Pine Management, Inc

It seems that many of these reviews are pre-​2016. There have been a couple major personel changes since then that have been wildly successful. However, even before these changes, Pine does not warrant the reviews they have gotten. No one comes onto Unilocal to write positive reviews about a management company and thats a shame. I have lived under Pine Management for years now, and have absolutely nothing negative to say about them. Heat, and hot water have always been working properly. When issues have arose, Mike, the superintendant, has remedied them immediately. The renovations and their attention to detail have been beautiful. I plan on continuing to stay as a tenant with Pine so long as a I stay in NYC.

Yaaaay! Janet Liu is gone and gone. New person Karen at the management is great. She is actually nice, and she seemed to care about what I was going through. It makes such a big difference to have somebody like that since I am frustrated already when I make a request on any repairs. I hope she would be there for a while since I just renewed my lease! I feel bad for people who are having issues with them, but I personally never had a bad experience except dealing with Janet and repairs were done within a few days once I dealt with the office directly.

Lived in a Pine building and seriously all the 1 star reviews are correct. To my dismay once I moved in there was no hot water, no one cared about this, management was unresponsive, my rent was overcharged (turns out my apartment was rent stabilized) and I was being charged $ 1,200 MORE. I decided not to fight and just to move. I was given the name of a company and the woman who owns it (Kirby Sommers) that finds apartments for people and spoke to them. I got myself a great apartments thanks to Ms Sommers and her amazing AptStar service. Paid her a small one time cost but am now out of the horrible place and in a decent apartment. STAY AWAY FROM PINE.

The only time they’ll give a sh*t about fixing things in their apartments is if the apartment has been vacated and they fix it up for some other dupe so they can raise the rent by $ 2000. I asked for them to fix a crack in my bathroom floor (probably the same floor that had been in the apartment since it was built in 1929). They came in and threw a glop of cement on the floor. That’s how they fixed it.
A class act all the way.

Unprofessional and horrible management company. The worst experience I have ever had in NYC with a management company. Margret, the leasing administrator, is a rude and completely unhelpful person. Their property manager is a condescending jerk. This management does not care about its tenants in the least bit. They are liars and steal your money at any chance they get. After forcing us to move out of our current apartment, they tried to get us to move into an apartment without a stove, with a promise that it would arrive soon. They never fixed one thing we asked of them. No matter how spacious and nice their apartments appear to be, they are horrible people to deal with and I suggest looking elsewhere.

These guys are absolutely horrible in the worst possible way. If you’re planning on moving into one of their properties, please read this review and rethink your options. Janet Liu, who you’ll more than likely contact, is a miserable and heartless individual. Her name is mentioned in several other posts for a reason. Granted, she’s only a minion on a payroll, but she’s the last person anyone needs to communicate with. Imagine the gait keeper to Hell. Yeah, that’s her. It’s a shame she represents Pine Management as I’m sure she has good intentions, but no matter how you try to work with her, she comes barking back at you like a feral animal… probably because her boss is the devil. From emails to calls to in-​person interactions, she’s just a nasty lil b-​word + c-​word x 5000. There are too many examples to list so just use your imagination.
Regarding the property we lived in, if the management were better I’m sure there would be fewer problems. The HEAT WILL NEVER EVER BE ON!!! It doesn’t matter how cold it is, your toes can turn purple and your breath will crystallize, don’t expect to have heat. You’ll be forced to purchase space heaters and run up your Con-​Ed bill. The bathroom was perpetually in decay. Every time something happens, which was frequent — ceiling paint chipping, hot water not running, caulk falling out, black water running out, etc — expect someone to come «fix» it only to have to complain several days/​weeks later about the same issue. And when you do call, you’d have to deal with Janet. What a vicious cycle of insanity. If you have a medical condition that requires a stress-​free environment, you really should look elsewhere.
A good story to scare anyone off: The upstairs neighbor had an exploding toilet once and since they were away for the weekend, the water kept running. It eventually seeped through the lighting, ceiling, and walls, and into our apartment. Gross poop and pee water coursing through the outdated construction. We called and complained only to have Mike say «You’ll need to call us back tomorrow morning, it’s too late to come in.» This happened right around Christmas 2013 when our baby was still a newborn. I’m sure Mike was comfortable in his heated apartment, taking a nice dump on his working toilet, and not wanting to fix anything during the holidays but this goes to show you how well their management style is. sPINEless Management should be their real name.

I’d give them zero stars if I could. All the negative reviews are true. Calling them unresponsive is an understatement. They would go weeks without responding to simple requests — it took a week to get my toilet fixed when it wouldn’t flush for example, but they were always immediately available whenever they wanted more of my money. Funny how that works.
Refused to abide by the clauses in their own lease including failure to respond to multiple written requests for a sublease. I ended up breaking my lease to geographically relocate, and they tried to charge me a fee to move out, even though I moved everything out of the apartment myself, except my mattress, which the super of my building took for his own personal use. So they wanted $ 500 from me so the super could have MY mattress…
Truthfully, most landlords/​management companies in NYC are scummy and only want money without providing any value in return, so Pine isn’t unique, but par for the course. No professionalism or even basic decency here.

I honestly have to disagree with these incredibly negative reviews. In three years and two different apartments with Pine Management, we’ve never had any major issues. Yes, rent goes up every year (even though nothing dramatically improves) and it takes a little while to get the large security deposit back, but Welcome to Renting in Manhattan! Sigh.
The best part of this company is Mike in Repairs. He is incredibly responsive and always sends someone to fix any little problem quickly (usually that day). This is a rare find and it’s greatly appreciated! Margaret in the office is also very helpful.

I e-​mailed Janet Liu in February 2014 asking her what the repair request email address was because the handle broke off my radiator when I tried to turn it on. She never responded and the radiator has not been fixed.
The company also has a «residents portal» on their website that requires you to use your social security number to log on. I e-​mailed them to point out that any site requiring that type of sensitive information should be secure and certified. Additionally, I inquired about the site’s data protection and security because of the increase in cyber attacks. No one responded.
It seems that you ask a question that they know puts them into legal jeopardy, they will not respond. They are unethical, unresponsive, and should be investigated by the authorities.

Didn’t find them particularly helpful. I worked mainly with Janet Liu and found her to be rather abrupt, rude and unpleasant. Despite being turned off by Janet’s attitude, I still signed a lease with Pine Management and moved into a studio apartment. I was new to New York and was starting a job soon and didn’t have much time to look around.
Two weeks after signing a lease and moving in, I came home to a NEW lease that had been slipped under my door with different terms. The also raised my rent $ 200/​month. I went to their offices to discuss the discrepancy between the two leases and was told I wasn’t allowed to see the original lease. Later that day, I got a call from Dan Rohlman, essentially harassing me at work and demanded that I signed the new lease. He even called my dad at work and harassed him while he was at work. When I asked about the original lease he said he has shredded it. When I asked to put that in writing he refused. Pine Management took me to court and argued that I was living there illegally since there wasn’t a lease in place, when they were the ones that told me they had shredded it. It took 10 months for us to settle in court. While I accrued a significant amount in legal fees, it was worth it for me to fight Pine Management. This is not OK, and I knew of one other person they had done this to in the building. It is not OK for Pine to take advantage of their tenants like this.
Fast forward several months, I bought something from someone off of craigslist and saw she lived in a building managed by Pine when I went to go pick it up. Turned out she was moving out because of a very similar situation. It sounds like this is standard practice for Pine. Save yourself the time, money and headache– DO NOT RENT FROM PINE MANAGEMENT.
Note: Highly recommend reading the unfiltered reviews, as they are 6 reviews with 1 star as well.