Beal Properties

Horrible slumlords. One day I came home to find everything in my apartment covered in heavy dust. They were gutting the apartment directly above mine and had not posted any notice or gotten the necessary permits. I lost a lot of personal property and my dog was seriously ill from breathing in this crap. I called and they said they didn’t have to explain anything to me. They continued the demolition and living there became unbearable. I asked to be let out of my lease and they refused. I got a lawyer that specialized in tenants rights. We reported all the violations and things got worse. I came home and they had put glue in all of my locks. It was pure hell. Buyer beware.

Very easy to deal with. Anytime I have a question I can either call or email and everything is answered very quickly and professionally. I called Erin yesterday to ask about how to get my apartment updated because I am currently in a sublease and the previous renter had been there since 2012. She was so nice and easily explained the procedures to get my apartment updated. The building I am in is very well kept in a very nice part of Evanston. I can see myself renting from this company for a very long time.

I would give them 0 stars if that was a possibility. I would rather be homeless than ever again rent from Beal Properties (who renamed themselves several times to avoid bad reviews– Apartments Management; Green Bay LLC, etc.).
— The ceiling of our apartment leaked at a rate of 1 gallon/​hour and they flat-​out REFUSED to fix it. They only fixed it once we mailed pictures of the damage with our rent check.
— The back door of our apartment was rotted wood and wouldn’t latch properly. Still refused to fix it despite receiving pictures of the problem.
— We also had mice and an ant infestation.
— Your lease states that YOU are responsible for the furnace. If the furnace breaks or needs repair, it is THE TENANT’S RESPONSIBILITY. WHAT?! If that’s the case, then shouldn’t I be allowed to take it with me when I leave?
— Storage area in the basement flooded and ruined everything in storage.
— They would wait to cash rent checks for a month or flat out lie that they never received them. Towards the end of my time living there, I started sending all checks certified with tracking numbers and documented every detail. Often checks would have to be hand-​delivered to their office.
— Office staff is rude, unhelpful, and would lie.
— Maintenance staff was uselss, and entered our apartment several times while we were gone and without prior notification in non-​emergency instances. Back stairs were NEVER shoveled– we had to do it ourselves.

This is not a very good company to rent with. Although most of the apartments are older, they’re primarily in very popular and trendy areas with a slightly lower price than others. Unfortunately, the slightly lower price point isn’t worth it and you’d be better off paying more for service that’s far better than what’s offered here.
The service is inadequate for several reasons. First, it’s next to impossible to reach the management office by phone or email. They don’t answer their phone or they’ll take forever to get back to you if at all. Second, each building is run by a manager. The managers generally keep the buildings clean but they are just like the management office, they’re unresponsive, so if you need a repair done you’re going to have to call them numerous times. Usually you’ll have to fix the problem yourself which makes me wonder why I pay even close to what I paid when I lived with them. It was very aggravating and I’m generally easy to please.
In the end, I was happy to move out once the time came. I was able to find an apartment with a company that provides far superior service and features a more modern and unique array of options. I give Beal 2 stars simply because the building I lived in was kept up for the most part and the apartments weren’t horrible, but the service was too far below par for me to recommend them.

Yes everything these reviews say is true but what do you expect for the price. You live three blocks from the lake and your barely paying for location. If you want a tidy clean kept place you can move to any building around you there and pay double to triple what your paying there. Seriously unless your an idiot you must know that every single place around there cost 1000 or more to rent and 505 wants 600.00 and when you’ll did a walk through you didn’t notice the elevator broken. the trash… etc… please. You get what you pay for and beal was cool to me. I lived there two years and they got there rent as agreed and I never had any issues. Come on people quit complaining when you knew at get go dirt cheap rent by the lake in a prime location means some kind of. Trade off.

