The Hamilton Company

Management is oppressive and selectively unfair. There are a lot of young people living in the building and the amount of sketchy activity in and around the building has increased to the point were you’ll be hearing gunshots and pimps yelling at prostitutes late at night when The Glass Slipper and Centerfolds let’s out and closes for the night. Interesting dynamics in this building, at least the security personnel is very good. The mailman is a creep.

Here’s a play by play of what happened a few Thursday’s ago.
The time: 2pm.
The scene: The lobby of 62 Boylston Street. The lobby was very quiet and nobody was around. If there were crickets, they would be chirping.
The situation: I had a stroller with my newborn child within it, and I needed to go down the lobby stairs to exit the building. There wasn’t a ramp, instead there was a wheelchair elevator lift, so I decided to use that instead.
Here is the conversation that proceeded:
CONCIERGE:[Sarcastic]“UUUhhhhhh… can I help you?!“
ME: «It’s okay, I’m all set. Just moving the stroller.» (I thought he had good intentions and was asking if I needed any help).
CONCIERGE: [Raising voice] «You know, people just carry the stroller down.»
ME: «What?»
CONCIERGE: [Yelling] «PEOPLE USUALLY JUST CARRY THE STROLLER DOWN!»
***This is the point where I realized that I was being scolded for using the elevator lift to move our baby. Also I would like to mention again, there is NOBODY in the lobby. Nobody needed the elevator wheelchair lift. I wasn’t in anybody’s way. It was a slow Thursday afternoon at 2pm, and literally nothing else was going on in this lobby.****
ME: «Well I’m sorry that moving my baby in a stroller is such an inconvenience to you.»
CONCIERGE: [Grumbles to himself].
ME: «Have a nice day.»
CONCIERGE: [Grumbles to himself].
*****I’d also like to say that I DID carry the baby in the stroller UP the stairs when entering the building earlier that day, but I didn’t want to carry the stroller down because it can get a little scary if our son tries to roll around and jump out while the stroller is tipped downwards. He was strapped in, but I just wanted to be safe. So it’s not like I was being lazy, I have no problem with carrying the stroller, but on the way downwards safety was a concern.******
I emailed management about this, but never heard back. Then I looked through reviews online, and well… everything now makes sense.

