Harrison Richards Inc

I have lived in a Harrison Richards managed apartment for a little over 2 years at this point and am very pleased with the experience. I was a tenant in their Hamlet building, a smaller standalone building off of Montgomery Ave in Ardmore.
From the onset of our living arrangement, Harrison Richards has handled our interactions in an exceedingly professional manner and one that stands out from my other experiences with individual landlords or management companies. Any inquiry or maintenance request is handled promptly. I consistently received a response within 24 hours, and often only a few hours after having contacted them. The office sits a block over from our building and is open from 10 – 6 every day of the week which is incredibly convenient. All instances in which maintenance or management required to enter into our unit were prompted with advanced notice and with flexibility to adjust to our schedules.
The unit itself was recently renovated as part of a rolling update to the building’s apartments. The finishes are very nice and have held up over the course of two years with no signs of wear or tear in sight. The building does not have active updates currently being made, but even when it was, Harrison Richards always made sure to keep tenants in mind and we never experienced construction noise outside of normal working hours (9 – 5).
In-​wall mounted A/​C units cool the apartment throughout the summer and water heats it during the winter, but thankfully not the radiator kind that makes noise when turning on. Temperature can be managed from within the unit. It’s an older building so it never quite a sweat lodge, but a hoodie or a blanket was always suffice in the larger living room, the bedrooms were always comfortable. The new energy efficient appliances made for inexpensive utilities. We only paid for electric, everything else was covered in rent. We were also fortunate to have a washer/​dryer in our unit which was the best!

I’ve lived at a Harrison Richards owned property for a little over two years and have had nothing, but good experiences in dealing with them. I lived in the Hamlet building and can only speak to my experience there, but we didn’t have anywhere near the types of issues other people have left on here.
Our apartment was renovated just before we moved in so we had all new appliances, a new kitchen and bathroom. The two A/​C units provided in the apartment work great although we rarely use them because it never gets too hot in our place. In the winter, we’re able to control the heat via the thermostat in the hallway and it has never been a problem for us either. Water pressure is also good here, the shower gets hot fast and stays hot even in the dead of winter. There are a ton of outlets in our apartment, far more than anyone could ever need/​use which is very convenient.
Only complaints I would have are that parking can be a little tight at times. I’ve never had to park any where other than the lot we have, but it can be crowded. Getting up the hill to enter the lot can be tricky after a snow storm too, but not much can be done about that. We have had the power trip a couple times if we have the dryer running in our unit with a lot of electronics plugged in at the same time. We’ve had a couple maintenance requests put in to fix a leak in the roof and some drainage issues, but they were always quick and respectful about resolving the problem.
Other than that, I am very happy with my experiences with Harrison Richards and don’t understand how they’re rated so poorly on here. Much better experience than the previous complex I lived in while I was in Bryn Mawr.

If I were to pick just one word to describe my experience as a prospective renter with Harrison Richards, that word would be «STRANGE».
I arrived on time for a scheduled appointment to see an apartment – let’s call it Apartment A. When I arrived, it turned out that another couple was being shown the apartment at the very same time. Awkward. I might not have minded so much if the leasing agent had told me this in advance, but it was an awkward surprise for both me and the couple that this would be a group showing.
The leasing agent then took us over to an apartment that we shall call «Apartment B.» But neither I, nor this couple, had asked to see «B,» which was a dingy hole. The combination of tiny size, poor upkeep, and astronomical price was just absurd. The leasing agent then took us around the side of the building to see the laundry room.
Once we arrived at the outside door that led down to the basement laundry room, I simply refused to go any further. The small stairwell down to the basement was flooded with about four inches of dirty rainwater. The leasing agent had to jump over it to go down to the basement.
Can you imagine carrying a basket of dirty laundry, and, holding this basket, leaping over a filthy moat and onto a stairwell leading into a dark basement? Now, can you imagine paying $ 1300/​month for the privilege? I can’t.
At this point, I asked whether we could see «Apartment A,» which was what I had made the trip there to see in the first place. This leasing agent told us that «A» was unavailable to see at that time. So why didn’t she tell me this before I drove out there to see «A»? There are those who might wonder whether this wasn’t a planned bait-​and-​switch.
When it was clear that none of the prospective renters on this little tour were impressed by «B,» the leasing agent grew passive-​aggressive. She began to repeat, over and over, that if none of us wanted to rent the place, quote, «It’s not going to hurt my feelings!» Which I believed the first time she said it, but by the third time she weirdly repeated, «It’s not going to hurt my feelings!» I felt sure she must be lying about that.
All in all: STRANGE!

As soon as we moved into these apartments we realized what a big mistake we had made. I had to send this email below the first day we moved in:
Hello Pat,
A few things have already come up since we moved in:
1. The apartment has mice. My wife and I saw a mouse running in the living room. I also found droppings in the apartment, and that is after we cleaned and mopped the floor when we moved in on Friday.
2. The apartment has ants. They seem to be coming through the front door and the front glass door. They were all over the living room this morning.
3. The front glass door tracks and the bedroom window tracks are FILTHY. There is a thick layer of dirt and grime in all the tracks and it is absolutely disgusting. See pics.
4. The AC air filters are also filthy dirty with a thick layer of dust. See pics.
5. There are two light bulbs in the kitchen that are out. (I mentioned this to you on the phone on Saturday.)
6. There is a piece of formica on the kitchen counter top that is detached and has been tacked down with a piece of scotch tape.
7. There is a window well outside our apartment, to the right of our door that is uncovered. We have a 2 year old and we are concerned that this is a hazard, not only for our child, but for any other children in the neighboring apartments. This could easily be covered to avoid anyone falling in.
8. The garbage is overflowing from the garbage cans. I am not sure when the garbage is picked up, but there are clearly not enough garbage cans to accommodate the tenants since the cans are all full and there are garbage bags piled all over. This will only serve to attract rodents and is a major health issue.
Sincerely,
Issues just continued to pop up. During the winter we had a problem with the heat. The living room would heat up to 85 °F and the bedrooms were freezing cold. We had to put a room heater in the bedrooms and put blankets over the windows. When I called the response I got was that there was nothing they could do and I should open the front door and use a fan to circulate the air through the apartment. We are talking 20 °F temperature outside… This is the type of people I was dealing with.
People would also stand outside the apartments and smoke, stinking up our apartment. Not to mention the loud music on the weekends until after midnight.
We finally moved out of this dump after 1 year. We cleaned the place and left it in much better condition that what we had found it. I had actually asked if I could turn in the keys a few hours after the 10am deadline (the movers could not get in until late morning) and the response I got was that they had to clean the apartment for the next tenant and I would be charged $ 300 if I was late. Two months after we moved out I get a letter in the mail stating that there was a broken kitchen cupboard door, the bathroom mirror was cracked and the microwave filter was dirty so they charged us ~$ 200 out of our security. Can you imagine, they had the nerve to tell me there was a dirty filter and I have no idea what they were talking about in terms of broken stuff. And they would not allow me a few extra hours to turn in the keys, so they could «get the apartment ready for the next tenants». I had to remind them the condition the apartment was in when I moved in… Overall a horrible experience.