William Penn Realty Group, Inc

I have been living here with my Father and my Son. my Dad is 80 and I am his caregiver . My son is a minor under 18. They are NOT renewing our lease because of 3 people in a one bedroom apartment. I sleep on a pull out sofa. My dad is physically and mentally not well. He has been so sick over this he was in the hospital. They "offered" an application to us for a 2 bedroom which of course they turned us down. ( they never intended to in the first place. They just wanted to look good) saying we couldn't afford anything here. Um what?? Also never gave us a price range for a 2 bedroom. We can absolutely afford that. I am in training for a new job now after not being able to work because of having Covid. They didnt wanna hear it. They wanted a paycheck NOW. Um sorry for being in training. Thats what jobs consist of!!! They also wanted proof of my Child Support Payments. WHAT!! They just pick and choose who they want. Its all about $$$. They dont give a crap about tenants! We have been great tenants for a long time and are getting kicked out. YET the amount of people here who are doing the most unlawful things get to stay. Explain that. Ive asked multiple times to speak with the owner. NOPE!!! Ive asked multiple times for a Lease copy..NOPE! He wont show his face. The office staff is another thing. Beyond Disrespectful. The property manager Jen told me before too move my Family into a shelter. Ok. Why dont you move into a shelter. Absolutely disgusting.. But thats ok. I will be taking them to court for discrimination and also mental and physical distress. So help me God if something happens to my Dad over the stress that have caused because this place will be called Kelles. Renters BEWARE!!!

I have had my fair share of horrific landlords, from disappearing acts to one who repaired a gas leak with duct tape… so I was very wary for this next move.
However, I was thrilled and relieved to find William Penn to be the landlords I never dreamed would occur. #fairytalesarereal
Feeling safe and secure in one’s home is such an important part of life, and William Penn’s staff provides kindness, flexibility, and accommodation on all fronts. I travel and work constantly and have limited time for day to day things. William Penn went out of their way to make sure I was happy and fulfilled in my renting experience. Shout out to Annemarie, who is friendly and hilarious.
Rent from them, and find your happy ending!

The property at 2118 Green Street had a broken window about 4 weeks ago and the shattered glass from the third floor window has been strewn about on the sidewalk ever since. I contacted licenses and inspection 10 days ago and they opened and closed and online investigation. Nothing was done. I tried to contact the company directly but could only get voicemail. After 4 weeks the sidewalk remains littered with broken glass. These people are slum lords.

I lived at 507 S. 9^th Street from 2012 – 2015. The location was great, my 1 bedroom (~500 sq ft) apartment included a dishwasher and washer/​dryer for just under 1000/​month when I signed my lease.
Management is a bit shady and there’s definitely a lack of communication between everyone over there. When I showed up to pick up my keys, I had to wait around for a good half hour for them to locate the keys. When I turned in my keys, they lost them for about a week and called me up asking where they were.
They raised rent each year (about 3%), but if you call, you can get them to knock it down about $ 5. For maintenance, you have to fill out an online form. They usually showed up within 2 business days, except for anything major like a large water stain appearing on the ceiling. For that, they didn’t bother to show up at all. But for other things, if it was broken, they usually just replaced it (heater/​thermostat, leaky faucets). The maintenance work is a bit patchy (left a gaping hole in my wall after replacing the shower faucets/​fixtures and I had to call them to come patch that… with a dirty wooden board) and they will just paint over anything and everything including light switches and hairs on the wall and they don’t protect the floors.
After I moved out and received my security deposit, they deducted $ 45 from it saying I owed them that for last month’s rent since that’s how much rent had increased the 3 years I was there… it is actually illegal to do that. They were required to ask me for the increased last month’s rent deposit money at the time of the rental increases, rather than dip their hands into my security deposit. However, it was worth the $ 45 just to get off the phone with them and never speak to them again.
You can definitely do better, but if you’re willing to put up with shady management and not the prettiest apartment, you can get a good sized place in a great neighborhood for a good price.

