All 25 tenant reviews.

“I've been living here for 3 years now. I read the reviews and looked at a few apartments before moving in. I looked at my 3 bedroom apartment in Nov and told management that we were interested in January and moved in on February. The time from November to February the apartment had some other people come to see it and others "working" on it. I moved in and the floor to one of the bedrooms looked like someone keyed it there was about 3 to 4 inch long scratches going back and forth and it was about 4 inch in height. In another bedroom there was a hump from the improper installation of the floors . It was concerning because I have small children and it was enough for anyone who wasn't aware to trip and fall. The door was completely warped ( this was the only thing that was repaired). The electrical outlet in the half bath is still without power since I've moved in and I had two people look at it and say oh this person would have to do it and still 3 years later nothing. The type of floor they used separates and moves so it pinches the bottom of your foot if your not with sandels. They used cork to cork along the bedroom floors instead of using the hardwood trim or moulding , some areas didn't even have anything so you were able to see parts if the underlayment. I asked for them to replace a door that they just patch over and it was dismissed. From there I knew I would be having issues with them to fix or do anything. Now let's talk about security usually all of them are pretty nice but let's be honest, they pick and choose who they open the door for. I always have my keys but i noticed whenI'm waiting downstairs I see with who they want to open the door for. Brings me to my next topic moving things in and out your apartment you need permission for everything ..... I'm say this also is a pick and choose kind of situation. If I want to move small chairs or table or anything you will be reported . I moved a couched down the stairs because it didn't fit in the elevator and originally I was throwing it out but since my friend said they will take it then I said okay and took it out to them. I got fined however I saw another lady moving her couches the same night actually two other people bring the couches down. Supposedly one person had permission . I see people all the time moving parts of there beds small dressers and other items that sometimes I can't get into the elevator. Now parking, to have a spot they make sure you have all your papers and now when someone hits your car management response is that they cannot help with anything. Basically the camara are for their benefit only. It's a joke honestly we pay a lot of rent for an apartment that looks okay but had many problems. The walk in closets are good but thats about it. I'm moving out within the month. The area is okay nothing crazy. The summer time there a lot of music and people arguing every other night by 5he bus stop or on their balcony.”

“Pros: 24 hr security, convenient location, laundry room Cons: Cut 90% of maintenance crew, disrespectful management, harassment during pandemic threatening to evict renters who couldn’t pay, threatening to report non-payment to credit bureaus, deactivating electronic key Advice to landlord: Treat our building as if you lived here. Be respectful and you’ll be respected in return.”

“Pros: 24 hour security, maintenance work hard to keep building clean. Neighbors stick together and are respectful. Cons: Landlord is trying to turn property to a slum. The building is a co-op, but he is putting in upgrades to raise rent. Heating and hot water problems as well as rodents and roaches are ongoing problems. Has not implemented COVID-19 guidelines in the building such as no more than 4 on an elevator. New elevators being installed during a pandemic which caused elevators to be overcrowded. Advice to landlord: Improve heating, water pressure and filtration system. Also, get rid of rodents.”

“Pros: No pros to document Cons: Lack of cleanliness Infested with roaches mice and now rats Mold Plastering cracks Water damage Rude security and management Overall run like slums. Advice to landlord: Take care of the poor conditions this building is suffering under”

“Pros: The apts were nice sized. I was in a one and a two bedroom. The neighborhood is nice for the area. The parks next door are a great way to just get out of the house and walk. Cons: The rent was too expensive... But it is NY... The main reason I moved out was because my rent went from 875$ to 1800$ in 3 years. As far as I'm concerned, any company that would do that to its residents is horrible. The property manager wasnt very pleasant either. Advice to landlord: Rent is not supposed to take your entire paycheck. Even though everyones situation is different, you need to do better at understanding the tenants needs and not just your own (financial) needs.”

“Why is the Macy's fireworks display in the back of the building in the circle being allowed on the property? Disrupting the residents... Where is security? The fire works in the street every night is bad enough.. now it's on the property?”

