CHARLESGATE — Local services in Boston

Buyer beware. Charlesgate Real Estate Agents seemed to be fine, they're friendly, responsive, and fairly helpful. Where the nice part of the review ends, once you're in the door you're trapped. Class action suit against this firm should be warranted.

Writing as a tenant, we were deceived and mislead throughout the entirety of our lease, start to finish. Moved into an apartment that was filthy, no shades on windows and almost all of the lighting was out. Back deck rail was rotted through completely and a pure liability for guests. Cleaned apartment and replaced all of the lighting after a month or two of 0 responses. Reported no heat in early September, followed up a dozen times. Demanded electric heaters once the winter months came, finally an 'emergency' repair was made 3 months later before Christmas after pipes were freezing. Also had reported leaking main sewer line to the building, flooding with human feces just feet from a bedroom, this was not resolved until January (4mo's). Think they sent over cleaners about 4 times before finally capping the sewer line. This then caused water to back up consistently into downstairs toilet and shower and would frequently flood bathroom. Multiple floods through foundation in finished basement (never resolved), they claimed failure of sump pumps and would need to wait on insurance claim before contractors could begin work, more months. Numerous personal items flood damaged. Washer machine broke, after a few weeks and with enough experience of 0 follow ups we had an independent contractor repair it. I believe we had 3 different property managers during our lease, each of which failed to ever answer the phone or even respond back to emails in a timely manner (expect 1 month response time). One quoted "I'm too busy to answer the phone or return voicemails, please email me" I suggested they hire assistants... Rent withholding was the only way we could get any response unfortunately. Even came to an agreement for rent abatement 7 months later. We were sold an apartment with 3 attached parking spaces (parked here for 6 months), soon after issues began they started threatening to tow cars citing this was never written into the lease. Fast forward to end of the lease, exactly 30 days later they send us notice that they are commandeering our security deposit. I respond, it takes close to another month for an explanation stating that we had a past due balance for the withholding and no agreement was ever reached (one undoubtedly was). I'm sure they may offer some nice properties, but as previous reviews comment, do no expect any form of response from management. 2 months later and I am still waiting on my security deposit, they are of course stating we are in the wrong and owe them more money (hah) from an apartment that was by no means a habitable living space. I've never once had an issue with a landlord, never written a review for anyone, never sunk more hours into fighting for my own peace of mind. If you want to be consistently ignored, harassed, tormented, live in the freezing cold and sewerage, dealing with disrepair and rodents and fighting for your hard earned money then these are the people for you! - The...

If there was a zero star option.. I would pick it. Charlesgate and the representative, James Brault, was by far the worst property management that I have worked with to handle a rental

With NUMEROUS complaints over a rodent issue in our Dorchester home, James failed to extensively take care of the issue...until we were in the last month of our lease and new tenants were needed. The complaints were filed originally in November, and were not taken seriously until May. When a pest control employee told me the next steps would involve the pest control employee needing a maintenance representative from Charlesgate available next time, I let James know...multiple times...and not once was someone sent so that the job could be done properly. At points pest control employees would show up with NO given notice. The pest control employee was not surprised we weren’t informed. He even stated that Charlesgate did not want to spend money on more expensive equipment to ensure the rodents were gone from the home.

During one of the windiest nights in January, one of our windows blew out in the middle of the night, leaving the downstairs unbearable to be in-it was below freezing. James lacked to communicate on when we would actually be recieving a new window installment. Seeing as we, as tenants, were overpaying for gas heat, to ensure comfortable living conditions, you would think he would have expedited the process instead of solving it with taping over the window. Something I could have easily done myself.

When a representative came to tape up the window, he noticed our heaters were producing too much steam. His solution? Tape and putting it on the list of repairs. He was also kind enough to let me know that this extensive steam could cause mold issues. Something that occured in the master bedroom upstairs in a previous winter while my roommate first started living there. But still.. left unfixed.

We requested a statement on what needed to be done for a full return of our security deposit. Our email was ignored- no reason as to why. Not until Mid-June did James answer explaining we needed to send an new address to recieve the payment. Almost a month to answer, after another email was sent...not surprised.

A major part of us choosing not to resign our lease was directly connected to the fact that the management company lacked on taking care of us, their tenants. We were not complaining about the lack of care our landlord had in regards to the cosmetics of our house. Our issues were genuine and Charlesgate was minimally caring...

🚨PROSPECTIVE TENANTS BEWARE 🚨 Speaking on behalf of the Bennington location, you’ll probably never actually speak to management or be ignored until you leave an annoyed voicemail…multiple days in a row. When it comes to minor appliance issues maintenance is quick to respond. Anything else just forget it. My boyfriend and I have lived here for a year with only 1 key fob and 1 garage opener. We’ve contacted them MULTIPLE times throughout the duration of our lease inquiring about another set and have never gotten a response. We reached out MULTIPLE times to pay for an extra spot in the garage. More money, you think they’d respond? Nope. BUT just a month ago we got an email stating that “another tenant complained” about one of our diesel vehicles being parked in one of the fully vacant HP spots since it won’t fit in our tiny corner spot. Interesting? We responded, we offered to pay for it 8+ months ago also where is our other fob and opener? They didn’t actually respond, just started charging us for the other spot (fine) but then said fobs and openers are on back order. There’s no way since other tenants have moved in and out since we’ve been here, including new vehicles in the garage. So how are they gaining entrance if there is none?? Make it makes sense. A week after that “complaint” our truck was keyed on all 4 panels DEFINITIVELY in our home garage. We filed a police report and CG has NOT cooperated with the detectives when asked for camera footage multiple times. Tenants have been using the stairwells and garage as storage and trash piles up and is completely unsanitary. Lastly, 2 months ago we toured an identical unit 1 floor up from us as it would be further from the train noise that goes by every 15 minutes. They wanted 600+, we offered 400+ and it was no dice. It is now time to renew our lease and our rent is increasing by 600 anyways! We would’ve just gone up a floor had we known in advance. We will be on the hunt next spring and will be staying FAR AWAY from any...