I just rented my apartment in philadelphia and service was full of lies and unkept promises. First, I was told I need to wait for a week in order to move because the bathroom floor was not repaired. I waited than I asked them if it was finished and they said yes. However when I moved in I noticed that nothing repaired or changed. I told them immediately, they said they will have it done the next day. Guess what? The next day noone came. When I called them again, they told me to go on website and fill out a form and I did. Today I was called by an angry man and yelled. Its like a joke. He said the bathroom floor isnot broken thats why its not going to change. Why did I wait to move then? Why did you tell me that you will repair? And i am not the one who asked for replacement of floor, it was all your promise.
The second thing is about cooking gas. It was their responsibility but suddenly they said the owner changed thats why you should take care of it?!? What’s that? I am experiencing all those things in just my first week. I cant imagine the rest.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU RENT FROM WPRG.
I don’t even know where to begin, I understand they have the right to increase the rent, but there’s no ceiling, I am now paying over $ 100 more per month then when I signed my lease.
Let’s cover the lack of communication, oh wait every other review on Unilocal covered that (should have done my homework)
Now the kicker, lack of sympathy and overcharging for EVERYTHING. I was mugged and had my keys stolen, I wrote to them and asked for a spare to be made figuring it’d be under $ 25… nope, they want $ 100 to give me a spare key they already have cut. Claiming that’s how much it cost to make a new key… Such a headache.

I just started to rent from WPRG, and I’ve been really impressed with their response to my maintenance requests, their flexibility, and their honesty. I’m really excited to be in my new location and I highly recommend them!

Go elsewhere… anywhere other than William Penn Realty Group!!! The communication and customer service here is awful. You can expect to get the run around if you do finally get in touch with the landlady, Grizelda. It’s quite comical how the landlady can cash the rent check as quick as she gets it, but can’t return multiple phone calls or emails in regards to the numerous problems we’ve had living in this house. I will NEVER do business with William Penn Realty Group again!!! PS: If you do happen to move into a house off Chester Pike in Norwood, PA expect to pay the next door psychic business’s water bill for the duration of your stay. And if you do get a hold of the owner, Jim Gula, he is a dishonest jerk with a grand ego.
Also be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on: 32 reviews that are not currently recommended. This is WPRG’s true colors.

I recently began renting from WPRG, and am most disappointed. I would not rent from them again. Unless something changes drastically, I will not renew my lease; nor will I recommend them to anyone else.
Among the things that have gone wrong thus far:
*It took 10 days for me to get my lease so that I could sign it. The leasing agent kept saying he would send it, but didn’t.
*I was told that my apt was ready and that the painters had finished painting. However, upon arrival, the painters were still working, and smoking in my apt. I had to wait two hours to get into my apt. That meant that I had to pay late fees on my moving truck, and the friends who were helping me wasted a lot of time.
*The keys I was given did not unlock the apt.
*When I moved in, the toilet was not secured and moved when any weight was placed on it. It took several days to fix it. How did they not check this before turning the apt over to someone else? Why take days to fix it? A toilet is pretty essential.
Basically, they’re little better than slumlords. I’m pretty sure their business model is: turn over the apartments as fast as possible so they can keep raising the rent. They don’t care at all about the condition of the apartments. I’m pretty sure the leasing agents are not actual employees, but independent contractors. In any case, they don’t have computers, printers, or e-​mail addresses at work.
Avoid this management group!

I would not rent anything from this company again, and would not recommend it to anyone else. I lived in one of their Fairmount buildings for a year.
That said, the apartments are cheap, and in great locations. The apartment I lived in was steps from the Art Museum, right next to multiple bus stops and in a friendly neighborhood, but the rental company was terrible.
I had cockroaches when I moved in (normal for a city, if annoying) got an infestation of mice, and squirrels in the ceiling while I lived there. I called, and used the online maintenance request form 3 times about the mice before anyone did anything. In the end, I took pictures of the mice and threatened to leave the apartment if they did not send someone (I work in research, sometimes with mice, and there are sanitary concerns if I bring an infectious agent into lab conditions) before someone came.
I had to contact maintenance multiple times, over weeks to months, before any issue was resolved. The only exception to that rule is when my refrigerator broke about 2 months after I moved in. I placed a maintenance request that morning and left a voicemail. When I came home from work that evening I had a new refrigerator sitting in my kitchen, the walls in the hallway were scratched up from them dragging the fridge up 3 flights of stairs, and my food was all over the counters and table. But hey, I had a working fridge.
After moving in I realized they had not cleaned before I moved in, the floor had been freshly varnished but no one had cleaned the wood floor before varnishing so dust bunnies, scraps of dirt, and shrapnel from the walls was permanently stuck the wood floor– making it look perpetually dirty.
Once when speaking to an office manager for the company she was surprised I ever got maintenance to do ANYTHING– including replace a broken ceiling fan that was supposed to be replaced before I moved in (it was replaced almost 8 months after I moved in because I started hounding the maintenance office when summer started).
Look guys, their prices are cheap, and the location is often great, if that’s all you want– great. If you want anything else out of a place to live, don’t rent anything from William Penn. Just don’t.