I had a horrible experience with these people. I was moving from another state for grad school, and I opened up the door to discover a total mess on day one. They never cleaned the place after the last tenant, despite telling me in writing that it would be cleaned. The heat /​air didn’t work and were extremely loud in fan-​mode. Repair people were ineffective and repeatedly delayed. The management never replied to me promptly. The noise in the back was too loud from the post office trucks coming and going (345 Franklin here) — even though I was told it was the quiet side of the building. I wanted to get out of the lease due the issues and the noise. However, it was very difficult (despite me paying over $ 6000 already).
They wouldn’t list my apartment as available… and they insisted I pay another agency fee to rent it to someone else, which even I agreed to. But, then they (Marilyn Vega — who still works there) raised the rent $ 200! How is this even legal? I tried to list it, but no rental agency would take the listing since I wasn’t the owner. I got so lucky and found someone on CL to sublet it (after I spent 3 full days cleaning the whole place up and had numerous showings). The place also had incredibly thin walls and was noisy night & day. These are horrible, people. Oh, by the way — this was a few years ago — but because I am still scarred from this experience (and it lines up with many other reviews) I wanted to post it. I posted pics of how the place looked too. The noise from the heat/​AC and the post office is hard to describe here… but it was bad. I could hear conversations next door in the bedroom too.
Timeline
⁴⁄₂₉ — Lease Signed for 12 month occupancy on July 1, 2006 with The Apartment Rental Experts. Building is at 345 Franklin, owned by the Hamilton Company. I pay 2 months of rent plus a security deposit and an application fee (2150×3) + 30 = $ 6480.
⁶⁄₁₄ — Property Manager Marilyn Vega emails me that the apartment will be cleaned on July 1 in response to my email about cleaning.
⁷⁄₅ — I arrive at the property, and it is not cleaned. The previous tenants’ belongings are all over the apartment (pics under review). Furthermore, there are several maintenance issues such as missing doorknobs, broken screens, and a squeaking central AC unit that need to be fixed. The air conditioner was left running on 50 degrees presumably by the painters, since they were the last people in the apartment. I am responsible for the electric bill. Since I did not have a computer at the time, I could only call The Hamilton Company and tell them about all of these problems over the phone. I told Meghan everything that I saw wrong with the apartment.
⁷⁄₆ — The apartment is cleaned. The air conditioner breaks. I called the maintenance line to report this.
⁷⁄₇ — I verbally gave my intent to break the lease and began looking at other properties.
⁷⁄₉ — After 4 phone calls over 3 days, 2 individuals arrive to fix the air conditioner. It is not fixed until the next day. No other repairs are completed.
⁷⁄₁₀ — I faxed a form to break the lease to Meghan Lewis. She confirmed receipt of this fax via email and told me that my apartment had been listed. Over email, I sent Megan the list of other repairs that needed to be done including a door that wouldn’t close, a screen that needed replacing, and more.
7÷10−7÷14 — I call various agencies around the area and they do not have any record of my apartment being listed. I tried to list the apartment myself, but I am told that I cannot list the property with any agency, (I called The Apartment Rental Experts) because I am not the building owner. Even though I am trying to sublet the apartment, I have to rely on The Hamilton Company to list it… which they didn’t.
⁷⁄₁₄ Late Afternoon — I am told by The Apartment Rental Experts that my apartment is listed for $ 2350. I rented it for $ 2150. I call Marilyn Vega to tell her about this, and she said that it was an error and she will have Meghan fix it *today*. But, hen I initially called, I asked for Meghan and was told that Meghan is out of the office. I said this to Marilyn, and she was caught off guard (and caught in a lie) — and said «Oh…yeah I’ll have someone else fix it.»
⁷⁄₁₅ — The apartment remains listed for $ 2350 which is not only an absurd price for that building, but it is not what I paid. Furthermore, 7÷15−7÷16 was probably the last weekend that it was feasible to get an August 1 tenant. Because of their «mistakes,» I am now forced to pay another month’s rent. Also, even if a tenant did see the apartment, nothing from my ⁷⁄₁₀ email has been repaired. These issues would surely drive away a tenant.
In the end, I hired someone else to do repairs, sublet it & moved to 91 Sidney — an AMAZING building I absolutely loved. The mess cost me over $ 4000. Greedy pigs.

62 Boylston is awful building to live in. Do not sign a lease with them and make sure to read all these reviews.
The fire alarm goes off all the time in the middle of the night, there are rodents, you wash your clothes next to trash and the machines do not work, the utility bills will be much higher compared to other managed buildings because this building is so old, and the leasing office is completely unprofessional. The rents are a rip off when you see what you get yourself into. Do not sign!

They don’t return inquiry emails, never a good sign. Finally went to the office only to learn that they want a $ 200 deposit just to get on the waiting list.
There are over a dozen negative reviews that Unilocal has deemed «not recommended» but which you should definitely read before you take a chance with buildings managed by this company. A link to those reviews are at the bottom of this page in grey.

Extremely dissatisfied, let me start from leasing office full of unprofessional and rude people that you can not imagine, never answer your phone calls or e-mails.About the safety: in front of the building is center of drug dealers and prostitution of downtown Boston. most of early mornings I wake up with the profanity and shouting in the street. Specially if you are an female and safety is important for you just simply go anywhere but here.

