If you're a student or parent looking for off-campus housing, think twice before renting from Walter Bronhard Realty. Our experience was nothing short of frustrating. Maintenance issues were consistently ignored or delayed, and getting our security deposit back was a nightmare. Communication was poor, and it often felt like they were taking advantage of students who don't have many other housing options. Tracy, in particular, was extremely difficult to work with--rude, dismissive, and unhelpful. It's shocking how unprofessional the entire operation is. If you're looking for a landlord who will treat you fairly and with respect, look elsewhere. read more

I never rented with them, but man do they need to look at their own reviews. I emailed Spencer to inquire about unit 308. He sent me pictures and details of a completely different unit (310) and tried to sell me on this on instead. I kept telling and ASKING about the original unit and if it was still available. He misdirected my simple question and kept saying "its in the same building". We had a lengthy exchange of emails until I finally called and had to force the answer out of him about the original units availability, which it wasnt. Spencer, look at your reviews on here and just be upfront and honest, it doesnt do you any good to lie or deceive people. read more

Me and my wife have rented from Walter Bronhard for over five years. Honestly, up until this moment, I haven't had too many issues with them. I never felt the need to make a review like this, not even when they signed another tenant on a lease for an apartment that we were STILL LIVING IN. I was always able to handle the issues internally, and was usually able to reach an amicable agreement with their staff. The negligence of their properties didn't even bother me that much. I didn't complain when they refused to fix our washer/dryer for months, and accepted their alternative of using a washer/dryer in another building. On the whole, their staff is competent and reliable. The real problem lies in their management. I'm not one to complain at all, the only thing that really pisses me off to the point where I feel like I need to write a Yelp review (which I've never done before) is when I am blatantly disrespected and verbally abused. Tracy, the property manager for Walter Bronhard, has a lot she has to deal with. Entitled students, aggravated parents, and more properties than any one person should have to handle. For years, I empathized with her struggle. I have been nothing but professional with her if not straight-up pleasant and friendly. She has a lot to deal with, and I never wanted to do anything to upset her. But today, after communicating with this woman for five years, I asked for one thing: sympathy. I'll let the texts do the talking for me, they speak for themselves. I can put up with the negligence, the incompetence, even curt behavior (though I know most people would not). But something I won't tolerate is this level of disrespect. After FIVE YEARS of renting from this company and putting up with everything they've screwed up, this is the kind of response I get. Again, I have never written a Yelp review in my life. I sincerely hope the management team at Walter Bronhard sees this and reconsiders their approach to communication with clients, especially loyal clients who have been with them for this long. The silver lining to this story is that they're trying to sell this building. So maybe by this time next year this lovely property on Benefit Street will be under the care of people who have some semblance of respect for their tenants. read more

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I've been renting through Walter Bronhard for a year now and will continue for another year. The apartment is great and they are pretty responsive and quick when it comes to maintenance. Besides the obvious downsides of renting in an old house, it's been a great experience so far. I was hesitant due to the negative reviews but haven't had many issues thus far. read more

TLDR: Stay away!!! The worst real estate company in the area. Extremely rude and unprofessional. When we were first looking at an apartment, Spencer could not answer our basic questions about the house and urgently pressured us to sign a lease within minutes of sending it. There was also miscommunication and misleadingly vague wording regarding the security deposit amount. Upon raising these issues to the manager Tracy, she refused to correct the miscommunications, and stated, "...blaming him is not proper. Spencer is also my son." Okur. And this was all over text, of course, since she REFUSES to speak over the phone. We were also harassed by Tracy in the process, who enjoyed texting me spams of emotionally driven, unprofessional, threatening paragraphs. Geez, I'm sorry I blamed your son, Tracy. I'm utterly disgusted by the way WLB treats people and cannot believe they continue to have business despite their many horrible reviews and notorious track record among students. You go, Walter$. All in all, really bad vibes. Save yourself the headache and go lease with someone else! read more

At 339 thayer the key to your unit also opens the front door--which also opens the doors to the rest of the units. Let me be clear, aside from you, approximately 12 other people in the building will be able to access your apartment. The garbage cans are extremely close to the unit-- be ready to see and hear rats. Many windows do not work or lock. Our shower literally fell one night and it took almost 6 months for repair--to give you a visual our shower had plywood, duct tape, and a shower liner covering nearly the entire wall for six months, luckily we were given an extra shower liner for the 3 month mark to replace it when it was yellow. maintenance is usually only one handyman--he's really nice. WB management almost never uses any outside service, they usually use friends-- the repair to our shower was not good. Our blinds broke the day we moved in. Dust is inevitable, no matter how much you sweep there's always more-- dirt always fell from the chimney. The WB management team will send emails about robberies in the areas, ameneities you don't have (key codes/ring doorbells)--they're really talking about their more upscale luxury buildings that are vastly different to 339 thayer. There's no cleaning service, I swept the entire lobby that was covered in dirt and gravel that accumulated over probably a good 7 months. There was a break-in--not much could be done because they email you at the beginning about renters insurance. My best advice is to document and send emails of everything, but truthfully that won't suffice--simply don't rent from walter bronhard. read more

