Onyx Management Group

I was living in an apartment managed by Onyx Management for a year and half and had a very positive experience with them! During that time, the apartment experienced a small leak in the bathroom ceiling and they were extremely responsive. Each day someone from the Onyx team checked in with me regarding the status of the repairs and even came out to the property a few times when the contractor/​handyman was on site. Also, due to unforeseen circumstances I was forced to move out early and Onyx was very flexible and willing to work with me to release me from the lease. I was given my full security deposit back. Overall, I would recommend Onyx Management and would definitely be willing to rent a property managed by them again!

I absolutely would not even leave one star if it was an option. The only redeeming quality for Onyx is that they own and manage nice properties. If the house I rented from them wasn’t as nice looking and in the area it was in, I wouldn’t have stayed for two years. Each employee gives different information, they are slow to repairs (if they even make them), and they are generally unprofessional. I could never get a call back when I missed who I was calling (which was almost every call and I only tried during office hours. It took multiple calls for each problem I needed resolved). It’s been months since I’ve moved out of their property, so I am not as passionately furious as I was then, but I can assure you I’d never rent from them again. The cherry on top of their awful service was the amount of money they tried claiming from our security deposit. We left the house in spectacular condition — much better than when we moved in (considering there was graffiti out back that we painted over and an unruly garden that we cleaned up, for example). The charges they tried claiming were 1) for a bent fence (a cinder block wall for the abandoned property behind ours started falling onto our fence. we called onyx as soon as we noticed. and at least once a week until they did anything about it. it took 6 weeks before somebody came out to fix this and this was only after the fence ended up falling on my patio furniture and crushing a piece) so they tried claiming that we damaged the fence after many, many emails and phone calls alerting them to the problem that we did not cause. 2) another charge was for a hole in the door that we noted to them upon moving in. it hadn’t been noted in the move in inspection, so we notified them of it later that day, which they apparently have no record of. luckily, they did end up refunding for these two charges, but the bulk of the deposit that they kept was for 3) «damage to the hardwood floors» — of which they would not provide any documentation showing us what damage they claim was there. they claimed damages to the 2^nd & 3^rd floors of the house — where bedrooms were. we all had rugs covering much of the floors and did not spend much time other than at night, so nobody could fathom where all this damage may have been. but after months of back and forth and having to drive to their office to receive additional deposit refund (because they tried mailing those checks to our old address– the one of theirs we had moved out of — rather than the new addresses we had recently sent them and where they sent the original refund checks), it was not worth arguing any longer.
bottom line is if you for some reason need to rent from them, keep extremely thorough documentation of EVERYTHING that comes up. they are terrible.

If you can avoid renting with Onyx do it at all costs. Their policies are designed to aid themselves and they give little care if they are inconveniencing, deceiving and disappointing the tenant (s). Any owner/​landlord who employs them is either out of their mind or probably a slum lord.
I had to make a quick move to Philadelphia for a new job and had limited time and access to see properties. I toured an Onyx property on my one day in town, but was unable to rent it before it was rented out to someone else. So instead I opted to rent another property. After a lot of back and forth with Diana (some was my fault because my company was paying my moving costs and delayed the process a bit) I was finally able to sign the lease and set up move in.
The day of my move in I met one of their property managers to get my keys and do the move in inspection. First, he was rude and seemed annoyed that he had to do his job that day. When he let me into the apartment the following became apparent: it had not been cleaned since the previous tenant moved out, the electricity was not on, there was no refrigerator. The cleaning and the refrigerator are not legal issues, but they’re incredibly unprofessional (and gross). It would have been pertinent and a lot less misleading if Diana had mentioned there was no refrigerator — but they are deceitful so I’m not surprised.
I ended up doing my move in inspection in the dark because the electric was out, which is again deceitful. So we were really off to a good start. I reported them to L&I for the electric issue, but they have enough complaints that mine will probably take years to get noticed.
After the move in from hell, I was able to take in everything wrong with the apartment and started requesting repairs. To have repairs done, their policy is that the tenant must be present. That’s right, you have to take off of work or stall your day so the maintenance contractor (who is all rude) can show up in a 2 to 3 hour window of time (will still be late) and not do a very good job at fixing things. That is if you don’t have a no show; or if they don’t show up and tell you they can’t do the work right now because, as usual, they are unprepared.
It has been 3 months that I have been requesting maintenance that includes a leak in my bathroom, removal of mold, and fixing a fence (among other issues) and barely any work has been accomplished. I can’t imagine how fantastic they’re going to be at move out.

