Keystone Management

All the properties Keystone manages is owned by one individual, Daniel Ohebshalom. He also owns Keystone. He is notorious for running old, out of shape, and cheap apartments and scamming people for their money.
My experience living in one of Keystone’s properties was awful. Mold, termites, water leaks, and break ins were a common occurrence. Management hardly ever did any thing to fix the issues. Packages were repeatedly stolen because of broken exterior gates.
This entire company is rigged, including each of their employees. Robin will lie to you all day to get you off their butt. Stay away from all Keystone properties AT ALL COSTS and take them to court if you’re in trouble!

I have resided in my NYC apartment since 1979. when the previous owners died the building was sold to Keystone MTG. We have had our rents frozen since 2006 by the courts because they proveded no services. They are bring me to court because I had the rent refoze b/​c they didn’t clean the hallways or shovel snow. I had to pay the super next door to shovel snow early in the morning. When they turned off the hot water there was no sign stating such. When I requested a new door I waited two years than I called the city they came to inspect my door than the city ordered the management to provide me with a new door. Last Month the man on the first floor had a leak he called the management many times they would not respond. He called the city who came out to look and made the management fix the leak. They are now taking me to court stating Im residing in florida. They know I“m not but Im a troublemaker so they want me out. The Management had 12 empty apartments for many years then they decided to rent them like B&B’s for the weekend or the week. The city came but, came to late someone tiped the management off. now they can only rent by the month. However many short turm renters come don’t leave their apartments and smoke pot all day and night. the stench was comming into my apartment and on my cloths smelt of SKUNK I had to threaten to have the tenents evected. The management doesn’t know who they are renting to they could be renting to terrorists .
I reciently went for a confrence with the managements lawyer. He refussed to look at any of the proof that i have beeen working in NYC for 25 years. He wants to take me to court. There are many mice abd roches in the building and at the confrence they ordered the management to provide services to me. This is the worse management but i’m like a pit bull if i bite you its all over with. I will be sueing them for harrassment and trama.

I have been a tenant for four + years in one of Keystone’s NY buildings. I can only speak from my own experience, however I have really enjoyed my apartment. And I am super picky! My NYC dream come true! No place is perfect, however, what I think also makes Keystone stand out from the rest is the people. In particular the Tenant Relations Manager Robin is absolutely outstanding. She has helped with various issues, and does it swiftly, with great intelligence, warmth, and care. The other person who helps make such a great difference is Paula, who is the Maintenance contact. When we have had problems in the past she has quickly, kindly, and thoughtfully addressed it. That’s incredibly important, especially when you compare it to the normal response of maintenance in other NYC buildings. Robin and Paula’s amazing support for the tenants is a huge plus. That is a great value, combined with enjoying the apartment, and helps make me a happy tenant.

BIGGEST SCAMS IN USA! They are a company based in Cali but rent out apartments in nyc. They took our security deposit and the tenants before us too. We know the previous tenants, we moved in 2 hours after they moved out and charged them for painting, redoing the hardwood floors, professional cleaning fees and for new shower curtain (HA we brought in our own!!!). Because we moved in right after we know they didn’t clean (actually I cleaned hard core) they didn’t repaint the ugly purple walls, nor did they polish the hardwood floors.
Come at the end of our lease, THEY CHARGED US FOR THE SAME THINGS! We repainted the ugly purple walls with our own money and time, but they charged is $ 945 for «painting fees».
Avoid this scummy «business».
I would leave 0 stars but Unilocal makes me leave at least 1.

Keystone has a habit of limping major maintenance issues along, rather than shelling out money and fixing them properly.
First it was our laundry room — out of commission for nearly 4 months. Keystone’s solution was to put a sign on the door reading «Laundry room will be open again in 2 weeks!» As the months dragged on, the endless trips to the local laundromat were a drag, but as soon as we saw that «two weeks» sign, hope sprung anew in our hearts. Two weeks! That’s not that far away, right? We closed our eyes, and dreamed of working dryers. Not that big a deal.
But then, it was major leakage in our living room wall. A major plumbing overhaul is still needed, but Keystone’s solution was to patch the pipes — intermittently, as they leaked into our apartment. We spent last winter with sheets over our furniture in the living room, coughing on drywall dust and occasionally shooing our cats away from the 5-​foot hole in the wall full of exposed plumbing. Fun!
Now, it’s been going on two days without hot water for half the apartments in our Keystone-​managed building. (For the record, this is the second time in two months that this has happened.) I called yesterday — twice on their emergency maintenance line, and once on their regular line, and received no response. Today, I called again, understandably frustrated at the lack of action, and spoke to a woman who — in addition to being completely unapologetic about the situation — interrupted me at every turn, and was completely rude. But what better way to practice being assertive, right? My therapist says I need to be better at this. At the very least, I was able to conjure up some fond memories of debate team in high school. «Are you aware that an apartment without hot water is viewed as uninhabitable by the state of California?» I said that! I said those words! Thanks, Keystone!
In addition to this, my oven has not held a steady temperature for nearly a year. I’ve called endlessly about this to no avail — instead of replacing the oven, Keystone’s solution was to give me a thermometer, so I can adjust the temperature myself. When I set the oven to 250*, occasionally it will be 400*, occasionally 500*! I look forward to this grand adventure the next time I try to bake a loaf of bread.
In contrast, our on-​site maintenance team and on-​site manager are lovely, and it’s a shame to see them held hostage to Keystone’s absolute unwillingness to maintain their buildings and treat their tenants properly. Avoid ‘em!

