TBS Properties

This leasing company is a scam. Do not rent from them. They will screw you over with hidden fees in the end. I got a call 4 months after my lease was over and i was moved out, saying I owed $ 480 after they instructed me to deduct my heat bill from my monthly rent since it wasn’t on my lease to pay for heat. Now 8 months later they want me to pay for the heat that was agreed to be paid by them. TERRIBLE COMPANY TO RENT FROM. the customer service is terrible also. If you want to deal with friendly, helpful, understanding, and nice people, do not rent from this company. Not to mention how over priced their rentals are. They increased my rent $ 200 more after the first year of renting so I was forced to leave. Genuinely discourage anyone from signing a lease with this company.

DO NOT LIVE HERE! Anywhere but here!
I lived in the building at Giddings and Hamilton in Lincoln Square. The building managers are rude and don’t repair stuff, even though they initially appear kind to your face. The building is old and isn’t well kept. I begged for a YEAR to have the plaster fixed above the staircase. It was falling in chunks. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen. My water rarely worked. There were often dead cockroaches in the basement/​laundry area (at least they were dead!).
The second you tell them you are moving out, your apartment is no longer yours. They brought people through to show the place 3 – 4 times per day for nearly a month until it was leased. In the beginning, we battled because the building manager would either give no notice (he walked in to show my neighbor’s place when she was in the shower!!), or on a few hours notice. When I complained several times, they began giving me 24 hours notice, but they included my personal cell number in the MLS posting! I never authorized this release of information. I even contacted an attorney and threatened legal action before they removed it. I had leasing agents calling day and night hounding me to give them access. It was awful!
The place was always dirty. Facilities didn’t work. And they raised my rent $ 100 each year (higher than what is legally allowable under Chicago landlord tenant law… too bad I didn’t learn that until after the fact). Beware. Live ANYWHERE else in the city than in a building managed by TBS.

DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!
If there were a negative stars option, they’d get a –5. I’ve been renting for 15 years and have never had such an awful experience. If you’re looking for a place with a property management company that ranges from apathy to completely rude and passive aggressive, then this is the company for you. Seriously, stay away.

Let me perfectly clear — this review is based on the building on GREENVIEW and GRACE — and my largest complaints are due to THE BUILDING’S MAINTENANCE MAN JOHN AND HIS WIFE.
When moving out I was told that my apartment wasn’t clean — when it most certainly was. I was then called a «motherf***er» and worse by the maintenance man John. He then swung at my boyfriend as if to punch him. Then repeatedly told us both both that he wanted to hit us. Then he threatened us that we couldn’t leave the apartment. So we called the cops.
After all of this an agent from the property management building signed off that our place was in fact clean. Still unsure where this rage came from. I have filed a complaint against the better business bureau. Agnes from the office was VERY kind, this is in no way a reflection of her professionalism, as she witnessed the entire situation.
And a little background, I lived there for a year and a half and NOT ONCE lodged a complaint. I am aware there was a rat problem in my building. Luckily I never saw any but two tenants in the apartment across from me broke their lease due to rats and I did enter their apartment with their permission and saw rats out in the open. I never complained of the disgusting features of the apartment including mold in the bathroom, old appliances that never quite worked right, nothing. I knew I wouldn’t be there long, and honestly like to keep to myself. But after this — I want to make sure everyone knows the people this company decides to hire!
THIS IS A WARNING — this building is ruled by a violent man. If he did it to me and my boyfriend, I assure you he could do it to you. I have placed a complaint with the BBB and hoping I will receive a response from someone in management at TBS Properties, who have not responded to my many emails about the incident.

