William Penn Realty Group Inc

I can't say enough horrible things about my experience with this company. I rented a cute little studio near the Rittenhouse area and thought that the price was very good. Well, as with all things, you get what you pay for, I guess. \r \r First the door broke and I was stuck in my apartment for 5 hours, as the door wouldn't open (it was completely jammed and so heavy that I couldn't lift it either) and the maintenance men took their time coming to help. I can't even imagine what would have happened if there had been a fire in the building. \r \r Finally, there was a massive rat infestation in the building. I called repeatedly to ask William Penn to address this and they gave me the run around. I'm talking rats in the basement/trash room, coming through the pipes and hanging out under my kitchen sink, basically having the run of the place. Finally someone called the city health inspector and the building was cited for multiple offenses, including numerous rat burrows in the pipes, heating and basement. Even then, William Penn refused to answer my phone calls demanding they deal with this issue- to the point that another resident photo copied the health inspector's citation and gave it to all of the tenants. Ha! Most of us moved out. \r \r TLDR: RATS. Stay out. more

If you want something done by this company, your going to call an answering machine. There is no email address or a paper trail of any kind which is highly convenient for the company. Expect to call several times. Expect to be hung up on when you explain your case. Expect the lease agreement to have the wrong address. Expect your apartment to be infested with roaches and mice upon move in. And dont bet on your apartment being ready when you move in either. Expect the central air to just blow air. And expect the negative attitudes to trickle down to the people who come by to fix your things too. After a few verbal altercations with the ""boss"", the little people who come by to actually do the work will turn nasty on you too. Its a very negative environment and living here is pretty miserable overall. \r \r I will say the apartment is very attractive otherwise and all the new kitchen is pretty awesome which is what sparked our attention. But dont expect service of any kind. They like to just keep their heads above legal waters and as long as they stay there, theres really nothing you can do but wait for the lease to expire and move out. more

William Penn Realty offers cheap prices, and you truly feel you're paying for exactly that - cheap, shoddy work, maintenance issues that go unmanaged for months, and an unresponsive office staff. My building in Center City states in the contract that heat is included in the price of the apartment, and will be turned on October 1st. After four days of calling and complaining, there is still no heat, and it's October 26. Additionally, I have had mold growing in the bedroom for the past two months that has been reported to maintenance and the front office over 10 times, and no steps have been taken to remedy the situation. I could go on about the move-in conditions (disgusting and unliveable at first sight), the rude office staff (they insist that their customers are wrong), the faulty exterior door that often will not completely close, and the length of time it takes to get hot water for a shower (leave it running at least 15 minutes, and it might get warm), or, I could just strongly recommend that you be fully warned before you rent from William Penn. more

I have mixed feelings towards WPRG...I've been hunting for an apartment for several months and initially talking to Ellen but had to switch to Annemarie bc of how unresponsive she was...turns out Annemarie is only slightly better...at one point after taking my deposit I had to leave several voicemails and emails before I finally got a hold of her a month later...all said and done, I did get my apartment and she was friendly and responsive in person.\r \r Though my move in date was Aug 1, the apartment was no where close to ready...i took my keys, moved a few things in and told them to finish up all the work within 3 days. I locked up and went back home to Buffalo. I came back at 1030pm 3 days later to move my stuff in and for some reason my key was not working at all...I had a few neighbors try to help and still no luck...needless to say I was livid and had assumed that they changed the locks because the key worked fine before. I'm lucky that my bro lives in Phily too otherwise I would have been stranded. \r \r I wrote a scathing email and left a vm and got a terse call back from Mark at 730 the next morning telling me they hadnt changed the locks and he said someone would meet me at noon. I waited til 1230 before anyone even showed up and they tried their master key, which also didnt work. After waiting around for another twenty minutes I walked over to the office and asked to speak to Mark and some lady named Pat (who despite being what I think was a glorified secretary was extremely arrogant) refused to answer my questions and instead got hostile with me and my mom. She first said Mark wasn't in but then when we explained the problem she went upstairs (no doubt to talk to him) and came down to ""resolve"" our problem. This resolution included her yelling at us to take our money back if we were unhappy and refusing to apologize bc this clearly wasn't their fault bc locks jam all the time on their own.\r \r In the end they gave me a different key which magically worked for the ""jammed"" lock and promised to finish all the work I needed done that day (which it wasn't obviously). I""m just baffled by WPRG and their continued unprofessionalism . And Mark, if you read this, please stop hiding behind your assistant and instead discuss in person with your clients inconveniences that your firm had created for them. \r \r On the plus, they did install a new ac, stove, and fridge for me in my apartment, but the ""cleaning"" they did was ridiculous...they clearly didn't even open any drawers to clean bc I found the previous tenant's stuff in there, not to mention random cotton balls, dust, and dirt everywhere.\r \r \r I'm going to stay in this apartment bc its close to my law school and its not bad for the price, but I'm definitely looking forward to moving to a more legitimate apartment next year. more

