The Byron Company

They seem nice when you’re looking at apartments. Beware! Once you sign the lease they will do everything they can to screw you over. They are especially ruthless towards WashU students (I was a PhD grad student at WashU before moving to California for a post-​doc). Two examples:
1) My lease was up Aug. 1^st so I called in June to let them know that I was moving out (giving notification one month in advance is required by law). On July 20^th, I called to give them my new address (in California) so they could send my deposit check. They casually said ‘oh, it looks like you didn’t sign our formal release statement. Too bad, you are required by law to pay us rent for the next year.’ This was insane because I had notified them and they conveniently didn’t mention that I needed to sign their form. I was about to move to California and could not pay rent for two places at the same time, but if I fought them in court they made it clear that they were willing to lie about my phone call and I didn’t have any way to prove that they were wrong. I scrambled around and luckily found someone to sublet my place for a year 2 days before roadtripping to California.
2) No matter what you do, you will not get your full deposit back. I scrubbed my apartment clean and there was literally not a speck of dust anywhere. The inspection notice claimed that the apartment was filthy and they only sent me half of my deposit back. Luckily, I took a video of my apartment after I cleaned it, so I caught them red handed in their lie. They backpedalled quickly once they realized I had proof of their lie that would hold up in court, but they still never sent me my full deposit. I think they realized that I lived in California and guessed (correctly) that I would not fly back to St. Louis to confront them in court.
They are very creative at squeezing money out of tenants. They will find a way to get your money even if you’re a model tenant. Don’t sign a lease with them.
Robert

Miserable, rude, and uncompromising
The entire group of employees was an amalgam of various depressing personalities, which I now think was a reflection of the manager’s own wretched existence. Mike (the manager) is self important, disinterested, rude, and incapable of admitting wrongdoing. After I had signed a lease and began driving with all of my belongings to St. Louis, good old Mike calls to tell me that the apartment they offered me, and showed to me a week before, had already been leased by a new tenant for a month. Ever the pompous dimwit, Mike tries to sell me on a «comparable» unit I’ve never seen, and without any pictures of it available, and without a single concession or apology. Oh, and every other apartment they showed me smelled like mold, and all of these apartments were impeccably dirty. My advice is to look elsewhere when searching for a St. Louis apartment. The Byron Company is unfit to rent to rats.

I arrived at the office on time for the scheduled apartment tour. Nobody was there so I called the company phone number and was told that an agent should be back in the office in any minute. I waited for 20 minutes thinking not to waste the time of anybody who might be on the way back. Unfortunately nobody showed up in the end. I left a note with my phone number and nobody called me back. I have no idea how you would do business … but it might be just my unlucky experience running into some irresponsible agent.

SLUM LORDS! STAY AWAY!
I rented from Byron Company for almost 4 years. I know, if it’s that bad why did I stay? Well, for $ 535/​month all utilities included for a 1 bedroom in the CWE is unheard of… And I quickly learned why.
First–
Repairs were done poorly if at all.
An example: I had water damage covering my north and west facing walls for over a year. I was told this was due to tuck pointing that needed to be done and my inside walls would be repaired when the outside was fixed. When they finally came to «repair it» they got paint on my things (one of which was my grandmother’s kitchen table another my comforter on my bed), only repaired part of the damage, and I was even more surprised to find the MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER HAD BEEN RANSACKED!!! No kidding. I called appropriately upset and I was told the man who was in my apt that day would never again come into my place. (Not fired). Not 100% satisfied with this answer, but not wanting a newly disgruntled ex-​employee who knows where I live on my hands I agreed to this arrangement. Less than 2 months later– HE WAS IN MY APT AGAIN! When I called to complain the manager (Dennis Lutsky) said he had told him not to go in my apt… But he did it anyway. They completely dismissed me but let me out of my lease early. My deposit was put in the mail exactly 31 days after I ended my lease.
Another example: my faucet handles weren’t working so they replaced ONE. I had two «hot» labeled handles and both were different in design. Faucet repair fail. (Not a huge deal, but gives you an idea of the kind of work they do.)
Second–
They damage your things.
Example: paint on my (newly inherited) grandmother’s kitchen table. Paint on my comforter. Black foot prints on my off-​white colored rugs (one in the living room and one in the bathroom).
Third–
They treat you poorly.
Example: after several months of water damaged walls, I reported them again. When someone came out to see them I was chastised for not continuing to report until it was resolved. Apparently, they want you to call daily until they do their job… but they will be annoyed that you called them at all. Got it.
Terrible experience. I wouldn’t wish this rental company on my worst enemy… ok, maybe on my worst enemy :)

