Jacek Purat

I thought I was getting quite a deal for the space, location but it was not worth it with all of the issues I encountered living here and having to deal with Jacek as a landlord. The building is quite old so some things going wrong is to be expected, but I did not expect so many things to fall apart before my eyes and within the first year of tenancy. First of all, he said that the first year of the lease is for a full year and can be switched to month to month, but that is not true. He continues to reinforce the year long lease after the first year and if you are not familiar with your rights as a tenant he will try to fool you or trick you for his benefit. Second of all, my ceiling in my kitchen leaked multiple times during rainy seasons and fell apart twice in my time there and instead of getting it properly repaired my a professional, he patched it up only bandaging the problem for the next time the rain comes. This also happened in my bedroom where the ceiling dry wall fell apart. Other times it just leaked. My electricity also short circuited once because I was making hot pot and instead of being able to reset the breaker, I was not able to get electricity in my living room for a whole two weeks or more before he had his handyman come and rewire my electricity to the outside hallway electricity so anytime someone switches off the hallway lights in the building my whole apartment's electricity goes out. It is infuriating and should not be the case. I also had a rat problem and instead of urgently helping me with it, he set up mouse traps that I later found out were set up wrong and kept telling me that rats and mice are harmless creatures that cause no diseases. I complained that it kept eating my plants and the getting into my things, but he simply said that rats do not eat plants. He is not logical and won't listen to reason. It was only when I called Vector Control that they properly set up traps to catch the rat. This landlord is cheap, unhelpful, unresponsive. When there are issues in the building, you have to constantly follow up or he will ghost you and hope you forget about it. He is also constantly traveling to Poland for medical treatments so he is unreachable for months at a time. He puts his son in charge but when an issue comes up, his son can't do much to help. There is a lack of urgency in everything. I had an old leaky fridge that he refused to replace so I had to keep a towel to soak up the leak everyday. The water pressure and temperature were an issue when I first moved in and was eventually somewhat fixed, but these are just some of the constant issues I faced and it pained me to have to contact this man because it felt like pulling teach to get anything done. I truly wish that no one has to experience this. He seems like a nice, calm, chill landlord but he is bad at his job and should not be managing his deteriorating building. I would never ever rent from him again.

Having this man as a landlord was one of the worst rental experiences I've ever had. Don't be fooled by his kind and jolly demeanor, or even the low cost in rent, as a landlord he is quite possibly the most cheap and negligent landlord you can encounter. It also doesn't help that he places all responsibility on his son, who refuses to make a move without his his presence or approval, all while constantly being out of the country and being unreachable. During my time there, I was initially really happy with my apartment--it was a spacious studio with a lot of charm, low rent and no utility fees--but once I ran into issues with the electricity, the appeal quickly began to diminish. He blamed electricity issues on the tenants' irresponsibility and on the building being old. While we all understood that the building was old, he would not only delay fixing these issues, but do half-ass jobs and would rely on a maintenance man who didn't even live in Oakland (he lived in LA). So trying to get anything fixed would come with resistance and delay. Most of the time he wouldn't even do anything about it and would try to gaslight us into thinking we were the root of the issue, when in reality his poor job at maintaining his building was at fault. At one point I also had issues with my gas stove, which he blamed on me and took his sweet time to tend to my concerns. Once he finally tended to the issue, he did a sketchy job of investigating the gas leak and ultimately concluded that the stove was not at fault, and that I had messed with it and caused the issues. When I finally decided to move out, I never received any acknowledgment from him until I approached him in person to confirm that he was aware that I was moving out. He let me know that he would be mailing my deposit to me and that I would receive it once I sent him my new address. Cut to nearly a month later, this man avoided all communication when I reached out to confirm the status of my deposit. It wasn't until I threatened legal action that I finally received a response and was mailed my deposit a week later. All in all, I really do not recommend renting from this man. I know that the rent price, location, and charm may be appealing, but it's really not worth it. Some things to consider: 1.) The building is poorly maintained 2.) He's never around to fix things 3.) His son doesn't live onsite, so you will be waiting around if something breaks or you get locked out 4.) No onsite maintenance person 5.) Building has electrical issues 6.) Packages get stolen 7.) Bad communication 8.) He's always out of the country and will avoid communication 9.) Building roof leaks 10.) Major delays getting deposit back 11.) Terrible laundry dryers (also quite expensive for how bad they are) 12.) Building has plumbing issues 13.) Old windows that cause water leaks