Avoid at all costs. I can't tell you the hoops I've had to jump through only to be met with poor maintenance and disrespectful confrontation. Absolutely no communication on anything. Do not rent from these people!! read more

Avoid this business at all cost!! They don't return your security deposit and kept saying the check got lost in mail!! Not worth your time and energy to deal with this bs. If you wanna go through the trouble of going to court just to get your security deposit back good luck on picking this shit ass company. And their staff also petty as fk even if they are doing things wrong. read more

This company is quickly gaining the reputation of the worst property management company in Providence. My unit was no clean when I moved in. It was hard to get my keys to move into my unit. They were incapable of scheduling maintenance when needed. They lost my checks. They entered my unit repeatedly. They couldn't keep their young tenants under control. To top it all off they were rude and unprofessional. My best advice is to try and find a private landlord that cares about their property and tenants. That is not this company. read more

Very unprofessional, threatening, intimidating and verbal harassment from Tracey the property manager. Refuses to take calls and only sends texts. Refuses to talk with parents, but has no problem cashing their checks. I'm not sure a Walter Bronhard even exists, and if he does; he should pay attention to how his employees treat his tenants. They need to do their job and maintain, fix and repair their properties and not engage in verbal battles over texting. I'm convinced the positive reviews were written by Tracey herself. Buyer Beware with this one! read more

Horrible to work with. They will withhold your security deposit for no reason and are unresponsive regarding maintenance requests.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I did not originally even choose to rent from Walter Bronhard, but my building was sold to WLB a few months into my lease. From then on, the building was never cleaned: dirt piling up in the staircases, complaints of vermin from my neighbors, etc. I was informed that my rent would nearly double if I renewed my lease, so I left my apartment promptly at the end of my lease. I swept the floors, cleaned all surfaces, and left nothing behind that was not originally in the unit when I moved in. I provided a forwarding address to WLB for my security deposit to be returned, which I was told for weeks that was "on the way," "going out tomorrow," and that they were simply "waiting on our accountant." Weeks turned into months of unanswered emails and text messages in which only after legal intervention, I heard back. They made false claims that they could not even support about my apartment, and attempted to withhold hundreds from my original deposit. I have photographic evidence in dispute. This is the most dishonest, unprofessional group I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. I cannot stress this enough: NEVER rent from Walter Bronhard Real Estate. read more

I wanna start off by saying that two of my roommates have written public reviews on yelp, and had been threatened by this real estate company for defamation and libel. However, it is important to address that these are personal experiences that we had with Tracey, the property manager, and her son Spencer. All of which were true. tldr: do not ever rent from this real estate company We signed a lease for an apartment after being rushed by them. They failed to provide pre-leasing materials, misguided us about the security deposit, were uncooperative in helping us find new tenants, and threatened us multiple times. After noticing a few red flags about the real estate and the property, we brought up some of the issues with Tracey, and were faced with backlash, verbal harassment, and refusal to understand our situation and questions. Additionally, when we were looking for new tenants to take over our lease, which is allowed as stated in our contract, they were uncooperative in helping us arrange tours for prospective tenants. During this entire process, they have been extremely unhelpful, disrespectful, and is the most unprofessional real estate company I've ever dealt with. The numerous 1 star reviews just prove that we are not unique in our experience. Save yourself some stress and rent somewhere else. read more

This is my First Time writing a review on the internet as well. Dear stranger, stay away from them. I was part of a group of Brown international PhD students who rented a house from Walter Bronhard. Will never involve in any of their business again. The house (335 Angell St) was a mess when we moved in. Lots of large furnishing garbage left there. But that's not a big deal and we can get along. Then we realized the building barely blocks sound. The guys downstairs smoked a lot and held lots of parties in late nights without getting a punishment. We reported to the agent Tracy, which seemed to be nice. We barely got good sleep. WB people only care about their money. Agent Tracy is hypocritical, pretending to evict the smoking guys while stopping the eviction once she received the late rent from them. Yet Tracy seems to be the only agent they have. I feel bad for Walter that she will very likely destroy the whole reputation of the estate. And the smoking guys still live there happily. We moved out when being told that our lease ended on May 31. Then one month after we moved out, Tracy told us that our lease actually ends in July, and kept lying that they never told us to leave. Then we never got back our security deposit. Money is all they care about, of course. It's never the happy moment that shows a person's quality. We don't like a friend who leaves you alone when you meet a difficulty. If I had rented a clean and quiet place by accident, then I wouldn't have the chance to know them. So if you choose to trust the guys who gave five or four stars, then I wish you good luck. read more