By far one of the worst experiences I have ever had with any property management. Had a roof leak, was told they would come fix it. Went back and forth with them for 2 years, where I would take off work and wait for the crew to show up on days where they were supposed to come fix our leak, and they never showed. When we moved out the roof was still not fixed. And we had other leaks and issues that kept adding up that never got fixed until we moved out.
I strongly advise against renting any of their dollar menu new construction homes. Every corner is cut to make the house as cheap to build. The hardwood flooring, or laminate planks they use in all theirs floors are very soft, and incredibly cheap. I can’t say I’ve ever been on a wood floor that scratches so easily. And they will charge you a ridiculous amount towards your security deposit because of the cheap materials used for flooring.
I would caution against any involvement with Onyx Management. If you do, regardless of how lightly lived in your rental is, by the time you move out, you will most likely not be getting much of your security deposit back.
Poor customer service, nothing gets fixed, you pay the price for cheap, copy and paste, new construction homes.

I recently finished out my year lease with this property management company. My experience with them overall was positive and I dealt almost entirely with Gizelle and Christina at times. When we needed repairs, they came out and fixed things. Being experienced City renters, my roommates and I took the move in inspection seriously and documented everything. Onyx honored our inspections at the move out with reasonable expectations and normal «wear and tear.» We followed the deposit return requirements (professional house and carpet cleaning after move out at our expense) and got the full deposits back in the state requires amount of time. I did have to remind them to send my Pet Deposit but I got a response in less than 24 hours about it being mailed out to me. The property management company was pleasant to work with and even accommodating to my roommates’ sometimes over-​the-​top requests. They always sent out maintenance people in a timely fashion and even worked later when we couldn’t be home sooner. My only complaint was that they did a Hard Pull on our credit when screening as tenants. Usually it’s a soft pull but that may have been a specific request from the Landlord. All in all, I would recommend Onyx to other renters as my experience was a pleasant one. Thanks, Onyx!

If your looking for a property to rent avoid these people like the plague. However if your looking for rude, lazy, and indifference this is right up your alley. These people are more than happy to take your $ 80 for a credit check then give you nothing in return. You have to call and email a million times for a week. To get a rude answer and no help at all or offer to show you additional properties. Worst Real estate property management company I have ever dealt with. Never again!

I am writing today in regards to the business malpractices of the Onyx Management Group. My girlfriend, two roommates, and myself were in the market looking for rentals in the South Philly area. We stumbled upon a property at 425 Titan St. The property was perfect for what we were looking for but it quickly started to become frustrating the following weeks after waiting for a response from Onyx. Specifically the head of the management group, Diana Pershes. We were told after clearly filling out our applications that two of them were «illegible». So we refiled them and sent them in with absolutely no response confirming them received them. After sending another email and making a phone call they said that we still did not have enough information. So we filled more paperwork that had personal information such as; pay stubs, tax reports, and social security information. And again after emailing it in there was no response for at least two weeks. It wasn’t until after one of our roommates emailed Diana with concerns that the management group was «Scamming Us» did they panic and respond saying that the owners of the property were still «reviewing applicants». Another week and half goes by and we are now well past our lease in our current residence and still no response from Diana. I now call the property management group to ask for our application fee returned to us because of their lack of communication and uninterest to help us. After going through multiple channels to finally get someone on the phone they transfer me to Diana. And «as of TODAY, the place has been rented to another applicant» after I asked that our application fee be reimbursed since they clearly have no intention of working with us. She said she couldn’t do anything for us except show us more properties that were a little more expensive.
It comes as a huge inconvenience to myself and roommates who are now are squatting in our current residences till we can find another property to rent. Diana clearly stated that they «sympathize with our situation» but have no intentions of reimbursing us because the application was already filed WITHOUT notifying us.
After all of this I looked up Oynx’s reviews, and sure enough the group has had multiple complaints regarding such things as lack of communication, not addressing serious existing structural problems ex;(leaks, flooded basements, collapsing roofs), and keeping security deposits without reason.
I am hoping that someone makes a serious inquiry to this group and there awful business practices.
Thanks for your time. — Mike

