especially apt 4F but any apartments or houses from
Hampshire Properties, 2329 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11229s
They advertised a one bedroom apartment on a major apartment free website. It was advertised as 1415 for an apartment that was in one of the best areas in Brooklyn and should have been 1915. When we went to see the apartment, made an appointment to see it, we were told the last minute by their Real Estate Agent Akmal, that it was a fixer upper and it needed “a little paint and plaster.” (You will see how not true that was and the apartment ended up having a massive amount of undisclosed defects) Okay, when we saw it, at night, towards the evening, and a little bit dark because the electric was not on. We thought maybe it just needed 2 rooms to polish the wood floors and replace 2 light fixtures - about $2,000.
We then went through a nerve racking one month approval process with them, ending with a one hour video chat interview to see if they wanted us. We passed that. But on that interview, it was mentioned, in response to our question, can we start the work early? And their answer was, we don’t usually do that. (The real estate guy Akmal later stated that they told us, they would not under any circumstance, and for any reason allow it - not true - never said). But they tried to pressure us into paying for an extra week so we could start the repairs a week early. We declined that and she, Lana, the property manager seemed annoyed. Well she liked our other responses on the video chat so set up a 2nd interview where we would do the lease signing on the web.
They emailed us the leases. We read it thoroughly The lease has some killer clauses in it like:
1. You cannot sue the landlord for any reason or countersue him, even if he sues you.
2. Your apartment has to be 80% carpet. (We were planning on refinishing the wood floors)
3. You cannot have a jury trial against this landlord no matter how bad the offense.
4. The apartment is given “as is.” That means that if anything at all is wrong with this apartment after you get it, it comes out of your pocket to repair it.
5. Your lease is not really valid if you do not have a copy with the owners counter signature.(which they will deliver - you hope, one month later)!
Okay, well, we did not like this at all. It’s disgraceful. We believe that it’s a violation of your legal and civil rights. And I doubt if some clauses are even legal and would hold up in court! Well us 2 dummies overlooked all of this because we liked the apartment location and neighborhood.
Lana, the Property Manager, said to print this out and bring it to the 2nd webcam interview. She asked us to sign it and put it up to the webcam so she can record it. (So she can enforce it because she has a copy) - don’t’ do that. She had also asked to bring the 3 certified checks to the webcam, made out to the landlord and real estate agent and hold them up to the camera so they can photograph them - don’t do it. If anything goes wrong with the deal, we think that they can electronically deposit them and the funds are certified so they are locked out. You can’t get the funds back and you just signed that you can’t sue the landlord. Will they do it? We believe so. And both of us believe it’s a con game. But in the very least, it’s high pressure sales.
Well we declined to do that and they were not happy at all, asking why won’t you do this? Dah!!!! After the interview they pressed us to try to quickly bring the lease and the certified checks to their office and hand them over. We asked to go back and look at the apartment one more time to see if we missed any repairs (expensive ones). She, Lana, tried to get us to meet with them before we went back for the 2nd look and give the checks to them. The red flag went up and we declined.
So we go back to the apartment with a notebook and a pen in daylight. We spent 2 hours in there. And low and behold we found out the apartment was way more defective than we originally believed. We had a few contractors come in and they confirmed that their was extensive work needed totaling $10,000 or more. Some estimates were lower, but they were going to do less work for those prices. We believe they already knew this. Initially we thought the repairs would total about $2,000! You can see now why they were rushing to try to close this deal. They did not want us to find that out before they had the signed lease and 3 checks totaling about $5,000.
Other problems that we uncovered by questioning tenants were:
1. They said that they turned the heat up so high in the winter that it was very uncomfortable and there were no turn off switches. The landlord Lana answered this by saying she never had any complaints.
2. There were a few other negatives that we found out too.
Anyway, we were still considering fixing up the apartment and taking it. Our contractors estimated it would take 3 weeks to fix it up including airing it out and allowing the chemical smells to dissipate. And all we asked the Landlord Lana for was to please allow us to start doing the repairs now, complete them and then we will inhabit the apartment. Her answer was no. You have to give us the lease, the checks, and start paying your rent and then you can do your repairs after you take care of all that! So I’m supposed to pay rent for an apartment that I cannot inhabit and must do the repairs during that time? What kind of nonsense is this? This is a very bad, evil, and conniving management company. It’s almost like a dishonest, high pressure, used car sales operation that are selling bum cars “as is.” (Disclaimer: not all used car dealers are like that)
Anyway, I made 3 appointments to bring them the lease and checks in the hopes of them giving me the green light to do the repairs ahead of time, but that never happened. Eventually she told the real estate agent that she would cancel the deal with me because I cancelled the appointments 3x (what a surprise), if I did not act by the next day. We’ll I said that I will not do that unless you give me the time I need to do the repairs.
The next day Akmal, the Real Estate agent, sent an email saying that she cancelled the deal because I was not a good fit for her apartments. I replied, I feel exactly the same about you.
This company owns and manages a number of properties and if I were you, I would not do business with them for any reason. They are unethical. They are fast talking, double talking, high pressure type of used car sales type of tactics. But it's not cars, but apartment rentals.
I would strongly think twice before doing any business with this company for any reason If I were you.