“Management has ruined this neighborhood. They're all about taking our money. IF YOU DID NOT KNOW NELSON MANAGEMENT IS STEALING YOUR MONEY. the "electric company" is FAKE your payments are going to them and them ONLY. Get a lawyer.”

“NO HEAT GROSS NEGLIGENCE, UNFAIR PRACTICES, PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT, AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ONE BEDROOM or A certain side of the building! IF YOUR Apartment Falls as Non Picked PREFERENCE OF the Lafayette Estates Manager who is Ruthless, CHEAP, AND Grossly Despicable You WILL BE TREATED UNFAIRLY! CALLING FOR HEAT DAY AND NIGHT AND NEED TO BUY PORTABLE HEATERS! WELL A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT WILL HELP TO Resolve issues BUT HOPEFULLY THIS MANAGER WILL CHANGE HIS WAYS BEFORE IT GETS TO THAT!”

“No HEAT! All those over 55° the apartment is still cold! Need HEAT 9PM TO 9AM! NEED HEAT for comfortable living! A lot of seniors live here and NEED HEAT! NEED HEAT FOR COMFORTABLE LIVING! I HATE BEING COLD!”

“Management is terrible! Horrible at communicating and handling any maintenance request. There is no sense of urgency when it comes to maintenance requests. Heat, what heat? Be prepared to spend extra money on heaters. .the building does not provide heat. They heaters areOFF 10pm-5 am.. you'll wake up to the loud noises of the heaters around 4-5 am when they are finally being turned on. Washers and dryers in the laundry room DO NOT WORK. Mold can be found where you place your detergent and fabric softener. For all the rent we pay you would think management Would do something about having them cleaned and inspected.”

“Hi yall, my name is Beatrice and I have lived here for 10 years . For all those thinking about moving here I say look elsewhere. Unfortunately my fixed income does not allow me to live elsewhere and as a result I shall call this home until my dying days. Ever since the new management group took over these buildings it has been all about savings at the cost of the residents. Recently they have placed sub meters in all apartments in order to start charging for electricity. Electricity was always included in the high rent they have been charging but now they found a way to pass over the electrical charges onto the residents. Just recently they replaced my 5 year old refrigerator with a hunk of crap that barely keeps my food cold. These new cost efficient refrigerators are designed to save electricity while keeping food cold at a higher temperature. Even when I place the setting at the highest the refrigerator still does not feel as cold as the older that was replaced. The general feeling of safely has always been abysmal round these parts. Too many young ones up to no good and they love preying on the elderly. These buildings are touted as a closed community with security but I assure you it is all smoke and mirrors. The security guards are placed at the lobby of each building but they do nothing except sit their playing on their cellphones. The laundry facility is always in disrepair. Too many machines are broken. I do not own a car so I can not elaborate on parking. The noise is terrible on my floor. The new breed just does not respect their neighbors and always blast their rap music at all times of the night. The park near the complex is beautiful in the summer but it is very very unsafe due to the hobos that live within. There is also a drug problem within the buildings where upon drug dealers sell their poison in the stairwells. Maintenance is so so and the staff is quite efficient. Over all , I can not with a good conscious recommend anyone living here and paying the asking price of 1400 for a one bedroom apt. It is just not worth it. There is much better to be had north of this zip code.”

“I have been living at the Lafayette/Boynton houses for well over 20 years and I can attest to the prior reviews and sum it up in 3 words. "STAY AWAY". The area is quite deceiving. It looks like a quiet area in the day time but once the sun goes down all bets are off and the criminal element comes out to play. The management entity running these buildings are a Jewish conglomerate called Nelson Management Group. They took over the buildings over 5 years ago and ever since then things have spiraled out of control. All they care about is collecting the exorbitant rents they charge for these deplorably maintained apts. Maintenance is a joke and when you need fixing they throw you on a waiting list. Although my 2 bedroom rent is fixed at $850 a month it shocks me that new tenants are being hosed for as much as $1500 a month for a one bedroom. Sure they get refurbished apts with new appliances but these apts are not worth that much especially when mice and roaches are infesting these buildings. The rampant drug dealing in the stairwells is also another detracting point. Another poster stated the obvious when he wrote that these buildings are in "no man's land". Public transportation is non existent especially when the buses refuse to stop at on Morrison Ave because they are too full. It is sad that we are not safe to walk the streets around here once the sun goes down. The park across the street is a huge problem with the gang members, prostitutes and homeless. Parking is ridiculous around these parts and management only cares about collecting parking fees. The laundry is deplorable especially when 4 out of the 10 machines work at any given time. Many fights break out in the laundry room between tenants. Do yourself and your family a favor and stay away from these parts. If you are hard up and still want to live here then think about investing in a firearm.”

