I was a tenant in this building and Helm management was terrible. We really liked the building and the neighborhood, but the management company tried to screw us at every opportunity. We were very good tenants: college grads, worked as investment banking analysts and paralegals, always paid our rent on time, respectful and got along with the other tenants. A few examples: - we were the first... [more]
I was a tenant in this building and Helm management was terrible. We really liked the building and the neighborhood, but the management company tried to screw us at every opportunity. We were very good tenants: college grads, worked as investment banking analysts and paralegals, always paid our rent on time, respectful and got along with the other tenants. A few examples:
- we were the first tenants (the building was brand new) after we moved into our apartment, the master bedroom didn't have a door on it. We asked the management and they said it didn't come with a door because it was a living room of some sort (this was bullshit - the room had a walk-in closet and a bathroom and was clearly a bedroom). They made us pay a private contractor to have a door put it
- They welcomed themselves into our apartment without our permission. They wanted to show the apartment to potential new tenants, but didn't ask our permission or give us warning. On a Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend and I got out of the shower to find some member of Helm Management (who wasn't our landlord and who we had never met before) in our kitchen with three potential tenants, while we were naked in our own apartment. He was apologetic. He fought with us about how this was an "open house day" even though we clearly hadnt' been notified
- They tried to swindle us out of our security deposit. They said the apartment wasn't "clean enough" after we handed in our keys (so we couldn't access the building any more to prove them wrong). This is after we moved all of our stuff out and cleaned thoroughly. One guy who worked for Helm asked my roommates to pay him under the table so he would say the apartment was clean because it was his word against ours (get the idea of what was going on here?). We fought with Helm until they finally agreed to release our safety deposit. But they sent us Release forms that we had to sign and mail back to us that said we had already received our deposit. Of course, none of us (especially the paralegal) felt comfortable with that. So we insisted on getting our security deposit in person at the time we hand in the form.
It was a beautiful people. Very fun LES neighborhood. Great tenants. TERRIBLE management company and you should absolutely not live here - it's not worth having to deal with them. We wouldn't do it again.
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