Rittenhouse Hill — Attraction in Philadelphia

Many things are poorly maintained. -In the gym, ~half the treadmills in the gym were non-functional, and the ones that did work usually had some other problem like the volume or channel buttons wouldn't work, etc... Also, the wipes containers would usually go 1-2 weeks w/o being refilled, which means the machines usually went w/o being wiped down after use. Moreover, when we moved in we were told of the channels you could watch in on the machines (there are even signs on the walls listing this), however the machines would only get a few channels. I'm not sure if they decided to stop paying the cable bill or what, but it was pretty annoying to be told one thing and later find out on our it wasn't so, which was the typical pattern while living here.

Maintenance requests: MOLD, MOLD, MOLD.... every big rainstorm the ceiling in our hallway would leak and would soak the carpet. I reported this to them, but after living there for 2 years it still would leak every single time it rained and the hallways would always smell of MOLD.

They advertise this place to be "environmentally friendly", however I fail to see the correlation because the windows are SUPER DRAFTY*. We taped a plastic bag to the side of the drafty windows and you could see the bag pick up the breeze. Moreover, the walls are poorly insulated, in the winter the outside walls are very cold and a draft can be felt coming through the electric outlets. To stay warm you have to turn on these loud HVAC wall units that take in a lot of energy. Our electric bill would be 9-10x greater!!!! in the winter months just to keep our room moderately comfortable. This was probably the worse part of living here. We placed several maintenance requests to see if they could do anything, but they were ignored every time - we can only assume they know the windows suck and their is nothing they can do about it. This also made the summer months pretty miserable because the smoke from all the fire pits in the backyard would smoke us out of our apartment. Closing the windows wouldn't help because they were so leaky. My rec is if you have to live here is pick a place not facing the backyard since you will constantly be bombarded w/ smoke.

Parking - I think this has already been mentioned in other reviews, so bottomline, this is a disaster. Cars park in the drive through, they park in the handicapped spaces, there is no enforcement. The worse part is they close parking to guests after 6pm so good luck inviting friends over to hang out. Street parking is available, but the neighborhood is so shady and cars have been broken into in the past that it is not something I would recommend doing.

Neighborhood: NOT GOOD, not exactly the safest place to be living. On one hand its nice that its a gated community, but because of the parking situation, its a struggle to invite people to come over and park their car on the street. Moreover, there is no "hey lets go for a walk around the neighborhood" because of the fear of being mugged.

Comparables: Based the hefty pricetag you could easily find something closer to the city, or if you want something cheaper and want to stay in the area you can find something way less expensive for much more space in the East Falls/Manayunk area. The bang for your buck ratio is definitely not in your favor. For instance, every other place we rented from in the area our water bill was ~$20/month. Here they charge you $50/month for water on top of everything else.

Bottomline: I would never want to live here again. I can only recommend staying away from it - for the reasons above (and many more), but mainly for how fake everything is. When you are a prospective applicant you get the royal treatment, everything looks great on the surface, the staff are super nice to you, but then once you sign the lease good luck getting help with anything - you are perpetually ignored until your lease is up for renewal. Nice on the surface, but terrible underneath....

Great apartment, but you won't get your full security deposit back [ATTN housing advocates and case managers]

If you'd asked me to rate RH anytime before move-out, I'd have given it a 5; my only complaint was that the hot tub was out of order for a while. Unfortunately, because of my recent experience disputing the security deposit, I'm knocking it down to a 3 to warn prospective tenants who might really be depending on that security deposit. I know I'm not the first one to raise this issue, but hopefully this helps someone.

My partner and I spent one year in a 2BR/2BA unit at Rittenhouse Hill. We paid our rent on time and in full, and paid parking fees, pet deposit, and pet rent for our cat all without complaint.

First, let me say (as other tenants have): the apartment itself was great. The maintenance, cleaning, and front desk staff were all lovely - hardworking, professional, and so friendly. Our maintenance requests were all addressed (and in a pretty timely manner).