This was the worst renting experience I've ever had and the most unprofessional company I've ever encountered. Please, please do not involve yourself with this company. The primary people--namely Tracy but also Bridget--showed no care or concern for their renters. As someone who has worked in several customer service positions, I can attest that these folks have no training and no idea of what politeness or client-centered care entails. Tracy's responses to my inquiries (concerning rats in the walls / ceiling, a broken washing machine, basement flooding, lack of snow shoveling etc.) were consistently rude and defensive. At one point, she called rat-free walls an "amenity". She made many offensive comments over text and made apartment living very difficult if not distressing. It's hard to imagine a worse landlord. Mr. Bronhard's company is solely going to protect itself and its money. The renter has hardly any protection under the lease agreement--including the lack of a reliable timeline on the return date of the security deposit (which finally arrived nearly 3 months after my lease end--and only after persistent calls and emails to WLB). In summary: terrible management, no customer service, Tracy seems like the most obvious, primary problem. I wish I could write a more scathing review, but I feel literally abused by this company. Please don't let WLB swindle you into such a horrible experience. read more

I rented from them for a couple of years, and it was a great experience. The apartment was beautiful and spacious. Tracy, maintenance, and the rest of the team were all very kind and helpful. I would definitely rent from them again!! read more

Spencer was very easy and helpful in setting up my tour and Sarin was so friendly in showing me around. The properties were nice but I ultimately decided on renting in a different part of town. I highly recommend going to them for your rentals. read more

I wanted to provide an update to my review originally left on 6/2021. I rent an apartment for my kid, a graduate student at Brown, with WLB. So far, my experience with WLB has continued to be extremely good. I would continue to give Spencer 5 *'s. He is kind, respectful and very responsive. He continues to answer every question I have and is very helpful. I would also give Tracy a high rating - she manages the building and handles things such as maintenance requests and parking issues. So far, we've put in several maintenance requests - power outages, smoke detector beeping but too high to reach, clothes washer, kid locked out of building, etc. She has quickly responded each time and has had each maintenance request handled promptly. She is also the person to call if someone takes your parking spot (this can happen in a busy city center). She's always answered my inquiries for this, even on a weekend late at night, right away. It is still challenging for the towing people to move the offending car, but that's not for lack of Tracy contacting them. Also, Sarin, who coordinates parking spots, I have found to be pleasant and helpful. The maintenance guys who have come have also been respectful and efficient. I've seen the less than favorable reviews, but they do not reflect my experience. I want to give recognition where it is due, and my current opinion remains that they are pleasant and easy to deal with. We have renewed for another year. read more

YUCK! Avoid at all cost! I don't know where to begin ... When first moving in we discovered how gross this place was. I deep cleaned FOUR times - mopping black residue off the wood floors. I had to scrub mold out of the bathroom (some never came out and got us sick). We were told a new washer and dryer would be installed by the time we moved in. Took a month to get because I called EVERY DAY. In the meantime they told us to use the one in the basement. OMG grossest place ever. Rotting food, mold & a squatter seemed to live down there once. Our dishwasher popped open mid cycle so had to get that replaced to. I felt like every day something was wrong with this place. I woke up not ONCE but TWICE to workers in my unit unannounced. As a woman it was frightening & I counted the days until I could get out of this hell hole. When I complained about this to staff they acted like it wasn't a big deal. If you are still thinking of using one of their properties let me warn you Tracy is a witch. She is the most unprofessional human and wickedest person I've ever dealt with. She obviously hates her job and people. She has no respect for your privacy or schedule. I asked simple questions about the garbage bins and garage and got treated like I was bothering her. My final straw was when she demanded they could have a walk thru in the morning and explained by roommates worked third shift and she couldn't wake them. She either couldn't comprehend this or didn't care. read more

DISGUSTING, DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS! Do not rent from this company the apartment buildings are slums. There should be someone watching over these buildings; there is no quality management at all. I wish I could give zero stars. They take advantage of undergrads looking for places to rent near campus. Horrible!! read more