My apartment is beautiful and large for the price/location, and William Penn does a decent job of responding to easy-to-solve problems (like a broken garbage disposal). But their general maintenance is appalling. Don't count on any building amenities (washer/dryer, elevator, etc.) working. They sometimes stop garbage service, leading to major infestations. My building was once without cold water (not hot, cold; wanted to flush the toilet? sorry!) for four days. At one point, homeless people moved into storage spaces in the building and WPRG didn't respond in any way. The police finally came when the squatters started breaking into apartments in the building. Mind you, this is in the Rittenhouse area. Stay away if you can. more

I was very impressed by the employees I interacted with - AnnMarie and Mark, the latter being the one who showed me an apartment at 1313 Spruce. AnnMarie works in the main office on 21st St. I was very anxious when I came into their office, and she gave me all the time I needed. A very nice and understanding person. She offered me to let me go back and have another look at the apartment before I fully committed. When I realized I didn't want the apartment, she tore up my deposit check that I had given to hold the apartment. Regarding Mark, I had tried to give him some cash to show me the apartment first (before he showed it to others), and while he did show me the apartment first (because of my enthusiasm), he repeatedly turned down my offer of the money. At one point, I left the cash on the windowsill and went into the other room to look at it, and he didn't touch the money. Before we walked out, he insisted that I take that money with me. There was no one else there, mind you - no other witnesses. I later tried to PayPal him the money because I was so impressed by his ethics (and because I had his e-mail address), but he refused to claim the payment, and PayPal returned the money to me. more

This realty company has a lot of places and it really depends on which place you live at and who neighbors are. I lived in one of their mid-rises (near Broad and Spruce Sts.) for two years. The crowd (i.e., a lot of college students) was too young for me, a young professional, but the apartment was fine and well worth what I paid. Maintenance is overbooked but problems were solved right away when phoning the central number. I currently reside (I stayed with them) in a historic 12 unit building and it is fantastic. It is by far the best deal in the city. I am very happy. more

i've been in my 2 bdrm, one bath and balcony apartment for two years now and it is home to me...when first looking it was the best (space wise) and location for the price.. i work in newtown square so my commute is very close...knock on wood but have not had a bug, leak or major maintenance issue yet! (fingers crossed) management is always pretty helpful and friendly, my manager is a sweetheart and our neighbors are pretty good too! all in all if you are looking for a big apartment at an affordable price and where the property is well taken care of, this is the place more

The walls were falling apart. The basement flooded a few times and they wouldn't do anything to the rug, so it smelled like mold. There were pipe leaks in the kitchen, leading to holes in the floor and walls. A huge rat. Oh wait, the good part: They withheld $1200 ( last month and security) from my roommate and I when I moved out and told us lies to turn us against each other, so we ended up thinking each had stolen from the other. In reality, they had stolen our money. A year later, after reuniting and using hardcore math skills, we figured out what they did and went after them. After writing a threatening letter, we got our money back. But how many other people have they stolen money from? Oh yeah, and the people were incredibly rude on the phone, but very nice in person. kind of. Pros: Cheap Cons: Everything else more