Now for the "BUT"

When we moved in, we were given one week to complete a pre-move in inspection checklist. We did our due diligence, taking photos of any pre existing damages and noting obvious things on the checklist (scratches and scuffs in the floor, peeled paint, scratches on appliances). I've lived in six apartments in four different states, and never had an issue receiving my security deposit back... if I'd known the level of detail that RH was going to use when doing the final inspection, though, I would have photographed every speck of dust that I found at that first inspection.

Upon move-out, we were given a final inspection checklist, which we used for reference as we cleaned. There were a couple marks on the wall we couldn't get rid of, which we knew we would get dinged for. But upon receiving our final bill, we were shocked to see that $600 had been deducted from our total deposit, primarily for what RH deemed insufficient cleaning (most of which are not spelled out in the final inspection checklist). $100 of these were floor cleaning charges, even though there was no actual damage to the floors and several of the scuffs they'd identified were present at move-in; even after providing photographic proof that this was the case, the management team refused to refund any of the floor cleaning charges. We were also charged $7 for a bit of pet hair laying on top of the A/C unit, which I think is just hilarious since our monthly pet rent is meant to cover pet-related maintenance or cleaning expenses.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are going to need that full security deposit back, consider if this is the right place for you. if you're going to live here, complete that move-in inspection checklist THOROUGHLY (with lots of photos!), clean the apartment to "move-in ready" status (or maybe get a professional cleaner to do it), and make sure you are present at the final inspection to dispute any charges (WITH any photos you took at pre-move in inspection). If possible, you may even want to request a walkthrough before your last day so you have a chance to address any of their concerns. And know that you may still get charged - in which case, I hope you take Post Brothers to small claims court and win. Or, report them to the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer...

If you are thinking of moving here - DONT! I never leave a review but I have to in order to save others from wasting their money. I have attached picture evidence so please take the time to read this.

This is one of the worst places to spend your money and this place is managed horribly. I lived here for 2 years and was planning on renewing my lease but after an unfortunate incident, Rittenhouse Hill insisted that I move out before my lease leaving me with less than 14 days (legal requirement) to move out. I had to pay for a lawyer just for Rittenhouse to follow the law and give me time to move out.

Reasons to why you should save your money:

TRASH - There is always a buildup of trash in the trash room, which makes the apartment floor smell horrible, attracts flies and other disgusting things. You cant leave your apartment without smelling trash. Pictures attached.

UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT - On multiple occasions, I've had people try to break into my door and when I went to Rittenhouse's office to ask for the camera footage and tell them of the situation THEY DID NOTHING. People will break into your car and take your things. When i first moved in, there was a guard outfront and while I was living there they removed the guard, leaving outsiders to come in and out of the lot/apartment. Dogs are off lease etc.

YOUR CAR WILL GET BROKEN INTO - In my 2 years of living here, over 30 cars have been broken into as Rittenhouse removed the security guard outside so outsiders can come into the lot to steal from your vehicle, including my car and I have a 2023 Corvette.

THEY DONT PICK UP DOG FECES - There is dog poop EVERYWHERE, you cant take one step without your shoe covered in poop.

THE ELEVATORS DONT EVER WORK - For an entire summer the elevators didnt not work on side A, leaving us residents to walk to the other side of the building just to get downstairs and upstairs. I have on multiple occasions been stuck in the elevator for minutes at a time before it opened up, which scared my family and I.

MANAGEMENT DOESNT GET BACK TO YOUR INQUIRIES - There was multiple incidents when someone kept trying to break into my apartment and when i went to the office to ask for the camera review, Rittenhouse insisted that it takes weeks for corporate to get back to them, I NEVER HEARD BACK.

THERE IS A PIG LIVING IN HERE - There is a literal pig that lives in the apartment and takes walks outside.

THEY WILL SCAM YOU - Please make sure to take very good video and picture evidence of moving in because they will do their best to overcharge you on every little thing including normal wear and tear - they tried to charge me for lint in a dryer, and normal cleaning that any other resident .

THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY - After moving out, they tried to charge me for an ENTIRE MONTH of rent and other fees AFTER I moved out and returned my keys.

LACK OF DOG ENFORCEMENT - I have a small dog and everytime we go outside, someones dog is off leash. My dog was attacked on multiple occasions and after I went and told Rittenhouse front desk, THEY DID NOTHING.

I have picture and video evidence of each of these things incase they try to come back and...