Those who know me know that I rarely leave one-star reviews. However, this rental agency has drawn my ire and now it is my turn to direct some rage in their general direction. They call their units "luxury suites," which I am about to thoroughly mock. Let's talk about the pros: -Generally speaking, the customer service agent I worked with, whose name I think was Cindy (I have every communication with them saved somewhere), was rather pleasant. -They were proactive with snow removal. -34 Benefit Street was a cool place to live, location wise! Stumbling distance of Tortilla Flats ;) which was, indeed, the one luxury of living there. -The friends that I made with neighboring tenants while agonizing over beers about this luxurious space with all its "bonus rooms" (aka a few square feet of non-cordoned off floor space). The times we talked about calling Walter Blowhard and telling him to sit and spin. We were not happy campers but we're all still in touch for the most part. Let's talk about the cons: -Walter Blowhard is a slumlord. Plain and simple. I lived in a building where most of the residents got physically sick from living there. Creepy skin bugs. Mold. Disgusting, terrifying basement with a gaping and luxurious hole that was a portal to hell or something. -My "unit" had the slanted roof on one of the walls because this "luxury" studio was on the top floor. This steep incline cut into the kitchen and the bathroom. I had to sit while I showered, because my shower was a hose in a tub under the angled ceiling. A literal hose. I showered with a hose for a year... a duct taped together hose. Whenever anyone else in the units around mine flushed the toilet, the water would scald me instantly--I still have a scar on my foot from a cut that wouldn't heal after frequent burns. Also, I cannot ever forget the luxury of trying to carefully wash fresh tattoos in that bathtub only to get scalded on what already felt like a sunburn. -My toilet decided to go for a ride and just popped out of the brackets to the cheap, half-done deluxe bathroom floor one day, flooding the downstairs apartment or something. I honestly had no idea that anything was even done until I noticed caulk around the bottom of the basin. Some of it had gotten on the sink, which was visible from the luxurious throne. -Let's talk about the kitchen. Same slanty roof, this time over a barely functional, leaky gas stove--this was a fire hazard times a billion! The oven never worked. Ahh, luxury. Living in the LAP of luxury. I had maybe eighteen square inches of counter space with nowhere to put drying dishes or cut my food... One of my downstairs neighbors had a stove that never worked, either. -The one and only window that connected to a horrifying and rusty fire escape that served as a convenient entry point for thieves. They even put bars over the window after the first heist, but left plenty of room to slip under the window. You know. The one window. Because bars over the one connection point to the fire escape are such a safe thing to have. At least the window bars were luxurious. -I had a neighbor who became so physically sick from the toxins in the building that she was hospitalized. She got the luxury of a hospital stay, bills, and being sued by the landlord for moving out. -They showed my unit nearly every day--the worst street was 57 out of 61 days in March and April. It will get to the point where you will look forward to the one or two odd days off per month. Keeping the space ready for show every single day is exhausting and invasive. And, apparently, luxurious. (Also, at least 61 people saw my unit and said no!) -Also, there were five "inspections" I had to thoroughly prepare my unit for. They never occurred. Had they occurred, I might've had a smoke alarm at some point in my twelve months living in the lap of luxury. -Lake Blowhard was the rather large pond that forms in the parking lot whenever it rains. While walking through six inches of water to get into your car is really nothing more than a physical challenge and a nuisance, imagine the twinkle in your eye the first time the whole lake ices over, and your car is now frozen in six inches of luxurious ice. -The mountain of mail that arrived each day for prior tenants and the general luxury of having no recycle bin in which to put it all. -Luxurious brown water that sometimes comes out of the taps. Watch what happens if you go away for a few days and the water starts to drip! You'll get these luxurious streaks of brown in your basins. -Literally every shelf in that unit fell off the wall at some point or was dangling by a screw... within 24 most luxurious hours of moving in. -General luxuries of stripped doorknobs, the leaky closet ceiling connected to the roof (in which feral animals peed), broken wall outlets... read more

Worst renting experience of my life. I decided to rent from these slumlords when I first moved to Providence because I was too naive to know any better. They prey on students, renting out some of the worst apartments I've ever seen for criminally high prices. You always know which ones are their's because they paint all of their buildings (which probably used to be really nice) and awful shade of poop gray. The apartments themselves are filthy, in varying states of disrepair, and are subdivided into way too many tiny, dingy apartment units. Then there's the staff, some of the most unfriendly, unhelpful, and unpleasant people I've ever had the unfortunate opportunity of dealing with. They were never helpful when I called them, and seemed much more interested in showing my unit to new unsuspecting potential tenants than in making sure their apartments were in a livable condition. But the last straw came as I was moving out. The "move-out crew" had an army of staff all over Benefit street trying to rushing all of the tenents out as fast as humanly possible. On several occasions I was moving my things to my car only to come back and find one of their staff members, whom I had already informed multiple times that I wasn't done yet, in my unit trying to throw away the remainder of my things. I ended up having to lock my door every time I left to take things down just to make sure that no one else would come into my unit. Later, after I had moved out they tried to keep a large portion of my security deposit because I had "left a large amount of trash in my unit." They finally gave it back when I informed them that I had not left anything in the unit, and they couldn't provide any proof that I had. So infuriating!! I would never ever ever recommend them to anyone. No matter how desperate you are for an apartment, you'd be better off renting from literally ANY other place in Providence. Don't give this sleezy, awful business any more money. read more

