Don't live here
Pros
the hallways and trash area were clean
Cons
The other reviewers are not exaggerating—the landlord made living here a terrible, stressful experience, and it convinced me to never live in the same building as a landlord again. The high turnover rate of tenants speaks for itself. He constantly yelled at his family, sometimes to the point where I was scared to leave my apartment and worried about the safety of his family members. He also used his leaf blower at least 3 times every single day (even in the rain), and the noise was so disruptive. There are between 5-10 cameras around the entrance of the building that they watch on a screen in their kitchen. The landlord would confront me and my visitors about who they were, and I felt like I was constantly being surveilled. I have never felt so anxious, scared, and unwelcome in my own home before. To this day, I get nervous that I’ll bump into him in the neighborhood. Some other issues: they were extremely stingy with heat in the winter (I wish I had reported it to 311), and there were roaches. I know that’s just part of living in NYC, but it didn’t seem like an exterminator was regularly made accessible. The few times I caught the exterminator were random weekdays in the middle of the day when I just happened to be working from home, and no notice or schedule was provided. I returned the apartment in better condition than I received it, but the landlord withheld half of my security deposit without proper justification. Luckily, I had anticipated that this would be an issue. If you do end up living here, make sure to get everything in writing and take thorough walkthrough videos so you can call the landlord out when he inevitably tries to scam you out of your security deposit. Do everything you can to protect yourself.
Advice to the owners
Stop being so hostile to your tenants and allow them to exercise their right to quiet enjoyment of their apartment.
Landlord Ruins It
Pros
Great neighborhood, near a grocery store.
Cons
Landlord is actually insane and ruined my experience in this building. I often worked my schedule around not running into him. Completely agree with everything the other reviewer said. He yelled and screamed at his family constantly and often investigated my trash and packages. I felt very uncomfortable having people over and he once told a guest of mine that I wasn't home when I was? How would he even know I was home? They have a huge screen in their kitchen that shows all of the buildings cameras ( that's where they had me sign the lease)-- his behavior made it seem as though I was constantly being watched. He commented on when I left, when I came home, what I wore, everything. I had maximum three people over at a time, and was always so self conscious about making noise-- I often had them stay completely silent when walking up to the apartment because I was so nervous that he would complain and make comments about me having people over. Overall, the apartment is cute but he made the experience horrible. Despite all this, before my lease was up I repeatedly texted him about resigning and he was incredibly evasive. Finally, a week before my lease was up, he let me know that he couldn't relet the apartment because a family member was pregnant and needed to move in (illegal to give me such short notice). I put up no fuss and left the apartment. I spent the entire day before I left cleaning it, scrubbing it down, etc. Something about the whole situation felt off, however, and a few weeks later when I went to look the apartment up on StreetEasy, it had been rented barely a week after I left for a large rent increase. He wanted more money than he was legally able to increase my rent, so he kicked me out under the guise of a woman in distress. Literally crazy. When I asked for my security deposit back (he didn't send of his own volition), he sent only about half of it back, claiming I'd left pee on the toilet and the apartment a wreck. Total lie. He knew I didn't have the money to pay for a lawyer, so he scammed me. Terrible person. Avoid at all costs. Creep.
Advice to the owners
Go to therapy.