I’ve been moved out of a property I’ve rented from them for months now and I have still yet to receive my ridiculous $ 2000 pet deposit. I scheduled a property inspection at the time of my move out and the guy who inspected it said that the only damage was considered «minor wear and tear» and that I should receive my full security deposit back once he reports back. Well I never heard back so I had to contact them only for them to take days to return my emails and sometimes not even respond to them at all. They do not answer the phones and if you leave them a message it won’t get returned. I’ve still gotten no answers on when I will receive my security deposit back and this is still an on going issue I am continuing to pursue. Very unprofessional! DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!

I have used them for quite some time and it’s because I live else where and don’t know another management company. I’m changing companies this month and I should have done it ages ago. They owe me for a washer and dryer that I payed for and they never installed and when I asked them about it, they got angry. They charged me for repairs that I was not told about so I couldn’t even approve or not approve of the repair. It’s my property not theirs so they by law need to get my approval for the repair. I guess they didn’t feel like it.
The general manager I think died ages ago because you need to talk to her for certain things and she never response to phone calls or emails. Basically, I have to get someone from outside the company to handle the problem at my rental for me. I think she fell asleep at her desk and past away but they are so incompetent there that no one has noticed and they keep sending her a pay check.

I worked with Onyx as a property owner, and I have to say, the overall experience was not a great one, and I would not use them again if I had another property to rent out.
Overall it felt like the right hand didn’t know what the left was doing– communications were disjointed and disorganized, when they wanted something from me I would get multiple emails per hour, but if I needed something, it could be radio silence, paperwork was lost and never sent… overall it was an unprofessional experience. I selected Onyx partially for their lower fees, but intimately, it seems you get what you pay for.

before i moved to NJ, i rented a place downtown for a few years. I didn’t have many issues but the customer service was great when I had questions and maintenance questions were always answered. If i had to live in Philly i would rent one of their place again,

Surprised to see so many negative reviews — my experience here was really positive.
As a recent transplant to Philly I have been settling in to the area gently and staying with family. But after deciding that I needed my own place (and when you make that decision you want a new place ASAP), I started looking for an apartment without much success. I’m not really much of a goldilocks (although my wife can be) but there kept being something wrong with the places we looked at. Then we heard about Onyx and they helped us find a great place super fast. Diana was super on the ball and found us a bunch of nice, vacant places. Had a bit of paperwork that they handled fast and we were in our new place quickly.
They don’t own the property itself, but manage it for the owner which I like a lot because sometimes owners make bad managers. We had an issue with our garbage disposal making a clicking noise and Onyx sent someone over the following day to check it out and fix it. They respond quickly and have been real decent to work with.

This is the worst management group I have ever experienced. Not to sound redundant but it’s true. I’ve lived in three other places in Philadelphia and never imagined people could be so rude. For anything to get fixed in our house we have to harass them. We had a leaky pipe in our bathroom that leaked to the kitchen, totally not our fault. It took them almost a month to come out the first time and when they did come they left a giant hole and told us someone would come by soon to fix it. No one came so we went back to harassing them. It took over three people to try to fix this problem and we lived with a bucket in our kitchen that collected water every time someone showered for months.
We also had the same problem with our lock breaking so we had no way of securing out house when we left for work. They said they would send someone the next day and of course they never came. When we called again they told us it wasn’t their problem. Bottom line they love to lie and make empty promises to leave you alone. We ended up fixing everything ourselves because all they want to do is waste your time and fight with you to say nothing is their problem.
Everyone you speak to is rude and inconsiderate and I highly suggest never renting from them even if the price is nice the quality is poor and truly not worth it if you end up paying for all the cheap things that break.