Do not rent from here.
I lived in the building on Dayton st in Lincoln Park from 2013 – 2014 and have never had a worse apartment. I am sure that if inspected, the garden unit I was in would not be deemed habitable.
To start, I was told by the leasing agent that the place would be cleaned and freshly painted when I moved in. Neither of that was true. When I asked the office about it, they said that it was not their fault that was promised to me as it was not done by them. I had to paint the entire place myself as there were giant chips of paint missing in places and could not leave it as-​is. Also, there was very obvious water damage in the living room on the walls that were shared with the bathroom and the outside. When we were moving out, we took down a tapestry and pulled the couch away from the wall shared with the bathroom, and it was dented in and completely soft to the touch. The water damage had gotten SO much worse in the year that we lived there.
About 4 months in to living there, We discovered that we had rats. Their «fix» was plugging the hole only to find a new one directly next to it in the morning. The process of them plugging and stuffing holes along with setting traps went on for about a month. It wasn’t until I told them I did not want to pay rent until the rats were gone that they FINALLY hired an exterminator to take care of the problem. I find it quite DISGUSTING to be living with rats for a MONTH. Every time I had to call the office, the woman acted like it was no big deal and was super rude. When I told her that I did not want to speak with her anymore because of how rude she was and that I wanted to talk to the owners, she replied «the owners won’t deal with you tenants». Excuse me?
I will never rent from a TBS owned property again. I actually had a viewing scheduled when I was apartment hunting last that I called to cancel as soon as I got there and saw the TBS sign on the front of the building.

I currently live at the TBS property on Roscoe in Lakeview & I can honestly say I have never once had a problem.
Yes, when i had read the reviews I was definitely reluctant to sign. But price and location coerced me.
I’ve been here for my full year & I am honestly sad to go. Agnes at the office has always responded to me quickly and has always been very friendly & accommodating. Even with various changes in maintenance contacts, they have always been excellent & gotten the job done on time. ie: my dishwasher was leaking — boom, I had a brand new one within a week, my bedroom fan needed to be replaced — brand new fan within a week. absolutely no complaints with management whatsoever.
I know that TBS can have a bad Unilocal rep, but no lie ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend.

This review will echo majority of the ones below, and it is long, but it truly is helpful to read this if you have even an inkling of a desire to rent from TBS.
My roommate and I moved to Chicago quickly after getting jobs, and ended up needing a June lease apartment when it was basically already June. Even though apartments were sparse, we still thought maybe this one at 3817 N Greenview would be alright.
Wrong. We signed our lease on May 28, we were told the apartment was ready for a June 1 lease, as they were «updating» the kitchen (cabinets, new appliances, etc). We decided to move in on June 12 and then the fun began.
Problem #1: I arrived on the morning of the 12^th to an apartment with no cabinets, no kitchen appliances, no counter tops and a sink on the ground. Obviously, I had gotten no word in between the time of our lease signing and my move in that things would not be fully ready. They assured me the appliances and sink would be installed the next day. Five days pass with no sink, cabinets, appliances or countertops, and no real date of when things will be ready, just that it’s Home Depot’s fault. It took until July 3^rd for our kitchen to be fully put together.
Problem #2: There were very large holes in our wall still left open from our kitchen «repair» well into a month of us living there. Because of these holes, we had little mice friends that decided to join us in our home. We informed TBS, only to be answered with sticky pad traps, which by the way, do not work. We purchased old school traps and set them up around the house. We caught at least one a day. Finally, they patched up the holes, and the mice disappeared.
Problem #3: HA just kidding, the mice came back. In October once it started getting colder, the mice were obviously trying to get inside to warmth. We would see them actually running through our hallways, into our kitchen, on our countertops, and leaving their droppings along the way. One literally made eye contact with me from the hallway for about 30 seconds until he scurried away. We discovered giant holes behind the sink, holes in cabinets, and a hole behind the fridge. We asked TBS to patch these up as we were sure the problem was coming from there. After killing a handful of mice on our own again, and waiting over two weeks for TBS to fix the holes, they disappeared again.
Problem #4: Now the temp is dropping and it was time to start using the heaters. We were not aware how terrible electric baseboard heaters are, or how expensive they are, even though you are required by law to share with your tenants the average cost of utilities. My roommate and I decided to buy space heaters for our individual rooms, and use the electric heat sparingly, since it didn’t work anyways. Our apartment was an average of 55 degrees from November-​March. By the way, the city of Chicago requires all apartments to heat to at least 68 degrees with only the help of the heat provided by your landlord. That is literally not possible with these heaters. So we’re paying a few hundred in electric a month, to be freezing cold every single day, and it’s not legal. We plastic wrapped our windows, bundled up, and braced ourselves until spring.
Problem #5: Guess what… the mice came back! Since the other holes have been patched, we knew there had to be more that we hadn’t yet discovered. It was like Whack A Mole, but with mouse holes. We found a few holes in the corners of the hallway closet, and figured they were coming from there. We informed TBS, to no response. We decided to wait and see just how long it would take them to fix the problem on their own. Over three weeks pass, and nothing. We had followed up a few times via email about the issue in the time frame, and still got nothing. We then sent an email stating all of the city codes that their building violates and that we were ready to take legal action, and we got an immediate response. Holes were fixed that night. It’s funny what a law suit threat will do for you.
Problem #6: Any small or large task you may have for John the maintenance man, just don’t even bother. Our hot water went out one night, so when I called to ask when it would be fixed the answer was «I don’t know». Cold showers when it’s 25 degrees out is fun. The power goes out occasionally and if you have a blowdryer on, you are at great risk to blow a fuse. There is black mold in the shower, however they say it’s just «build up».
To summarize: save yourself and your sanity and rent somewhere else. Or if you insist on renting with TBS, be informed, and make them get everything up to code before you move in. It is unfortunate, because this area is amazing and the building and apartments have potential. The general lack of awareness, lack of attentiveness and extreme lack of respect that TBS has for it’s tenants is unbelievable and I truly don’t know how they are allowed to operate as a company. Good riddance.