“Hello I am almost a 2 year resident and after my lease is up I am getting the hell out of dodge. I regret ever making a decision to move to this part of the Bronx.Allow me to touch on every point of this dilapidated property in order to describe the hell I have endured for 1.5 years. PARKING: Atrocious parking conditions exist for anyone who is not willing to pay the extorted price of $85 dollars to park within the so called gated parking area. I say so called because anyone can waltz in and out of this place. gates are either propped open or broken. No matter where you park, outside or in, your car will get broken into. NOISE: Each floor have 10 units and as you can surmise when you put 10 low income families on each floor your ears will be bombarded by all sorts of urban sounds. Expect loud parties, loud music and screaming and yelling at all times of the night. Neighbors are very rude in this complex and they believe everyone else should put up with their wild events. Unacceptable behavior by so called civilized people. Summer is the worst time period. The nearby park brings out the undesirables and they seem to levitate towards the park where they host never ending loud parties into the wee hours of the morning. There is no peace of mind to be had in this place. GROUNDS: Nice and spacious but the grass and sidewalks are polluted by giant turds from hose sized dogs. People here do not believe in using a pooper scooper. I can not tell you how many times i have stepped in manure inside the property. SAFETY: Been mugged twice since living in this place. The area is pretty much secluded. Police rarely patrol the area thus making it a thriving atmosphere for young punks. I do not recommend anyone hand out after dark. For me a walk to the grocery cost me 5 stitches to the head last summer. CONSTRUCTION: There is always some sort of construction going on within the complex thus inconveniencing everyone. Lobby is being redone in a few buildings thus forcing residents to enter the rear of the building. Not very safe not to mention the multitude of steps you have to navigate in order to reach an elevator. Construction has brought out a plague of mice and roaches. I am talking about water bugs. UNACCEPTABLE! MAINTENANCE: DEPLORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Still waiting for them to come fix my oven and i complained 6 months ago. They keep telling me the parts are being ordered. Heat in the winter is spotty so prepare to buy many blankets. They just installed meters in every apt so on top of the $1400 they will start charging electricity. I am leaving just in time. STAFF: Some staff are nice people but the people in the management office are utter and complete -------. Security is useless. TRANSPORTATION: The nearest train is on the other side of the highway so if you decide to hoof it you might want to think about buying a gun. It is very dangerous especially at night. The bus stops running after midnight and during rush hour in the mornings it bypasses our stop because it is too full. The end result is that you will be paying for cab service just to get you to the train. SHOPPING: Nearby shopping mall will a McDonalds and supermarket but you best get your shopping in before the sun goes down. Too many hoodlums preying on the elderly. NEXT DOOR CO-OP (Lafayette Estates): Stay away from this place if you are looking to buy an apt. The finances in this complex are in shambles and I have personally spoken with 4 people who are worried about loosing their CO-OP due in part to shadey financials. To sum it all up I will warn everyone interested in this place to stay away. Do not be like me and a few others on this forum who regret our decisions wholeheartedly.”