These people are completely worthless. They never respond to tenant issue they just collect their fee. They require 90 days notice to terminate the contract at the end of its term. They were supplied with keys for all my units when I terminated their services they had given all the keys to a handyman who had promptly lost track of them. What a bunch of bozo’s. Stay well clear.

Worst management group I have ever encountered. If you can avoid Onyx Management Group do it at any cost. Below are a few reasons why I would never ever use them or recommend them to anyone ever.
1. Terrible communication: They will contact you and tell you a technician /​inspector /​etc. is coming between 10 – 4 (huge window by the way), and the contractor will never show up. They hire cheap and unprofessional contractors to fix any issue you are having. We contacted them for 6 months about a broken dishwasher, not up to date fire alarms, and not until we met the owner did anything get accomplished. I feel terrible for the owners of these properties.
2. Uninformed contractors: On more than one occasion various contractors would arrive at our townhouse unannounced and ask what the issue was. My roommate and I would have no idea why they were there or what needed to be done.
3. Rude staff
Overall, I would never use or recommend this group ever.

I can agree with the previous posts of disorganization and lack of communication.
The first instance i contacted them to see an apt in the art museum district. The person setting up the tour offered noon time on a saturday. So Saturday morning at 10am i get a call to confirm my 11am appointment. I told them no it was noon. I even checked my email to confirm. (Remember they offered this time not me) So they agree and asked if there was a chance i come over 15min before noon because they had another appointment across time. I didn’t blame the guy, it wasn’t his fault the office gave the wrong time. I told him id try but no promises because I’m an hour away with traffic. So of course i get stuck in traffic and i call the guy to reschedule. He tells me there is another agent in the area and he would tell them that I’m on my way to see the apt. I acknowledge and i get to the apt and drive around the neighborhood (which i always highly suggest). The apt is on one of those tiny cross streets so i parked on the next street but since it was almost 90 degrees i stayed in the car. Now i would think it was common sense that if you were going to have another agent show me the apt you would at least email/​text my name, number, something so he could get in contact with me but i was wrong So I’m in the car waiting and after awhile the original agent calls me to see if the guy made it and showed me the apt. I told him i don’t know if hes been there but I’m not in front of the house. The agent says,” well he prob just left, ill be on my way”. You would think that if there was a no show you would call somebody and ask if there was a problem or that I’m not there and that would make the original agent call me or give my info to him. guess not. The original agent arrives andwas nice albeit had a rushing attitude
The worst part was the apt was beautiful, the whole top floor master suite was just breathtaking but there was a large crack in the bathroom where the agent said it was the house settling. That kinda put me off
Weeks later…
I email to see another apt in point breeze, it was ok, had a nice roof deck. This was just remodeled from the inside, seem they were confusing the term of new construction and remodel. Anyway, the basement setup was just idiotic. The stairs were only about 1.5−2 ft wide and with no low ceiling going down. They rendered the basement useless because you couldn’t bring anything down there. The door to the roof deck was stuck which made me think the house might be shifting. the apt was ok but at the end i told the agent that i walked here and i passed two apts being built with a similar style and asked if onyx owned them. He said they did and i asked when do they plan on finishing them. In his accent he kept saying 3yrs which made me think he either had no idea what he was talking about or he didn’t understand the question. So i decided to email onyx to see if it was true. I emailed them twice one from home and another from an official work email. Never heard from them since. Called but no answer. I found it weird that if i say i want to see one of there properties i can get in touch with them in a day but with a general question i cant even get an acknowledgment. Funny that if they had told me a date for the ones under construction i prob woulda rented it.
oh well

