1236 HALSEY STREET, Brooklyn, NY, 11207

Not a Terrible Apartment but Awful AWFUL Management Company, Freestone Property

Unit 2 Pros: I loved the updated appliances and the location as it's in a very family focused area right across from a small cute park. Cons: What I did not like was the lack of responsiveness from the property management group, Freestone Property Group. We had 4 different supers over the course of a 13-month lease and was never proactively informed who we should be contacting. Me and my roommates were constantly blocked and unblocked by staff members whenever we tried to address issues. We especially had numerous issues when we first moved in that weren't mentioned prior to us physically moving in. (Me and one of my roommates moved from another state and the roommate that viewed the apartment for us didn't mention these issues so that's a separate issue of choosing smart roommates) The entire apartment was filthy. There was dust and dirt marks on all of the floors in every room. There were holes in the walls unfilled in the living room and the bedrooms. The bathrooms were so disgusting and full of moldy caulk, especially around the shower and tub. There were still old products from previous tenants swept under the sink and left in cabinets. The primary bedroom wall in the back had significant water damage that caused mold near one of the windows, due to damage in the building next to it, and had what we suspected to be termites in the window sill. This was a huge issue because it was making the room borderline unlivable and it took forever for them to come and fix it. They came several times over the lease to put temporary fixes and the 'final permanent' repair they said they did was still damaged by the time we moved out because they didn't address the core issue. It also had large gaping between the wall and floor that was still there when we left. The washer and dryer was full of hair and grime. We reported all of these issues the very next day of moving in and it took days for them to even respond and no one came to clean and we weren't reimbursed for the cleaning we had to do ourselves. We didn't receive keys to the first door of our building until maybe 4 months in and that was after having to beg and call every number we could find. It became an issue because sometimes the FOB system, which we only had a 7 digit code for not a physical FOB, would freeze up and we wouldn't be able to get in the building unless someone opened it for us. It was incredibly careless and ridiculously unsafe for 3 women who had to come home at all hours. Every issue we had took forever to be addressed and we would be ignored when we followed up. It was just a very stressful 13 months with this company despite how decent the apartment was and how nice the location was. And from talking to some helpful internal sources, we found out we were being overcharged for the apartment. Our rent was $4195 with our last month free on a 13-month lease. If you plan to rent this apartment please know the rent should be much lower this, closer to the $3200-3500 range for 3 bed/2 bath. We also were having issues with our electric bill being way too high month to month despite not using the highest source of electricity which was our heat/ac for months. After calling ConEd, they said to follow up with our building because it may be reporting our usage wrong and they were not helpful at all and we ended up having to pay the backpay. This isn't unique because ConEd sucks in general but it was just ridiculous. I advise anyone looking at apartments to steer clear of Freestone Property Group and it's affiliates, Nova Living and Greenbrook Partners, I believe. Here is a very thorough reddit thread with other previous tenants warning about them: https://www.reddit.com/r/Brooklyn/comments/yhyc5m/freestone_property_group_llc/ Please do your research on these NY apartments! Advice to landlord: Do better.