I am extremely dissatisfied with the unprofessional conduct of one of their leasing agents…
She and I had scheduled an appointment for a Monday afternoon the Thursday or Friday before. Before the Monday afternoon appointment I had emailed her twice to ask where exactly I should be meeting her… no response.
On Monday around noon I had emailed her again to ask where exactly I should meet her. Still no response until an hour later (2 hours before our scheduled appointment). She wrote saying that she was out of the office all day and asked if we could reschedule for the next morning.
It is extremely unprofessional to just cancel two hours before your appointment if you know that you are going to be out of office all day. I had specifically set aside time for her only to have her cancel at the last minute. However, I replied to her last minute email saying that I has other appointments scheduled during the next morning and asked if Wednesday morning would work instead.
Instead of answering my question about scheduling for Wednesday morning, she responds by saying that The Hamilton Company is the actual management company and so there would be no brokerage fee should I decide to rent through them. To this I replied that I understood but that I was looking to sign a lease and move as soon as possible and asked once more if Wednesday morning would work for rescheduling our appointment.
One week and another email later (asking when she is available to reschedule the appointment)…still no response.
In short, I would never rent through The Hamilton Company at any of their locations after the extremely unprofessional treatment I was given. I am seriously dissatisfied with the service and hope that other potential tenants will read this review and look elsewhere.

I couldn’t agree more with the «DON’T BE FOOLED» review below… To sum things up nice and short, this «luxury» management company cuts all the corners it possibly can. Apartments look nice and cool in the pictures, but the actual construction of their places are awful. There are always things breaking in the building (elevator, laundry etc) and it takes FOREVER for them to finally come fix them. Then when someone finally comes to fix it, its as if they hired someone off the street to try to get the job done instead of a legit professional.
Just save yourself the hassle and look elsewhere for an apartment…

Never ever use this company for parking. I paid $ 75 a month for a parking spot on Gardner Street and my car got towed from the lot on the same day I parked it. I get a call 5 days later from The Hamilton Company saying that my car has been towed from the lot and I need to pick it up. This was also five days later so I now have to pay the towing company $ 260. The company will not cover the cost for their mistake. Also, they are going to make me pay for the month of parking which I am not going to use anymore. I was looking to spend about $ 100 a month in parking but now I have to pay $ 335 for one month because of this incompetent company. I was specifically working with Danielle Mencey who has been no help at all. I call her and it goes straight to voicemail. I highly recommend staying away from this parking service.

This is one of the most greediest company I have ever came across. My rent is increased 20% in last 1.5 years and they change there policies anytime they wish. Beware of them

DON’T BE FOOLED!
Don’t be fooled by the pictures of gorgeous, chicly-​designed lofts that the Hamilton Company features on its website. I live in 160 East Berkeley St. and I regret every single day the fact that I signed a lease with this company. To anyone considering taking an apartment managed by the Hamilton Company, here is a list of reasons why that would be a foolish decision:
(1) EMPLOYEES
Probably the most hideous aspect of this miserable company is its employees. There is a certain employee at the 62 Boylston leasing office («X») who is notable as the most flamboyantly negligent twit to ever serve in customer service. X’s average turn-​around time on an email is about… never, and you’ll die twice if you hold your breath waiting for X to return a phone call. I have sat in the leasing office waiting for a full half hour while X shuffled around papers on his/​her desk before acknowledging I was even in the room. I have sat in the leasing office and witnessed another employee openly mock a prospective tenant she had on the phone by gesturing that she was blasting out her own brains. (Helping customers is clearly so helplessly boring that it’s impossible to to endure without employing infantile sarcasm). God help you if you decide to live in 160 East Berkeley St – I mean it; you’ll have better luck with the Lord than with this bunch.
(2) PROPERTIES
My «luxury building» is infested with both RATS and MICE! The BOARD OF HEALTH threatened to shut the building down because the infestation was so serious. When I complained to the leasing office about the mouse I caught (and photographed) on my living room floor, I was received with refusal after refusal to call an exterminator – which I’m almost certain is an egregious violation a landlord’s legal obligations in MA. I finally had to resort to emailing the CEO (who was equally unhelpful) and the rodent problem persists. Another tenant in this building has had raw sewage leaking into her bedroom. for three weeks! (Still waiting on a certain So-​and-​So to place a maintenance order, I imagine…).
(3) OTHER
This company wanted to charge $ 500 to add a roommate to the lease. $ 500, to add a new roommate, on top of $ 2,500/mo rent. Ummm. This company refuses to carry out maintenance requests, even routine ones, unless they are harassed, because the remainder of the monthly maintenance fund becomes a bonus for the property manager. Crooks.
If I could give less than 1 star, I would. Every, single review here is unanimous in concluding that this company is garbage. DON’T SIGN THAT LEASE.