OLD REVIEW: Well I hate to be the first one to give them a decent review because I want to fit in but I try to be honest to the best of my ability. Also, I will absolutely come back and change my rating and update if/​when I run into problems moving out and getting my security deposit back.
I have lived in my Fishtown rowhome for over a year. 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, 4 roommates. Physically, the place is decent., but not as nice as it appears. Everything is a bit cheap, but hey, I’m not complaining, because if it was made with nicer materials, and shit didn’t fall apart from time to time, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Best thing I can say about the house is the insulation.
There have been things that have broken. Some we fixed ourselves. The garbage disposal is an example. Like someone else said, the toilets get clogged easily, but I have a plunger on hand and I go hard. The glass panel on the shower one day got shifted and the glass door wouldn’t close because it was no longer flush. Actually I guess it was the door that shifted. It was annoying getting home from work early just for the repairman to not show up, but I think the next day they came and fixed it.
We had a problem with the front door as well. The deadbolt straight up broke one day, so our front door could not be safely secured without someone to rig it from the inside. They were trying to play around and say «yeah, we’ll try to send someone out by the weekend», but we got big with them and said they’d send out someone out promptly.
So sure there have been problems. I have had problems with all my landlords. The way we have learned to deal with Onyx is to call multiple times and get it through their heads that we’re not going away or paying rent until the problem is fixed. Assertiveness is key.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Well. Here we are. 2 months after I moved out. I could be here all day but here is the short version.
They have put me through a ton of stress and anger and frustration simply by not giving me my security deposit and last months rent back. I paid my last months rent because we were going month to month and i wanted to be a good tenant and I wasn’t instructed to not pay it, so not wanting to cause any problems I just paid it.
They won’t respond to emails or phone calls. I’m taking them to court.
FINAL UPDATE: Got my security deposit and last month’s rent back about 70 days after moving out. They argued that I had to right to move out ahead of my lease and they weren’t running a rent-​one-​room-​at-​a-​time business. Long story short, I gave them the requested 2 months notice when I was on a month to month basis with the rest of my roommates. 3 of us moved out at different times, and they didn’t want to send me MY deposit back until they got the new roommates deposit first. ANYWAYS… I never did anything wrong and simply wanted my money back. I was out of the house, I did everything they asked.
They refunded my money then asked me for $ 150 because the new girl in my room found some scratches on the floor. $ 150 seems a little steep, I know what scratches shes talking about and I think it falls under wear and tear, I mean I lived there 2 years and the house is literally perfect except for a few tiny scratches in a lousy pine floor. But i’m probably just going to pay it even though they have no basis or right to ask me to, because it’s the right thing to do.
Stay away.

well, friends, i last wrote you about Onyx when we were two months into our lease. we stayed in the house exactly one year, moving out on August 31^st of this year.
in sum:
AVOID. AVOID. AVOID.
the slow response, disorganization, poor communication and generally shady tactics only continued throughout our lease. i know that property management companies generally exist to be shit upon, but really, our experience with Onyx was beyond the pale.
our year with Onyx culminated in us taking them to small claims court this past fall to recover our security deposit (a case we ultimately won). of a security deposit that totaled almost $ 1700, they sent us a check for $ 142. a few of their charges were legitimate, most were not — for example, replacing an entire wood laminate floor instead of cleaning it and charging us $ 700 for it.
we did get most of our deposit back via the courts, but not without headaches, tears, unbelievable stress on our relationship, tons of time, as well as the court filing fees and all the gas we used schlepping up to Southampton numerous times to get this all sorted out.
we now live in a nice place in Fishtown which is run by people who are sane, prompt and really nice. however, new properties are popping up all over our new hood, many of them managed by Onyx. PLEASE save yourself headaches, time, money and stress and stay far, far away.

