Marco Realty Trust

Worst Management company I have ever come across with. I personally do not have an apartment with them thank goodness however being in the business I don’t understand how they have not been sued. Unless you have worked in the real estate business you do not know what is legal and what is not. I can assure you that almost everything that this awful company does is because they don’t think you are aware of the state laws. Every single negative review is exactly what is happening to a friend of mine. If you wanted to be treated with lack of respect and responsiveness then this is the company for you! Any landlord that hires them does not care about their residents. They love to violate the board of health and OSHA regulations as well. I hope they are sued and go out of business some day as they are not worthy of continuing to be in business. Cold hearted jerks is what they are

We lived in a Comar (Marco) building in Beacon Hill for several years. Most of the maintenance crew we dealt with tried to help, but in the past year or so, the building has gone into steep decline and is becoming a slum from within — complete with rats inside the building, all the way to the upper floors. (A rat crashed through a bedroom ceiling). Comar did little in response, and instead allowed problems to escalate.
Ongoing problems included:
Leaks (ceiling and toilet and windows — as well as closet, so that items were ruined); windows that don’t open/​close properly; doors warped and keys not working; the strong smell of skunk drifting up from the basement; mice issue on and off; and finally, and this was the big one, rats.
There are rats living behind the walls of this building. They burrowed upwards from the basement, and reached the upper floors of the building, repeatedly scoping around the actual living quarters. and leaving trails of urine, and droppings. Rats were also using toilets seats as a source of water — 3^rd floor on up. The landlord has known about this problem for awhile («For years,» according to one ex-​tenant). The problem was confirmed by their own exterminator — 2 different ones, actually — but Comar took no serious action.
First round: we found some droppings and called Comar. Their exterminator came, saw the droppings, evidence of wall insulation being burrowed through, and confirmed right away it was a rat in our living room. He dusted with a bit with poison and told us we would have to wait 2 weeks, because the landlord would initially claim the rat was on its own and came in through the window. (This exterminator thought from the beginning the rat had burrowed from below up, and said he’d been to this building «many, many times»). He advised me to carry a poker and tap the floor with it as I walked through the apartment so that a rat didn’t feel that I was trying to corner it and charge at me.
We waited 2 weeks, dreading being in the apartment, and then smelling something dead behind the walls. We returned one night at the end of the 2 weeks to find a rat on a rampage in the bathroom. We called Comar again — and Comar had no idea what we were talking about. They called us 15 minutes later and assured us it was a mouse. NO! By that time, we had the word of the 1^st exterminator, our own sighting, droppings, track marks on camera, and a rat tail in a glue trap.
The 2^nd exterminator showed (the 1^st one and his company had been fired) and at first tried to say it was a mouse or maybe a squirrel. But after being shown the track marks and the tail in the glue trap, he reluctantly concluded it was indeed a rat, and that it had burrowed up from below. (So back to square one after 2 weeks of living with this). He closed a rat burrow in one wall with foam. He said ripping open the walls and closing all the furrows was needed to solve this — but any such treatments would be at our own expense, as the landlord would not want to pay for it. (Not ok — check Boston housing code.) When we mentioned there was a baby living here (meaning: at especial risk from rodents) he told us we «could play the ‘kid card’ «only so far. He mentioned he had no background in residential extermination, and had only done office/​warehouse sites, and was learning as he went along…
A week or so later, 1 a.m., the rotting plywood used to repair a leak in the ceiling of our bedroom closet (the leak was from 2 floors up, from a few years earlier) gave way as a rat scurried over it — and crashed right through it. This gave the rat access to our bedroom as we slept. We awoke screaming… They repaired the ceiling immediately, but offered no further anti-​rat treatment. We had to spend several hundred of our own money on steel wool, etc to make the place (at all) habitable… and then, reader, we moved.
What is most reprehensible in all this is Comar’s response, or lack thereof. Crucially, the landlord did not alert residents of the problem, nor was there any building-​wide measure to deal with it, even as of months later, and problems can only become worse. You’ll be paying rent for this.
A one-​off treatment can’t solve an established rat infestation. It requires thorough, and ongoing, treatment. Don’t count on getting that here. A number of vacancies piled up in this building this year, and rather than take the opportunity to improve the building, the landlord went right ahead and rented the units out. I don’t want anyone to go through what we did. Please, be VERY careful before you sign for anything with them. And take a look at the filtered reviews too.
PS: James Cohen manages Marco. The Beacon Hill building is now controlled by his brother, Jeffrey Cohen, via a new entity, Boulder Property Group, a division of Metropolitan Properties of America. Old wine, new bottles? Metropolitan owns Granada Highlands In Malden MA. Check out their record there. Good luck.

I really cannot add anything to this other than all of the reviews of Mount Vernon Street are completely accurate. This slumlord denies anything is wrong… even in the face of EVIDENCE! But miss one month’s rent, and he’ll take you to court. How does the City of Boston allow this slumlord to operate?

