Brusco Realty

This company is absolutely the worst. They are impossible to get in touch with and I have been trying to get a security deposit back for 2 months. They will now not return my phone calls even though when I spoke with someone after inspection 2 months ago they said there were no issues. Very poor management. I’m taking them to small claims which is unfortunate but it’s the only way for me to receive what is owed to me.

I would never rent another apartment from Brusco realty. Over the winter, my front door swelled and was very difficult to open and close, as well as lock and unlock. I called their office for help, but did not receive any follow-​up visit. On numerous occasions, I was locked in my apartment frantically trying to open the door. Finally, I was fed up and went directly to their office to speak with them, and they said they would send someone to look at it. When I returned one day, I found a note stating the problem was not their responsibility. Only after an aggravating amount of pushback and office visits, they finally came and fixed the door, which needed to be sanded and refit into the frame.
When I decided to move out after a year, I wanted to call the office to make sure my security deposit would be forwarded to the correct address. I called once a day for a week, and not once did someone answer the phone or call me back after I left voicemails. Finally, I decided to go directly to their office, since this seemed to be the only way to get anything accomplished.
My signed lease stated that my security deposit would be returned 20 – 30 days after I moved out. My apartment was inspected and said to be in excellent condition, yet after 30 days I still had not received my check. I called to ask about the status, and they stated that they would be sending it that day, and I could expect it in two days time. Needless to say, 42 days later, I still had no check. I went to the office (again), to ask, and waited for an hour to speak with the person in charge of the security deposits. It turned out they had never sent it, and provably never would have sent it had I not gone to them in person. If I was 12 days late with my rent, I would receive a fine and an angry letter. They were 12 days late with my security deposit (and probably would have been 12 months late if I hadn’t requester it), yet they did not seem to find this problematic.
My experiences were difficult, time-​consuming, and frustrating, as most things were handled very unprofessionally. I would never recommend this manager to anyone.

DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THIS MANAGEMENT COMPANY. They are rude and unhelpful. Heat has gone out multiple times this winter. When it comes back on, it’s at a very low temperature. My room is usually around 50 degrees. I will be filing a complaint against this group and I hope others do the same. They take advantage of the students (many of whom are foreign) living on their properties. In addition to heating issues, the building is extremely dirty. There are literally piles of garbage heaped in the corridors and on the stairs. I have no idea who the superintendent is, if he/​she even exists.

We’ve lived in our UWS apartment for 5 years and have had nothing but wonderful service from Orchid and her hard working team. Orchid has a tough job and a lot of difficult people to deal with but still manages to always return my phone calls and check on repairs. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Highly recommend.

Literally the worst company to deal with. They are extremely lazy! It was the most painful experience renting from them. Whenever I called to get things fixed they would forget. They repairs things with duck tape (seriously). Never would return my calls. Just rude. They keep their apartments in horrible conditions, never renovate. I would never suggest my worst enemy renting from them

I started my search for an apartment in the Upper Westside after my building went Condo. I was not to happy with the choices as the apartments have gotten smaller and the rents higher. Talking with my realtor from Guidance Reality and a very friendly women mentioned an apartment that just became vacant. I went to view the apartment and fell in love with the beautiful elevator Townhouse and fantastic one bedroom. The female that mentioned the apartment to me was none other than Orchid the office manger at Brusco! She attended to all my requests that needed to be addressed. The Brusco’s have over 200 buildings in the Upper Westside and yes they were not done in a New York minute, however they were all done and in a timely manner. My building is well cared for the handyman did a nice job with everything. They had to hire an outside vender to replace a window and he also was a total complete professional. So happy with my apartment and the Brusco service.

My husband died in July of ’13 after a two year struggle with cancer. He was twice my age and had lived in a Brusco building for 47 years. At the end of July I was accidentally locked out of the apartment. I went to the locksmith across the street for help and he asked which building. When I told him, he asked if it was a Brusco building. I said yes. He said he could not help me and picked up the phone. When I got back across the street the manager of the building was waiting for me to tell me that I had made a foolish mistake and that in fact he had no intention of letting me back in. A few days later they returned my rent saying they did not recognize me as tenant of record. A few months later they filed a case against me for non-​payment, partly sighting the rents that they had continued to return to me. They lost the case and then started up another court proceeding involving my proving my Executor’s rights to my husband’s estate, causing me to lose money and time at work. I care for older adults with dementia for a living. My current client was severely affected by my absence. Their demand that I be named Executor stated that if I didn’t get it done and soon, everything I owned,(including the right to my husband’s signed lease), would go to the Public Administrator. A lot of time and trouble. Now, I am being told that I can pay the rents that I have already paid as long as it is clear that they are not accepting me as tenant on record and it is done in a way where I will have to get reimbursements for all of the various checks and money orders I have purchased over the last 9 months, get an Executor’s Trust account through Surrogate Court, and move all the funds into that, and then resubmit. A lot more time, a lot more trouble. I have been told that all of this is legal. I guess in an ideal world our court system would not be so lenient with such obvious harassment, but the courts are fair to both sides as long as they are willing to pay for it and work for it so I cannot complain. Something to note is that I am a single person on a very limited income. The realty company is a very powerful and wealthy conglomerate with lots more money and resources.
I should have expected all of this, as they have been consistently difficult in their dealings with my husband while he was alive, including several incidents involving months without a working refrigerator or front door buzzer which needed to be dealt with through a local politician’s office. Several other ugly incidents had taken place in my husband’s time. I’m to understand that the original Mr. Brusco was a fair and kind man. I am sorry to see that his sons don’t seem to follow in his footsteps.
If you have an older adult who lives alone in a rent stabilized or conrolled Brusco apartment make sure to listen to them when they talk about problems in the building. Make sure to keep tabs on things like arrears notices and services such as heat and buzzer activity, working stoves and fridges.
Hard people to deal with fairly.

