condition in this building due to its concrete construction.” I was told to keep my windows open at all times—even during the winter—run a dehumidifier, keep furniture and belongings away from the walls, and manage bathroom moisture.
The problem? I was already doing all of those things. I told them that repeatedly. The mold continued to grow.
So I spent the winter trying to heat an apartment while simultaneously leaving the windows open and running dehumidifiers 24/7. Unsurprisingly, my electricity costs skyrocketed.
For five months, I was repeatedly told they were “looking into long-term solutions.” After asking around and speaking with former tenants, I was told that moisture and mold issues in the building apparently go back to the early 2000s. I also found multiple publicly available SDCI complaints related to similar issues in the building. So I’m genuinely curious how many decades are required to “look into” a long-term solution.
After five months, the solution I was finally offered was... A new bathroom fan. 😑 The bathroom was literally the one room in my apartment where I did not have a mold or moisture problem.
There is also visible pooling water/apparent drainage issues on the roof, particularly on the same side of the building where the mold in my unit was worst.
Eventually, I chose to end my lease early rather than continue living in those conditions with my animals.
Also, once I started asking more directly what was actually going to be done about the ongoing mold—and whether I would be compensated for belongings that had been ruined—the responses stopped. 5+ emails. Unanswered.
I genuinely loved living in this building before this happened, and I still have nothing negative to say about Samuel. But a known building moisture problem should not become the tenant’s responsibility to manage by leaving windows open all winter, running dehumidifiers around the clock, paying dramatically higher electric bills, repeatedly cleaning recurring mold, and replacing damaged belongings—only to be ignored once they start asking for an actual solution.
If you’re considering renting here, I strongly recommend checking the SDCI complaint history and asking very specific questions about the building’s moisture history before signing a lease.
I have added photos of the mold and the email acknowledging that moisture is a “known condition” in the building.