William penn is shady. My roommate and I put in our first month's deposit to hold the place. NOT THE ENTIRE DEPOSIT of 3 months, and ONLY signed the Applications. They never gave us any receipts, they told us they'll write them all up when we sign the lease. I even spoke with the manager, and she told me i would not be refunded because i broke the contract. She rudely assured me of that and hung up saying i have no further business with them. What i want to know is WHAT CONTRACT. I never signed any lease or contract. Just because you sign an application, doesn't mean you signed a leasing agreement. Our applications were not even approved, and their ""background/credit checks"" we not done, before they even made up a lease. We never handed them a signed lease, and they won't give us our deposit of $850 back. Instead, they told us to find some friends that will take over the lease, (Which still wasn't signed or approved) and we can have thier first month's deposit, because ours already went through. Um... WHAT? Why don't they just give us back our money and take the new deposit? What are they going to do with ours? just add it to their bank account? I'm debating Filing a suit against these people for this. this is ridiculous. Stay away from them at all times. Pros: big places, cheap rent Cons: Shady workers, Extremely Rude Agents and Staff more

Whats wrong with these people?? 1. I was welcomed with a foul smell, I looked into the toilet to find it clogged with feces when I moved in. 2. When I turned on the water at kitchen sink, the water went straight though onto the floor. Pipes were not connected. 3. Walls were not painted with holes in them from the previous tenet. 4. Dishwasher was broke. 5. Trash was scattered throughout the apartment. 6. Ceiling tiles were missing and out of place. 7. Outside vines were growing through the window into my apartment and running up the walls. 8. Carpets were not cleaned. 9. Cock Roaches throughout the basement. 10. My toilet runs and runs...even though they apparently came to fix it 3 times. 11. Gas alone is close to 250 a month even though i am only there to sleep, never understood that one. 12. O yea, in the bedroom there is MOLD. 13. All I have to say is L&I. Look out, landlords. Philadelphia's Department of Licenses & Inspections is stepping up scrutiny of rental properties in the hope of improving upkeep and safety. Pros: NON Cons: EVERYTHING more

Been renting from these people too long now, but I'll be moving in the Spring. I can only recommend not spending your money with them. It's a full-time job in itself to keep calling them about repairs they never fully complete. They always need a part and make some excuse to leave the job uncompleted. At the moment, I need a new bathroom wall, as the tile is falling off. My bathroom ceiling leaks but not often enough for them to repair it. This resulted in the metal framing for the drop ceiling to rust and eventually collapsed, luckily no one was hurt or I'd be in jail now. They came out reluctantly, tore it down at my insistence, and left to never return to fix the problem. Now I have trashbags covering the hole in the bathroom wall, and did the same for the ceiling. The bathroom wall has been that way for 2 years. The ceiling for 1 yr. My kitchen now has a floor tiles that are peeling up, the garbage disposal doesn't work and the kitchen sink leaks both from the faucet and underneath the sink. I called the manager GRIZELDA, I'm guessing it's not her real name as people this deceitful rarely use their real name, and she had the balls to ask why I'm still living there. I called the township, Ridley Park, had the inspectors come out, so they know the extent of the problem, but was told they'll get to me eventually. I've informed my township over the years of the problem, but only got the run-around from them, so there's our tax dollars at work for ya. I wouldn't recommend living in a rental in Ridley Park due to the lack of code enforcement, ya never know what you'll get here for your money. These people only respect a lawsuit, so that might be my next step, otherwise I'll break lease. Here's some links you might want to take a look at prior to renting from these slumlords. There are 12 pics of my bathroom with a collapsing ceiling. They would only remove the rusted metal hanging over me head at my insistence. They however never returned to finish doing the repairs. Thecitysearch site won't let me post a link, so I tweaked the url to get past the filter. sharesend.c*m/490bt sharesend.c*m/kynq8 sharesend.c*m/to15p sharesend.c*m/pl45v sharesend.c*m/72h74 sharesend.c*m/fblr6 sharesend.c*m/6xwhr sharesend.c*m/ibv32 sharesend.c*m/pm6ad sharesend.c*m/4fttk sharesend.c*m/fzmwx sharesend.c*m/rmae1 These 3 are video clips of my unit in a state of disrepair sharesend.c*m/ql1bm sharesend.c*m/wqc5o sharesend.c*m/wqc5o Pros: its a box and might keep the rain out i stress MIGHT Cons: I pay a 3rd more than I should for this dilapidated sh*tbox more

