Glenside Terrace Apartments

I have a hard time choosing between 1 and 2 stars for this place. It’s a shame, because I feel that this is a huge opportunity being blown. It’s such a convenient location, and the space and storage in the apartments is great. It was a good start for me to get out on my own, and the first year or so there was okay. I did have a problem with my air conditioner, and it took some work to get that taken care of. It was clearly on the fritz, making way too much noise, dimming the lights, and not getting very cold. Maintenance supposedly came out multiple times and didn’t see any of that happening, which is hilarious, because it was pretty obvious. But I did eventually get a brand new air conditioner, so, fine.
My second year+ there was not good at all. There was a leak in the ceiling in my bedroom closet. It was luckily not in the walk-​in closet, but was obviously still a problem. The leak was never fixed. Not only was it never fixed, but the roof kept getting worse and worse. Eventually, a new drip started by the bedroom window, and then a gash opened up in the middle of the bedroom. To top it off, whatever was used to seal off the air conditioners was not enough, because water started coming in around them and dripping onto the floor or running down the walls. My shower also backed up twice. We also lost heat in the winter of 2012, and maintenance did some sort of temporary fix, where we were getting heat, but couldn’t control it with the thermostat. The permanent fix was never done, as I noticed the heat still randomly coming on with the thermostat turned all the way down.
I should mention that another semi-​issue with my particular apartment was that it used to be one giant apartment, but was split into 2 separate units. Because of that, I had already been sharing the use of my thermostat with my neighbor. I think that’s another obvious indicator of the lack of effort put into this building. If you’re going to split the apartment into 2 separate units, at least put the work/​money in to split up the heat.
Basically, management and maintenance will not fix your problems. Even serious problems, like the ones I had. It probably doesn’t help that the building manager changed 3 times since I first moved in. Also, if maintenance does finally manage to come out and fix something, they do not even remotely clean up after themselves. It took a while, but my shower was finally fixed shortly before I moved out, and it was basically just «there, I fixed it». It was left filthy, and that’s not the first time that something like that happened.
It’s just a shame that management is so poor. I was not planning on leaving, but pretty much had to, because the place was falling apart. I’ve read here and elsewhere that others who’ve left had trouble getting their money back. I did a lot of research on this, as I was breaking my lease to leave. Keep in mind that you have rights as a tenant. All leases in PA have an implied warranty of habitability, so if there is any serious defect (like a roof leak) that has not been fixed by the landlord within a reasonable amount of time, you have some options. You can absolutely sue the landlord for rent that you paid while the problem persisted. I unfortunately had to resort to that threat, which I normally wouldn’t do, but I needed to get my money back. I traded in my keys for a check that covered the last month’s rent and security deposit that I paid when I signed the lease.
It also helps to know your lease. I went over it well and even found a portion stating that if the unit was damaged, rent would be reduced by the amount that was damaged. My rent was not reduced, and it actually went up with each lease renewal. The lease also stated that management would notify me 90 days in advance of a rent change on a lease renewal, which didn’t happen. They were consistently late on that. There was a whole section on the tenant being responsible for not allowing mold/​mildew, yet my roof was allowed to leak for over a year. Look for anything that can help you. Take notes of all of your phone calls, or, preferably, have your conversations via email. I had TONS of documentation to back me up, as well as these sites:
Aside from problems with management, the only other possible problem is noise. The walls are extremely thin, and you can hear EVERYTHING. To the point where it sounds like your neighbors are actually IN your apartment. It’s lucky that they were mostly quiet people, but I heard them showering, puking, having sex, knew the details of entire conversations. The train is also very loud, though I was willing to put up with it for the convenience of it, since I take it to work every day. The intersection is also VERY busy and loud. I am MUCH happier where I am now!