“Greetings: My name is Dennis and I have been living at the Lafayette houses for close to 5 years. First and foremost if you are thinking of moving here please for God sakes rethink this decision. STAY AWAY FROM THIS HELL HOLE!!! This place in slightly above living in a city project run by NYCHA but with a starting rent of $1400 for a one bedroom. A complete and utter rip off. Let me start by saying that the property is in an abandoned stretch that is cut off from the rest of the Bronx by the Bruckner highway and is sandwiched in by a park that is a haven for homeless vagrants. That being said this place is a haven for crime and drug dealing. If you park your car on the streets then expect it to be broken into multiple times in the course of a year. The surrounding complexes are all NYCHA run buildings so this pretty much tells you what kind of people live in and around the area. 5 years ago I was suckered in by the realtor who stated this was an up and coming area. Boy, was i ever conned. Not only do I have to pay $1400 dollars for this atrocious apt but the building is infested with mice and roaches. Neighbors are inconsiderate and play music at all hours of the night. The stairwells are full of drug activity and so called security does nothing about this. They are glued to the front desk and just leave the door open for anyone to walk in and out. The laundry is a joke. At any given time half the machines are out of order and with 400 residents per building management expects us to successfully do our laundry in this facility. GOOD LUCK. To make matters worse only residents who have lived in these buildings long term are allowed to have washing machines in their apts. No no residents are allowed this luxury and it is written in your lease along with no pets. Sadly the long term residents are allowed to have dogs and they refuse to pick up after their animals. The lawn in and around the buildings is a virtual mine field of dog poop. Parking withing the complex is $85 dollars and for what? The gates are broken most of the time and the criminals still come in and break into the cars. Security does not watch over the lots so we are told that we park at our own risk. GEE THANKS! The Summer time is the worst time around here because the park attracts all the criminal element of the surrounding projects. They come here and picnic into the morning and blast their music all night long. During the summer the hookers also show their ugly faces and start doing tricks as well. If you expect to live in a quiet area you are mistaken if you move here. The barbeques are non stop during the summer. If you are lucky enough to have a job then heaven help you if you are trying to use mass transportation. One bus services this area and it is extremely crowded in the morning due in part because its the only bus that takes you to the trains on the other side of the highway. To makes matters worse that bus stops running at 12am. I will pray for you if you decide to walk the gauntlet danger from here to the train. The path is lined with some of the Bronx's worst projects. GOOD LUCK! I am about to close on a Co-op in Yonkers in a few months and I can not wait to get out of this hell hole. If you are still interested in moving in keep this in mind: This place has a high turn over rate of residents. You need to ask them why. Good luck and God Bless.”

“Hello, I've been residing here since 1984. I have seen a lot of changes. Some are for the good and others are for the bad. As for rent price, I think they should come down. Starting price is $1300. Mind you thats for a low floor. The higher you go, the more you pay, also terrace and no terrace contributes to that rate. They are making new tenants pay $85 for parking, AC's I'm not sure if its the same as old tenants or not , so I can't talk about that.However washing machines, new tenants are not allowed to have. Now the laundry facility is ok. I mean it's not gonna be super grand, it is in a basement for crying out loud, but there's always atleast 1- 3 machines broken. How to management expect for everyone to use those machines, I really don't know. Especially since there are only 2 super washers and 8 washing machines. There are 19 floors in each building and 13 apts on each floor. That math just doesn't add up. Now I am speaking for building 875. I wish they would bring back the basketball court or something so the kids and go out and play. As for the drugs, its all over. Can't help it if the tenants are doing drugs and make friend with Morrison kids and they come over and do their thing in the stairwell b.c their mothers don't allow that in their home. Drugs is something we can't avoid. I wish we could b.c the smells bother me but hey , c'mon this is New York. Now there have been an increase to rodents. A huge increase to the point , where everymonth I get atleast 1. I tell a neighbor thinking one would save me from it and they tell me , well I have one too. Growing up here, the worse I've dealt with was roaches, and waterbugs if it rained. Mice was very few and if they did come in it was from the radior or the drain from the terrace. Now more than ever there is an infestation, where to I see them in the hallways and they slide under ppl's door. I hope this is a brief transition till everything is completed. However they need to up their exterminator. Month after month dude walks in, put some goo in the bathroom and kitchen and thats all. I ask him for traps, or check here and there and he tells me he is only told to do the bathroom and kitchen.I will be calling my own exterminator soon if things don't get better. Security is ok, we had so many different ones come in and out but I haven't had problems with them really. Sure some would have affairs with tenants, or flirt but hey thats anywhere. I love the size of the rooms of this complex. That is one thing I can't argue with. I am grateful of having two corner stores and a mall across the street. Snow storm of 2002 came in handy when no one could move and stores were right across the street. Amen to that. Tenants here are pleasant for the most part. A lot of old timers here. They all speak but you may experience some bad ones but thats anywhere.Now the installation of the new windows are ok but I still get drafts expecially when now management are cutting back on heat. I notice after 10pm heat goes off and comes back on again at 4. Maybe it's my apt line but its horrible. 311 came in several times to that. When you go to mgt office its aays if its 50 or below outside something of that nature then heat goes on to this temp. Well last week was a huge storm, it was on but off at night when it was colder. Everyone knows at night the temp drop so leave the dang heat on management.... Now they installed the sub metering thing. Well I can't explain much on that b.c it doesn't go into effect till March I believe but that another add on. I think for a 1 bed room, since they consider us housing as per their letters and sign of temp on the door, rent should be 1000 for a 1 bedroom, especially since the sub metering is installed etc.. I honestly think if the rent was reduced, I would ignore those issues and be a happy camper. Since the rent is high ,those issues will not be ignored. Now with pets, I love animals they cool as long as they don't bite. Mgt is putting in leases now new tenants can't have dogs etc... I feel if we all picked up after our dogs then the kids can go to the grass field at 820 and play soccer foot ball baseball like they use to. They use to picinic there and everything. Mgt doesn't allow picnics anymore. Its so much restriction. Cant' even enjoy the grounds of where I live. Put more cameras have more monitors if they are concerned. Sometimes you don't want to go far, just down stairs and its like you can't .Anyhoo thats my take on the good and bad of this complex. I hope this helped. PS mgt needs to step up on the parking lot we pay 85 a month and if someone damages your car or throws something off their terrace mgt says park at your own risk. So umm why am I paying you???”

