Horrible Rental Experience

I rented an apartment here for 1.5 years. Before moving in, the real estate agent, Merrie Mellman who services the whole building was adamant that the apartment did not need to be freshly painted, because they would have the apartment spotlessly cleaned for us. When we arrived on move-in day this was not the case. The apartment was filthy - screens were falling out of windows, the walls were caked... [more]

I rented an apartment here for 1.5 years. Before moving in, the real estate agent, Merrie Mellman who services the whole building was adamant that the apartment did not need to be freshly painted, because they would have the apartment spotlessly cleaned for us. When we arrived on move-in day this was not the case. The apartment was filthy - screens were falling out of windows, the walls were caked in grime, window sills were black with dirt, etc. We encountered 3 large cockroaches before putting out traps after a couple of days. Traps stopped the problem. We spent 3 days cleaning the apartment. One issue we encountered was a crumbling insulation around a pipe in the bathroom. We later discovered that this crumbling insulation around the pipe was likely ASBESTOS. This insulation had been crumbling since prior to our move in. Upon discovering that the issue was likely Asbestos, this necessitated our immediate move from the building. When notified about the issue, the landlord and management company were unreachable and Merrie, who was our point of contact in the building made contacting them both very challenging - she at first refused to give email or phone number for both services - I spent an hour on the phone with her before she would provide either. The landlord, Ari Mossberg of the building never directly responded to any of my outreach (email and phone calls) and refused to give back the security deposit (this was communicated through Merrie). As a further example of the type of people who manage this building - Merrie continued to show the apartment while the fragmented insulation (likely Asbestos) was crumbling in the bathroom and threatened to write a negative review of me as a tenant because of my immediate need to move out from the building. Renting from this building was a horrible experience and I worry that my time here has endangered my future health. [less]