This real estate company is almost hilariously unprofessional. Very rude, understaffed maintenance wise. When we looked at the apartment initially, our real estate agent told us boldfaced lies. Staffed and lead by really tacky people, they make their money by preying on students. This wasn't my experience, but for some people, their unit is shown unceasingly throughout the entire duration of the lease. The unfortunate thing is that their monopoly in the area leads to few other options. If you find other options, take them. Stay away from these slumlords. read more

Overall, barring a few issues, I have had a very good experience as a tenant. My cousin graduated in 2017 with a RISD / Brown dual degree and recommended the company to me after having lived in one of the older units for several years. I am pleased with the decision I made. The staff at WLB, including Tracy, Rath, Bridgett and Noel have always been extremely kind and gone the extra mile. I have had my fair share of maintenance issues but things always get resolved sooner or later. Providence is one of the oldest cities in the country and it should therefore come as no surprise that its buildings, which are predominantly made from wood (especially in the historic neighborhoods) need constant upkeep. A lot of issues aren't the fault of WLB per se but rather just due to the nature of the housing environment in the city. WLB are always proactive at getting things resolved. read more

This is my VERY FIRST review I made on the internet through my entire life. Many different services ask for the review for the recommendation but I never did it because I could not agree with other EASY 5 star reviews on the yelp for those different companies or services. HOWEVER, Walter was different. They really helped me as a family. Tracey, who is property manger at Walter Bronhard, was like a mother figure for a student who lives at her company's properties and was very responsive to everyone at every moment. She was even always reachable during the weekend. Simply, she was always trying her best to help all tenants. I do not know how to express how every workers at office was trying to help me out. During my entire 10 years of living at U.S. as an international student, I have never met this kind of help and true concern(even including boarding school experience). I do not want to mention single pros because there is no point of it. You will see why they call their apartments are luxury suites. They deserve. I will talk about Cons from others. I never saw any insects(OK, there is no single place without fly) since they really prepare well with cleanest hygienes. and If you live near restaurants and trees and complain about bugs, it is unreasonable. You should not choose that house. This is tenant's responsibility who should search for the neighbors and environments near his/her future house. And I really doubt people who blame landlord(Walter). He is a very reasonable landlord and also willing to help anyone within the acceptable reason. I can't write down my personal issues on here, but he was really helpful. At least, he was not a doing a business, but making a true relationship by heart. For those who complain about basement, mold, bugs, it does not make sense because I know them and they do all the best to clean. I have been using 3 different units from them for a 3 different seasons.(I moved because I literally want to live at different spots just for fun) I again spent 10 years at United States, 5 years at Providence. I met many many many real estates and brokers who seems really nice and seems really responsive before make a contract. Some of them were good businessmen, and some are not, however, I understood that we are doing business. BUT, Walter and his people were doing more than just business, but building a relationship with tenants. I read many unreasonable reviews on Walter, and many can realize that they are complaining the basic structural differences and individual preferences on building. Potential tenants have a responsibility to know what kind of building they want, and what kind of area they want to live, and MUST know what is the benefit and disadvantage of living at specific apartment etc. Every building has different prices and different benefits. Price represents those factors. We can not complain that our LUXURY apt is worse than other LUXURY apt. You should consider all the benefits and price together. This is not a responsibility of real estates. Their responsibility is providing all the information clearly prepare their best to make it clean, and answer it for the best. They can not change the building shape, they CAN NOT fix the environments near building. Other than that, everyone is asking too much to their landlord like a children. I will stop disputing people who complain about their fault. It is too naive of them that they blame building structure or their lack of responsibility of taking care of equipment, tools and settings. For the showing problem, it is also unreasonable to complain about this. I again met many different apartments and many different brokers who show apartments. Nearly none of them were better than here. Here walter they ask really politely and try not to bother current tenants. I do not know why people blame about showing apartment if they did not commit to live for the next term. Frankly, I also had a few issues with maintenance. However, it is impossible to live without any maintenance problem. The important part is, tracey and all the people here know what is emergency, and know how to fix it quickly. There were no problematic situation for me when I asked them to fix it. They are very effective and deterministic. read more