I don’t understand the bad reviews here, as I have only had an overwhelmingly positive experience renting from the Byron Company. They’re the best company I’ve ever rented from & that’s saying a lot because I’ve lived in my fair share of apartments.
Effortlessly subleased an apartment from them about a year ago. I was in a time crunch from the time I found the apartment to the time I needed to move in. They worked with me SO well to ensure that all of the needed maintenance (painting, cleaning, touch ups) was done before I had to move in a week later. They let me do everything by phone & fax since I was moving from Texas & when I rolled up at 4pm on a Friday, they had my keys ready for me, I signed some papers and the apartment was mine!
Their maintenance is incredible. I had a list of several things that needed to be done to the apartment after I moved in since I had moved in in such a hurry. I submitted the things online to them and got a call first thing Monday morning from them to talk through the items and tell me they would send someone out ASAP. The next day, the nicest maintenance man I have ever met showed up and fixed everything for me.
About a month after moving in, I came home to discover that they had replaced the linoleum with nice tile in the kitchen & had given me a brand new oven! There was nothing wrong with the other one, it was just probably from 1940, haha.
My building has radiator heat (which is amazing!), so all bills are included in the rent. My radiators hadn’t been going on much during the past week, so I called them yesterday afternoon and said I my apartment was a lot colder than normal. I was told they would send someone out to check on it. Sure enough, someone came to my door this morning and looked into it. He did something magical & now my apartment is nice and toasty again. :)
After me raving about the BC, my boyfriend moved into one of their apartments last weekend and the transition has gone very smoothly as well.
Sure the buildings are old, but they keep them up very nicely & update them when necessary. I will keep renting from them for as long as possible! I TOTALLY recommend the Byron Company.

If I were able to give less than a one-​star rating for The Byron Company, I would gladly do it. The pretentious name is a cover for their slumlord approach to managing buildings in the St. Louis area.
I have been living at a BC managed building for close to a year and have had less than a satisfactory experience. In the time that we have lived there, we have encountered nothing but issues with the problems.
The refrigerator in our until was not working when we moved in and only discovered this after all our recently purchases groceries spoiled. In the usual manner of the BC, it took a week for them to replace it and scratched up the floor moving it in.
The entire south facing wall of our until has perpetual water damage and mold. Every time it rains, the walls bubble and get wet. The last time we reported our water damage issue, they blatantly lied to my fiancé that the problem causing all the water damage to the apartment was fixed and they would no longer be needing to come out to fix it. We now have chunks and ceiling falling off on to our furniture.
When they have come out to fix things, their workers leave trash and debris everywhere. They also got paint or putty on our clothing.
Our water heater went out this spring and it took them a long time to fix.
Our A/​C unit went out and has taken over a week for them to fix.
Their customer service is horrible and god forbid you should ever have to call the office or be there in person to deal with their bitch of a receptionist. Once you are in a lease, you are treated as a second class citizen.
For the St. Louis area, the rent prices are not that great. I have had much more spacious apartments in the U City area for a better price.
If you

When you’re met with slightly-​offhanded rudeness at the office, low-​energy leasing advisors, and properties in extremely shoddy conditions, it’s difficult to rate more than 1.58 423 stars. Although the monthly rental rates are decent, the few bucks per month do not make up for the poor condition of their properties. (If they were managing the same properties in California, they would probably be breaking more than a few laws.) Also, they do not have flexible lease-​terms with 11-​month leases; not very student-​friendly as compared to month-​to-​month or variable-​length terms.
When the Byron agent took my roommate and I out to some Byron properties that were available for lease, we came across this particularly rancid dump north of Delmar. After a brief look-​at-​room and flip-​light-​switches walkthrough, the three of us ended up in an empty corner bedroom with the Byron agent guaranteeing to us all of the upcoming fixes they had planned for the unit. Just when the Byron agent thought he’d exhausted his list, my roommate noticed some water bulge on the wall and innocently and tenderly pushed at it to see why it was bulging. The wall caved. The three of us stood there. In silence. Staring at the newly-​created hole. I glanced at my roommate, and we exchanged mutual oh-​shit looks. I then stole a furtive glance at the agent, and WE exchanged mutual oh-​shit looks. He uttered an awkward «yeah», and the three of us vacated the room. It was quite the tour.