Touraine Unit 108 in Philadelphia

I love coming home through that magnificent archway, and I enjoy telling out-of-town guests about the famous architecture. Being just steps from Rittenhouse Square is another favorite part, as is Rival Bros. coffee, some of the best in Philly. It’s a wonderful place to live, and the front desk staff are kind and helpful.

Lol, it’s not a very “elegant” place to live. From the front, you’re looking at a huge, ugly graffiti tag scrawled across the top floors of the building opposite. There are definitely better places for the price.

The way the office handled my move-out is why I'm taking the management team to small claims court over $235 of my security deposit. I told them it could cost more to defend the case, or the same in the end if they return the money after I file. Either way, it feels like they're doing this out of spite toward their own tenants. They sent an itemized list of charges more than four months after I moved out, and only after I repeatedly asked for documentation. The legal deadline is 30 days. I also wasn't given a chance to be present for the apartment turnover. No one from management was there for a walk-through, and the time-stamped photos of "excessive damages" they cited were taken the day after my lease ended. They charged me for ordinary wear and tear, and for an appliance that was working when I left. I have a time-stamped photo from move-out day showing it wasn't broken. This wasn't my only problem with the office. Over the five years I lived there, I repeatedly dealt with incompetence and a lack of professionalism. The final straw came during COVID: I accepted a modest rent increase to renew, then a month later learned the unit next door was due for a full renovation within a month. I was working from home and stuck there through six months of construction noise. When that job ended, they started renovating the apartment above mine, followed by work outside my window at the Annex next door. The only offer was that I could pay $1,000 to transfer to another unit in the building, plus cover the moving costs and hassle myself. There were notices for some loud work, but not all. I remember less than 24 hours' notice for a planned fire alarm inspection, which forced me to reschedule a work-from-home meeting, and I have recordings of sustained workday noise for which I don't recall getting any notice. I still believe they deliberately kept the construction from me before I renewed. Even if it was all circumstantial, what happened in Unit 605 still deserves one star. Don't let the prompt reply below give you the wrong impression of the office. It's the most thoughtful, complete response I've ever received from them. The usual experience was a lack of consideration and respect for tenants, and apathy from Dominique down through the people who worked for her over the years.

It’s an older apartment building, but a nice one.