Helm Management

I don’t understand how anyone can give this management company a positive review. I moved in to the Saint 4 months ago and have had nothing but problems. The management company is rude and disrespectful and does not respond to emails or phone calls. The only person you can get a hold of is the secretary who tells you that the building manager, John will call you back later that same day. Mark my words you will never get a phone call back. John the building manager, is conveniently ALWAYS in a «meeting».
In the month of March we had 12 days with no heat or hot water. Just last week we had two days without heat and hot water. In the month of March the no heat and hot water was due to a gas leak which they failed to inform anyone about. (Safe, right?) Furthermore they gave each apartment a $ 50 concession for the lack of hot water and heat for those weeks. This is a slap in the face and completely illegal and against tenants rights.
Please do not move into this building. The building manager is completely incompetent and useless. He will definitely not call you back. He will definitely not respond to your emails. And he definitely will not have any problems you have resolved. This is possibly the worst management company in New York City.
The only reason why this place deserves a one star rating is due to the super who actually gives a crap about the tenants living here.

Absolutely awful management company. The building that I am currently living in had 2 weeks without running hot water. Under the lease, the company is obliged to provide this basic amenity. Instead of providing re-​compensation for the rent, the company gave only a $ 50 «goodwill» repayment per apartment unit when it should have paid up to 10x more.
The company is non-​responsive when there are issues and unprofessional. This is a cheap company with rude employees that will scream and threaten to sue you on the phone. DO NOT work with them.

Helm Management is the absolute scummiest, worst management company I have encountered. I have been living in one of their building for less than a year, and have had lots of problems with them.
For starters when I first signed the lease, I asked to move in one day early, as there was a one day gap between my old apartment and my new one. Though I begged and pleaded, they insisted I could not move in because they needed that day to get the apartment move-​in ready (despite that no one had been in that apartment for 2 weeks prior to my move-​in). When I moved in NOTHING was ready. The walls were scuffed, the apartment was dirty, and the A/​C unit was broken (I moved in in August).
Secondly, my roommates and I needed to have a few lightbulbs changed. They wanted to charge us $ 50 to do so.
But this week has been the last straw. We have been living without hot water, heat, and gas for the past week. We were notified of the the gas being turned off as it was occurring– no forewarning. The management says they are fixing it but it keeps getting delayed, and they lied to tenants about it saying that the job was complete and needed approval from ConEd, only to send us another email saying that the job was in fact not done. They sent that email at 4:50PM, 10 minutes before their offices close, so that no one could call in and complain. THAT is the kind of management they are. We have emailed them throughout this ordeal asking for an explanation and compensation for the situation. They have ignored us and have not even responded though the email was sent days ago.
If you want to save yourself a lot of stress, DO NOT sign on with Helm.

What is up with all of these terrible reviews???
I’ve been a resident of the Saint for the past 7 years and have nothing but great things to say about the Helm Management team. My experiences with other management companies were not always positive, so I have a good frame of reference and can honestly review my experience in this building. This is not a fake profile — I live in 3b and would be happy to answer any questions you might have about The Saint or their management.
Admittedly, I am not the easiest person to please (one might even call me a pain in the ass). And yet, in 7 years, I have never had anything but positive experiences dealing w/​Helm. If I ever need any kind of assistance, the work is completed no later than the next day. The maintenance staff is efficient and always available — super friendly too, I have most of their cell #s stored as contacts. We’ve been through a few supers over the years and they’ve all been great. I’m always locking myself out or breaking stuff in my apartment, so I’ve gotten to know them all.
The building is always clean and well-​maintained –no bugs, no mice, etc (that is heaven in NYC). I would recommend the building to any prospective tenant (I already do when I see the brokers showing people around). It feels like home to me and it is not likely that I will move any time soon. I live in an amazing apartment and the location is ideal.
I’m not sure why there is so much hatred towards the office staff/​owners either — i LOVE them and find them to be VERY accommodating. No shadiness whatsoever. I’ve had to drop my rent check off quite a few times on the 5^th and have never been charged any late fees. I renew every year for a reason — I am completely satisfied with my living arrangements and think Helm does a great job of managing the property. Seriously, no complaints.

