Run. That is the sign that should be on all of Fineberg Buildings. Careful because they go under the name of Fineberg Companies, Fineberg Management, and their Brokers under other names. This is how I ended up renting without understanding who my lease was with until it was too late. This review is specific to 1163-1191 Boylston St. I signed a lease here, and had accepted that the building looked old and had low expectations but Fineberg proved even low expectations are much too high. Upon my first inspection, I was told by the Broker that anything I saw broken would be fixed, and I was given a very good rate for the Fenway Area. The apartment really didn't look all that bad at first glance. I was wrong..really wrong. Let me just cut to the chase and tell you how everything went after I signed the lease: Day One: I was told anything I saw "broken" on the day I viewed the apartment would be fixed before I moved in. (nope). I moved into the apartment and it was not clean, the toilet had been used and nobody flushed, and the light fixtures were not fixed as was promised. There was also a gaping hole in the ceiling that had not been fixed. Day Two: I contacted the office and was told that the cleaners didn't come until Monday so it was either clean it myself or wait. Not wanting to live in a dirty apartment I suited up and cleaned myself. Maintenance "patched" some of the issues but could have done better if they let a two-year-old with a bottle of glue do it. Day Three: I woke up to use the restroom, and there were six giant cockroaches hanging out in the bathroom like a horror film. I had not moved in any personal belongings at this point and had been camping on the floor, so it would be impossible for me to bring them w/ me. I flipped on the switch to the kitchen and two more roaches waddled away into the cracks in the kitchen counter. These roaches were very comfortable and it was clear they had lived there for some time. I called the emergency nightline, (yes I panicked), and they told me "the office would be in touch" Day Four: The office was not in touch, and two or three days later I called and they promised to send over a person to fog. They told me my unit had "never" had a roach problem. Yet when i talked to the guy who fogged he confirmed "this unit has stubborn roaches because the people around me, are not the cleanest"....clearly this is a problem and had been for some time....Anyway, foggers had to come once a month to get rid of the roaches, and they only really went away when I personally sealed up every crack I could see with caulk. I could leave no food open or out for any given amount of time or else they would come back. I also spotted roaches in the hallways, and basement. One month later: About 3 weeks in, I notice when I come home from work the entire place smelled like trash. Correction: like rotting garbage, I head down to the basement and there were massive piles of trash under the stairs, and other tenants taking pictures. I ask what is happening they shrug and say this happens all the time----with radio silence from the office. I called the office, and they assured me that the cleaning service would be there Monday. That meant that stinking hot garbage sat there from Thursday to Monday and you can imagine the smell. This happened every week and on some days I would hold my breath to walk up the stairs. Two-Three Months later: Amazon Packages were getting stolen as quickly as they were delivered. The office does nothing and scolds the tenants instead - we just should not get deliveries there.....they said. Four-Five Months in: I notice there are homeless people living in the basement, using the sink as a shower and a bathroom (gross)..... You guessed it - Phoned the Office....they promised to tell the "security team" whom I never met or saw----ever --- and gave me the suggestion to "just not go in the basement"...The basement is where the laundry is.... I could go on and on and on about how terrible this company is, all I can say is like many reviewers have put it, just do not move in here. Spare yourself. Your protocol should be this: If you are looking at a Fineberg Building, stop. Look anywhere else, couch surf, live in an Air B n B, take a longer commute.....try a parkbench.... ANYWHERE, and if you MUST sign with Fineberg, bring your own roach spray and face mask because between the garbage smell and roaches you'll need both. read more

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For 1634 Commonwealth... Hot water works 1/2 the time, no stipends for rent even though hot water is in rent. Cockroach issues that weren't addressed until 6 months into lease, workers leave a mess, holes, and unfinished work. I recommend anyone thinking of living in this building find somewhere else to live. read more

