16 Cinema Dr Suite 119, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
My girlfriend (now fiancé) and I lived here for three years while enrolled in law school and had a great experience. The building is conveniently located for Cornell graduate students and has some nice amenities (pool table, rooftop patio) and most utilities are conveniently bundled. The apartment manager, Matt, treated us fairly in all respects and was extremely dependable. We didn't have any issue getting our security deposit back at the end of our tenancy. (We did, however, voluntarily opt into the $500 professional cleaning fee.)
Read More ReviewsMy girlfriend (now fiancé) and I lived here for three years while enrolled in law school and had a great experience. The building is conveniently located for Cornell graduate students and has some nice amenities (pool table, rooftop patio) and most utilities are conveniently bundled. The apartment manager, Matt, treated us fairly in all respects and was extremely dependable. We didn't have any issue getting our security deposit back at the end of our tenancy. (We did, however, voluntarily opt into the $500 professional cleaning fee.)
Property Manager Matt Steele rudely took $$$$ from deposit for a professional cleaning fee after move-out (he hired the same cleaning company ‘BH Cleaning’ as he refers this company to every tenants in ‘move-out procedures’ email). He said the apartment is very clean during his move-out inspections, but sent a quote over thousand dollars for cleaning fee. Requiring and enforcing a professional cleaning is against NY State Law. He refused to cure this statutory violation through multiple email communication as well as Better Business Bureau. And said ‘see you in court’ in his last email. I eventually got my deposit back by filing a complaint at ‘Office of the New York State Attorney General’ by citing New York State law Section 7-108 1-a (b)&(e) against Rochester's Cornerstone Group, Ltd. and Cornerstone Property Management LLC. Glad we kept photos and videos of the apartment when moved out and all correspondence in email writing as evidence. YOU DONT NEED TO PAY ANY PROFESSIONAL CLEANING FEE! They can’t charge you for anything NORMAL WEARS AND TEARS! You are absolutely protected by the Law. Hope both Matt and the property management company have corrected their inethical conducts and no longer bill any tenants for unreasonable fees after this incident. If you still see this thing happening here, contact Office of the New York State Attorney General. They do count how many complaints filed and will investigate when they see repetitive patterns! For reference: NY State Law Sec. 7-108 1-a(b) “The entire amount of the deposit or advance shall be refundable to the tenant upon the tenant's vacating of the premises except for an amount lawfully retained for the reasonable and itemized costs due to non-payment of rent, damage caused by the tenant beyond normal wear and tear, non-payment of utility charges payable directly to the landlord under the terms of the lease or tenancy, and moving and storage of the tenant's belongings.The landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit for costs relating to ordinary wear and tear of occupancy or damage caused by a prior tenant.”
I lived here for a year and while the apartment itself was fine and the rooftop was great, I wouldn't recommend this place. The office manager gave me less than a day's notice about move-out procedures (and over text message), and then tried to charge me hundreds of dollars from my security deposit for cleaning, etc. When I replied that because they had taken more than 14 days to send an itemized list of security deposit deductions I was entitled to my full deposit back, per NY state law, I was met with resistance. I sent them the link to the Section 7-108 of NY state law and eventually the company decided to "make an exception" and give me my full deposit back. There were also multiple instances where I found the manager to be unkind. Overall, I wouldn't recommend living here due to management, but the apartments themselves are spacious and fine.
I was working with Matt Steele on a lease agreement and he was very helpful. He sent over the lease on a Friday evening for me to review and like all prospective renters, I was considering several places to live. On Sunday night at 11pm, he sent me 3 emails including telling me that if I didn't leave a deposit by Monday at 10am, he would rescind my lease offer. I'm glad I didn't rent from him given that he was already willing to bully a prospective tenant prior to signing. Update: changed review from 2 to 3 stars as Matt apologized the following day but still a fair warning to prospective renters.
RUN AWAY from this property if you are looking for an apartment to live in Ithaca!!! The property manager will drain every cent from your deposit when the time you move out!!! They will charge you for all kinds of unreasonable expenses and excuses. Have you ever heard of over thousands of dollars $$$$$ cleaning fee even your apartment is very clean but not yet towards perfect professional clean??? Have you ever heard of hundreds of dollars fee out of tenant’s pocket for the manager to work on weekend??? Have you ever heard of the property manager ‘mistakenly’ calculate the deposit return amount and charge you the rent and parking fees that you should not pay for? If I see this review got deleted or disappeared, I will write 10 times more reviews on different platforms!!!
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