221 Clarkson Avenue,

Brooklyn, NY 11226

Close to train and bus, affordable,

Laundry is outide the building (only on)
Management response is poor
Garbage is hard to find
Walk up
Water pressure is very low
Rooms are small

Rooftop attached to 4th floor units

There’s an issue with air quality in the building exasperated by smoking renters below and adjacent to the 4th floor (in this “non-smoking building”). I lived with sliding doors and windows open all year or suffered from wheezing, chest tightness, etc. One of the renters on the 4th floor is squatting and a major source of the smoke. This same renter also creates a lot of noise between the hours of 3-4am on weekdays. When asked nicely to smoke on the rooftop or on their balcony, and not inside, they will get aggressive and threaten to attack you and/or gaslight you. The landlord/management will not address this and many other issues with the building because, “he doesn’t have the time”. Other issues: there is mold buildup in the AC units which need to be replaced, the ceiling leaks when there is rain, there was an apparent rat issue on the first floor not addressed by the landlord in a timely way, they don’t have the resources to upkeep units (e.g. when track lights or lighting with non-standard bulbs go out, they’ll never be replaced), the shower water is consistently luke warm, the oven/microwave are low quality. It’s a relatively new building and has more issues that prewar units, I constantly wondered if it was built to code. Also, it’s located in somewhat of a food dessert. There are some outstanding restaurants but I struggled to find fresh produce w/o Instarcarting. It takes and hour to get into Manhattan (gmaps says 45min but you have to transfer trains and there’s usually a longer wait times for a 2/5 train 7-14min on average plus time to transfer)

Issues with the building is one thing and if good management and/or ownership is in place, you can get past it. But the landlord at 221 Clarkson and JCS Reality are predatory. I finally was able to break my lease without a fee after amicably giving 60days notice per the lease, and even though the company broke the habitability clause (legally, you can leave and not pay rent w/3days notice), they tried to hold me accountable for 90days and were not able to find another renter. The landlord has said some vile things and I would advise to stay away from this place. I ethically would have rather (and did) paid an extra two months of rent in this place (plus one month of rent in two places) than to try and find another renter via StreetEasy, Leasebreak, Facebook, Craigslist, and lie to them like there are no issues in this place.