I’ve only been with WPRG for a couple months, but their Tall Trees Village properties out in Drexel HIll are fantastic. They’re old, but well maintained, and the staff are very on top of finances and maintenance. They were quite forgiving too when I misunderstand a payment deadline and didn’t charge me a late fee.
The worst thing about the place is that smoking is permitted in the units, so the whole building has a bit of a musky scent on top of its oldness. However, the walls are near sound-​proof and well sealed, so the smoky scent generally stays outside– along with everyone else’s business.
I’ll be sure to update if I note anything majorly awful or excellent, but if you’re a young, working adult in Delaware County, this is a great group to check out.

I recently began renting from WPRG and love the location and deal I got. I have also had a good experience with maintenance requests with issues addressed same day! I am very satisfied.

My «modern» apartment is in a building that is 100+ years old, which is fine, but don’t expect anything modern from it. The I won’t review the apartment, but rather the company itself… so they have this 24 hr maintenance line… which is basically a call service. You leave a message like, «hey, i got a gas leak» (this really happened to me), and they say, «sure, ill pass this on to them»… you call an hour, two, three later…“still got that gas leak”… «sorry sir, i left a message on their machine»… eventually i called PGW, who finally fixed everything at 5 freaking am. Also had an upstairs neighbor who was out for the day leak on my apartment during the weekend… basically there was a flood from the ceiling, the whole day i was changing buckets, until he finally got home. I was leaving messages, emailing the WPRG owner (who was actually responding, but not sending anybody to help until the next monday morning). Finally got resolved when the neighbor got home and found half of his apartment destroyed (of course WPRG is not responsible for your personal belongings). And finally, this is what is happening to me now: a year ago they’ve sent me a letter that rent is being raised two months ahead of the cycle dictated by the contract. Somehow I let that slip by and paid higher rent for two months when I wasn’t supposed to… now they are using that against me to say that my contract terminates two months earlier (june instead of august, which is whats written on paper). In summary, they will try to scam you given any opportunity, but as far as the apartment itself, it was fairly good for the price and location. The company itself is the problem!

I lived in a WPRG apartment building for over three years and had minimal problems. The apartment wasn’t perfect (peeling paint, old windows and carpet, etc.), but it was reasonable — especially given that the location was in the heart of Center City. I even had a dishwasher and a washer/​dryer in my apartment, so I was pretty happy with the amenities. My air conditioner broke once and they sent an HVAC guy right away to fix it. The toilet also leaked for a bit at one point, but the maintenance guy was able to fix it fairly quickly. I ended up breaking my lease early and they only charged me a $ 500 fee because I found the new tenant. That’s really a small price to pay to break a lease when you consider the fact that they could have held my entire security deposit or forced me to pay the remainder! Honestly, I’ve had some pretty horrible landlords in the past, so this company wasn’t that bad to deal with.

WPRG has honestly made me fearful of searching for a new realty group. I agree with everyone when they say that the apartments are affordable but not in the best shape, however imagine having an apartment that would need routine maintenance and you often find yourself wondering if they are even on this continent.
Maintenance will only show if the problem appears to be easily fixable or if it is a dire emergency. Also, I can’t seem to find the point in having someone come out to look at a problem (not prepared based off of the summary given on the voicemail) only to diagnose the problem and leave for several days before fixing it.
On the brighter side, maintenance will respond rather quickly to dire emergencies, however you are usually left with messy jobs, patches over the wall you would have to paint over yourself, and infestations of mice for having the designated garbage area not being routinely maintained.
Don’t get me wrong, these apartments are cheap and yes, you do get what you paid for but what’s the point if you can’t have your already crumbling apartment maintained properly?