IF YOU SEE AN ONYX MANAGEMENT GROUP SIGN OUT FRONT OF YOUR POTENTIAL FUTURE RESIDENCE, RUN AWAY.
Bad attitude aside, if, like us, you often need repairs because the owner wanted the cheapest appliances, they will drag their feet. Sure, they may eventually get someone out there, but, unless you hound them, it will be delayed mightily. See below for just a few instances. Their defense was they need approval from the owner before continuing with work. Sure, but when I wanted a simple confirmation or update after not hearing from them for several days, it makes situations difficult. By the way, my availability for their repair people was never an issue since I telecommute from home.
One example was a pathetic toilet that Onyx’s own repair guy agreed was (excuse the pun) generic crap. Having only one bathroom makes it mighty difficult to take care of certain EVERY-​DAY duties when there is only one toilet which clogs if you look at it the wrong way. Having them delay someone to check that out by SEVERAL DAYS was a treat.
There was the time we needed large holes in our kitchen walls covered because ants were finding ways in from outside. As usual, we were kept waiting for multiple days and had to purchase our own chemicals, trying to dispose of them ourselves because it was getting so bad. I repeat: this happened in the kitchen. Need I further expound on the urgency there?
How about when the tree in the back yard keeps dropping these bulbs which flood our patio and render it useless in warmer months due to flies being attracted to said bulbs? It took Onyx nearly 2 weeks and multiple emails asking status to send someone to prune that unkempt, overgrown tree. By that point, we were nearly — and very happily — moving out.
We were having issues with our front door locks. That’s a pretty important issue, especially in Philly. The bolt wouldn’t stay latched when locking from outside. You think they were prompt in getting someone out? It took them over 2 weeks and, as was status quo, multiple nagging emails asking for status.
Our crappy (surprise!) garbage disposal simply stopped working. Their repair guy MANY days later following (noticing a pattern here?) multiple reminders, confirmed my suspicion: it’s junk. He cleaned it but didn’t replace it. His advice going forward? «Try not to use it so much». Right, because we regularly shove ears of corn down there out of boredom…
Ok, cheap household items may not be Onyx’s doing. What is their responsibility however is NOT HAVING ME CONSTANTLY REMIND THEM DAYS ON END, being met with adversity and apathy when I attempt to go about my quiet respectful life because they don’t feel like dealing with shit or are too incompetent. I’m not talking about preference for Antique White walls instead of Ivory White. It gets old and indicates they don’t know what they’re doing (EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO TAKING YOUR MONEY…)
Onyx will try to screw you, claiming you broke certain pathetic items. After we moved out, they inspected the apartment, assuring us certain items were fine but, lo and behold, we would later get charged for them. Their definitions of «normal wear and tear» vs. serious fixes are conveniently vague, like charging 50 for an A/​C filter we didn’t know we had to touch (worded strangely in their lease) or for a «missing» door sweep when there was never one to begin with. Or, charging us to fix junk basement window screens which we never touched because they were useless and, as short people, far from our reach.
Onyx claimed they had to change our shitty laminate floors in areas they deemed too dirty to clean. We suspect they didn’t try very hard but we had no proof. However, we did have documentation of them saying they replaced the floors and certain other items when they in fact didn’t at all or didn’t replace them until much later than they said they did, likely because we demanded photos and receipts of the work orders and they couldn’t provide any.
Similarly, they withheld our pet deposit at first without any explanation why despite, again, our efforts in inquiring further for proof. Even better, they broke their own contract, since our deposit was not returned after 30 days. They were evasive altogether, skirting our multiple requests for evidence. This is the modus operandi we’ve come to expect.
Things got so ridiculous with Onyx that we took legal action. I’m happy to report we were ultimately returned most of our deposits back so, aside from a certain item or two for which we should’ve been more careful, the judge thankfully saw through their bullshit too.
I could go on. If you don’t care about headaches, attitude, negligence, or you’re well-​off enough financially that you don’t care about being ripped off… do what you want. Otherwise, I avoid the scum at Onyx Management. At time of writing this, they have 8 reviews on Unilocal totaling 1.5 stars and 2 complaints opened with the BBB. Do your research.

I use these people to manage my property. DO NOT USE THEM. I ended up using them because they were a lot cheaper than other services. I should have known better, you definitely get what you pay for.
They took months to rent out my unit and during the process, I got absolutely no communication from them. When I contacted them for updates, they gave me some lame excuse. The reason was, no one was doing anything. The people I spoke with were terrible, they were not professional and just incompetent.
Once they finally rented the place out and I needed any kind of repairs, it’s liking dealing with children. They don’t know what they are doing. Again, they don’t communicate what’s going on and when they give you a bill for work and you want some detailed explanation, they have no answers for you.
I’m trying to get out of my contract with them. Do yourself a favor, use someone else. At this point, I’m willing to pay double the fees to have some professionals take care of my property.