I really don’t think Helm deserves the bad rep I see it getting on Unilocal.Everyone I interacted with who works there is pretty friendly and understanding, and I think they did a pretty decent job overall at managing the property I lived at. I lived at the Saint for a year (2015), and in terms of:
— Cleanliness; Jermaine the super kept all parts of the building very clean (entryway, elevator, hallways, roof, refuse rooms, laundry)
— Maintenance: The few times I had things that were broken (eg dishwasher), I emailed them and they got it fixed the next day
— Communication: Was pretty easy to phone them to communicate. They missed a few emails here and there but I always felt I could reach them if I really needed to
— Deposit: They could have been more timely on returning my deposit upon move out, it took them about a month to get the check ready. But I had no issues getting my full deposit back itself
— Friendliness: I was always friendly towards Jon, Maria, Jermaine, Carlos and I thought they were always pretty courteous/​fair in return.
— Financials: I never got an unreasonable charge from them.
That said, they could improve on how they accept rent checks (by mail only). But overall, I’d recommend this management company — they’re pretty understanding and I do think they do a decent job and in good faith.

I had already planned to write a scathing review of this company a few weeks ago. Thank goodness, I didn’t have time because this week really added to my loathing of this company.
At this time, I have been without hot water for 4 days. I sent 3 emails and never got a response. Yesterday, they at least had the super out looking at the pipes. Today, still no hot water, and I don’t even hear anyone working on it. I call to ask when they think we will have hot water again and their response is «well we just approved a company to come out and fix it, so someone will be out there soon.» Well, thanks, with that helpful information, I’ll just continue boiling water in my sauce pan and tea kettle in the hopes of having a hot bath sometime tonight.
The staff is astoundingly unprofessional, when I wanted to renew my lease, it took 4 emails before I could get a response. On the 4^th email, someone sent me a renewal with the wrong dates and (unbeknownst to me) the incorrect renewal fee. I sent it back, asking for one with updated dates, they corrected the date, I signed, paid and figured I was good. No, 4 months later, they come back saying that they actually put the incorrect amount and I owed another $ 125. I asked what assurances I had that they wouldn’t come back for more money later (since I had already signed the renewal) and their response was, well it’s the amount in the new renewal we sent you. Seeing as the renewal letter really didn’t hold a lot of weight with me, I asked if I could get confirmation of the amount from the building owner, and they said no, they had nothing in writing from him, but he wouldn’t sign until I paid more money, so I was basically living on a month-​to-​month lease and they could kick me out when they wanted.
The only good news in all of this is that because I’m apparently on a month-​to-​month lease anyway, because of their colossal screw ups, I’m currently researching new apartments, where hopefully, I’ll be able to take a warm shower.

Disrespectful. Unresponsive. Unprofessional. Not easy to work with. Cheap.
I’m moving out after two years in my apartment owned by Helm. I thought it wasn’t too bad and it went fast being new to NYC but it has been a battle both years and we can’t get out of our apartment fast enough.
We’ve had water leaking down our walls and have sent multiple emails, only one which has gotten a reply email. Their reply ensured prompt attention but surprise, no one ever came. There also was another leak in one of the bedrooms which was simply painted over and never properly fixed. In the 2 years we have lived here, we have not had a working intercom/​buzzer system. On numerous occasions we were told that the whole building was actually getting a new system so it should be fixed soon… right ok, I think I will actually just move out now.
In the two years that I have lived here, only 3 apartments still have the same tenants, with high turnover and up to 3 times for some of the apartments. We have filed complaints with the city, and the building itself has received many citation from the sanitation department.
Let me also mention the times where we would come home to find that our apartment had been entered without prior notice. On multiple occasions, we would notice that none of our issues had been fixed, leaving us to question why they would be in our apartment. Twice, though it seemed apparent by the lack of flushing of our toilets, that they simply needed to use the bathroom.
We also had a major issue with radiators. The floors in our apartment are warped near the radiators due to water that at times would literally gush from them. It became so bad, that we opted to forgo heat and have them removed.
Helm also only takes check by mail. They have no dropbox at their office and they are only open between 9am & 5pm. They also tried to screw us over twice with late fees and still have not removed them from our account event after documentation showing post dates, communications with our banks, etc.
You also can never get a hold of anyone. The number of emails, phone calls, messages unanswered us countless. Helm simply does not care. I should have known this wasn’t a good situation from the day I was supposed to move in. On the plus side my apartment was getting renovated. On the down side, the renovation wasn’t done when I showed up on moving day and I had received zero notice. I slept on my mattress in one of their apartments they had just started renovating for 3 days.
I cannot tell you enough how much you do not want to live in a building run by these people. I’ve never encountered less polite, less accommodating, unprofessional, rude business people in my life. They will try to screw you over and nickel and dime you until you literally don’t even care about sacrificing your security deposit.
Lesson learned, read reviews on future management companies and get out early if it ends up being hell. Life is too short and we shouldn’t be supporting these people with our rent checks.