I think it’s crazy that someone else wrote a review and suggests we should be warm and fuzzy when speaking to them so we can get what we want. Here’s a list of problems I’ve had in the last 3 years:
Entire place flooded thru ceilings in 2^nd floor apartment out of 5 floors. All ceilings/​walls/​window treatments ruined… Took 2+ months to fix and no reimbursement for ruined furniture or window treatments
— bug issue
— rodent issue
— no hot water multiple times
— leak under sink and 2inches of water in my kitchen and the response on the phone was «what’s the problem now»… Are you serious?
— ceilings and walls repeatedly cracked and falling on floor… Takes months of calling and writing to repair
— disruptive maintenance grunting, burping, farting while opening and closing basement exit (located outside my bedroom) all hours of the day and night
— completely rude on the phone… But I guess you can be when you’re a slum lord
Final thoughts with Jerry Springer: make less money and move into section 8 because its the same quality apartment, or make more and don’t even consider renting from these people.

It is really, really important to be careful if you are renting from Marco Realty Trust. They are unscrupulous and not terribly competent.
I subletted from them (specifically, from one of their tenants) for five months. We tried to transfer the sublease or lease, having given them proper notice that without a sublease transfer, we’d be surrendering the apartment. Under Massachusetts state law, the landlord is required to make a reasonable effort to find a replacement tenant. We found two excellent candidates for him and assembled their applications, and the landlord rejected – or effectively rejected by stalling for over a week – both applicants. The last applicant, the landlord told the tenant, was too young. The applicant was over 18, so this kind of discrimination is illegal.
Trying to communicate with the landlord through the property manager was awful. The landlord does not want to be reached, and the property manager was some combination of confused, interfering, sympathetic, and unhelpful. It was hard to know if messages were being effectively relayed.
The saddest part was how the landlord eventually tried to bully my tenant into paying him despite our extensive efforts *and success* in finding great replacement tenants. I didn’t hear these conversations, but the tenant (who does not speak great English) was extremely distraught by his yelling at her.
I suggest that the Trust might be incompetent not only because of the fiasco above, but also because my tenant was never able to figure out how much she owed from a delay in transferring the electricity into her name. We both tried to get the number several times. In addition, judging from my phone calls, the office is incredibly understaffed. This is apparently one of the reasons they didn’t like taking time to review applications – but why don’t they charge an application fee to help cover the cost? Most apartment hunters in Boston can’t wait around for 10 days to see if their application gets accepted.
Finally, the buildings are in very poor repair. Mine in Beacon Hill had lots of flaking, old paint, splintering floorboards (literally, I got splinters before I put rugs down), and extremely drafty windows. It’s kind of sad not seeing the floors maintained. I ended up doing a lot of spackling to try to improve the walls. My two plumbing requests were, however, dealt with promptly.
(And if you haven’t yet… read the filtered reviews!)

I have never experienced the level of complete and utter cruelty that this company, and mainly the landlord JAMES COHEN, put me through. In the interest of time, because I have a real job where I earn money unlike JAMES COHEN who just steals from others, I’ll bullet my complaints:
–locks on the front door to the building are always unlocked and broken. Multiple requests to fix them, never granted.
–moved into our apartment and it smelled like natural gas. James Cohen assured me that the varnish they use on the floor was to blame. It was only after a year of battles and calls to the fire department that we figured out that the building is so old it used to be GAS LIT, and that there was a leak from an old pipe in our building. REALLY?! You LIE to your tenants about a GAS LEAK?! Criminal.
–no fire escape. Just a simple grate outside the kitchen… better hope the fire isn’t in the kitchen, which is the most LIKELY PLACE IT WOULD BE!
–attempted to tell me that because i didnt give a written notice that i was moving out (which i did…) that he was going to evict me early. And THEN he had maintenance done in the apartment without any notice to me, destroying my things with saw dust, paint, and general distress.
I could relay pages of infractions, but a simple statement will suffice. JAMES COHEN and MARCO REALTY are a bunch of crooks. They will say or do what they deem necessary, and manipulate any situation for their own personal gain and at the total expense of their tenants. Don’t know how this man sleeps at night knowing he treats people this way.
You’re stupid to rent from these people. Period.

I’ve rented from Marco Realty in Boston for about 5 years. They are responsive to problems. For example, they put in a new floor for me the first time I asked (to be fair it was sagging when I moved in). They quickly replaced my fridge which started making noises a month after I moved in. And it took them about a week and a half from the time I complained about rodents, but they took care of that too. (I live in the middle of a city on ground level near construction so everyone in the area has to battle rodents now and then. Nothing to do with Marco Realty.)
Overall not too many problems for 5 years. Everyone working in their office is fine (not rude). The 24-​hour hotline is a wildcard — service depends on who answers (sometimes they put you on hold for a long time). They have yet to eliminate a 5-​year long centipede problem (but is it really possible to get rid of those). The boiler’s noisy (but aren’t they all). All in all no serious complaints.
Btw, same owners as COMAR Realty. They put the CO before the MAR. Essentially the same company.

I’ve had my good and bad experiences with MRT. I’ve been renting from them for the last four years. The building I live in is old and for a while it was pretty bad. In the last year or so, many improvements have been made and they are more responsive. A new woman answers the phone and she is always pleasant when I speak to her. I think when dealing with a realty company, it’s all in your attitude when talking to them.