This property owner rents mainly to students on the East Side of Providence. The apartments are not kept up, windows are cracked/broken, paint is chipping, the trash is not picked up by their service often enough leading to rodents and squirrels around the exterior trash area, the hallways in the common areas are strewn with trash and old mail. It takes a week or so for a repair person to show up when you call the main office. Also, the office staff does not return calls, and are very hard to reach. I would not recommend renting from this company. Very unprofessional and careless about property maintenance. My advice: The only thing they have going for them is location. Even if you have to walk a few extra blocks to get to school or work, rent from another company. read more

Where do I begin?! I have been renting with WLB for 4 years. The first year was really good! I barely had any maintenance issues with the unit so never really had to talk to the nightmare of a PM that Tracy Kelleher is. Fast forward to June 2022, I moved into a new unit which has a RAT INFESTATION outside my bedroom window at 296 Benefit st. I messaged her this promptly since it is in their email to message with ANY issues within 7 days of a new move in. I message her and tell her there is rats and I have a broken window. to my surprise she told me I was lying? Who would lie about rats? Or broken windows? I am still trying to figure it out. She told me there is no way there is rats and the person below said there is none.. the funniest part, there is NOONE living below me! I submitted all the proof and she told me to get out of the unit in 72 hours (illegal). I called civil court and told them what she is saying, they confirm it's illegal and she is making all of these "Rhode Island laws" up, thinking I do not know better. I relay the message that it's illegal and tell her the right way to do it, 30 days mailed notice. She again says I'm lying. I call civil court again to confirm it's illegal. She then tells me she isn't going to civil court and if I'm not out in 3 days in June (biggest moving time) - during a housing crisis- I have to stay the full term. If she gave me a reasonable amount of time to find somewhere I would leave but obviously if I leave in 3 days I would be homeless. She seems to have lost touch with reality. She is making me feel so belittled, threatened, and bullied. Who do you reach out to for maintenance if this woman just tells you you're lying about maintenance requests? I have never lied about a maintenance request and always provide proof. She is the definition of gaslighting. I hope she receives the mental help she needs in a psych ward. read more

I'm not in the habit of leaving reviews, even critical ones, but after reading the most recent positive review for WLB Real Estate, I couldn't resist. (Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were somehow associated with the company.) I rented from WLB a few years back, and they were by far the worst, most unresponsive landlords I've ever had. I don't know what one of the previous reviews means about Walter himself being friendly/responsive...if you rent from them, you will never meet, see, or hear from him personally. I'm convinced their entire company is corrupt. Now, I will say that my experience with WLB does differ somewhat from the accounts below. Although my unit was probably overpriced, it had recently been renovated and didn't have nearly as many problems (or downright health hazards) as it sounds like some of their other buildings/units have. (Not surprised to hear this is the case, though, unfortunately.) At first, things seemed to be going pretty well...the property manager that was around for my building while I was renting from them was pretty responsive. Things went downhill when he, very sadly, passed away. The thing is, no one from the company mentioned right away that this had happened. So I'm trying to call him about an ant problem in my unit (literally, my living room floor was covered in black ants--I'm a clean person, and nothing was spilled--I've never experienced an insect problem to that degree), wondering why it's going directly to his voicemail. When I finally email them, that's when they mention it and gave me an alternative number! You'd think they would have, oh, I don't know, mass emailed all of their tenants to let them know and give the new contact info. The interim property manager (this was pre-Tracey, who a few people below mention as being reasonable) was difficult to get a hold of. I don't want to even know what would have happened if I had ever had an actual emergency. One time (it was a Friday) my toilet had a clog that plunging wouldn't fix (worst toilet I've ever had, you could put one piece of tissue in it and it would clog), and I ended up having to call their front desk receptionist because I couldn't get a hold of the new PM. And, even though she always promised to call me back with news/an update, I had to keep calling her until finally they sent a plumber over. I mean, I hate to even fault her because it was really the PM's responsibility, but it's like no one even trained her on what to do or how to be responsive. Especially if the company isn't going to offer a better, more immediate contact person. Like I said, not quite as bad an experience as others have reported, but they are definitely difficult to get in touch with, and they could have handled the transition I describe much better. All in all, I would NOT rent from them. Their name is plastered everywhere, so if you're new to the area you might think they're trustworthy, but they're not. Just Google them now...several articles have popped up in the past year talking about how sketchy they are. I wish I had known then what I know now. read more

We have lived in Bronhard's Delano on Pitman Street. We have never had a better renting experience. The manager is fantastic. Whatever we need - help or repairs - are taken care of immediately. They are efficient, friendly, gracious and a delight to deal with. If I could give it 10 stars, I would. Nothing could be better! Any negative reviews are simply not appropriate. read more

Tracy is super helpful and the entire agency is easily reachable and incredibly accommodating!

