I'd like to begin with THE LANDLORD IS PSYCHOTIC!!!
She seemed fine enough when we were first looking at the place, but things started to fall apart immediately after we signed (by the way, the lease was VERY misleading about what utilities are the tenant's responsibility). The water bills were a big source of problems- we had to demand copies of the bills from the city, and the amounts we were charged almost never matched what the agency paid. But, I tried not to rock the boat just after moving in...I was a graduate student and had bigger things to worry about.
We were made MANY promises when moving into the property- it was sort of a "fixer-upper," but we needed a place fast. We were promised the downstairs bathroom would be finished, the front door deadbolt would be repaired, the electrical problems would be taken care of, and the plumbing issues, no problem!
The reality? After almost two years, a few things were fixed in a half-assed way, if at all (which was usually the case). She blamed US for everything that went wrong. Every time I would call on a problem (from the front door deadbolt being broken before we moved in to closet doors that would close and not re-open to mold in the bathroom with no ventilation...etc.) I was told that it "wasn't an emergency" and they would have someone look at it when they had time. The last major disasters we had- the basement floor flooded TWICE when the hot water tank seemingly imploded and the utility sinks backed up while we were doing laundry- we had to clean it up ourselves because the agency didn't return our numerous calls for days! When I went on vacation for a week, I returned to find a series of extremely NASTY messages from her on my voice mail- concerning our carbon monoxide monitor going off...and we had called on that one three weeks prior!!!
The landlord is truly insane, and VERY Jekyll and Hyde. She once called me at WORK and told one of my employees (not me!) to threaten that she would haul me into court if a water bill (that she had just mailed out 3 weeks prior) wasn't paid. Fact: I had already mailed it in. Fact: I had never been late with any payment in a year and a half. She is the most UNPROFESSIONAL LUNATIC I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I pity her office staff- all of whom, ironically enough, were extremely friendly when we called.
Another interesting fun fact: Things in the lease are apparently open to interpretation. She threatened to evict us for lease violation (possession of pets) when our lease said NOTHING about them. We had to threaten legal action to get her to back off. She didn't seem to understand that her intent doesn't mean squat if it isn't in writing. Getting out of the lease was an awful experience (she refused to let us sublet- treated the notion like it was some ludicrous concept), but I couldn't take it anymore, and got raped financially in the process. When we finally escaped, she even accused of stealing furniture that we brought with us when we moved in!
Stay away from this agency! I am glad to have Saniel-Elkind out of my life forever, and would advise everyone to steer clear of this whackjob! And, Miss Landlord dear, if you're reading this...I wouldn't advise attempting to contact me again, or I really WILL sue you for harrassment.