We have had a really bad mice experience in our house during the quarantine months. We sighted mice in our apartment in 1687 Commonwealth Avenue, 4 times. The building construction is outdated with multiple holes and chipped walls throughout the property. Due to the mice issue we had to keep vacating the house and look for alternate places to stay. We are students and we had to move during our finals week because of the sighting and we barely stayed at our house from mid April. We arranged our own disinfection, and requested the management, Zach Rosenberg to help us out with this. We ALWAYS paid our rent on time and expected them to be more cooperative rather than blaming us for the cleanliness. Upon further complaints they became more cooperative, and filled up more holes and increased the number of traps. However with every mouse sighing, we have a traumatic breakdown and can't stay in the premises. We went back home 2 days after the traps were set to check if the mouse has been caught in the trap but it still hasn't. When my roommate switched on the light she saw it run from under her bed to under her dresser. It is very scary for us as it is not getting caught in any of the traps and just running around the house. The entire situation is very upsetting, being international students living away from our families, the last thing we want to worry about is finding a safe place during quarantine. The entire situation was a mental harassment and traumatic as we had to constantly move from one place to the other. We are hoping to break our lease to just not deal with this any further. We are done with this place and we think it's best for our mental and physical health that we are allowed to move out. read more

Slumlord. Broken elevator. Smells bad. My bathtub is slanted so it doesn't drain. My window literally fell out one night. Avoid like the plague. read more

We have lived in a Fineberg property for over two years. When our cheap fridge stopped working, it took them TWO WEEKS to replace it with a fridge that can barely be accessed because it opens the wrong way. I also had the kitchen window SHATTER onto me as I tried to close it and it took them over a week to fix (in the middle of winter!!! We had opened it a crack to air out smoke from something that had burnt in the oven). The elevator in the building is scary, but living on the top floor with a bad knee, I don't have another option, and it often gets stuck and the maintenance line does nothing about it. And, most recently, we called because our toilet flushes for almost 2 minutes every time we flush. The plumber said we need a new toilet and they need to fix the water lines because being on the top floor, it got all screwed up. Yeah, well that was two weeks ago, and our flush now barely does the job and we have the same toilet... But what really drove me to write this review was my experience this morning. I also rent a parking space from Fineberg right next to my building. Last night, my car had to be towed to the shop because it wouldn't start and I got a rental to be able to go to work the next day. It was around 6 PM when I found this all out, so I couldn't call the parking people and get a visitors pass (like they informed me I should have done this morning...too bad you WERENT EVEN OPEN BECAUSE YOUR HOURS ARE USELESS TO THE AVERAGE CONSUMER!!!). Being resourceful, I wrote a note giving all my details, including my phone number, and saying "Do not tow, I have paid for this spot" and left it on my dash. I go out to leave for work and my car is nowhere to be found. $140 and two angry calls later, I got my rental back and "There's nothing we can do" as a response. Well, screw you, Fineberg! This company is run by crooks! Moral of the story-- do not rent ANYTHING from this company. read more