Helm management is a horrible company to rent from. The apartment I rented is in a nice location with good amenities, however, management could care less about its tenants. They are slow to respond to questions or problems with the apartment, and absolutely ruthless with late fees. They claimed they had never received my check one month, although I checked the address on the envelope multiple times, and it was never returned in the mail. When I noticed the money hadn’t been withdrawn from my account I immediately called and brought a new check in the next day in person. When I spoke with Maria on the phone she seemed to be very nice, however, was extremely misleading. She said it was no problem for me to bring the check in the next day, and when I asked if there was a late fee she neglected to share that information with me. So not only did I have to pay my bank to cancel the first check I sent, but I also I had a surprise penalty fee of $ 200 on next months rent. I asked that the fee be waived, given the circumstances, and as it was the first and only time my check was late. When I called to speak with Maria again she didn’t get back to me for days, and when she finally answered me (via email), she was short and rude. Her response was, «there’s nothing I can do, it’s in the lease under the section on late fees.» I explained that Helm had never even given me a copy of the lease, that’s how disorganized and inconsiderate this company is. In short, this is a poorly-​run, ruthless company, only interested in taking as much of your money as possible. I recommend not renting from them. And I look forward to this lease ending and never having to deal with Helm again.

Living at the Saint for 5 years was pretty great. The location is the best in the city and we got a pretty good deal when we moved in 2010. The building looks nice and modern from the outside but is cheaply made like most modern apartments. Very thin walls, thin cheap doors, low ceilings. But a nice modern kitchen and bathrooms. 2 years ago the hot water would go out all the time too. I think this past winter they fixed it but that was really annoying.
I have to say though Helm can be pretty ruthless when it comes to money. I never had so many dealing with a maintenance /​realty company living anywhere else in the city. I think they’re trying to improve but still there is lots of annoyances. They always seemed pleasant on the phone but I never really trusted them.
The biggest problem is late fee rents. Even if you pay your rent on the 5^th of the month you’re going to get a late fee which for us was around $ 180. Pretty huge ripoff if you ask me. And if in the next month you don’t fully cover that late fee they’ll add another on top. I could see charing $ 50-​$ 75 to be late but almost $ 200?!
Also your rent goes up 6% every year which starts to add up quick. That seems like a lot to me too. Just be mindful of that.
I will say whenever we needed repairs they were pretty quick about them. You just call or email and tell them whats wrong. It was usually pretty smooth. Jermaine, the super, is such a nice and helpful guy. He was so great.
I was a bit upset that we were charged $ 150 to repair a lighting fixture in the apartment when we moved out. All that needed to be done was replace the glass cover of the light but they went ahead and just took out the entire thing. So yeah I think they try to gouge where they can.
So looking back, I really loved living at the Saint. I had a nice clean room at an affordable-​ish cost for the location. Friends would always stop by because of the location. The roof of the building is amazing too! Helm did not make life easy though so just be aware you could have some issues. PAY YOUR RENT ON TIME!

These guys have been great. I have lived in the same building for 5 years now, and I love everything about the property. Helm has been very accommodating to me as I broke my lease to travel overseas. I found a new tenant and couldn’t be happier with the level of service that Helm has provided.

piece of sh*t management company. lying stealing lazy losers that don’t give a crap about anyone

If I could give negative stars, I would. Do not believe the 4 – 5 star reviews — Those are fake reviews, written by people who know and/​or work for Helm.
Since my roommate and I have lived in the apartment, we have experienced excessive leaking (ceiling, radiators. you name it, it’s leaking) none of which has been fixed. The best is when our ceiling was leaking & they simply painted over it. My roommate came home to water all over his personal belongings — clothing, paperwork, and electronics. We have been experiencing these issues for 6+ months.
One of our outlets hasn’t worked since we moved in, neither has our buzzer. The list goes on & on.
Every time we contact Helm, we are greeted with an attitude. They yes you to death, but do not actually FIX anything. They insist that you contact them via email (a long, tiring process) and note that the contact numbers should only be used in case of emergency. I know this is NYC. I know there are a lot of management companies & supers that suck, but not all management companies are like this. We should not have to live like this AND WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SETTLE.
**If you are dealing with issues with Helm Management, go to
and file a complaint!**
More information:
Management companies get away with these things because they can — tenants usually just give up & eventually, move out. Do not let this viscous cycle continue — File a complaint!

