Covaci, William Apartments

I rented with William Covaci, and every time I had to call him for anything he was rude. When it was time for me to find a sublease, I brought him multiple applications and he discriminated against my first applicant for being Middle Eastern. The applicant brought tons of documentation on his schooling, bank accounts, mother’s information, international school papers, etc to show he was going to Loyola, and Covaci kept not returning his calls, and refused to work with him. The applicant was willing to pay upfront for the lease. Another applicant paid the application fee and when I followed up with Covaci he asked for a copy of his previous lease. I have never had to provide that information when I applied nor anyone else that lived in the building. When I called Covaci to find out what was going on he hung up on me! I returned his call and he hung up on me several more times! He also cussed at me. I have never been so disrespected by a landlord. To top it all off 1323 W Estes has a huge bed bug problem. I also heard there are cockroaches in the building!!! DO NOT RENT FROM WILLIAM COVACI. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I would give zero star if i could. This place is owned by a bloody asshole. William Covaci is a jerk. He does not help anyone. All he cares is your money and doesn’t listen to your need or even complain about his apartment. He is so rude and impatient and every time you call him he already wanted to hang up on you. I don’t know why but that is the truth.

I didn’t think things could be as bad as everyone said. boy was I WRONG!!! Listen to the warnings!

do not rent from this guy under any circumstance.

His buildings have bed bugs, he will steal your security deposit and never fix things I have asked for.

I’m writing this review primarily to thank ALL of the people on here who warned potential tenants about the service and the property. I’m a big supporter of hearing both sides of any story no matter who it is. This many reviews complaining about bedbugs, mice and roaches concerned me quite a bit, especially considering I absolutely loved the Sheridan location. I thought I’d struck gold to so speak with this choice. But the owner took a week to approve my application (another location took three days, including sending a lease) so that gave me way too much free time to do some research.
When I read all of these negative reviews on here and on the Bedbug Registry, I immediately brought it to the attention of the third-​party realtors. I was told to contact the owner. What stunned me was the owner first denied that there was ever a bedbug issue until I started reading these reviews to him. Then he switched it up to, «Don’t trust anonymous reviewers. They’re doing that because they’re mad at me.» Now I do believe that sometimes people can gang up on one person, but I couldn’t comprehend what all of these people on this comment board would get out of it.
So I skipped past the hearsay and asked him, «When was the bedbug issue resolved?» His response, «I don’t remember.» Keep in mind the owner knew me by name and my employer. This is not a man with a bad memory, and anyone who owns property should know exactly when their bedbug situation has been resolved.
I asked again what had they done about the bug issue, and the owner responded with, «If you don’t feel comfortable, then don’t move in.» Even Group Fox wasn’t this blahzay about their roach issues. I can’t decide whether I’d prefer a landlord to lie to me and be overly confident about his property or be this callous about the situation. One is just as bad as the other.
I talked to the maintenance guy Pete who assured me it was resolved. But both of them immediately said, «If you have a bedbug issue, just call us. We’ll have someone spray.» Bedbugs aren’t mosquitoes. You don’t just spray and they disappear like magic. Pete was a sweetheart and the ONLY reason — outside of living the physical appearance of the place — I considered taking my chances. But by day three, I was just about begging the realtor to let me see other locations. I didn’t want to live here anymore.
On the same day (now 10 days later), the owner contacted the realtor and said flat out that he could not promise I wouldn’t have bedbugs so he’d prefer not to send a lease to me. I was immediately relieved and borderline giddy. But it still bothers me that instead of the owner being more concerned with resolving the infestation issue, he seems to be more focused on finding tenants who will either move in ignorant of the situation or just deal with bugs sucking their blood out. The entire 10 days of dealing with this owner was bizarre. Thank you, Unilocal.If not for these reviews, I would’ve moved in without a clue of what I was in store for.

Can I give ZERO stars?!! Geesh. This place was aesthetically appealing in the photos of the freshly painted vacated studio. Once I signed the lease it was one thing after another! Although, Gonzalo (who does maintenance) was very helpful in assisting me with all the problems… This place had one too many! They did NOT disclose they had a big, huge, bed bug infestation prior to moving in. Which disclosure is required by law! Second month furnace broke third month fridge broke… During that time the cockroaches started to come out along with centipedes and ladybugs. Then, a day after paying full rent my ceiling started melting! Literally. There was a leak due to old pipes or upstairs neighbor overfilling her sink– I don’t care. Fix it. I had called the owner to report the issue and request a meeting with him and he told me NOT TO CONTACT HIM AGAIN! I was baffled to say the lease. I waited 9 days for any kind of response. Was given none and had no other choice but to move before my years lease. Which put me in more financial troubles than I was already heading into. Covaci doesn’t care! I lived in the apartment in constant fear for almost an entire month with the ceiling and walls bowing from the water leak. The electrical plugs were damaged with water rings around it and the ceiling and door frames started to form fractures in the drywall!!!
In coordinance with Chicagos tenants rights I was able to break my lease without much of a fuss. But honestly– don’t rent from this guy! The outside realtor he uses is aware of the problems and is only concerned with the commission she makes from the rental.