I second Travis' review. Fineberg is horrible. They don't respond to requests for repairs (everything you request isn't "urgent" enough) so you have to harass them, they don't bother to put your proper contact information down (they didn't use the phone number I gave them for my contact info, so realtors call some other number and leave a message saying they're coming) when realtors want to show your apartment (so you have people randomly coming to you apartment asking to come in and JUST ENTERING if you're not home, which is ILLEGAL) and DON'T FIX IT when you call multiple times in a rage and say that realtors must actually speak to you to gain entry to your residence (which they don' t do), our fridge was brand new when we moved in and had to be replaced after 6 months because it's so cheap, our stove is the cheapest POS ever, they put up fake walls to cover the hideous walls from before as opposed to actually fixing them (you can hear plaster fall between the real and fake walls if you hammer something in), the maintenance guys, who are actually nice, told me that they're "not allowed" to retile bathrooms anymore so they have to put RUBBER over places where tiles have broken/fallen out, they refuse to recaulk rotten caulk in bathrooms, you have to clean the place yourself when you move in because they don't actually hire professional cleaners like it says they do in your lease, you have no control over the heat so in the winter your apartment is 90+ degrees when it's 10 degrees outside, so you have to RUN A FAN IN THE WINDOW to cool the apartment down in the middle of winter, the floor they put in my kitchen is so cheap that it cannot be cleaned (it's plastic... literally plastic... and normal foot traffic stains it permanently) and will probably have to be replaced for new tenants, they scratched the crap out of my floor when moving my original fridge in (after they had refinished the floors and put in the cheapo kitchen tiles), and when I called they told me "Well there's no security deposit you don't have to pay for it"... THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they said no undergrad students live in the building but I'm 90% sure they're admitting them now (probably because the apartments have gotten so crappy that nobody else would live there), it took 3 weeks to replace a broken screen, I've complained about broken windows for about 10 months straight now... The worst part is, it's a giant corporation so there's nobody to complain to. If you call the maintenance line, nice old ladies answer your angry calls and get offended that you're so angry. They're just a call center, they have no responsibility or reason to care about your issues. I've had them hang up on me several times because they thought "I was being rude". I'M the rude one!?!? Your company is a POS!!! I can just imagine the realtors after they've rented out a fineberg apartment.. they probably are thinking "Ohhhh!!! I Fineberg'd you!!!" and celebrate their selling of a craphole. So for the love of god, don't get Fineberg'd. It's easily the worst living situation I've ever had to deal with, and they charge you the same (or more) as what you can get from a real management company or landlord. They tried to raise my rent by $70 too. They don't give a crap about their tenants, they'll use you for a year, take your money, then let some other poor schmuck get ripped off. We're just dollar signs to them. OH MAN! I forgot about the best part!!! The day I was to move in, I DIDN'T HAVE A WORKING TOILET. It wouldn't flush. I called in a rage, threatening to withold rent/sue... and they said they'd get to it after the weekend (it was a saturday!). They wanted me to go two full days without a toilet!!! That's ILLEGAL!!! Also when I moved in, the lights weren't wired properly but I didn't know that because THERE WERE NO LIGHTBULBS. They had to get an electrician to come in. God, it sounds like I'm making all this up. It's all true. Fineberg effing sucks. Edit: I MOVED OUT AND IT IS AMAZING!!! MY GF IS NO LONGER SICK EVERY TWO DAYS!!! read more

DO NOT MOVE TO 1800 COMM AVE!!!! We just moved out a few weeks ago, this building should be condemned! Fineberg is a horrible management company and that building is horrible. The elevator was 5 months overdue for inspection when we left, they blast the heat at a constant 110 degrees, and best of all the entire buildings infested with bed bugs! Stay away! read more

Wow. Look - don't waste your time. I've seen, at this point, two apartments in 1800 Comm Ave and one in another Fineberg-owned building next door (at 70 Chiswick Rd). All three were gruesome. You know that scene in every Law and Order episode where the detectives go to some suspect's tenement in the South Bronx? It pretty much looked like that. Generations of grime in the bathroom, chipped tiles, apparently prewar fixtures (and the war here is WWII), kitchen appliances in brands you've never heard of, walls that looked like horsehair plaster. At the same time, I don't live in either of these buildings, and I never will; I just went to see them today with the thought of moving in. So really, I can only comment so much on the apartments themselves. But what I'd like to tell you all about is my interaction with Dennis, the broker (if that's the term) who showed them to me. I've lived in Boston for a long time, and I've dealt with a lot of brokers, but I've never met anyone in real estate (or, possibly, any other industry) as unprofessional and rude as Dennis was. Things didn't get off to a strong start. He came to the showing 10 minutes late with no apology or explanation (and didn't answer his phone when I called). Worse, he looked like he'd just woken up. Would you hand a large check to a guy in an untucked shirt? I wouldn't. But then - then I brought up Dennis L's Yelp review (vide infra). Dennis L., I don't know why I even went to this awful place and wasted my time with "Broker" Dennis. I guess I was hoping there was more to the story than we saw in the review. Well, now I'm guessing there wasn't. I'm sorry I doubted you, even for a moment. What I got in response from Broker Dennis - rather than an explanation - was a patronizing explanation of how only dissatisfied people write Yelp reviews. (Yes, Broker Dennis; only dissatisfied people write Yelp reviews OF YOUR COMPANY.) Then, when we got to one apartment that had a tenant in it, Broker Dennis started asking the tenant, loudly, how her experience was with the management company. Tenant: "Oh, well, with cosmetic stuff they're not too great" - an understatement, believe me - "but when the refrigerator broke they were here fast." Broker Dennis, in response to this rave review: "Ohh, YEAH? The MANAGEMENT COMPANY was good? THAT's good to hear." (A parenthesis about this rave review: it's great that you can get your refrigerator fixed when it breaks, but in all the apartments you've lived in in your life, how many times did you have a refrigerator break?) Then, as we were leaving he asked, "Any questions for the tenant? Like about the MANAGEMENT COMPANY?" We harped on this for a while. There was some more conversation on the way out - Broken Dennis asking, "So, what do you think about Yelp now? Totally not biased at all, right? Hey, be sure to write a Yelp review!" - but you get the idea. If you absolutely must see this building after what Dennis L, Travis D, and I wrote, then, at the very least, do yourself a favor and make sure Dennis isn't the guy who shows you your apartment. If the best salesman they can muster is cynical and embittered, that's a sign - but I'd be cynical and embittered too if my job were convincing people to live in miserable places like this. A final note: this seems to be not Fineberg's third 1-star review, but its SEVENTEENTH. Out of seventeen. Here are the rest: http://www.yelp.com/biz/fineberg-companies-wellesley-hills read more

