226 4 Avenue,

Brooklyn, NY 11215

I liked the location and the back patio.

The ceiling leaked when it rained, the pizza shop downstairs played loud music and made the apartment hot, roaches were everywhere throughout the whole year, homeless people would hang out in the front doorway and block entry, dryer caught on fire and burned clothes and left the laundry room covered in soot with plastic partitions and HEPA air filters and the heat and gas were turned off for weeks afterward (this was in the winter). The landlord raised rent 40% despite all these issues and generally seemed to care more about money than the well-being and safety of his tenants. Since moving out the landlord has “renovated” the apartment but a fresh coat of paint and new kitchen cabinets are not a solution. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this apartment or this landlord to anybody.

Charge a fair price, fix things when they’re broken

There’s a good corner store down the street- Green Ivy.

The roaches are out of control. The ceiling leaks constantly- to the point that you need to put out a bucket for days on end. I’m not even sure if there is a functional roof on this building. The lights in the entrance go out and don’t get fixed for weeks so you have to walk through pitch darkness past the men who hang out in the doorway next to the subway stop and who harass you. The dryer exploded and we had to call the fire department. Turns out there was a gas leak for years so they turned off the electricity for several weeks. There was smoke in my room for a year- I asked the landlord to do something about it and he didn’t until the bodega downstairs got completely smoked out because of the faulty ventilation system. The door knob to the front of the building fell off and we couldn’t get out of the building for days except to go through the pizza shop- but they closed at 10pm. The landlord harassed us by saying he would kick us out if we followed up on our 311 complaint. Look into the DOB and HPD history on this apartment. Very shady. Look into your rights as a tenant and don’t let him harass you. Better yet:
don’t rent this place.