Pros:
The live-in super, Angel, TRULY lives up to his name. He isn’t one for texting but answers all calls promptly, and always goes above and beyond to help out tenants.
Cons:
You are surrounded by restaurants that blast music all weekend, from Friday dinner to the end of Sunday brunch. There is also very little noise insulation so you can hear every party your next door, upstairs, or downstairs neighbors have. If your upstairs neighbors have heavy feet, you will hear it. If your next door neighbor has a louder than usual conversation, you will hear it. In my unit, at least, there were no windows in the living room, so it felt a little cave-like sometimes without any natural light. And the shared space is always very hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I had to buy a tower fan and a space heater for the living room.
Jon was our contact with Niagara and he always came off to me as patronizing/condescending. When we told him we were moving out, he texted again a month later, asking if we were definitely moving out and not re-signing. He also gave us little to no notice when he was showing the apartments. Sometimes we’d get as little as thirty minutes notice, in the form of a text: “Showing today. 2:00.” That’s it. The rooms are also a bit awkwardly shaped, and the smallest bedroom was so small that I couldn’t fit a desk in it. I had to work from home in the living room during the entire pandemic. And even knowing that, only 30 minutes’ notice for some apartment viewings, so I’d have people wandering around when I was in the middle of a work call.
He also charged exorbitant cleaning fees from our deposit for normal wear and tear. We got about 1/3 back, but none of us can afford the time or money to go to small claims court over it. And I would fully expect it to go to court because of how we have been treated by Jon.
Attached are screenshots of a conversation when we had a leak over several electrical appliances, and expressed concern several times that it could be a safety hazard. Jon only cared about water damage to his hardwood floors and never sent anyone down to fix the leak!
Advice to owner:
Maybe make your apartments watertight and check for black mold before renting this unit out again 🥴