Dear Dennis (and all other yelpers)- Everything that is stated here 110% true to the fact. I read others' reviews and nodded to myself thinking "yep, that's good ole Fineberg." Much of what they do IS actually illegal. For example: I once went almost 2 months with sporadic to no hot water. My apartment with them was mold infested and they refused to clean it up. They never came to install a FIRE DETECTOR. These are all serious violations and only a small glimpse of what I lived in for close to a year. If you would like to stick it to Fineberg, simply call up Boston Housing Inspection Services. They will come out and look at your place free of charge and give a written notice to this rotten company stating all that needs to be fixed and within a certain time frame. Most of Fineberg's apartments need repairs well over $5,000. They might even let you legally back out of your lease if your apartment needs costs that exceed the rent they will be able to extract from you. Don't let this company bully you into submission! If you are unfortunate enough to be stuck in one of their wretched places do all that you can to make your over priced hell hole slightly more comfortable and seek professional help! read more

Again, what people say here about Fineberg's horribleness is completely true. I have had a horrible experience living in a Fineberg apartment and am boggled they can stay in business given how dicey they are. My apt was infested with mice. I called maintenance twice and they called an incompetent company who failed to help the problem. Then it was infested with flies. I called *three* times on that. The plumbing was sporadic at best - I called maintenance about that and again, the problem was not fixed. Sometimes the people manning the maintenance phones are rude, regardless they offer you no way to "escalate" your problem or do anything different then just sending the same incompetent people over and over again. I've seen rats in the basement, smelled gas many times walking next to the apt, the laundry machines are often broken, as is the elevator which one needs to use to get to the laundry. In summary, Fineberg is a *slumlord* who should not be in business. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM. read more

Management is R-U-D-E! It's a pain every time someone has to call them especially with matters relating to lease terms. Apartments are infested with mice. Maintenance is decent. read more

I can't tell you how many problems we have had in the past 2years we lived in one of Fineberg's apartments.. But I can tell you this: We have caught about 10 Mice so far while the Fineberg maintenance has not once properly inspected our unit. We have also had mold reaking on the bathroom walls (yes, the ones that get you sick and you can sue you landlord for!) and again, no immediate response! The management and the maintainance are also equally rude when you call or ask for help so We have decided that we are ending our lease soon. YES, that bad! read more

We rented an apartment from Fineberg Mangement for our son. They were very cooperative with us. The apartment was immaculate and the people we dealt with were very nice. If we needed anything at all they were right on it. Also all telephone calls were returned right away. read more