Always remember to put any and all complaints and repair requests to the landlord in writing. That way if it goes to court you can have proof that they were aware of the problem and that you did try to give them an opportunity to fix the problem. The more letters the better. Send them via certificate of mailing or certified mail so that you have proof you sent them and they got them. \r \r The second thing to do is to document everything conversations with them, dates, and get names. If its possible get a videocamera and record proof of the conditions. Also have a few people over to witness the problems. Then you sit down and draft a letter in the letter you reference the previous written request that you have sent them asking them to repair the issues and give them a reasonable amount of time. If they don't do this you do have a number of remedies available that will get their attention you can: \r 1) file a complaint in small claims court; \r 2) call the department of building and inspections\r 3) vacate the apartment (i would consult an attorney before advising this step)\r \r The point is that you do have some rights as a renter do not let them walk all over you. (see info below) \r \r \r \r B. WHAT SHOULD THE TENANT DO?\r When repairs are needed, the tenant should tell the landlord what is wrong, in writing, and give the landlord a chance to make the repairs. If the tenant has trouble getting the landlord to make the repairs, there are several things the tenant can do \r \r \r Call the City Bureau of Codes Enforcement and request a housing code inspection (see Section III). \r \r Terminate the lease and move out. \r \r Arrange to have the repairs made himself/herself by a reputable repair person and deduct the cost from the rent. (Warning -- this procedure can be dangerous if done without the landlord's agreement. Read Section C below carefully before using this remedy). \r Recent new law in Pennsylvania now allows the tenant to stop paying some or all rent if the landlord does not make necessary repairs. A tenant who withholds rent when a landlord has failed to make necessary repairs may have a good defense it the landlord decides to sue for back rent or eviction, if s/he can prove that the house or apartment is worth only the smaller amount of rent. This new law is called ""implied warranty of habitability"" and gives tenants more rights than the old law did. \r \r more

I was really scared of renting from William Penn after reading all the reviews on here, but had already paid the deposit by the time I saw this site. Not everyone I dealt with at the company was the friendliest, but I have to say they have been overall very helpful and responsive thus far. Sure, the building is not in fantastic shape and my apartment had a lot of problems when I moved in, but hey -- for this price in Center City, I knew what I was getting into. When I've had minor maintenance issues I've had to leave a message as nobody ever answers the phone, but really, that's not a big deal -- they always got to it within a couple of business days. For more major issues (a leak in my roof, the deadbolt not working) they fixed them right away. If you want five-star service and clean apartments that don't have maintenance issues, don't rent in Center City in this price range. But I feel like I'm getting a pretty good deal for what I'm paying, including the service the company has provided thus far. more

