540 E 5 St #18,

Manhattan, NY 10009

I liked the convenience and location of this building. It was incredibly central and in a lively area.

There is a pest problem, a plethora of repairs issues, and the building management is almost impossible to contact.

Great location and good area with fun dive bars on the block but not right below. Great laundry around the corner too. Extermination every month seems to be pretty effective

Heating is all over the place — had a morning where it was 40° in my unit because the heat wasn’t on when freezing outside. Building isn’t super responsive but haven’t had many problems.

The space you get in the living space is nice and the live in super is super kind.

The trash could be managed better and the hallways could be cleaner

Cleaner common areas

Fun black & white tiled bathrooms.
Low key interior means my shabby/boho furniture doesn’t look out of place.
We have more space than most of the other places that were available at the time we looked.
We haven’t needed extermination services yet, but it seems like they do a monthly service call for those that do.
Heat is plentiful in the winter.

No big gripes. It’s definitely a grungy apartment, but it’s the East Village. There are some minor cracks in the plaster, but nothing egregious. There are some cracks in the tiles, but nothing dangerous/nothing that impacts the utility of the apt. We accepted that the floors are permanently stained, so we forked out some money for some vinyl mats to cover those areas. So far only 1 dead cockroach/1 living cockroach spotted in the first two months.

Make sure the stairs to the outside are evenly spaced & straight. Some of them are iffy & probably a liability.

lots of young people

we had a horrible roach infestation. a lot of tenants said that they did not but our unit DID and management was not helpful. they did end up letting us break our lease.

respond to your tenants

Location near Tompkins sq park was nice + roof was safe and roomy - that's about it.

Dishwasher had mold on it from day 1. Mail would be stolen all the time with little to no responsibility from super/management. Security Deposit took months to get back and that was only after continuously inquiring.

not much honestly

While other units in the apartment reported only having a few cockroaches, our unit was absolutely infested. We are clean tenants and we even set our own traps and told our super about it, but the problem was consistent. It is a poorly maintained building overall. Also, there was a guy who has lived in the building his whole life and plays the bass extremely loudly. Between him and all the loud NYU kids, it was not peaceful.

Deal with the roach problem!

Back apartments are quiet

Pest problems (mice and cockroaches)
Security deposit took months to get back and only received after threat of legal intervention

Be more proactive

Good location
Cheapish rent $1450-$1500 a room

I heard a neighbor had a bed bug infestation while there
Super is defensive and will push back on helping
Property manager is hard to reach
Water leaked from our ceiling
Mail was stolen frequently

Get more help! This building is old and needs support - its tenants need support! And you couldn’t help enough.

I guess the location was okay??

Super is terrible and gaslights tenants, zero heat in the winter, filthy and not well kept

Great location, right by Tompkins sq park and lots of restaurants / bars

Far from trains, had cockroaches & mice in apartment

Manage pest control better

There are walls, a roof and floor in the apartment.

Everything. The property owner took months to fix the slightest problem. They refused to give back our security deposit and we needed to reach out to the NYS Consumer Bureau to get it. The super did nothing but smash garbage with a sledgehammer in the trashcan courtyard of the building. Mail is consistently stolen, and the inside of the building doesn't look like it has been cleaned since WWII.

Turn yourself into the police

Location, decent appliances including dishwasher

Mice, management company (stopped responding when we asked where our security deposit was, had to file a claim and still have not received)

Don’t steal security deposit money

Definitely nice space, most of the units have a dishwasher and depending on what floor and side of building you are some of the units have pretty nice light. The exposed brick definitely gave a nice atmosphere.

The biggest issue was the lack of heat in all the corner apartments. We were living in about 55 to 60 degrees on the coldest days. Even putting up insulation didn’t help. The floors haven’t been renovated in a long time, so there’s a grime that you just can’t get out. That and the fact that all the brick walls shed so much concrete that you have to vacuum all the time to pick up the dust.

When we moved in, the place was disgusting. Anything we wiped picked up black and there was black mold in the bathroom. We couldn’t see the place beforehand because of covid, but we all felt taken advantage of. Also it was so hard to get in contact with anyone that could help with our problems.

Cheap, nice exposed brick inside, great location in east village, appliances are old but worked fine

Super destroyed (literally, and then threw it off the roof) a table we left on the roof once before we knew furniture wasn't allowed up there. At the end of our lease, the landlord refused to give our security deposit back. We had to file a complaint with the NYS DA and then they returned it promptly. There were mice in our apartment from time to time and it was generally pretty dirty and dark. Even when we cleaned it, it still felt super dirty.

Don't steal money from your tenants.