So now my friend who lives in a studio is being evicted. She has lived here for about 10 years. Always paid on time. Recently she had all her money stollen from Checking so no checks were sent to TBS. Never got any notices till today which was an eviction. They have never repaired anything in her apartment which has a lot of water damage.
They don’t care. They get zero stars!

Update:
After confirming that I will not be renewing my lease, TBS has given my number to leasing agents for scheduling & confirming visits. This is my fourth apartment in Chicago and I’ve never had a property management company give out my phone number rather than coordinate visits with me themselves.
I called to inquire about their process and to let them know that I did not authorize sharing my personal cell phone, and have not gotten a response. It is maddening.
Also, in response to comments in a few of the other reviews – I am a clean, professional, responsible, generally low-​maintenance tenant as well. I had never experienced a problem after living in Chicago for six years until renting a unit from TBS. This experience has been an absolute nightmare.

If I could leave negative stars I would, hell, if I could quit working and stand outside their apartments and tell people to run the other way I would.
When we looked at the apartment they promised to have everything fixed before we moved in, including holes in the walls, mold and broken windows, fruit flies. We moved in to not only nothing fixed but thousand of fruit flies and garbage on the floors. We called the rudest woman named Agnus, who didn’t seem to care at all and made me actually feel like I was bugging her. It took over 2 weeks before they came and fixed the broken window causing rain and snow to come into our apartment, and the water fall that came through our kitchen ceiling whenever our upstairs neighbor did dishes.
They only provide baseboard heat and being a 2 story apartment it cost almost $ 400 a month to heat and still didn’t keep our apartment above 40 degrees. We found black mold in 3 areas and saw more than a couple huge roaches crawling across the floor.
The «maintenance man» John came in whenever he felt like, including while I was in the shower, giving no notice before hand. At one point we got a notice that
we must of removed all the storm windows to make the place colder (something that couldn’t be done without tools) and they were going to fine us. Meaning John had to of come in while we were working and remove then knowing we had a lawyer looking into getting us out of our contract.
Finally we called out a city inspector and he noticed all of our complaints as more than enough, we did get out of our contract after 5 months and now have an amazing place not owned by TBS.