I cannot begin to explain hwo TERRIBLE this company is, so please first look at all of the other comments on this page and then read mine. First of all, the day I moved in they had changed the locks on the doors without telling me. I had all of my belongings out on the sidewalk in north philly. It took them FOUR HOURS to send someone out with a new key for me. The washer/dryer that they loved to advertise in the basement has never worked, but the buggies (can't say the other word on here) in the basement sure do. The building looks like a slum unless they are trying to rent out an apartment, in which case they might send some high schoolers out to clean the hallways and fix the broken lights that they never care about otherwise. One morning a plumber, without knocking, came into my apartment while I was in bed (7 am.), just to take 'a look around and see if everything was alright'. The reason for writing this review, however, is that I now have a hole in my ceiling (5 ft. by 4 ft.) with sheet rock falling into my small loft apartment. I'm not kidding..an enormous whole. I called a week ago (about twenty times), and every day since over and over and over again. I called the emergency number (which they charge you for), a guy came out and told me it was incredibly dangerous and made me promise not to stand anywhere near the hole. Hard to do in a tiny apartment with a huge hole in the ceiling. They sent maintenance out to clean an apartment on the fourth floor because they are trying to find new people's money to take, but did not even tell them about my ceiling falling in. I had been assured that people would be by to fix my ceiling that day so I called off work, because if you read these reviews, maintenance isn't to be trusted. I had to go upstairs and ask them to come down as a favor, they spent ten minutes ripping out sheet rock, throwing it on the floor, and then told me they were getting off early and left. IM NOT KIDDING. Wait, and they told me to move all of my belongings/furniture/lights...everything, to the other side of the studio so they could work more on it the next day. Well, I did, but they never came. They still haven't come. Although legal action was just threatened, and I finally got a call back. Maybe they'll be in today..probably not. Anyone interested in subletting?\r \r DON'T RENT FROM THESE MONEY HUNGRY SLUM LORDS. Pros: location? Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE more

If you can ever get a hold of anybody at the office you will find them to be obnoxious and incompetent. The place comes off like a caricature of a used car dealership; sign em, screw em, and leave em! Its actually quite pathetic. There are plenty of places in philly to rent from, avoid this place at all costs and tell you friends. AVOID!! AVOID!!!! AVOID!!!! I Pros: Decent property Cons: Terrible, terrible, terrible more

What about 1313 Spruce Street...? Has anyone heard about this property? I am honestly scared after reading those reviews. Pros: don't know Cons: don't know more

Hey they might not be the best but they are not the worst. I lived it in1208 Spruce st at and The apt was great due to the great location and price. Mainly the price it was really really cheap for that location. Yes maybe talking with the people in the office was hard and they were rude. But if you keep pressing the matter you can get things done. Don't just call once and think all will be ok you have keep at it with the people. Maintenance is an issue so what I did was become friend with they guy (Chris) once we were cool I never had a problem I would leave him and email and he would take care of things. If you are renting from these people understand the two old ladies that showed you the place is nice and all but they dont know anything the main boss is MARK but you will never get a hold of him only person you can talk to is AnnMarry and she has her days some are good some are bad.....Ultimately I would live there again. If you cause them no trouble they cause you no trouble. Pros: Great Location, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP Cons: Horrible office hours, Cant get hold of any one, No one knows what they are talking about more

this group manages a bunch of buildings. why dont you tell the addresses? what about 1208 spruce st any feedback about that? Pros: dont know Cons: dont know more

I have a laundry list of complaints...but I'll just leave you all with this one (IRONY at its best!):\r \r Our smoke alarm needed to be fixed...so they sent one of their ""maintenance"" men. He wired it wrong. It caught on fire. If we had not been home and seen all of the smoke...our apt. would've burned down (and the building too, I assume). We called the ""emergency"" number that night and they simply said there was nothing they could do. That night the firemen had to turn off our electricity and we had to evacuate. We received no phone call...no apology...no check in. The next day they sent out an actual electrician to fix the problem...and he was in shock that someone could screw up something so bad as to cause a fire.\r \r We got a lawyer...called L&I...and as a result...got out of our lease. REMEMBER: WPR does not want to get cited! Use this against them whenever you can! (and lawyers are crucial...they don't care about you and your little non-lawyer self. If you have concerns/complaints they will not listen.)\r \r We're out of the apartment now...but the sad thing is...they're probably going to just paint over the burn mark where the fire was...and rent it to some new innocent person who won't hear about the mishap.\r \r Landlords are corrupt, yes, but WPR is the worst, by far. Pros: location Cons: everything more