I’ve been living at 81 Essex for almost a year now and cannot wait to move out.
Like so many others, my list of complaints about the Hamilton Company is endless. I have to start with laundry because it is the most frequent annoyance and the situation has not improved since I moved in.
The laundry units break down frequently and I usually have to put a load through the dryer twice if I don’t want wet, stinky clothes (every wash is $ 1.75, and $ 2.00 per dryer load — it adds up). The machines don’t take quarters or debit cards. Tenants must refill special laundry cards them in another Hamilton building down the street.
The machines are located in the basement, right next to the garbage and it almost always reeks of sewage. I’ve seen rats crawling around the laundry units multiple times. Apparently the solution to this was to put out a single rat trap without bait.
The rotting stench that pervades the lobby, basement, and elevator shaft has only gotten worse with each month, and although somehow I’ve adjusted to it, my friends always gag immediately when they visit and have to struggle to not vomit on the way up to my apartment.
When we moved in, it seemed like half the apartment was broken. The bathroom sink was missing a faucet knob, one of the kitchen cabinets was hanging off its hinges, the refrigerator door was about to fall off, the carpet was (and still is) covered in burns and other damages, the smoke alarm was dead, one of the fire sprinkler’s was hanging out of the ceiling — the list goes on. Most of it was fixed promptly, but the place was in no condition to have new tenants moving in.
The only option for television service is DirecTV, and the only internet service available is Verizon. While I’m happy with the service of both, it’s much more expensive than, for example, getting a complete package through Comcast or another provider.
81 Essex is not only a Hamilton Company apartment building, but also home to Chow Chau City — The latest-​open Chinese restaurant in Boston. Right next to that is a parking lot covered in broken glass and garbage accumulated from the utter shit show that takes place there every night of every weekend throughout the year.
Where does everyone go when the bars close at 2AM? To Chow Chau of course! It’s open til 4:00AM every night!
This means that, should you choose to reside at 81 Essex, you’ll be treated to sounds of drunken fistfights, incoherent yelling, shattering beer bottles, screaming girls, and the loudest ghettoblasters in the city through the wee hours of the morning, Thursday to Sunday, 52 weeks a year.
I can’t say enough bad things about 81 Essex. It’s a crappy apartment building in a crappy neighborhood.
The view of the Leather District and high ceilings are nice. It’s a three-​minute walk to South Station. And it’s next to other, nicer districts, so there’s plenty of entertainment, shopping, and food, around. But none of that is worth it for the steep price tag. Especially when the building is kept in the condition that it’s in.
Live here if you have no other options, but whatever perks you think the location has are not worth the money and grief.
UPDATE:
Shortly after writing this, the air conditioning for the entire building broke down.
It took them a month to fix it.
About a week later, the elevator broke.
They said they would fix it by the end of August.
They did not.
I had to move everything out of my apartment down eight flights of stairs.
Do not give your money to these people.

