Old, beautiful, and grimy
Pros
Beautiful, historical building in a lively neighborhood. Rent is cheap. Furniture included. Utilities included.
Cons
Landlord (Marlyn/David) is overly familiar. Marlyn allows new, perspectives to enter the LOCKED rooms of other tenants without permission. Spare keys for units are left in plain site, without locks. Marlyn does not have a count of the number of keys to know if any go missing. She claims that “nothing has ever been stolen” but then again she also said that there were no rats in the building and we found rat droppings in the flatware cabinet. Railings on the building are not secured so you may fall off the stairs. There are 8 residents but there’s no delivery box for the Amazon delivery team. There’s no Ring/security device either so deliveries are tricky. And the intercom is broken. Showers don’t drain so you’ll be standing in water if your shower is more than 3 minutes. Rooms are not cleaned ever. So the mattresses and carpets are musty and dirty because she allows tenants to wear shoes on the carpet. The landlord seems to be a hoarder who places new furniture in your room while you are out. You may not have asked for it, but you will be given hell if you tell Marlyn to stop cluttering your room. Marlyn treats the place like her house rather than her business. Boundaries are a problem. She’ll try to use mommy guilt to get you to do things her way. It’s like she doesn’t understand that grown people don’t like being treated that way. The lease is supposed to let you terminate within 3 months of starting the lease. She refused to give back the deposit.
Advice to the owners
Therapy. Get therapy for Marlyn and stop putting “antiques” everywhere. Furnished Rentals are for people who want basic furniture and the ability to personalize their space minimally.