If you want something done by this company, your going to call an answering machine. There is no email address or a paper trail of any kind which is highly convenient for the company. Expect to call several times. Expect to be hung up on when you explain your case. Expect the lease agreement to have the wrong address. Expect your apartment to be infested with roaches and mice upon move in. And dont bet on your apartment being ready when you move in either. Expect the central air to just blow air. And expect the negative attitudes to trickle down to the people who come by to fix your things too. After a few verbal altercations with the «boss», the little people who come by to actually do the work will turn nasty on you too. Its a very negative environment and living here is pretty miserable overall.
I will say the apartment is very attractive otherwise and all the new kitchen is pretty awesome which is what sparked our attention. But dont expect service of any kind. They like to just keep their heads above legal waters and as long as they stay there, theres really nothing you can do but wait for the lease to expire and move out.

The inefficiency is rather mind boggling, WPRG could write the book on how to not get things done. I am giving the benefit of the doubt here that they are not knowingly lying — rent from them and you can decide for yourself. On the other hand — everything does eventually get taken care of.
As another reviewer said — if you small gas call PGW, we were told to «open a window» and then PGW was there at midnight.

You get what you pay for, as they say. i live in a crappy apartment, with crappy maintenance, but it’s cheap. Yes, there are issues with heat being «off», faulty wiring, etc. But it usually only takes like ten calls to get a response. No bugs, so that’s cool, but I wonder about the poisons being utilized to keep it so. It’s super hard to get stuff you need after you leave the deposit, so make sure you have mailbox keys, courtyard keys, and anything else you can think of before you give them cash. Everyone in the office is soooo nice. My major complaint comes in the form of an awful curmudgeon named Pat. I’m gonna address the rest of this to her, in the hope she’ll read this:
Dear Pat, I know it must suck to figuratively chase around a bunch of college students for rent money all day, but c’mon, we gotta get you a better attitude! You’ve been a huge B to me countless times, and I like to think I’m a really nice person, and a punctual rent-​payer to boot! What’s with the attitude every time I call? Whats with the threatening (however empty) messages you leave on my voicemail? Why are you so mean? Are you a smoker? I feel like youre a smoker. I quit recently, and it’s really helped my life outlook. Try Nicorette. I read a really good book, «The War of Art» by Steven Pressfield. Check it out. Figure out how you really want to be spending your moments. Life’s too short, Pat. Take the day off, roll around in the grass, go to the beach, pet some animals… You need to re-​connect. At the very least, I’m going to request that if you choose to continue to wallow in the bogs of misery and regret, at least fake happiness when you have to call a tenant. It’s not fair to spread your negativity around philly like a kid with a runny nose on the subway. Exorcise that bs or lock it away from the rest of humanity. Youre bitter, I get that. You’re sick and tired and unhappy. Change it. Never too late. I wish you peace and love, Pat. I hope that you find happiness. I truly do. But in the mean time, fake it till you make it. Aloha!
Love, Andrea

William Penn Reality… Their maintenance people never get back to you.
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. If your handy that’s a plus.
there so slow at getting back to you… there going backwards… If I had
a FLAME THROWER I would use it. May 2012 can’t come fast enough!
GOD HELP US AND MAKE IT FAST …

I think there was actually even a clause in my lease that said something along the lines of «You know you are renting a shithole because that’s what you can afford» Everytime I had a problem, Marc and the repair team were incredibly helpful and got things fixed in a TOTALLY reasonable timreframe. When I moved out, I actually got my entire security deposit back.

You get what you pay for, and for what you pay for this is not bad at all.
I have an apartment near the Art Museum and for the rent and the place itself it is a great deal. That being said, the place does definatley have its flaws, but when something really needs to get done it does. So I can not say this place is close to luxury, but it is great for the bank account and everyone I have dealt with has been competent and nice, so all and all I will use the same advice as the person preceding me, you get what you pay for and if you come into this situation knowing that you will be fine.