Gateway Management Rentals

Gateway Management are a bunch of liars. They are the worst management company I have ever dealt with. They blatantly lied about the time frames for returning a damage deposit. When confronted about it I am told, oh you so know your rights. Yes I do know my rights. I know that you have 15 days to return my damage deposit, not 15 days to mail it out. I don’t pay my rent 15 days late so why would you think it is ok to rip me off? It is the lack of consideration and blatant lying that has me angry. My building manager was lazy and didn’t care about any issues with the building. We had a hole in our bathroom ceiling for 2 years with black mould growing in it. We called and she thought we were over reacting by wanting it fixed properly. Our sink didn’t work, we had black sludge pouring out the drain onto the floor and she didn’t think it was an emergency. This whole company doesn’t care about renters but they have no problem raising your rent every year. Other people in the neighbourhood that had buildings managed by Gateway and Melita feel exactly the same as I do. Just go to safeway and mention her name. The PM on the phone is even worse.

I rented a space, sight unseen, from Chris when I first moved to San Francisco for a job. Moved into a top floor flat and it was a good deal for a nice spot in SOMA. When folks in the larger, bottom floor apt moved out, I was able to move down without a fuss, and Chris honored our original rental agreement. To me, that was really top notch. Chris always responded when I needed something (even if that was advice on what to do in San Fran, as an out-​of-​towner) and I stayed there for 4 years before the building was sold and the new owner moved into my space (which was a pain, but that’s how the law works.) Overall, I’d say that it was a much better experience than expected.

We have rented from chris for a couple of years now and it has been great. Any problem we have had has been addressed and resolved to our satisfaction. Having rented from alot of people (8 places in sf) I have to say that chris and all of the staff at gateway are good people to rent from.

Chris is pretty responsive– when he wants something from you. Otherwise, get ready to wait indefinitely for a reply or acknowledgement. My tactic has been to call the maintenance guys directly with any issues, otherwise, they will not get addressed in a timely manner. My building appears to be lovely, but is structurally questionable. I am also pretty unimpressed, if not offended, with the way Chris has handled the event of an apartment in the building being broken into. This is not a character judgement, simply an honest review of my personal experiences, which is the purpose of this forum.
Updated Sept 29, 2011:
Regarding Chris’ reply below, please be warned, his information is not correct.
1) The apartment across from mine was broken into, door kicked in.
2) No one was living with me, I was not home when the event occured.
3) The maintenance man who was repairing the broken door across the hallway told me there were no plans to reinforce the other doors in the building.
4) A general contractor friend confirmed for me that the front doors used on the building are hollow-​core interior doors, and are not appropriate to use for front doors. We signed no contract for work, he simply drafted an estimate for installing a properly secure front door.
5) I attempted to contact Gateway about my concerns, and sent the estimate for his review. No reply for two weeks. When I did receive a reply from Chris, he accused my ex of the break-​in and threatened to hold me liable for the door. The police didn’t follow up with me on that odd theory, so I don’t know where Chris is getting this.
Because the building’s front door entries are visually concealed from the street and there was no front gate, the likelihood of a return break-​in was higher. This was a really stressful event for me, and Chris did not respond to my communications in a timely manner. When he did respond, 2 weeks later, he was accusatory, but I answered his questions as soon as he emailed them.
Chris also had the nerve to ask me to remove this Unilocal review, threatening that if I did not, he would give me poor landlord references. I do not take kindly to threats.
Gateway, you have a bad review because your customer service was terrible. Don’t blame shift over to me, do your job! Something to think about in the future.

I rented from Chris Collins for several years and while I don’t have anything horrible to report, I will say that he was not as dependable and reliable as everyone else on Unilocal seems to think. His office was exceptionally slow about returning phone calls when we needed things fixed, and Chris and his repairmen always promised fixes that never really came. Part of this, I am sure, is not wanting to spend any money. But I also think the office is just incredibly disorganized (if you ever walk in the dungeon-​like office, you will see what I mean… it is dirty, no sunlight, piles of stuff everywhere) so stuff slips through the cracks. Overall, not the most professional company to work with.

Without hesitation I give Chris Collins and Gateway Management and Realty 5 stars. I lived in a 3 bedroom flat in the Mission for 8 years. Chris was always courteous, responsive, professional, prompt and knowledgeable. If I called to ask for a repair, he’d immediately put me on hold, then start a conference call with the plumber or the handyman. He made sure the building was maintained by a weekly cleaning service for common areas and that the lights and smoke detectors were in working order. The office is right in the Mission — Chris is a local guy with ties to the neighborhood — and you can always expect to be helped by Chris or his friendly staff if you stop by. After I moved out my security deposit, last month’s rent and interest were returned me to me right away. Chris knows what his responsibilities as property manager are, and if you’ve ever had a private individual landlord then you know what a big plus that is. I can’t recommend this company highly enough.

Chris Collins was a very dependable property manager for me. I lived in one of the flats managed by Gateway for three years, and every time I asked for something to be done, Chris got on it right away. Always good at giving me plenty of warning before repairmen came to the apartment.

Someone from Gateway keeps pestering me about what I originally wrote, so I am just taking down my review.