I don’t think he’s a terrible landlord; he’s done everything I’ve asked of him and was willing to listen to my demands (which were reasonable) and I was able to add them to the lease — which he countersigned. I rent from his 1640 — 1648 W. Pratt location.
My only gripe is the maintenance guy. Last winter during Chiberia, my ceiling was leaking and I told the maintenance guy. He gave me a bucket, but didn’t fix it. The drywall eventually collapsed in my dining room with an additional leak going into the light fixture. I called Mr. Covaci and told him about the lackluster service I’ve received from the maintenance guy. He was angry and forced him to come to my apartment immediately to remedy the situation. While the patch-​up job is aesthetically unappealing, I have no more leaks! It’s just sad that I had to talk to management to get someone to do their job properly.
I’ve noticed no infestations, the common areas are kept clean, I still haven’t found the laundry room that I was told about when shown the apartment, but now I’m at the point where it’s embarrassing to ask. That’s just my own stupidity, though.

I am not sure why everyone is talking so negatively here — it is hard for me to believe what you guys write about William Covaci.
Here is my experience.
I rented from him a studio at 6241 N Kenmore back in 2010. Now I think it is a part of a Loyola. Anyway, I only had good experiences with him and his engineer Vasiliy. Both were very very nice to me and I did not know them at all before I moved to Chicago. So I was a total stranger to both of them.
The place that I got was clean and spacious. All amenities were working. Everything was as advertised — nothing less nothing more. The price was right. Actually, it was better than right since the neighborhood places rented for more.
When I made reasonable requests, they were granted. Of course, if I ask for a golden toilet or a stripper, my request could have been denied though… Do not know as I never made such requests… All my requests (if agreed upon) were carried very fast too…24−48hours… In terms of communication, he answered ALL my calls and spoke with me politely.
I hope he and Vasiliy are doing well.
Anyway, I am pretty sure you guys have your own reasons to feel the way you do and that’s ok I suppose. Try to work with him to resolve the issues as opposed to generating drama and throwing stones left and right.
Cheers,

I currently live in the 1644 W Pratt Building and my roommate and I are breaking our lease because 1.) we were lied to before we moved in and told that there were no existing pest problems but we quickly learned from neighbors that most of the building has them 2.) our apartment is infested with bedbugs and 3.) Covaci is unwilling to properly treat the problem. They have sprayed our apartment 5 times and we have complied with everything included laundering all of our belongings, steaming our furniture, etc. and the bed bugs keep coming back. They will not heat treat the building because it is too expensive but clearly the spray is not working. We have also had problems with mice, the plumbing is terrible, our back door could be broken into with a slight push, the laundry in the building hasn’t worked since we moved in and almost all of the electrical sockets have had to be worked on multiple times. DO NOT RENT FROM COVACI.

Whatever you do DO NOT LEASE an apt here!!! it is a nightmare. like the reviews say it is infested w roaches and bedbugs. i constantly have to check if i have bugs crawling on me because i always seem to find them everywhere. i live on the 5^th floor. TWICE Pest control has come and sprayed and NOTHING! COVACI is a total Douche bag and so is property manager. y lease is not up until April. im stuck here but please be WARNED this place is a DUMP! like seriously.

William Covaci is a nightmare to live under. He is rude, unhelpful, and runs a slum.
I lived in his 5666 Ridge property and soon discovered it was not only infested with roaches, waterbugs, and silverfish, but bed bugs. They drug their feet on spraying my apartment and took over a week once I found I have bed bugs. Despite a number of complaints about the bugs, upstairs neighbors, non-​working oven, and more, no help came minus one spray for bugs.
his property manager Aldulfo is rude and unhelpful as well, getting him to come over was like pulling teeth. Do not live under this man. The apartments only look nice because after every tenant they gut the place and put in new carpet, kitchen, and floors but do nothing to take care of the infestation.
He is a slum lord who the city of Chicago needs to shut down.

Bob Covaci is a dickheaded blowhard. I spoke to him on the phone about one of his studios for rent. He said he only had 1 bedroom apartments. So I told him a couple I knew wanted a one-​bedroom apartment and I would give him number. He asked if I was only looking for a studio, because the 1 bdrm was only 675 $, which is unusually low. Specifically if you want a nice apartment. I asked him some questions including if they allowed any pets and he asked what kind I had. I told him none and I was only asking just in case I wanted to buy one in the future. I also told him the couple had a small dog. After a long pause, he finally said ‘No Dogs!’ and abruptly hung up on me. Is this seriously how you give good customer service when your looking to sell an apartment? What a douche!

I live at that building too. And yes, bed bugs problem and mice, everywhere. Very rude management, do not care and do not maintained the building !!!