DO NO RENT HERE. Parc Centre Apts on Amherst Drive in Burbank. The 13^th month free will not be there since they keep your deposit. Increased monthly rent $ 100 a year once they get you into a year’s lease. Unilocal, they kept my deposit and Unilocal, they now want another $ 750 for alledged repairs not made, repainting and cleaning. none of which was needed. By CA law, they cannot even charge to repaint after two years of living in an apartment. Nail holes for pictures are $ 35 each so u cannot hang pictures. I had several people walk through with me before I turned in the keys and each said it still looks new. take videos before u move in and after you move out. use independent witnesses. u will need them in small claims court if u have the time to deal with Keystone mgt. to get your deposit back. Noise due to traffic and single pane windows. two blocks from I-​5 noise on quiet evenings and early morning hours. no privacy in conversations on phone from upstairs to downstairs units. hardwood floors transmit all noises and conversations. dirty heating system gas rising from ground floor with dirt. sprinkler system cannot be predicted. overspray on your cars recycled water leaves stains. better to pay 150 more and get gated parkkng and central air. you will pay that the next two years anyway and save on moving again. Window AC unit will NOT cool your unit in bedrooms. Outside walkers and cars prohibit windows open in fall and spring. look elsewhere.

I wish I would’ve read these reviews BEFORE renting my apartment in NYC… from Keystone.
Worst experience ever. Even if the apartment is an amazing deal, DO NOT GO WITH THEM. You WILL regret it.
I spent 6 months fighting with them over the phone to get a new door for my apartment installed. The door knob broke because my door was dragging on the floor and it required a bit of force to get it closed. They only took a little more than a week to come put a new door knob on… even though this was an EMERGENCY repair because I couldn’t shut or lock my apartment. After this incident, with the door still dragging, I called and called to get them to come and replace the whole door. They eventually came out and took pictures… I waited a few weeks and followed up… GUESS WHAT? They accidentally deleted/​lost the pictures… would have to come out and do it again… this happened a few times until about 3 months into the process, they SAID they finally ordered the door. Follow up call after follow up call… it turns out the door was back ordered… and then the door they ordered WAS THE WRONG SIZE… needless to say, I FINALLY got a new door put on 6 months later… I’m surprised they didn’t try to charge me for it.
Then, when I moved out, they witheld $ 500 of ridiculous fee’s from my security deposit. In this was a $ 200 «cleaning fee» they charge everyone (apparently) for «disinfecting the toilets and such»
…well, a friend of mine already living in the building (subletting from someone else’s lease), moved down into my apartment THE DAY AFTER I MOVED OUT. SHE AND I had cleaned my whole apartment, disinfecting everything. Yet they still charged me for something THEY NEVER DID.
Now it looks like I’ll have to work with a lawyer to get my security deposit back.
***Edit /​update:
I’m still trying to get the security deposit back. It’s a frustrating process. 1 month after I sent in these documents (2 months after moving out), I had the guarantor of the apartment call to try to get some answers/​confirm the letter was received. It was received and had been passed on to the owners (yay) and that I could expect a response by the end of January (…hopefully).
I do realize that many of the employees of Keystone are in fact nice people and can be helpful. The unfortunate events I dealt with led me (and it looks like quite a few other people) to leave these negative reviews. I guess I would recommend to Keystone to encourage all their tenants who use Unilocal to leave reviews to try to get a less «skewed» opinion. I’m sure there are some tenants who have rented from Keystone who have been very pleased.