Run away from this place as fast as you can!!!
In January 2011, I found this place with the help of a friend when I was in a bind and making a quick move from out of state. I only saw pictures and figured it would do as I was making my transition to the city. I was wrong.
When my rent was a day late, I received threatening phone calls stating that I was being evicted, and I was rudely informed that whatever circumstances I was going through, they didn’t care and it «wasn’t their problem».
My neighbors have always been loud and obnoxious, but I attempted to ignore that. However, we quickly found that packages could no longer be delivered to. our address because there was a their in the building. It took them almost an entire year and several tenants’ mail being stolen before they addressed that issue.
In September of 2011, the already rickety elevator broke. Someone actually got stuck and had to be rescued by the fire dept! There was a note posted 2 weeks later that the management was «working on getting the problem fixed and it would be working again soon.» That was 6 months ago, and I’ve recently been informed that not fixing it is illegal in the city of Chicago.
In December of 2011, our maintenance man was fired and a new one came in. Shortly after, someone broke into the building and stole the master set of let’s to each unit and began letting themselves in, thus ransacking apartments and leaving everyone frightened. When I asked when my. lock would be changed, I was told to do it myself because it was unclear when they would «get around to it.»
And finally, last month I was out of town for a week. When I came back, I walked by the laundry room on the first floor and it was burned to a crisp. The smell was unbearable and needless to say, I no longer had a facility to do my laundry. The maintenance man’s wife was kind enough to give me a key for the building across the street so I could do laundry there, however there were no questions asked when she handed that key over. Seemed strange. And to this day, no one has been officially notified as to what happened, cause of fire (it was speculated electrical/​faulty building wiring), etc.
This building is at 635 W. Barry. The ONLY good thing about this property is the maintenance man’s wife, a sweet young mother of two who does just about anything to help us out. She’s the only reason this place gets a star at all. Otherwise, I’m glad to be getting out of this slumlord-​run hell hole.

I lived at 1220 North LaSalle for 7 months. Beautiful, affordable apartment in a great area. The on-​site management is great and kept the place nicely clean and painted. If you ever had an issue all you had to do was text the on-​site person and you typically got a quick response.
Any time I ever called the office on Damen, I was sent to a woman’s voicemail who NEVER picked up her phone.
Any time I ever dealt with anyone in the office, they lacked in basic customer service. No smile, no please and thank you.

I can’t get an apartment because of their incompetence and nobody will call me back. I terminated my lease early, and they’ve sent me a bill that’s twice as large as a full years rent at that place would be. I have called their office half a dozen times with no useful response from anybody; All I want is a bill, since they made no effort to collect money from me before sending me to collections despite a forwarding mailing address and phone number provided. I’ve recently left 2 messages with staff and on voicemail with no attempt made to contact me.
My water was orange, the washing machines were spraying water into the electrical outlets they were plugged in to; I lived temporarily in someone elses dirty mess (I’m talking bags of dirty gym clothes, 2 month old milk in the fridge, pizza left in the oven, 9 months of cat hair ground into the floor) for a month and a half because they couldn’t be bothered to clean out the apartment I was going to be living in for the duration. I got stuck in the elevator three times in the months I lived there. The freight elevator, which I specifically asked about before I moved in, (yes, we have one, it’s right there) had been out of service since well before I moved in, making moving in very difficult (I had to throw away a couch. Obviously they have lost business because of the broken elevator so they had to lie about it; I wouldn’t have moved in if it was busted). During the winter, the only way to keep the apartment above 50 degrees was to run my oven ²⁴⁄₇. For 2 weeks they lost my 1600 dollar first 2 months rent payment. Only about half of the light fixtures worked.

By far, this is the worst management company I have ever been with. Beware that they have changed their name to Rentals Management and, currently, they are known as Apartments Management.

Issues with them include:
Entering apartment without notice, janitor/​on-​site person Julia smoking in back stairwell of non-​smoking building, phone threats to cut our locks on our bikes which were locked in courtyard (no written rule against it), exterminator showing up without notice, repeatedly calling company and Julia for broken door knobs (I was locked in the bathroom for an hour until my roommate came home), mice, electric issues, with no response for weeks. She had also promised someone would come (so I would make arrangements with work) and NO ONE WOULD SHOW.
I just found out that our 2BR with dining room at 813 W. Waveland is going for $ 1575 and we paid $ 1185 30 days ago. They might turn it into a 3BR by eliminating the dining room. No renovations to justify the price hike.
THE LAUNDRY ROOM IS DISGUSTING. It smells of sewage (I actually called 311 three times). It isn’t a finished basement — just a cement floor with six terrible washer/​dryers at $ 1.75 per load and a WOMAN WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED in the back part of the apartment building by the laundry area.
ALL apartments have the same front door key — super unsafe and weird.
Please do not live here. even if it is cheaper, it will cost you so much more in the end. Terrible, terrible building management.