I would never ever ever recommend The Hamilton Company to anyone, not even my worst enemy.
I moved in with a roommate and immediately noticed the terrible shape of the building. The door in our apartment had so much water damage, that I immediately asked to have it repaired. Well, I lived there for 10 months, and it was never repaired despite asking multiple times (and my roommate asking for a year prior to my move in). During Hurricane Irene, water was pouring through my closed window and when I called the emergency line, the maintenance guy asked «Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it?» The property manager, Colleen is so nasty, that I don’t know how she still has a job. It seems like we were fighting her in one way or another every week. She brings up problems that are none of her business (such as someone visiting for a couple of hours) and tries to use it against you when you’re fighting with her. The latest issue was when I moved out. Apparently, there are rules as to when you can move in and move out (I didn’t have a lease, my roommate did, so I didn’t know). In the 7 apartment buildings I have lived in, I have never encountered a ludicrous rule like this. The elevators are out of code, and the building is disgustingly dirty, yet they are more focused on fining people and getting more money than fixing the building. Although small repairs are fixed quickly, (but shoddily, our toilet and sink were still leaky after repairs), big repairs (such as water damage) are ignored. There is a spot in the hallway of the 14^th floor where the ceiling literally flakes off every time it rains and water drips through the ceiling. I have absolutely nothing good to say about The Hamilton Company or 1025 Hancock Street in Quincy. I would never move here and would definitely recommend you look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Boston tenants are at the mercy of their apartment management companies, and the management companies are well aware of this. I lived in a Hamilton Co. apartment for 2 years, and have nothing but negative things to say about them. They are often rude and unresponsive to tenant requests.
Our building had a faulty fire alarm that kept going off– at all hours of the day and night– for days on end. The fire department was deployed multiple times, and even though several tenants in the building called to complain about the noise and inconvenience, it took a couple of weeks (and probably a few fines from the fire dept) before maintenance showed up.
They also have the poor habit of entering your apartment when you’re not home and not leaving a note. So you arrive to your apartment one evening to find your front door unlocked, a trail of dirt and mud all over your apartment, and spend half the night trying to figure out why your place smells of varnish or some other weird chemical (yes, this actually happened to me, and more than once). I understand maintenance needs to enter the apartment, but 1) it would be nice to have a note or call telling me they were there and what was «fixed», and 2) don’t leave a mess for me to pick up. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to scrub my apartment clean from whatever wreck they created.
There’s too many other apartments in Boston. Avoid these people!

Terrible, awful, incompetent management. I’ve lived at 81 Essex St for the past 10 months. My most recent problem has been with the light fixtures in my living room and my bedroom. I notified them 11 days ago. Hence, the eternal question:
How many days does it take for the Hamilton Company to change a light bulb?
I wish I could tell you, because they still haven’t come back to fix it!
Other than that, I like the location, but the building is older and is not managed very well. I initially had problems with my mailbox, which took a week to fix. On move-​in day, my apartment was most definitely NOT in move-​in condition. There was trash and dust all over the floor and the place was generally filthy. The AC didn’t work for a week (and I really needed it!!). The heating goes out every so often as well, necessitating a trip to the circuit breaker. The basement laundry machines are expensive and don’t always work (the washer broke on my last load of laundry and i had to fish out my dripping clothes).
Look elsewhere. Look far, far elsewhere.

Free at last, free at last, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, I’m FREE AT LAST!
While I only lived at 1025 Hancock Street for about 6 months, I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to rent there to save the time and aggravation. Between the problems with the property manager, cockroaches from the previous tenants and general disrepair of the building, I truly think I would have been better off anywhere but there.
If you’re thinking about renting a unit here, or god forbid purchasing one of the units in the building… please don’t.

If you rent from the Hamilton Company you will come to regret it.
I lived in 81 Essex Street and it was one of my worst experiences living in Boston. First, the building itself has major flaws. The elevator is constantly breaking down, the laundry and trash units in the basement are kept in horrible and unsanitary conditions, and the building literally smells awful. I’ve seen rats in the basement on many occassions (don’t eat at Chau Chow by the way). Second, the area that its in, albiet close to downtown, is one of the dirtier parts of town and its constantly loud outside throughout the night due to the restaurant below. Plus the building is not equipped for cable so the only cable and internet source available is Direct TV which is very expensive.
The management office, mainly that at the 62 Boylston Street, is even worse and is my main reason why I would never rent from the Hamilton Company again. The people that work there are rude and unwilling help you if you have a problem. I had many problems with my apartment and when I called to have things fixed they would take weeks to send someone to my apartment to fix it, if at all. Furthermore, I left the apartment in great condition and they took money from my deposit anyways (According to them it costs $ 50 to wipe down a counter I already wiped down myslef).
Overall, I regretted renting from the Hamilton Company and would highly recommend renting from anyone else if you are looking for a place in downtown Boston. Unless you want to be treated like garbage and have your money stolen, don’t rent from the hamilton Company.