If only there were a way to give them negative stars… This is the worst management company I’ve ever dealt with.
Not only are they never in the office and impossible to get a hold of, they are completely unprofessional and downright rude. Although they collect checks they do not maintain their buildings and don’t expect anything (including no hot water) to be fix for many days at a time.
I asked as I wanted to move the square footage of my apartment and the response was «I don’t know». Mind you they own and manage the building and refused to find or give me the answer.
If you can avoid working with them or living in their buildings, please save yourselves the hassle of this horrible management company.

Terrible management company. They just don’t care. Do not care at all. Takes weeks to get anything done, and when they come by to fix something, it’s unbelievably half-​ass and doesn’t fix the problem.

I have now lived in New York for 4 years with 3 different management companies. I would usually say that all NYC mgmt companies suck and there’s no reason to not rent because the mgmt company sucks.
That being said, helm is absolutely a reason not to rent an apartment. I lived in 56 St. Marks 2012 – 2013. Great building– not great enough to outweigh the poor management company.
Do yourself a favor and never live where helm manages

Absolutely awful management company. The people are rude, incompetent, unhelpful, and infuriating. I wish I would have done my research before moving there. FIND ANOTHER APARTMENT!

I write this review as someone that has lived in NYC and fully expects their management company to be terrible. That being said, Helm takes it to a new level.
At the moment, there is a hole (couple feet high by a few feet wide) in my roommates bedroom that leads out onto the scaffolding, covered just by a thin clear tarp. A construction company came in yesterday to knock some holes in our apartment, the second time this summer they’ve done that, even though we were told by Abe (the most untrustworthy sort of fellow you can find) that they would not be knocking holes to install AC units if we didn’t want them to. Since it’s August — obviously we’ve already bought our own AC units — and there has been construction for months, I said we didn’t want them. Lo and behold, I come home yesterday to our couches flipped and tarped over, rubble in the apartment, and two giant holes leading to the outside.
This is just one of many complaints against, them but this is pretty typical. Any complaints I have for them — whether I contact them by email/​phone — are left unresponded to. Actually went to their office today and was turned away at the door, leaving the hole in my apartment just readily available for the many vagrants that hang out in our neighborhood (we caught someone up on our scaffolding at 4 a.m. earlier this summer).
Like I said, the company is so brutal, I have tons more examples about them. Most of the people in my building out are moving out because of them.

Read this review! I think it’s the most important one I’ve written on Unilocal.If you don’t have time to read it all, the main takeaway is to avoid Helm Management at all costs, even if they are offering a rental twice as large as twice as cheap as anything else you have seen; it’s cheap for a reason!
I have the lowest, most realistic expectations possible of a management company. I have lived in New York all my life; I realize it’s a dog-​eat-​dog, cost-​cutting industry. I don’t expect much from management companies at all other than rent collection and sometimes fixing things when they break.
I am astonished at how bad Helm Management is. Absolutely bewildered. Here’s why:
They pushed back our move-​in day by one day so that their people had time to clean and paint after the previous tenants moved out. Okay… well, when we moved in, the guy was in the process of painting the living room. He had missed other rooms in the apartment and admitted that his crew started cleaning painting in the middle of the night when it was dark and hard to see. About a month later, someone came to fix our sink and noted they had done an awful job cleaning and painting. When we asked Helm to correct this by cleaning and painting a second time, they agreed. A year later, and of course, this never happened.
I mentioned a sink problem in the previous paragraph. We noticed that our sink was leaking heavily the day we moved in and pointed it out to the Super. He said it would be fixed with twenty-​four hours. Try twenty-​four days.
There were a few 30 degree days this October. No heat until mid-​November.
My roommates and I mailed in rent on time every month except the month of Hurricane Sandy. $ 300 late fee. In all fairness, they say they’re giving people some leeway for that month, so the fee may be reduced.
There was a leak from our ceiling. I mean, it seemed like our living room was raining. It made our living walls look disgusting. No one has done anything about it.
Everyone complains about the garbage in front of the building. I am picking my battles with these morons, and this one is not at the top of my list, so I won’t get into it.
A pipe under our shower broke so that the tub wouldn’t drain. Our tub was full of gross water for three days before anyone came to fix it.
Before meeting Helm Management, I really didn’t care who my management company was. It was just a name I wrote on my rent checks. Once in a while, they would come fix things a week after I reported them broken. Whatever. That has all changed due to Helm Management. If I were offered a penthouse apartment at $ 1,000/month, but Helm managed the property, I would say «thanks, but no thanks.»
They should really be ashamed of themselves. Someone should be held responsible for the company’s incompetence and they should be fired. Check out the Google reviews of these guys — not a single positive thing was written until the past year when they decided to care about their social media reputation. Trust the older one star reviews; there’s something fishy about any positive review of these slumlords.