Keystone Management’s reputation is deservedly awful!
Generally, I do not think about my management company because my interactions with landlords and managers are infrequent and transactional. But Keystone is a special exception: their standard operating procedure is to try to cheat their way into extracting profit from their tenants, and that obviously crosses a line.
At the outset, a Keystone rep told me that the company automatically withdraws rent from all of its tenants’ bank accounts, which I don’t believe is actually true. Then, when Keystone botched the process of making the withdrawals from my account, they charged me for it. If I had not scrutinized my bank statement, I would not have known.
Within a few months of moving into a Keystone apartment, I received a notice on my door from one of the tenants in my building urging the other tenants to demand that Keystone provide adequate heating for the winter because the apartments were freezing for months during the prior winter. Fortunately, Keystone decided to turn on the heat this year, but when my heater broke and I requested maintenance, the situation turned into a farce. Call after call, maintenance person after maintenance person, I realized that the maintenance people weren’t given the tools, literally, to do their jobs.
I hope that this information is helpful to people who are careful enough to google a management company before signing a lease. If you are still looking get a feel for what the reviews here are describing, read the NY Times story on «DecorMyEyes» and imagine Keystone Management as the DecorMyEyes of your apartment.

The only reason I gave them a star was due to the fact that you have to on Unilocal in order to post a review. Stay far, far away from Keystone. I have never had so many issues in one apartment. Why would a California company even bother having property in NYC if no one is even around in the area to assist with problems? We lost heat and hot water for days this winter in the bitter cold. It wasn’t so much the heat that was the problem, but try going to work without a shower. Yuck. Oh we also have lost electricity, I have bleached down the bathroom on a daily basis due to mushrooms growing in our shower (yes, legit mushrooms), and they treat you like you are worth nothing, but have no problem robbing you blind. Someone needs to sue them and bring them down to bankruptcy level, so they know how all of their tenants feel.

Renting from Keystone was one of the worst experiences of my entire life. Yes, worse than being cheated on or losing loved ones.
I had heard horror stories about renting in NYC before – so when I heard that this was a California-​based management company, I thought «Ohh wonderful. I won’t have to deal with NYC swindlers.» Ohhh boy. Who could have guessed these guys would be far sketchier than I could have imagined at the time. I also had the luxury of having some of the worst brokers in the history of mankind. But anyway.
To make a long LONG story short, from ambivalence over brokers’ fees (they promised to pay them – we ended up paying them $ 2500), to controversy over putting in a temporary wall (is it really possible to have heard 3 conflicting answers re: whether or not this was allowed?), to being charged $ 1200 for a broken heater that NEVER WORKED TO BEGIN WITH (isn’t it illegal to not have heat in NYC for 2 months in the winter?), to losing $ 1500 in security deposit money for using the only contractor allowed by the freaking management company and having our walls slightly damaged, I just can’t even begin to understand how we lost nearly $ 5000 to Keystone in «extra fees.»
So unbelievably wrong. In so many ways.
I literally broke down and started sobbing on the phone with them at one point. I don’t usually cry so to have been SO broken down… ahh it was scary.

I AM NEVER EVER RENTING FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN! I don’t care if this is the last apartment in this area or if I have to pay more for another apartment. THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST MANAGEMENT COMPANY I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED. If I could give them zero stars, I would.
When my roommate and I first rented, they promised us $ 100 off the first six months rent. They didn’t give it to us and we didn’t notice until a few months in. We had to keep calling in to bug them about it.
Slow and ineffective maintenance:
–My roommate and I had to call management many times. We had a cockroach and termite problem. The cockroaches didn’t go away even after they supposedly did something about it. They were everywhere (on our counters, in our bathroom, on our couch. they were even LIVING IN OUR MICROWAVE and would come out every time we microwaved our food). It got to the point where it would be weird not to see one throughout the day. Months went by and they never got the job done (though we called in multiple times to complain). We got fed up and bought cockroach baits ourselves.
–There is now something squeaking in the apartment. At first I thought it was the smoke detector, but the squeaking continued even after I turned off the alarm. It’s this annoying high pitch noise that occurs every 30 seconds and seems to come from the walls. I can’t locate it and have called in to management to have them fixed it. I called in over a week ago and they still haven’t come in nor called me back to address the issue. It’s gotten progressively loud to the point where I can no longer sleep in the bedroom.
–The faucets leak and the water that comes out of the pipes is often yellow/​brown. They have not done anything about this though we’ve complained.
–They have a tendency to turn off the water supply without warning. They don’t call you or post up notices to tell you they’re shutting it off. It happened at various hours ranging from 10AM to 4PM. Two of those times, I was showering, so you can imagine how annoying that was.
Like other reviewers said, they are one of the rudest and most unorganized management companies I have ever encountered. One of their staff members actually had the nerves to call me, yell at me, threaten me and then hang up. This was all because I asked people upstairs to quiet down when I was trying to sleep with these exact words: «Can you please quiet down? I’m trying to sleep.» She said I caused her to lose a potential tenant and threatened to sue me. I apologized and I told her I’ve heard noise upstairs late at night so I thought people were living there, but she refused to let me talk and continued to yell, «How dare you?! You have no right to do that!!! You’re not even on the lease!» After yelling at me for two minutes, she hung up on me. I called back and asked someone in human resources to clarify this «you’re not on the lease» issue, but she said the only person who could do that was the woman who yelled at me (she’s in charge of tenant relations. SERIOUSLY NOW?). I refused to talk to her (saying again and again that I wasn’t comfortable talking to her) and the woman on the phone made me tell her my name claiming, «You’re talking to me now so what’s your name and address?» After telling her, she hung up on me and the woman who yelled at me called me. To me, this is a total disregard of my feelings. My roommate called the woman who yelled at me the next day and asked her what the issue was and it turns out I was only listed as a guarantor (which is ridiculous because I don’t even have a job). The woman ended up ranting to my roommate and wouldn’t let her speak calling me a «crazy woman» and threatening to evict me. She said that we have to call in to the company and ask if they’re doing a showing. She said it’s not their job to give us a notice if they are. Their job is only to «give you an apartment and make sure you pay the lease.» My mother and I both signed forms (me as an occupant and her as the guarantor) with the notary that was present at the management company’s office back in September. They obviously messed up the paperwork and is not taking responsibility for it. They said there would be extra fees to add me on the lease (which I already paid when I signed the forms!)
Unprofessional much?