I made the mistake of renting from this company because I had seen their signs all over the east side and thought that they must be a reputable real estate business. HA. As everyone else has said, they are slum lords. My third floor unit in one of their "luxury" buildings on angell st was the worst apartment I've ever been in. There was not one fully functional and properly installed window, so even if you could manage to get them closed and locked, you could see daylight through the holes in the wall surrounding them. Winter utility bills were insane and the apartment never actually got to the 70 degrees we set the thermostat at. It was more like 60. This would drop even lower if there was a storm or if we were cooking, because the thermostat was installed right above our stove. On top of that, many sections of walls had clearly been repaired with straight up paper mache and a can of spray paint. Previous tenants had left some of those stick-on hooks from 3M on a few walls and who ever updated the apartment didn't even bother to remove them, they just spray painted right over them. The bathroom had a ridiculous slant on one wall which made it almost impossible to shower. I could barely stand up straight while I was in there. The sink also just had a kitchen cabinet installed above it, no mirror. We had to stick a mirror on the wall to the side of the sink. We also had no hot water for over a month after moving in. It was room temperature at best and after a month of them trying to figure out what was wrong with the water, it was "fixed". AKA run the water for 10-15 minutes before it becomes scalding hot, and if anyone else in the building needs hot water you'll lose all hot water temperature and pressure. Many times I found myself in the shower with suddenly nothing more than a light drizzle. It was infuriating. They also gave me a parking spot 2 blocks away from my apartment in an illegal driveway. I got blocked in one day and they did say I could deduct the cost of my Ubers from my rent, and gave me a different spot in a legitimate parking lot while the driveway was made legal... I moved out about 6 months later and no progress in the original driveway had been made. I will say that my text messages with the property manager, Tracy, were fine. She was always very friendly and pleasant, but obviously not very effective at enforcing quality work (or even project completion) out of the maintenance crews. read more

A very important preface to this review: I signed two subsequent leases with WLB -- one during my junior year and one during my senior year of school in Providence. I dealt with massive issues in both leases. In my first, my housemates and I were removed from our initial property due to unsafe construction on the second floor and were sent an inexcusably pricy invoice for falsified damages to our second-property. On my second lease, I was left for months with no heat in my unit as well as no reasonable communication with management. Some of the communication I received from management and construction workers on-site was completely unprofessional and aggressive. On this basis alone I would have given the realtor a (very livid) 1-star review. *** However, a few months into my second-lease, when issues between myself & my fellow tenants and management had become unbearable, WLB put a new manager -- Tracy -- in charge of my building. Tracy, unlike previous management from WLB, was very friendly, communicative and responsible. Quickly, heating was restored, our front porch was refurbished to a great condition, and all minor maintenance issues were responded to in a timely matter. Of course there were still a few issues with the building. Student-rented apartments in the Providence area are old, often not perfectly renovated, and lead to occasional plumbing, insulation, and heating issues. But whenever an issue would come up I could text or call Tracy and within a day or so the issue would be visited & resolved. I believe that Tracy's responsibility with WLB is expanding and she will now be overseeing most properties in the Providence area. If you are signing a lease with WLB, make sure that Tracy is your point person for communication. If so, you'll have a very kind and responsive person looking out for you and your unit. read more

Moving in I was so excited, the apartment was big and beautiful and moving in at the beginning of August it seemed like a beautiful place to live. However, Once the weather became acclimate it was AWFUL. Our kitchen was so cold our oil actually solidified, our back door had a gap and we had flooding. Maintenance was nice but never fully fixed the issues and our ceiling ended up caving in. To top it all off, we had THOUSAND DOLLAR heating bills for MONTHS. No one ever answered emails of complaints, and our whole apartment fell into disgusting disrepair. Which is unfortunate. I had to call the cops on some of the other tenants for how awful they behaved and no one helped in that situation either. Now, they haven't returned our security deposit and are avoiding our phone calls, sadly looks like we'll have to take them to court. DO NOT STAY AT ANY OF THEIR PROPERTIES. read more

Could not agree more with other one-star reviewers. Worst rental experience I've ever had. In sum: property overpriced, not maintained, unit oddly divided, not cleaned or repaired at all, many things not functional (shutters, some lights, doors). When I called, they occasionally fixed things, but usually didn't. Gave me a unit without a dedicated electric meter (which I believe is illegal) and refused to help fix it until I threatened legal action, at which point they reimbursed me for all previous and future electric bills. Would not recommend even as a last resort! read more

