416 Bergen Street,

Brooklyn, NY 11217

Roof, floor were intact. Backyard was great.

Lived there for 6 years. In that time:
- heat was frequently off during the winter
- owner unresponsive to requests to fix heat, hot water issues for weeks at a time
- Retaliated against for calling 311 for same
- Mold and pest infestations were handled poorly, left apartment in poor condition and garbage dumped in backyard in our active garden
- Workers entered apartment without permission while we were inside
- Landlord threatened eviction, repeatedly called asking for already paid rent

Don't own a building if you can't maintain it

This appears to be a nicely refinished brownstone but don’t be fooled. The finishes are bottom-line, there is no super, and the landlord is big time jerk.

Avoid this building at all cost. We lost heat for WEEKS during the coldest days of the year and our landlord told us that was part of “brownstone living”. He was very slow to respond to our problems and wrote us off like we were being needy with no sympathy.
When 3-out-of-4 units threatened to withhold rent because our heat problem was unresolved for >8 weeks, he wrote letters of non-renewal to all of us.
What’s worse? We found out the tenants before us had similar issues.
This landlord is a two-degrees from being a real -life conman. We have reason to believe the building hasn’t been inspected in years and isn’t up to code. Pests were also a problem.
Don’t be fooled by this one. You should find somewhere else to live.
I think this landlord is intentionally making it difficult for people to live here so he can continue raising prices. Any “fixes” he’s done to the building have been superficial at best.

At minimum: hire a super. Your involvement in the lives of your tenants is unhealthy and strange. Better yet, sell the building to someone else. You are a horrible landlord and this “project” will continue to be more pain for you than it’s worth because you don’t care about people. Also, you’re a jerk.

The interiors are pretty, with old-school detailing. Location is great. High ceilings and lots of light from the big windows.

The landlord was unable to fix the heat for a period of about 4 months from October to January. He told us that this was the first time he had problems with it, but we contacted a previous tenant and they told us he told them the exact same thing.

If you live here, expect weeks on end of 50 indoor temps, and also the landlord will make you responsible for letting the plumber in who may or may not show up. And the "fix" will only last for a day before you're out of heat again. This is not an exaggeration, the plumber visited at least 20 times before the heat was "fixed". Fixed meaning the final temp was 80 degrees despite thermostats set to 73, so instead of freezing, we now were roasting. I then withheld a half-month's rent and was served a notice to not renew my lease. (This also happened to previous tenants)

Basically, the landlord just cycles through tenants and never fixes the heat, and then kicks them out when they complain. Do not rent this place!

Stop lying to to your tenants and fix the heat.

Nothing to say

THE LANDLORD IS HORRIBLE. DO NOT MOVE HERE. AVOID!!!! Will not address any issues. You are responsible for managing the building. We didn’t have heat for months and got a letter of non-renewal after withholding rent, even though we didn’t have proper heat for months. He is horrible

Be better