Darian Sayfi
2.2

Chicago, IL

2.2
7 Reviews
Management
2.8
Rental Unit
2.8
Living Experience
3.0
All Reviews (7)
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STAY AWAY FROM 5129 South Harper! The...

STAY AWAY FROM 5129 South Harper! The landlord does not get rid of bad tenants. A tenant that currently lives in apt #403 spies on their neighbors, steals people's mail, harasses their neighbors, refuses to take cigarette smoking outside (they smoke in the hallway and stairwells), makes extremely loud noises while also complaining that other people are loud, tempers with utilities. The #403 tenant has been in the building for at least 3 years but the landlord refuses to end their lease. Police reports have been filed against this person. Another tenant that currently lives in apt #302 is very mentally ill and makes extreme noises at all times of the day including late at night. Rumor has it that they also spy on other tenants.

As an update to my last review about ...

As an update to my last review about 5129 S. Harper, Chicago IL (Hyde Park area):


It is now rumored around the building that the property manager is an alcoholic. This would certainly explain a lot as it pertains his communication and care for tenant issues. It has now gotten to a point where he doesn't respond to urgent issues (which includes maintenance requests) in a timely manner.

Beware of 5129 South Harper, Chicago....

Beware of 5129 South Harper, Chicago. A fellow resident told me about this review site (thank you)! My review is more about the property manager than the building conditions itself although that could certainly be better. The PM here does not care about tenant experience whatsoever. All he cares about is collecting the rent revenues and doing the bare minimum with maintenance. About 7-8 months ago over the summer, I overheard him talking to a tenant in her apartment. This young lady was expressing her concerns about a neighbor that constantly harassed her. This PM's response to her was so cold. He clearly was on the side of the harasser. Defending them vehemently. He flipped it on the young lady and accused her of bothering the person she was complaining about!! I couldn't believe what I heard at the time. I believe the PM may personally know this harasser from the way he was talking. The PM clearly don't care to resolve conflicts among tenants.

Regarding 5129 S. Harper in Chicago (...

Regarding 5129 S. Harper in Chicago (Hyde Park):

Multiple vacant uninhabitable units.

Infrequent pest management service.

Smelly septic tank or sump pump in 1st floor lobby.

Elusive, unresponsive property manager.

Doesn't furnish rent receipts.

Thin walls, low volume noises can be easily heard and smells from other apartments come through the thin walls.

Noisy tenants who love to slam doors & knock on walls all the time.

Nefarious tenants who harass/bully other tenants and the landlord allows them to continue to stay even after multiple, long-term complaints against them.

Fire hazards such as smoking in the stairwells & hallways, lit incense in the open common areas of the building such as the lobby....DAILY.

One current tenant that has lived in multiple units in the building, still has access to old units, and is suspected of trespassing those old units.

Landlord does not change locks after tenants move out.