We have been tenants for a few years in one building. We shouldn’t have stayed but the location was perfect. Keystone Management is abusive and takes advantage of their tenants in more ways I thought possible.
I’m only going to list the worst of the worst:
–Roof leaked every rainy season, left large brown stains on the ceiling, and forced us to move our computers again and again. We complained for months and finally filed a complaint with LA County. We now have a new roof and don’t have to play musical chairs with our computers.
–Raccoons living in the roof space above our apartment. They get in through an opening between two eaves. Every winter the animals live, breed and fight above us. We have complained verbally to the apartment manager who is so afraid of the Keystone staff she never says anything. We have called and written Keystone. They told us to go buy a trap.
–Office staff obviously hates their jobs and are rude and angry — which makes them useless. The owner has to be called on every little change — including — I’m not kidding — new washers for faucets.
–One summer our vintage 1980s A/​C window unit died. The maintenance guys were not allowed to purchase a new unit and could not find a refurbished one. We suggested that they get a unit from one of the empty apts. Their response? What if someone moves in? I had to convince them to switch out the units since that day it was 104 and our apt. *had* tenants. That’s how frightened the staff is of whomever runs Keystone. (The owner’s name is kept a secret — I wonder why.) (No I don’t.)
–One year they raised our rent $ 200 and every year (they only do annual leases — no month-​to-​month) they ask for the difference in our deposit so it matches the new rent. It’s not nice, but it’s legal.
–The laundry room was closed for 3 months. The entire building complained and were told by the office manager tenants were not guaranteed a laundry room. The building manager wrung her hands and apologized but did nothing. So the entire building carried their baskets of dirty laundry to their cars and drove the local laundromat. LA County came in –again– and forced them to fix the laundry room.
I could go on and on but the bottom line is save yourself the trouble.
Do *not* rent from this guy and his company. You’ll regret it and it will cost you time and money to fight for a decent place to live.

They are swindlers! They specialize in buying up rent controlled apartments in NYC and LA and then driving people out by harassment so they can charge higher rent. Our apt was not rent controlled, but they still didn’t make repairs, we didn’t have hot water or heat in the winter many times etc. When we finally moved out they gave us about a ¹⁄₃ of our security deposit back claiming damage to the apartment and bogus late fees.
So we took them to court and won. It isn’t impossible! Fight back against them. They might try to intimidate you, but you should know that they are incredibly incompetent and if you keep good records, you can certainly win.
If you are having problems with them now check out the Shalom Tenants Alliance. They have many excellent resources:

Avoid them. This company managed the building I used to live in in Manhattan. THEY WERE THE WORST LANDLORD EVER! I had a leak from the toilet in the apartment above me almost every other month to the point where my bathroom ceiling was in disrepair for almost 6 months on and off, and it took them almost a month to «fix» it every time with no significant reduction in rent. I had numerous phone battles with them over it and they refused to budge. Saying it was normal maintenance. When I moved out, they took over a 2 and a half moths to return my security deposit when I left the apartment in better shape than I found it. And they had the audacity to take out almost $ 1000 for unexplained late fees and repairs a portion of which was for bogus late fees that I had already resolved with them. I took another 2 months to get the refund for their mistake regarding that! They are incredibly unorganized at their tenants expense, and my stress never ended with them.