This isn’t a review but a question– anyone who lives in the building @ 2900 N Mildred? What are the conditions like there? I’m extremely nervous because I literally just signed a lease– didn’t know who the management company was until I signed it– and now that I’ve researched I am terrified. When I looked at the apartment it seemed to be in good condition…
Please help?

I have sinced moved out of this place. I was robbed. When the cop came to file the report he pointed out many city code violations. Just not a safe place to live and the company doesn’t care. Got out of my lease by going to the illinois tenant union, best decision ever made.
Following procedure by the tenant union, Beal continue to unlawfully harrass me. It was all they could do, scare tatics. Don’t give in if you find yourself in that situation. They are well known for breaking the law. Turns out they have to let you know if there are any building code citations for the building when you sign the lease, apparetnly their where three for mine and no they didn’t tell me.
Also homeless people in the basement. too easy for anyone to enter.

Counting the days until i move out of this hell-​hole. 635 w barry SUCKS!
I knew something was up the moment I moved in. There was a strange smell in the air. Seriously. There was. I have a studio (a SMALL studio) and even if I put three or four Fabreeze things in my outlets (which I have) I still smell it! Not sure what it is… it smelled like paint when I moved in. I tried letting it air out but I couldn’t open the window becuase the window was painted shut. After struggling to open it (for days!!), we got it open but the smell keeps coming back.
Every day i fight to keep my home bug free but I don’t think I can. I’m afraid one day I’ll wake up with nasty centipedes crawling on my bed! Or be covered with flies, or spiders… once I got something I didn’t even know what the hell it was! it wa dead, so that’s all I care about.
The floors are not even. You can put a ball in the middle of the floor and I swear, it will start rolling away from you! You can also feel it when you walk in the hallway.
The tiles on my bathroom floor are popping up.
Oh my god, and the front door! That damn door… you have to punch in the code but IT NEVER OPENS. I think it knows that your hand is red and raw from pulling and trying for five minutes and THEN it opens.
Dogs have peed in the hallway and the nasty owners don’t clean it up.
The elevator is broken and they don’t know when they’ll fix it. I think it’s been down for months.
The outside area in the back is disgusting. There are mice back there. And I could swear I saw something laying dead on the ground… I didn’t want to get too close in case it was a dead animal but something was laying awfully still… ew.
Plus side: the rent is ridiculously cheap and you do get what you paid for, so there you go.
Also, the washers/​dryers: they are in a nice room in the back. They have always worked for me so I don’t have a problem with them. But they are $ 1.75 each, which I think is expensive.

NEVER EVER MOVE IN TO THIS COMPANY! my elevator breaks every week and the management doesn’t want to put the money in for the new control panel to fix it. i live on the 8^th floor with a puppy and its annoying when you have to walk it 5 times a day! you would think they had enough extra money since they charge late fees almost every month on your rent. the bank shows it gets there days earlier, but they like to wait to deposit it!
STAY AWAY

Never EVER EVER rent from these evil and despicable crooks.

Negative stars. Building at 739 w. Belmont.
I could rant and rave all day (literally) about how horrible my experience has been, but instead I will quickly bullet-​point the horrors.
Mail is always stolen and people will move your laundry because those so called cameras around the building are FAKE. Yeah, that was a false sense of security. Thanks for the sweet message you left (and by sweet I mean condescending) telling me that those are «dummy cameras» and that its a shame my package was stolen.
Secondly, cockroaches. Allllll over the basement. It is impossible to do your laundry without seeing numerous cockroaches crawling throught the place. I dealt with seeing one or two a month in my apartment because I have read about the situation and how they can come in beer cases (of which I drink a lot) and up through pipes. I was completely understanding until I woke up to find numerous cockroaches in my apartment one morning. Needless to stay, that was the main deciding factor of moving. Oh, and the bast part is that I am a college student and have gone to a lot of dingy, dirty, infested frat houses and multiple dwelling apartments, but those places seem nicer than mine.
BLACK MOLD. I saved the best for last. Little did I know how horrible black mold is for your body. I noticed I was lathargic when I first moved in and constantly had head aches. I figured it was a gas leak since my oven didn’t work. Later I found the black mold growing about a quarter inch thick throughout my whole closet. I called the management group numerous times and the only attention I got was the building manager bringing over Clorox bleach and spraying it dead. After every shower I have to bleach my entire bathroom so as the mold doesn’t grow along a nightly basis. The good thing is the closet mold only grows back about every two weeks. Hopefully when I move out my random fainting episodes will halt. They started about two months after I moved in and have landed me with some huge hospital bills and lumps/​bruses all over my body. The doctors directly linked it to black mold.
I am currently moving out after living in this hell hole for a mere six months. Anyone who can last longer than I could is a saint.