This property management is the worst, d...
This property management is the worst, do not rent from them. They go by several names: Pivotal Property Services, Chicago Property Pro, etc. They are based at 2400 W. Madison in Chicago. They ignore calls, emails, voicemails, texts. The only good thing about them is cheap rent. They ignore requests and complaints all the time. They do not respond to tenants. They don't value their tenants. They are just as bad as Pangea Real Estate, and Pangea is being sued in a class action case at this time.
PROS 1. Cheap rent 2. Friendly buildin...
PROS 1. Cheap rent 2. Friendly building superintendent/janitor 3. Security cameras all over the first floor and other key areas of the building 4. Quiet building CONS 1. Unsafe method of paying rent. People slide their rent under the office door and don't get a rent receipt 2. Too many bugs (roaches, etc) even with monthly pest service 3. Landlord allows unsavory tenants to live here, as long as they pay rent 4. Inadequate heat during fall/winter 5. Landlord is not responsive to calls or emails
Background: I lived here for a year whi...
Background: I lived here for a year while a U. Chicago graduate student. My main concerns were price and location near campus, food, and transport to downtown. This place achieved those goals but came with some very serious downsides (see below). The list of cons is long, but I recommend reading before you take the plunge and sign a lease here. Pros: -Price: this is one of the cheapest places you can live in Hyde Park. From June 2017 – June 2018, I paid $675/month, living in a studio on the 6th floor. Prices have increased only very slightly for the next year. -Location: literally next door to Whole Foods and Harper Court -Transportation: right next to a 6 and 172 CTA stop and Metra stop on 51st street Cons: -Mold: in the winter with the windows shut, the mold was UNSTOPPABLE. I bought mold spray, sprayed the shower area regularly and the edges of the windowsills. However, this is a fight that one may just not be able to win. Black mold would form so quickly and spread so rapidly in these areas that it felt hopeless. In the summer with the windows open or an air conditioner unit, it’s not as bad, but still a concern. Also: some cheap paint was used on the bathtub, and the paint would regularly chip off the bottom of the tub and clog the drain. -Bugs: there are roaches unfortunately, even on the sixth floor. I tried to keep my place clean and free of crumbs, but roaches still came in. I’m not sure if they spray for bugs or not. They did not spray my place while I was there. -Heat: in the fall, they did not turn the heat on for some time, well into the colder months. It was so cold at times that I bought a thermometer and considered calling the city for a violation of the ordinance. I think there were a few times when it did go below the legal limit, but I’m not totally sure. I ended up buying a space heater and blasting it throughout most of the late fall and winter (free electricity at least). Without this, my fingers were too numb to type much of the time. (Also, in the early fall, I saw a notice on the main door to the building saying that the landlord had not paid the building’s gas bill for some time. It also notified residents that they were entitled to pay it themselves and have the city force the landlord in court to pay the tenant back.) -Elevator: the elevator must be from the 1920’s or 30’s (not exaggerating). It has a large metal door that you open yourself, and then inside this is a metal grate that you pull back to enter. If you open this grate while the elevator is moving, it will stop suddenly in between floors. If someone presses the call button from above or below when you are about to get off on your floor and you do not instantly open the metal grate when you arrive, the elevator will go to where it was called without stopping on your floor at all. A couple of times while moving in, I did not stop it in time and had to unload my stuff a foot or two below my actual floor and climb out. Sometimes it makes disturbing grinding sounds. Okay, that’s all pretty tame—here’s the disturbing part: I would say it broke down and did not work almost biweekly, sometimes more frequently. Worse, it once broke down with me inside it. I was on my way down to Whole Foods, and I think someone may have called it from above? It jolted to a stop with me halfway between floors 3 and 4. First, I tried pressing the alarm button…as far as I could tell, nothing happened (I am not sure it was actually hooked up to anything?) Next, I tried pulling the “stop elevator” button in and out…nothing much. Then, I search through my phone to see if I have contact information for the landlord or superintendent. I call the management office and it goes to voicemail. I had previously been told to call the building superintendent’s room via the intercom if I needed anything, so I didn’t have his phone number. Now getting desperate, I try opening and closing the grate…nothing. I open the grate and try to push the large metal door open so that I can climb to safety…it won’t budge (it’s locked very securely when the elevator is in motion). More desperate, I start pounding on the large metal door, hoping that a neighbor will hear me. After a couple of minutes a neighbor comes out and seems almost more concerned than I am. He runs down to try to knock on the superintendent’s door, but he’s apparently out. He and another neighbor also do not have his phone number. Not knowing what to do, he tells me he’s calling the fire department. He waits downstairs for them to arrive, and they come up with something like a very large hydraulic crowbar. Even the firefighters cannot get the door open with their heavy-duty tools. They have a good sense of humor about it though and tell jokes along the way. I say, “maybe try contacting the superintendent again? He knows how to fix the elevator.” The burly firefighter says wryly, “Oh don’t you worry…we know how to fix it too…” After lots of prying, they end up taking the whole door completely off its hinges, and I climb to safety. All in all I spent about 45 minutes stuck in an old rickety elevator, with my feet sweating, and an overactive imagination picturing it suddenly plummeting to the ground with me trapped inside. After this, I made a point of never riding that elevator again, and I got some good exercise walking up and down six flights of stairs each day. -Bike Rack: I bike to and from campus each day, and many other tenants appear to as well. Despite the building having a massive lobby (it has an old fireplace and enough space for several large sofas), it remains completely bare…no furniture, nothing. This would be plenty of space for even a dozen bike racks; yet, there’s no bike rack anywhere in the building. If you leave your bike outside in Hyde Park, I guarantee parts will be stolen off it (or the whole thing will be stolen if you don’t have a large bar lock), beyond what damage the weather will do. So tenants are forced to lock their bikes to the railing inside the lobby. In the warmer months, this got too popular and there was usually no space to park a bike. Alternatively, if you feel like forcing your bike in, you will probably damage your bike or others’. This becomes a serious hassle for anyone who relies on a bike for transportation. A bike rack is a small investment that would make tenants’ lives much easier. -Washer & Dryer: although there are some old washers and dryers adjacent to the lobby, I want to reinforce what another reviewer said on here. I had my quarters eaten at least twice. You have to develop an intuition for which ones will usually be functional and/or won’t rip you off. Quite often, one of the washers would be out of service and filled with gross looking murky water. Sometimes there was a foul smell coming from the broken washer.
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