Fineberg is by far the worst landlord I have ever had. 1. They have been consistently slow and incompetent in responding to maintenance requests. 2. The heating system is ungodly loud. It makes a thundering banging sound when coming online, and each radiator in the apartment hisses with earsplitting intensity the entire time it is on. Moreover, whenever the heat is on, the apartment becomes ungodly hot. So hot that in the dead of winter, one has to open windows and doors to maintain a reasonable temperature. 3. The building is old and the walls are incredibly thin, so much so that every individual footstep a neighbor takes is audible. The front door to the building can be heard opening and shutting from the third floor. Hope you don't like privacy! Should you ever wish to have a party or listen to music without headphones, be prepared to receive angry complaints from your neighbors or visits from the police. Should your neighbors ever have a party or listen to music on a night when you wish to sleep, you can pretty much forget about it. In addition to being extremely annoying, these aspects of the apartment lead to anger and hostility between neighbors, making everyday living conflict-ridden and uncomfortable. 4. Finerberg's representatives are unaccountably rude and incredibly illogical. They refuse to listen to even the simplest explanations, and may actually cause your head to explode with their stubborn unwillingness to understand. Their treatment of me on the phone has been amazingly condescending and inappropriate. I've been repeatedly talked to like I am 17 years old, despite the stunning idiocy of the person delivering the rebuke. Absolutely unreal and offensive. 5. There are rodents in the building, and upkeep in general seems to be poor, given the rotting tiles in the bathroom, grease-caked window shades, and peeling paint. Other tenants apparently also have problems with bugs. Overall, my experience has been incredibly poor, and I truly despise Fineberg for making me uncomfortable, but most of all for being amazingly rude and ignorant. They deserve nothing less than to be completely out of business. read more

Fienburg are a bunch of Robbers!!! they raise the rent every year and my apartment is so out dated it's pathetic. my bathroom mirror was made August 1966...are you kidding me.. my walls and floors are falling in and my cieling is cracking...they charge 1775 a month for a tiny outdated one bedroom apartment..my windows wont stay open by themselves and the elevator breaks done ever other week.. these people have no business raising the rent or charging as much as they do.. they need to updated these apartments if they want to charge outrageous prices.. legit my walls and ceilings are falling apart and my floors and kitchen cabinets are wayyy out dated and need work..not to mention I i asked them 4 months ago to make a necessary repair to my apartment and still have not shown up.. read more

Deserves negative stars. The buildings should be condemned because they refuse to take care of them and they are so overrun by mice. If you live here your get used to living with mice and a management company that refuses to do anything about it. Good luck getting management go do any repair really. If they do it'll break again within the month. read more

Do NOT RENT these apartments. Please do not live here.I wish I had not signed a lease but unfortunately I was in a hurry. I live in the Fenway apartments (1167 Boylston Street) and the management is absolutely terrible, disrespectful, and they are not held unaccountable or responsible for what they do (actually for all the things they don't do) For example, management stated that the elevator would be out of service for 1 week to be repaired. However it took them 4wks and 3 days to repair the elevator. I called management several times, since their office is only open between 8-4pm I left messages with the answering call service requesting that someone call me back with further information. After calling 4 times, no one ever called me back. Finally I called during office hours at 8:30am, and surprise, no one was in the office and the call went straight to the answering machine. They clearly are not professionals if they can't even make it to their management offices on time. Finally I called them at 10:30 am, they answered my call and asked me to call the corporate office for further information and they were not able to tell me why my prior calls had not been acknowledged and why they did not respond to me. Corporate of course told me it would be fixed soon, within the week, and then it only got fixed 2 wks later. Another example, one of the laundry machines is always out of order. i had called management to no avail since they said they told me they were not responsible for the laundry machine. In the 4-5x that I called them they never mentioned that I should call the laundry machine company to get it fixed. I only found out I had been calling the wrong number 2 months later, when I called the corporate office and they finally told me I had to call another number. I have definitely had the worst customer service when it comes to dealing with management. They always pass you off to someone else and nothing ever gets fixed. DO NOT LIVE AT A FINBURG APARTMENT. There frankly is not management and they have the worst customer service. read more

Fineberg Companies has been the worse experience of my life. My boyfriend and I moved into an apartment, one that was supposed to be above the undergraduate level. It was a terrible experience. Our apartment flooded in two rooms, our door leaked so terribly that when it rained water comes pouring into our foyer, ruining our rugs. The Bugs! Oh My good ness the Bugs! Ants are everywhere, so are spiders. They do not take care of the trash properly and have rats in the basement, which is conveniently located next to the washer and dryers for the building. The elevator has not been inspected in years, and I was trapped in the basement because someone upstairs failed to close that gate properly. This would not have been as bad but Fineberg's version of a second exit was a tiny door up high without any steps. Any time you call them you get the run around, I have put in request for the flood damage several time- their version of a fix is to just paint over it. Every time it rains we have flooding from our ceilings and walls and have to use buckets and in a week Fineberg comes and paints over it like nothing happened. Avoid them at all costs!!! read more