“Worse decision of my life! If you want to live with mice, roaches, and no heat, then this is the place for you!!!!”

“Agreed worse decision of my life. Apartment is crawling with mice that come through holes that management does not properly fix coming thru and dying in the radiators foul stench coming out of them and management is very nasty and always changing. Save yourself and your health n live under a bridge. I have been seriously sick since moving in and am now looking to sue them. The worst. I repeat the worse.”

“Worst decision of my life. Plenty of drug activity and no one seems to care. Also expensive to live in an unafe environment. I basically feel like a prisoner with a terrace.”

“I have lived in the Layfette Boynton Complex since 1996. I have seen at least 4 different management companies and managers run the complex. This recent management has done the most to improve the complex, though. I love my apartment. It's spacious and since the new management has arrived the complex in a whole has been maintained much better. Transportation is limited. Bus stop running at 12am. Parking is available if you have NY plates and one car. If you are a dual resident then you are out of luck. I experienced a problem with mice but the management has done everything to assist and the problem has improved. The appearance of the complex has improved vastly. The co-ops are very expensive for the location. Who wants to pay 300k and not have your own private laundry items in your apartment. But, I will get an insider price. Because of some of the trees on the side walk the trees are buckling, but what can you do about that? Cut down a tree? There use to be a rat problem from Soundview Park, but that seems to have improved. In an over all it's not a bad place to live. It seems to be going through the genification process. So its a good place to be right now.”

“Previous reviewer- "you're a liar and your breadth stinks". This is a beautiful area, especially now that they have gated the entire complex. There are parking lots, baseball fields and basketball courts. I grew up here and can count the number of serious crimes on one foot. Most of the kids attend catholic schools such as Spellman High School (Judge Sotomayor) and Cardinal Hayes (Regis Philbin, Martin Scorsese). There is a mall next to the complex and another one further up on Story Ave. Middle income people reside here that work for hospitals, the MTA and other good jobs. You're probably white and don't feel like you belong well that's your fault, maybe you will feel comfortable around your own people good for you. Don't bash my neighborhood! The fact of the matter is someone sees this as a nice place to live or they would not have bought it and turned it co-op. So there!”

“Unsafe area, a lot of gang and drug activity. Not much to do minus a very small and limited retail strip. McDonalds, supermarket, 99 cent store. Mass transit is available by a single bus, but it stops running at midnight.”