University City Housing — Local services in Philadelphia

honest review: I’m writing this bc I know how it felt not sure of what reviews to trust. It was also frustrating not getting enough details in reviews that were left when I was looking for housing.

TLDR: if you’re unsure which off campus housing to choose, choose UCH.

Leasing office/staff: the best part about leasing with UCH for me was their leasing staff. I hear horror stories of how other leasing offices treat their tenants and I’m grateful for everyone who works at UCH! I’m sure I can be annoying with questions but Ive always been met with professionalism and kindness.

Property: I stayed at 3721 Chestnut St. I have no complaints as I really loved my room. There were no bug/rodent problems in the house. Again this is another horror story I heard other leasing company’s tenants complain about and I’m so happy UCH kept the place clean. I was blessed enough to have great roommates as well.

Price: if you plan on staying close to UPenn, its going to be pricey unfortunately. With that said, I think UCH prices were reasonable and affordable for the area.

Maintenance: always answered request quickly. For me, request were usually done within two days if I remember correctly. At most within a week. Once I put in a request for my windows and the maintenance guy came in two hours lol.

Move in/move out process: They’re very accommodating. I had to move in on a Saturday and they left my keys in a secure box. UCH was very accommodating for move out. My mover came later than the move out time and UCH was very understanding and supportive. When I left some things at the place, they allowed me to come back to get it. They also gave me back my security deposit in a timely manner :)

Con(s): sometimes communication with property manager lacked a bit in the beginning. (But the leasing staff at the office always helped advocate and communicate for us. I can’t stress enough what a great team they are!)

UCH has set the bar high for what I will be looking for in leasing companies in the future 11/10!! If I could stay with UCH...

My fiance and I moved into Castle Hill (43rd and Spruce) in May, 2016. The leasing process was flawless. Lizzi G., one of their all star and incredibly knowledgeable realtors, showed us around and immediately followed up with us (ask for her - she's a gem!). We looked at numerous apartments with many leasing companies throughout our search process and found UCH to be by far the friendliest and most accommodating. The apartment is affordable (internet, gas, water included!), well laid out, clean and modern and feels very secure. By far though the best part is the customer service that we have received from the UCH team. Pros: We needed to move in a few days before our lease officially began. Not only was UCH accommodating but they didn't charge us for the extra days. Prior to moving in we asked that they re-align the windows so we could fit in our air conditioner. They explained that the process is to put in the work-request and their maintenance staff will do it within the month. It was done before we even moved in! They re-painted the apartment and everything was clean prior to us moving in (they even left us a little plant as a move in gift with a sweet note). Castle Hill has an enclosed gated area with an area for bikes. We noticed that it was completely full which made it difficult to store our bikes. We also noticed that it was clear that many of the bikes had not been used in months, if not years. We asked UCH to look into it and they put a note out to the Castle Hill residents asking them to get rid of any bikes that were no longer in use. Within a week there was a ton of extra space for our bikes! In mid-September we woke up and the internet was not working. We called UCH and within an hour they had it back up and working again. They even called to follow up with us to ensure it was working! Talk about customer service!

Cons: Honestly, we haven't seen any cons...

My husband and I have lived in a UCH apartment (Castle Hill Building) for 7 years. We have absolutely loved our experience here. We are moving for work and would take this apartment with us if we could!

First, the value for your money is excellent. We have a spacious, one-bedroom apartment with amazing light, so much charm, tons of closet space, an updated kitchen (with a dishwasher!!), walkable to Penn/CHOP, near so many restaurants/bars/coffee shops, and a bus line is right out front (and just a few blocks from the trolley too). The flat-rate utilities fee has been a life saver -- we have other friends in the neighborhood who have been stuck with $300+ heating bills in the winter, but the flat-rate utility fee thru UCH makes it so easy and predictable even with crazy winters.

Second, the staff is so accommodating! Maintenance has always been very responsive and professional. The staff has also gone above and beyond for us over the years -- one example is that we asked for our kitchen floor to be replaced because it was very old, and UCH offered to renovate our entire kitchen (including getting a dishwasher, which we previously hadn't had) at no cost if we were willing to live thru a reno! The staff worked quickly and finished ahead of schedule.

Thank you for the great experience -- we will really miss our sweet...