These people are scam artists. Make sure you track EVERYTHING you send to them. You can send your rent three years early, and they’ll still claim it’s late. One time I sent my rent in a week early, they claimed they didn’t receive it, but three weeks later when I sent a replacement one (after repeated calls to go in and hand them a check or rent money), it magically was received the next day, along with my check from three weeks prior. When I called them out on it, and asked what the post-​dates were for each envelope sent, I got hung up on.
When you call the office and talk to the wench working there, she’ll tell you it’s your fault and promptly hang up on you. They love to raise their rent to obscene levels, charge $ 4 to do a load of laundry and are just horrible HORRIBLE people to rent from. As proof of how horrible, the lease extension they sent me had a whole page devoted to all the complaints that had been filed against them (rotting doors, broken windows, just to name a few).
Unfortunately, they are sneaky now and do not even refer to themselves as Beal Properties. Apparently each building has their own name (i.e., Diversey Building, LLC, Mildred Building, LLC). They answer the phone as «building management» and you can never get them to say Beal. If you have to call 773−862−5200, or send rent to the Damen address, you have the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with them. Be careful if you use Apartment Finders, as many of the buildings they show are owned by Beal Properties.

RUN!!! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT rent from Beal Properties /​Apartments Management Group (or whatever they are called now) ! If I could give any business 0 stars, this would be it. Ohh, where to begin…
The very first week at our apartment on Barry (we rented from ’08-’09) we had a natural gas leak from the kitchen stove. It only got better from there. Our alley was totally rat-​infested. The courtyard was always full of dog waste (not my dog’s!). Our hallway looked like there had been a bar fight in it (think body-​sized hole in the wall), and while we were assured that «it will be fixed,» it never was. Half the time our heat didn’t work, particularly in the bathroom. Our huge kitchen cupboard nearly fell off of the wall, and we were told to take all of our glasses and plates out. It was fixed about a week later with a cabinet that no one even bothered to stain.
The lack of security in our building was the final straw. The front gate of our courtyard was never locked. One of the back alley gates was broken for quite some time (which the property co knew of), and our building was continually targeted by break-​ins via the broken back gate and the fire escapes. One of our neighbors was home when her door was kicked in. Another neighbor’s apartment was broken into, robbed, and their darling dog was killed. At that point, I didn’t even feel safe living there (mind you this is in East Lakeview!), and we moved out shortly thereafter. After the violent break-​in, our alderman and the police being involved, and a news channel interviewing tenants in our building, the back gate was finally fixed.
Don’t bother calling the office. They don’t like to return phone calls. Or fix anything. Ever.
It is unbelievable that a company like this is still in business, but I suppose there are enough poor, unsuspecting people out there (my former self included) that just don’t know any better. The especially disgusting thing is that they change their name on different buildings to hide their horrible reputation and their barrage of lawsuits.
I could seriously go on forever (as you can see). I can’t even remember all of the terrible things about this place. I think I may have subconsciously blocked it from my memory.

