Loud street. Terrible Landlord communication.
Pros
The location is convenient and within walking distance to pretty much any part of Greenpoint. Great water pressure. Lots of natural light in the book end rooms.
Cons
- The outside noise level is very loud and distracting in the front room because there is a Post office right across the street and there are constant metal-clanging-on-metal sounds along as well as car horns blaring due to traffic during normal Post Office hours (6am - 4pm) - The Landlord (Jerry Lebedowicz) is a terrible communicator. He's a bully who constantly deflects blame. Despite owning the building, he'll meet your repair requests with "What do you want me to do? It's an old building" - The ceiling in two of the four rooms repeatedly leaks, causing 1) water damage to some possessions and 2) general living displacement because the ceiling "repair" isn't done in a timely manner. - Jerry is essentially the super as well so anytime there is a problem you have to call his office and leave a vm or text his assistant -- they don't use email. Communicating with Jerry is always stressful, confrontational, and frustrating because he has an excuse for every problem (typically, "it's an old building. what do you want me to do about it?") and will use bully tactics and deflection to make it seem like you're being unreasonable and a nuisance. - the tracks holding the majority of the windows are very worn, causing the top panes to slide down randomly, despite being "locked in." Instead of fixing them, ("What do you want me to do? It'll take me probably 9 hours to replace this.") Jerry suggests not opening the windows... but there is no central AC so you have to use window units... - he will try and nickle-and-dime your security deposit by being extra dramatic during the walk through, talking about stories about previous tenants who left dirty/damaged apartments, suggesting that somehow translates to standard wear-and-tear of a multi-year residency. - Jerry and Diane have not responded to a text, call, or voicemail over the last 2+ month re: getting us back our security deposit.
Advice to the owners
Please be more accommodative of tenant requests and don't approach each tenant interaction with conflict in mind. ALSO GIVE BACK SECURITY DEPOSITS!
Worst Landlord in my 10 Years NYC
Pros
good water pressure! and we became friendly with our neighbors since we all trauma bonded over war stories dealing with landlord
Cons
Jerry Lebedowicz made living at 73 Meserole Ave truly miserable. Because there were so many issues in the apartment, we had to communicate with the landlord often, and all communication was unpleasant at best, downright scary at worst. A couple months after moving in, our ceiling began leaking in two spots. Landlord was not prompt with repairs and did a half assed job repairing, because a few months later the roof began leaking again. He tried to blame this on us, saying we went on the roof and that somehow we had punctured holes to cause the leaks?? Our next door neighbors also had leaks and said that over the years they've been here this has been a recurring issue. At one point the ceiling leaked into a pool in the light fixture and landlord did not see this as an emergency even though this is a common cause of electrical fires in old buildings. After raising our rent at our lease renewal 200/month, landlord promised us two improvements, but after making one, went completely MIA on the other and then began disparaging us for asking for the second improvement, which was promised in writing. Stalling, avoiding, lack of any communication are hallmarks of Jerry Lebedowicz. Even after a car crashed into our building demolishing the stairs and our only exit/entrance to the building, there was zero communication from landlord to tenants after evacuation. Then, when we called a couple times trying to figure out the deal, he had the audacity to yell at us as if we didn't have a right to know when this would be fixed/when we would be able to reenter the apartment. Unrelated to landlord but this is a very noisy corner due to post office, school, and too many trucks on too small a street.
Advice to the owners
Find a different occupation where you don't have to interact with people
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