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible
Upon signing our lease we requested, that a hole in the wall be fixed, a door that was broken off by previous tenants be put back on and 2 mirror closet door be replaced, since the glass was all cracked. Needless to say the door is no longer existing and the cracked glass still is in our apt. We have also requested a storm door, since we are the only unit without one multiple times and never got one, (our lease is up next month). We have gone through 3 different property managers, only one of them being helpful. All of our drained were clogged when we moved in and the previous property manager did nothing, our helpful property manager came in one day after we called him, fixed our toilet, (handle was broken off), unclogged both sinks and fixed some of our faucet knobs since every single one is put in back wards. He also suggested calling Agnus, about the water pressure since he had tried himself and nothing happened. He had said she can «be extremely slow on fixing things» and if more people constantly complained it MIGHT get done fast. Never was done.
The floor isn’t level anywhere, so door frames are crooked and all the water gathers in the back of the tub, so we have to sweep it into the drain after every use. The entire building is very poorly insulated, so expect high electric bills, Mine was 250 a month, but my neighbor across the hall paid 400 for a couple months. There is no fan in the bathroom, so we have to shower with the door open otherwise mold builds up on the walls.
Also our stove/​oven dials have no temps, so cooking anything is a guessing game. Fridge shelf was broken and never fixed prior to move in, and we couldn’t even tell someone cleaned it before we moved in, the only reason I knew someone did was because we came in (on our move in date) and she requested that we come back at a later date since she was cleaning. We did as requested thinking it would be at least clean when we moved in, wrong.

Sink leaks a steady stream of water but no one can come out here to fix it, so keeping a large cooking pot below the sink is needed.
The building is vintage standard, so upkeep/​maintenance is expected, the only issue is no one will assist you in maintaining it.
If you rent from tbs properties you are 100% on your own. I plan on being in my apt when they show it so I can tell the people seeing it exactly what to expect if/​when they move in.

All please beware and do not make the same mistake that I did moving into one of their buildings!! Do your homework, these guys are scum and your living experience will be the he same! I’ve been in the Lakeview/​Lincoln Park location on Mildred and George for 2 years. The only reason I stayed a second was the fact that I didn’t want to deal with moving again.
While many unit may look nice, don’t be fooled with all that is wrong with it and the building. I haven’t been able to take a 15 minute warm shower since I moved in. The water temperature turns scalding hot out if nowhere and literally almost burns you… 200 degrees!!! Then out of nowhere it will go freezing cold. Literally taking a shower here is a painful experience. We called the city and reported them because it’s so horrible. You guessed it, they have done NOTHING to fixit or hardly anything in the place.
Appliances are old, in need of upgrade. There is no fan in kitchen do if you like to cook dinner ever expect a smoke filled apartment.
There are outlets above the stove which is a fire hazard waiting to happen if you plugin any appliances there while the oven/​stove are on.
Insulation is pretty bad too, frost inside the house Ina cold day and expect your heating bill to be $ 175+ per month on top of what they want for rent.
No one salts the back area of the building where you take garbage out and need to access to get to the coin laundry. It’s super icy and dangerous, again reported to the city.
Laundry room just has 2 washers and dryers for all of these units, and they charge 1.25 for each load so be prepared to wait and have loads of quarters handy!
All in all the only positive aspect of this place is the location and they allow big dogs. The rent WAS somewhat reasonable 2 years ago but they have decided to raise it $ 150 each year!!! thats insane. And for what? They haven’t upgraded or fixed a darn thing.
You will be forced to move from here for all of the above reasons so why even move in?
I think anyone thinking of renting from TBS Properties should know what they are getting into which is why I’m sharing this. Don’t make the same mistake that I did. Read the reviews before you sign anything!
Best of luck!