ABSOLUTELY THE WORST MANAGEMENT EVER!
I’ve heard some bad stuff about the Hamilton Company before but I thought those were probably rumors and totally took them oh-​ever-​so-​lightly. and boy did I regret for my stupidity.
Their management office treats you like a scum, threatens to evict you and when you call them to inquire about this, they start yelling at you (out of blue) accusing that you haven’t paid your rent (yes, they yell at you. you get used to it living in their properties) when you’re on their automatic recurrent program so it was clearly an error on their system. oh by the way, they acknowledged it was their mistake but still refused to apologize, saying BS like how i was responsible to check if my automatic monthly payment had gone through, etc. I mean, it’s called AUTOMATIC payment, are they kidding? I was speechless at that point.
That’s just one example of how rude and irrational the management office is.
This one time I went into the office, and couldn’t help but notice how angry they were with each other. maybe they were all having a bad day or whatever. I almost felt sorry for those people working there, it just seemed too stressful of an environment to work in. But then they snapped at ME, and I realized they themselves create such a hostile work-​environemnt.
Their management office and the people who work there were the SOLE reason I hated living in their properties, and I would never EVER go back.
STEER CLEAR from the Hamilton Company at all cost!

Do not rent from them! When I moved into my Allston apartment, it had clearly not been cleaned at all. Several things were broken or nearly broken including a door knob, a towel rack, the buzzer and the smoke detector. The apartment also had roaches. It was very clear the company did not bother to inspect it before I moved in.
The only reason I feel slightly okay with giving them one star is that they are very prompt with repair (things are usually fixed the day you call them) and the maintenance people are polite and helpful.
Everything else was horrible. I had an incident with a homeless man on the fire escape outside my window. After filing a police report, I called the company to see if there was a way to make the window looking out on the fire escape more secure. The secretary boredly transferred me to the VOICEMAIL of the building manager who never bothered to call me back. I know he got my message, however. One of the maintenance men warned me to be careful about leaving the window open because «we’ve had reports of people on the fire escape.»
The company has also been extremely incompetent with processing a subletter. For months they’ve been telling us the application is fine and then will not accept her checks because they haven’t put her on the lease. Instead of calling either of us to let us know, they instead slip harassing letters under our door threatening to evict us. Danielle, who works there actually lied to my former roommate, saying she had discussed the application situation with me when she hadn’t even called me.
They also deal with an infuriating realty company, Commonwealth Avenue Associates. Their realtors show up unannounced to show our unit all the time, despite the fact they’re LEGALLY required to give a full day’s notice. The first time it happened I didn’t know this, so I let them in and requested that they call me. The next time they called me and said someone was coming over to show off the place. It was not a good time for me, but the minute I got off the phone, there was a realtor at my door. The time after that I got an hour’s notice. The time after that another realtor showed up without calling and had the gall to say she had called me and left a message. That was a flat-​out lie as I had no missed calls or new messages. Also, leaving a message is not the same thing as getting consent.
So basically, if you are looking to rent a place based on good maintenance alone, you’d be happy. Otherwise, expect to have emergencies ignored, dirt and disrepair upon move-​in, rude realtors, incompetent employees, harassing letters, and employees lying to your face. Avoid them. It’s not worth it.

Alas, I’m in the market to move again and upon reflection of apartments past (about 10 in the past few years if you count my moves to CA and FL), I’ve realized that Hamilton Company was one of the good eggs in my moving/​living basket. I lived in one of their properties (South End) less than 2 years ago and they are definitely on the top 3 list of landlords «on their game». After dealing with a horrible realtor, they knocked down our rent. Although the guy said this was his doing. I’m pretty sure HC did it after they found out he made us sign 3 – 5 different leases for 3 – 5 different spaces in the building.
What I loved most was that they were very quick with repair and other. situations. My roomies and I noticed a funky smell in the apartment one day and after sniffing around. we realized it was the fridge (came with the apt). HC got some peeps to come and take a look and actually **don’t read this is you don’t want to be disgusted**…
.
.
.
found a disentigrated mouse. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Anyway. They disposed of it and all was well and good after an invasion of Bath and Body Works. Another plus of theirs was the prompt delivery of our deposit (with interest).