“Unit 4-B Pros: Elevator, appliances, bathroom Cons: low water pressure. No heat. People smoking weed in the stairway on my floor. Noisy upstairs neighbor throwing garbage onto my fire escape. Mgmt ignores complaints and requests for repairs/maintenance. Excessive rent. Advice to landlord: Provide heat. Resolve complaints and repair/maintenance requests.”
— 558 WEST 193 STREET · Manhattan“Pros: The apartments have renovated kitchens. Cons: The building is very old and we had a mouse problem our first year in that we had to solve ourselves with no help from management. You get the occasional roach that’s fine. We maintain it thanks to tons of constant cleaning. The lobby is always dirty and full of garbage that people just throw everywhere. They even leave food around. What will get you most is the noise. Walls are paper thin and we were on the first floor where the apartments that constantly play loud music and you will not sleep. Run away fast. Don’t get me started on management asking for rent in the middle of a pandemic even with the mandate in effect saying we didn’t have to yet. So gross. Advice to landlord: Vet new tenants better so you don’t end up having awful people live in the building. Have a full time super not one that is the super of 3 other buildings and can’t fix things in a timely manner. Actually warn people about their loud obnoxious music. Unreal. Have compassion for tenants who can’t pay rent on time. In a pandemic where people lost jobs.”
— 558 WEST 193 STREET · Manhattan“Pros: The building is pest-free, which is rare for an old building. There is an occasional cockroach and a lot of fruit flies in the summer, but pervasive problem and no rats. Cons: The building has nothing. It’s north facing, so no natural light. Your apartment will be dark and there will be nowhere to hang out. People will like to hang out in front of the building on the sidewalk, which can get noisy/annoying. There is no AC, and the heat is only on sometimes in the winter. The hallways can get gross and people fling their spam mail everywhere. Advice to landlord: Honestly, knock this whole building down and build a new one. All the problems are because the building is old and there is only so much internal renovation one can do before you have to just accept that the infrastructure of an old building can only go so far.”