If there was an option to vote negative stars, Brusco is well deserving. I lived in one of their buildings a few long years. In that time, they screwed every single renter of their security deposits either in its entirety or partial. The worst so-​called office manger you can imagine– rude, ignorant, moody, not worth their word (get EVERYTHING in writing from them because they deny things they said at earlier dates) & the office manager is on a perma-​power trip. No matter what comes up or goes wrong, guaranteed you will have a headache!

Can’t even describe how difficult this has been. My apartment is dominated by roaches, and they haven’t even gotten back to me. Heaters are messed up, and it’s so frustrating. Don’t.

Wow, what a lot of positive and negative views of Brusco Realty and Brusco Contracting Company on this site. My experience with the former has been of about nine months’ duration, from the period when the building I live in was purchased by the Brusco company. In many ways it has been a tough time, since of the eight apartments in the building fully five have been totally renovated during these nine months. Although the dust in particular has been no fun, I don’t think I realized until recently, as the results of the renovations began to emerge, how down-​market this building looked before. Now all the apartments in the building, including mine, have new doors. The hallways are bright (I hope the mirror gets re-​installed in the entry way). There are new mailboxes, a neater garbage area, and a new security system. The renovation is an inspiration for me to get the inside of my own apartment looking nicer. In this connection the company was so kind as to replace, gratis, the rather decrepit kitchen cabinet unit in the kitchen. I am not from New York. In my 20-​plus years here, the city has undergone many changes. One change has been the enormous amount of building activity and the entry into the city of a new population wanting apartments like mine. I am glad to be in the middle of things here on the Upper West Side.
Since my experience with the Bruscos is so far limited to a short period of time, I will restrict myself to three stars for the moment. Unlike the negative reviews here and elsewhere, however, my response from the Brusco office has been positive. And I’m predicting it will continue that way.

Avoid Brusco Management at all costs! I moved out of one of their apartments 3 ½ months ago and they STILL have not refunded my security deposit to me. I did everything by the book, always paid my rent on time, no damage to the apt, etc, and upon moving out was assured that I would receive my security deposit within 60 days (as per my lease). It has now been over 100 days and I still have not received my refund. Whenever I try to call Celsa at Brusco, it goes directly to her voicemail, and the few times I have been able to speak with her directly she has told me they missed my security refund as an «oversight» and has assured me it will be sent in the mail that week. Needless to say, I am still waiting, and am planning to pursue legal action at this point since they are still holding over $ 2,000 of my money. Since I moved out of the area I am not able to follow up directly, but if I still lived in NYC I would be showing up at their management office every day until my money was returned. AVOID USING BRUSCO AT ALL COSTS.

I am battling Brusco for my security deposit. I’ve literally left over 20 messages this past month and have never gotten any return phone call. They forgot meetings, have lost checks, have failed to credit checks, and are never on time with paperwork. Overall, the worst landlords possible. Don’t work with Joe — he will waste your time and make you feel stupid.
Furthermore, I was stuck in an elevator for hours because they wouldn’t send someone over to fix it.
Bottom line: not worth renting from them if you can avoid it

I lived in one of their buildings for 2 years. They are a badly run management company. They do not usually answer your calls or return them if you need anything fixed. We used to play a game where we would stand out in front of the glass door and call them, watch them ignore our phone call and then we would walk in.
Their buildings are also infested, bed bugs, mice, roaches, we had a pigeon stuck in the ceiling between 2 of our rooms for 1 month. We notified them and they did nothing, then eventually it died in between our walls, and they still didn’t come remove it for 1 week, and we even had one of the renovated apartments.
We also had issues with their accountant who must have mild downs. We constantly had to call them and dispute that they didn’t realize they cashed our checks.
Neighbors were all very nice just the management company was horrible, I would recommend avoiding at all costs.