I lived in a TBS property for over a year and would (and have) thoroughly recommend this company to any prospective renter. I am confused about previous reviews as they completely contradict my experience — that being said, I am a clean, respectful renter and had little reason to engage with management on an ongoing basis. I leased a gorgeous apartment in Lincoln Park, which was very well maintained and serviced by a kind and attentive janitor. I am useless around the house, and he was quick to assist me with various handyman tasks (such as assembling new furniture) and was onsite almost immediately in a bout of bad weather to check that everything was ok.
Being new to Chicago, I had a number of questions about leasing in the area. Agnes patiently responded to each of my queries in a timely manner, each time providing plenty of information and tips to help me settle into my new home.
Considering my newness to the city, I invested a lot of time in comparing rental prices in my preferred neighborhoods. In terms of both location and amenities, TBS properties was by far the best value for money.

I lived at a TBS property for a year and thoroughly enjoyed my experience. While we did go through a transition with our maintenance gentleman towards the beginning of my year, I will say that the new gentleman was always accessible by phone and would come out within 24 hours to fix any maintenance needs. I am a very low maintenance tenant so when an issue does come up, I am pleased when it is resolved quickly and efficiently.

I have a family of mice that live in the wall, see them scurrying around, and have thousands (literally, I am not exaggerating) of mouse droppings in one room. You can hear them squeaking in the walls, too. I hear them now as I type.
When I saw the place before I moved in, the girl had so much crap everywhere, I could not really see all that was wrong. And I didnt read any reviews about TBS. I’ve been regretting it since.
I moved in and the window pains were all cracked, every one of them. One of them shattered while I was trying to close it. The wall was coming apart, looked like from water damage, but they denied that. They said it was just because it was old. I am a Masons daughter, and I have eyes, I know what mold is. The floors have gaping holes in them. The molding is rotted with paint chippings on the floor. In the winter it is FREEZING because of no insulation. Be prepared to pay around $ 300 for electric heat. The list can go on.
My kitchen was SWARMED with roaches, even during the day, which implies there is an infestation of them already living in the walls. The bathroom ceiling collapsed. COLLAPSED, due to a leaky pipe from the bathroom above it. Took them THREE months and a threatening letter to fix it. The ceiling, not the pipe. It will happen again.
The tenants can be LOUD. Like, 4 am just came back from a club and put the music on as loud as it was in the club, loud.
Two people literally just tried to enter my apartment to show it today WITHOUT ANY NOTICE. NO PHONE CALL, NOTHING. Can you say ILLEGAL! The first time was 10:30am, they rang the bell, and when I did not answer (because who the hell is ringing by bell this early on a Saturday? Definitely not UPS!), they proceeded to put the keys in the door to enter. I had no pants on! This was the maintenance dude. He then asked if they could come in. Um, NO. The second time the bell rang I was IN THE SHOWER. I rushed out, barely had time to wrap a towel around myself as I opened the door the maintence mans wife (who also takes care of the property) was about to put the keys in to enter! I opened the door basically naked — hair dripping and a towel around me — and the realtor guy said, «oh, you must have been the disconnected number I have». Nope. Have had the same number for 3 years. You just didn’t call, «bro». And just tried to enter my HOME, where I pay RENT and have RIGHTS, with no notice. Illegal.
3817 ½ N Greenview Apt 1w. DO NOT RENT.
This post cannot be deleted because that would be illegal, it would violate my constitutional right for freedom of speech.
And my duty to warn.

Still ZERO stars. In fact, we should be able to dip into the negatives, here, folks. Very bad, if any, communication (bordering on illegal, if you ask me). If you can avoid a TBS-​managed property — do! I’m leaving a great area, but I couldn’t be happier about my decision. Good luck!