So let’s see here. When my roommate first moved in (a month before I did), the fridge broke within a week and the dishwasher was full of foul-​smelling, black water. Did either get fixed in a timely manner? Nope. The building manager at the time told my roommate to put her food in some fridge in the building’s basement. It’s terrifying down there, and completely open to the public. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen homeless folks taking shelter there. They didn’t fix our fridge until I made a VERY assertive phone call detailing our rights as tenants that were currently being broken. That got us a new fridge in two days.
Hmm, what else… oh, there’s a washer downstairs that’s been broken and just «waiting for a new part» for two whole years. That leaves two washers and three dryers (one of which also malfunctions from time to time) for somewhere around 15 – 20 units. Sundays in the laundry room are great fun, lemme tell ya. Oh! We can’t forget the cat piss/​cigarette stench in the hallway. Forget the manager having the carpets cleaned. No, he just set out some air fresheners. In the wise words of Vinnie from Jersey Shore (lord help us), the place now smells like «Shibreze: s$!t and Febreze.»
In our apartment we have a broken lamp in the bathroom (electrical problem), no keys to our back door, no screens in my bedroom window, a broken kitchen cabinet, and a broken disposal. It’s been a month since the new building manager promised he’d come by to look at these problems, and I’ve heard nothing. I’m pretty sure he never actually visited.
I absolutely love my apartment, and if it were run better, I’d stay here as long as possible. At this point, however, nothing can convince me to stay.

If you’ve already figured out that your seemingly innocuously named building is actually owned by Beal then you probably are having problems with them like most everyone else. Here’s a list of external links where you can find assistance regarding your rights as a tenant — you have lots of rights to things like maintenance of your apartment and building, security, seeing your lease in writing, there’s a law about how much and how they may charge you late rent fees, as well as many more. You even have the right to timely and effective repairs on Beal’s part or you can pay somebody else for the repairs then deduct the cost from your rent — check out «14 Day Notices.» You even can break your lease early if Beal won’t do certain repairs — there are several ways for that, please keep reading.
If you have any questions or concerns about your landlord or what your landlord can’t or can do, you can contact the Metropolitan Tenant Organization:
The Center For Renter’s Rights is also a great Tenant’s Rights resource and they can also help you end your lease early if Beal refuses to uphold their part of the lease.
Chicago Tenant’s Rights — here’s another organization that can inform you about your rights as a tenant and provide you with some pointers in dealing with Beal.
For a building inspection, call 311 and report any issues that you’re having then a building inspector will be able to assist you. The Chicago Building Department number is 312−743−0405.
Here’s a great summary of your rights as a tenant:
Finally, here’s a list of all of Beal’s buildings:
Near North
1220 N. LaSalle
1347 N. Dearborn
1435 N Dearborn St
1446 N Dearborn St
Lincoln Park
536 W Arlington
620 W Barry
635 W. Barry
427 W. Belden
600 W Diversey
814 W. Diversey
818 W. Diversey
2912 N Mildred Ave
627 – 629 W. Oakdale
643 W. Oakdale
540 W Wellington Ave
558 W Wellington
1101 W Wellington
1200 W Wellington
837 W. Wolfram
Lakeview
550 — 560 W. Aldine
505 W. Belmont
711 W. Belmont
739 W. Belmont
3700 N Bosworth Ave
713 W. Brompton
1450 W. Byron
622 W Cornelia Ave
654 — 664 W. Cornelia
815 — 823 W. Cornelia
3249 N Damen Ave
3823 — 3829 N. Fremont St.
3815 – 3823 N Greenview
3839 – 3845 N Greenview
3900 — 3904 N. Janssen
924 W Newport
511 W Melrose
3720 — 3728 Pine Grove
813 W. Waveland
915 W Waveland Ave
Ravenswood
4407 N Wolcott
Rogers Park
6438 N Sacramento Ave
Suburbs
925 Forest Ave in Evanston
1130 Maple Ave in Evanston
1134 – 1144 Maple Ave in Evanston
1143 — 1149 Maple in Evanston
1133 — 1139 Oak in Evanston
1313 Oak in Evanston
373 Hazel in Glencoe
353 Park Ave in Glencoe
365 Park Ave in Glencoe
725 St. Johns in Highland Park
819 Elm St in Winnetka (known as Chestnut BLDG I LLC)
894 Green Bay Rd in Winnetka

If I could rate them 0 stars, I definitely would.
Cockroach infestation, unreturned phone calls, HUGE amounts of mold (see link below), rude management, broken elevators, etc. etc. etc.
DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY. DO NOT.
Check out the mold on one of my walls:
And that’s just one small corner of my apartment. The entire bathroom is covered as well. The «building manager» came and sprayed some 409 on it. That’s it. It came back worse than before.