I was part of a group of Brown students who rented a house from Walter Bronhard. When we moved in, the house was a mess. It was disgusting. We asked for house to be cleaned. It never was. We asked for a refund and never got one. We moved out when we were told house didn't even have a certificate of occupancy. We never got back our security deposit. read more

WORST renting experience of my life. IT WAS BAD. A squirrel literally fell through my ceiling because it was made from cheap plastic tiles and trashed my room (this happened not one time, not two times, but THREE times.) They offered very little help. Then one day my roomate was peeing and a MAGGOT fell on her from the plastic drop ceiling. We texted Tracy about it because we figured clearly something had died (perhaps a squirrel?) in the wall and we needed help dealing with it. She responded by blaming US for "leaving trash out" and not being clean enough, even though she hadn't seen our place once and we cleaned regularly. And we weren't keeping trash in our BAHTROOM CEILING. So she refused to send someone for 2 weeks because clearly it wasn't her problem. So in the meantime, to keep the growing number of maggots (they really were accumulating) from getting into our kitchen through the gap under our bathroom door, we had to seal our bathroom door shut with rolls of ducktape to keep the little fuckers locked in. Our bathroom now belonged to the maggots. Eventually tracy believed us, after much gaslighting, but it still took months to be resolved. and they never took a CENT off of our rents even though the place was in terrible condition. AND THE KEPT OUR SECURITY DEPOSITS. Don't believe a single good review. read more

My husband and I lived at the Delano for a year and had a great experience. The location was superb- walkable to all the shops and restaurants in Wayland Square, the apartments were updated and spacious and the management was too notch. Highly recommend for anyone looking to move to the area read more

4 outstanding work orders related to exterior door locks (opened 4+ months ago). Trash issue, there are rats in the trash, they do not recycle. All winter long I have had to shovel the walkway and the portion of the driveway by the road where the city plows kick up high snow walls. They claim "laundry on sit but do not give the basement key where the washer and dryer are located. Extremely drafty units. My gas bill has averaged $165/Mfg this winter (I keep the thermostat at a constant 66°). The landlord has not replied to my emails regarding this past storms plowing (have not been plowed out - it is noon the day after the storm). My rent check and my parking check went "missing" and I had to stop payment on two checks and reissue checks. I had a realtor just walk in to my unit while I was home - no notice of unit showing. I have pictures and emails to back up my claims. Do not rent from this agency. read more

Dealing with them is one of the worst experiences I have had working with a rental company. They spam Craigslist with apartment listings, mis-advertise their properties, and try to pull bait-and-switch tactics when you inquire for more information. They do not return your phone calls. If you start asking for more information, they ignore your emails. I have had many friends rent from them with terrible experiences. Many of their residential properties are in a state of disrepair, and the pictures are often misleading. Avoid them at all costs. read more

I wouldn't have believed how bad it really was unless I saw it first-hand. I never review anything on yelp but I just had to. From trying to view the apartment on the first day, we set up a time to meet and no one showed up so I waited outside of the building for an hour and the agent who I had been speaking to didn't answer any of my calls. I typically work late, but I wanted to get my keys on the first day of my lease. So I moved some stuff around and left work early to pick them up at the rental office (confirmed with them ahead of time) and... they didn't have my keys... So I couldn't get back to the office before closing until the next week. When viewing the place, every inch of the apartment was covered in dust and cobwebs and the agent promised that it would be professionally cleaned, but of course when I moved in it had not been touched (and then they had the nerve to charge ME a cleaning fee when I moved out, for an apartment that hasn't been cleaned in 5-10 years). There were problems throughout my time there with the oven, the toilet, and the heat. The entire basement flooded one day. The walls were cracked. The ceiling was made of those cheap tiles like you see in a school, but they did not fit together so there were giant holes that I had to cover up with tape to keep the bugs out. You could hear every conversation and every minimal movement of the upstairs neighbors, making it very difficult to sleep (quite the guitar player). There was not a scrap of food left out, but there was an ant problem like you wouldn't believe. They did not plow out the driveway for 2 full days after a snow storm. In the snow, a piece of wood fell off of the side of the building and landed directly on the windshield of one of the tenant's cars. There was a strong smell of gas upon walking into the building and when a guy came to look at it for about 3 minutes he said, "I'm not really sure what it is. Eh, probably nothing." The parking lot and trash barrels had rats running around everywhere. Like a previous reviewer said, they had showings of the apartment honestly at least 5 days a week including Friday evenings and weekend mornings. They even showed up one Saturday morning without any kind of warning to show it as I was in my underwear eating breakfast. All of this and more for a very pricey apartment. It's right across the street from the Brown campus, so it may be tempting for students to rent from them, but please reconsider. read more