If I could give them zero stars, I would. Literally the worst management company I have ever dealt with, and I’ve moved almost every year for the past 14 years.
The apartment was in sad shape when I moved in — the very nice family who manages the building (3711 N. Hoyne) had just cleaned, but there was no painting, no repairs. The walls were marked up and still had nails sticking out. The bathroom looked like it had the pods from the movie Cocoon growing out of the ceiling. The toilet seat didn’t stay on and the toilet tank lid was cracked in half. I was horrified, but I made my bed, so I did what I could to make it homey. Too bad I couldn’t have gotten rid of the management company.
If rent is late, they charge you a $ 40+ fee. Nevermind that I actually sent it through the mail early, it just never arrived at their offices — they said that wasn’t their fault. Well, it wasn’t mine either. They continuously tried to charge me a $ 50 application fee even though I explained multiple times — and send a canceled check as proof — that I paid it to their rental service company.
There is ONE washer and ONE dryer for the entire 20 apartment building. I never got to do laundry.
After a really hard rain, leaks sprung up in my bathroom. Dirty water was running down the walls in the bathroom and kitchen. A huge water bubble formed behind the paint right above the toilet. I called TBS, and they told me to call the maintenance man. He came, popped the bubble, and that was it. Forget the fact that at the next hard rain, more dirty water came in. I had to remove everything from the medicine cabinet because it was even leaking inside it.
The icing on the cake: They raised the rent $ 100. I’m pretty sure this is because I painted the whole apartment to make it look half way decent, and being as greedy as they seem to be, they figured they could get more for it. Needless to say, I got the hell out. The best part was that they finally decided to do something about the Cocoon pods on the bathroom ceiling — because they were now showing it to new, unsuspecting tenants. But they didn’t FIX any leaks. They just scraped off the pods and patched it over. So it will happen again.
When I started looking for new places, I flat out told any rental agents that I refused to live anywhere that TBS managed. I wish I would’ve read all the Unilocal reviews before subjecting myself to them the first time. Live and learn.

This place is the worst place I have ever lived. I wish I would have read the reviews before I signed the lease. Be prepared to have the rent raised when you go to resign. Ours got raised $ 200 it is not worth what we were paying originally. I found mice in my bed room and they never did anything about it. My toilet exploded and they used my towels to clean it up then left them in my bath tub after they left. When I called them to fix it he acted like do I really have to and then said he would be there soon. A while later he showed up after I crawled behind the toilet to turn the water off because it was flooding into the hallway. And it was not clean water lets just put it that way.
Every time I call the office they act like it is such an inconvenience for them to talk to me. They also say their hour are from 9 – 5 don’t expect anyone to be there for you until at least 11 or noon.

I’m hoping that this Unilocal add will be read by the owner or customer relations specialist who can help me. I have spoken with Agnes who says that she is the only supervisor who can help me. I’m hoping there are systems in place with higher management so I can reach out to someone else.
Today the heat in our building went down, and no one was in the office until 11:40am to respond to our calls. This is frequent, they make their own hours and mostly run on European hours. So if you are needing help, it’s very hard. A business where there is only one supervisor and she won’t tell you who she reports to is very unsafe.
Since I couldn’t get in contact with anyone, I phoned City Services to report them. Finally they reacted and sent their repairman to help.
Agnes first said that the radiator was not working, but then, hours later said that we had made the whole thing up and it was fine. So, her story didn’t really make sense. We were just trying to get our heat turned back on!
My main concern is their lack of customer service and specifically, the fact that we were in a very bad situation and there was no one to help us. Agnes as the head administrator is a great way to turn off customers and get them to write Unilocal reviews like this. She would rather fight with you than help fix your problem, which in our case, was no heat when we pay for heat included in our rent.
Overall, I would never recommend TBS properties to anyone who cares about where they live! Be careful — do not sign with them!

Wow. Awful. Rent elsewhere.
I’ve unfortunately been here two years, only because of moving costs to relocate. I’m finally moving out and I could not be happier to write this review.
Someone came to see my apartment last week and asked me questions about the management. I was glad I was home. They are AWFUL. Really, check out other places. The maintenance man is ill and incapable of doing anything. He also has an awful attitude.
Agnes in the office appears to be nice, but she’s also awful. Good luck getting any repairs done when needed. I’ve had a leaky faucet under the sink for months now and no one returns my calls. I also had a broken toilet for months and they tried to blame it on us.
Ridiculous. Really. Find a good landlord. Not worth it. Apartments are spacious but that is IT.