Hampshire Properties Reviews
Re: 301 Oriental Blvd, Brooklyn NY 11235
especially apt 4F but any apartments or houses from
Hampshire Properties, 2329 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11229s
They advertised a one bedroom apartment on a major apartment free website. It was advertised as 1415 for an apartment that was in one of the best areas in Brooklyn and should have been 1915. When we went to see the apartment, made an appointment to see it, we were told the last minute by their Real Estate Agent Akmal, that it was a fixer upper and it needed “a little paint and plaster.” (You will see how not true that was and the apartment ended up having a massive amount of undisclosed defects) Okay, when we saw it, at night, towards the evening, and a little bit dark because the electric was not on. We thought maybe it just needed 2 rooms to polish the wood floors and replace 2 light fixtures - about $2,000.
We then went through a nerve racking one month approval process with them, ending with a one hour video chat interview to see if they wanted us. We passed that. But on that interview, it was mentioned, in response to our question, can we start the work early? And their answer was, we don’t usually do that. (The real estate guy Akmal later stated that they told us, they would not under any circumstance, and for any reason allow it - not true - never said). But they tried to pressure us into paying for an extra week so we could start the repairs a week early. We declined that and she, Lana, the property manager seemed annoyed. Well she liked our other responses on the video chat so set up a 2nd interview where we would do the lease signing on the web.
They emailed us the leases. We read it thoroughly The lease has some killer clauses in it like:
1. You cannot sue the landlord for any reason or countersue him, even if he sues you.
2. Your apartment has to be 80% carpet. (We were planning on refinishing the wood floors)
3. You cannot have a jury trial against this landlord no matter how bad the offense.
4. The apartment is given “as is.” That means that if anything at all is wrong with this apartment after you get it, it comes out of your pocket to repair it.
5. Your lease is not really valid if you do not have a copy with the owners counter signature.(which they will deliver - you hope, one month later)!
Okay, well, we did not like this at all. It’s disgraceful. We believe that it’s a violation of your legal and civil rights. And I doubt if some clauses are even legal and would hold up in court! Well us 2 dummies overlooked all of this because we liked the apartment location and neighborhood.
Lana, the Property Manager, said to print this out and bring it to the 2nd webcam interview. She asked us to sign it and put it up to the webcam so she can record it. (So she can enforce it because she has a copy) - don’t’ do that. She had also asked to bring the 3 certified checks to the webcam, made out to the landlord and real estate agent and hold them up to the camera so they can photograph them - don’t do it. If anything goes wrong with the deal, we think that they can electronically deposit them and the funds are certified so they are locked out. You can’t get the funds back and you just signed that you can’t sue the landlord. Will they do it? We believe so. And both of us believe it’s a con game. But in the very least, it’s high pressure sales.
Well we declined to do that and they were not happy at all, asking why won’t you do this? Dah!!!! After the interview they pressed us to try to quickly bring the lease and the certified checks to their office and hand them over. We asked to go back and look at the apartment one more time to see if we missed any repairs (expensive ones). She, Lana, tried to get us to meet with them before we went back for the 2nd look and give the checks to them. The red flag went up and we declined.
So we go back to the apartment with a notebook and a pen in daylight. We spent 2 hours in there. And low and behold we found out the apartment was way more defective than we originally believed. We had a few contractors come in and they confirmed that their was extensive work needed totaling $10,000 or more. Some estimates were lower, but they were going to do less work for those prices. We believe they already knew this. Initially we thought the repairs would total about $2,000! You can see now why they were rushing to try to close this deal. They did not want us to find that out before they had the signed lease and 3 checks totaling about $5,000.
Other problems that we uncovered by questioning tenants were:
1. They said that they turned the heat up so high in the winter that it was very uncomfortable and there were no turn off switches. The landlord Lana answered this by saying she never had any complaints.
2. There were a few other negatives that we found out too.
Anyway, we were still considering fixing up the apartment and taking it. Our contractors estimated it would take 3 weeks to fix it up including airing it out and allowing the chemical smells to dissipate. And all we asked the Landlord Lana for was to please allow us to start doing the repairs now, complete them and then we will inhabit the apartment. Her answer was no. You have to give us the lease, the checks, and start paying your rent and then you can do your repairs after you take care of all that! So I’m supposed to pay rent for an apartment that I cannot inhabit and must do the repairs during that time? What kind of nonsense is this? This is a very bad, evil, and conniving management company. It’s almost like a dishonest, high pressure, used car sales operation that are selling bum cars “as is.” (Disclaimer: not all used car dealers are like that)
Anyway, I made 3 appointments to bring them the lease and checks in the hopes of them giving me the green light to do the repairs ahead of time, but that never happened. Eventually she told the real estate agent that she would cancel the deal with me because I cancelled the appointments 3x (what a surprise), if I did not act by the next day. We’ll I said that I will not do that unless you give me the time I need to do the repairs.
The next day Akmal, the Real Estate agent, sent an email saying that she cancelled the deal because I was not a good fit for her apartments. I replied, I feel exactly the same about you.
This company owns and manages a number of properties and if I were you, I would not do business with them for any reason. They are unethical. They are fast talking, double talking, high pressure type of used car sales type of tactics. But it's not cars, but apartment rentals.
I would strongly think twice before doing any business with this company for any reason If I were you.
That is: Hampshire Properties
2329 Nostrand Avenue, Suite 500
Brooklyn, NY 11210