Where to start... I signed my lease at their 755 Green St location in April 2020. At the time of signing, they did not notify me that starting in June, the building would be undergoing seismic retrofitting. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is basically to bring the building up to SF code to withstand an Earthquake. As you can imagine, this is a very loud process which involves heavy duty machinery and a lot of digging through concrete to reinforce the foundations of the building. During this work from home climate, you can imagine how challenging this was to deal with while being on zoom meetings. The worst part of all, Brick and Timber did nothing to communicate the status of the project. To this day, the announcement letter from June 2020 is still hanging in the elevator and lobby! With this being said, I did end up complaining around the December 2020 timeframe (yes the construction was going on from June-December... still is going on in April 2021) and had the pleasure of speaking with Alanna Parrish, a project manager for Brick and Timber. Although I am giving Brick and Timber a 1 star review, I would like to acknowledge Alanna for her compassion and caring when we spoke. She was awesome and that conversation went very well. They actually gave me a rent reduction for three months due to the hardship, thanks to Alanna. Again, major kudos to her. Although this situation was quite painful, it is not the reason for the one star review. Okay let's set the stage... flash forward to March 2021. My lease agreement is ending on April 17th, 2021. Due to the current rental market in SF and the availability of units, I am looking to move elsewhere to have more space. I give a call to the property manager, this horrible women named Kelly Pizarro. I leave two messages for her on March 17th and March 18th expecting a call back. As you can guess, no call back. Fast forward a week to the week of March 22nd. I get an email informing me that my rental payment is due. As I go into the invoice, I notice that they wind up charging me until the end of April without my approval. As soon as I see this, I email Kelly. Again, no response. Send an email a day later threatening to withhold my lease payment until I receive a response. Of course, I get one that day. Now the fun begins! Kelly, in her typical mean fashion, informed me that I must give a 30 day notice (don't forget I tried calling March 17th and 18th to put this in). I ask her to call me and provide my availability for a call. She sends an email response back stating "your notice was given on 3/30/21 making your official move out date to 4/29/21. Even if you (yes Kelly can't even get her adjectives right... Kelly if you are reading this its YOUR not you) lease expires on 4/17/21 you will be rent responsible until 4/29/21." I respond in disagreement and ask her to give me a call, again provide my availability. Because it seemed like I was going no where with this, I looped my friend Alanna from the situation mentioned above back in. Alanna apologized for the confusion and asked how she could help. I informed her that I would like for Kelly to give me a call. Guess what happened... 30 minutes later, KELLY called! She sounded just as monotone and out of it on the phone as she did through emails. I explain to her that this isn't a good time for me (outside of the time frame I gave in my email) and she proceeded to inform me that this was the time that worked for her. Side note, she is the Property Admin, aren't I the customer here? Shouldn't she go by the times I am free? Regardless, me telling her this isn't a good time proceeded to set her off and she began yelling/talking over me. She winds up hanging up. Exactly one minute later she then follows up with an email, in her typical mean fashion stating "...unfortunately from here on out we can manage conversations through email." All I can say is LOL, what a joke Kelly and Brick and Timber are if this is how they conduct their business. In conclusion, Alanna was looped back in and she gave me a call to talk through the situation and was so pleasant. She explained the situation and unfortunately because I didn't give written notice on March 17th or 18th they could not hold my attempted verbal notice as an official rental termination. Overall, I had to pay the rent until the end of the month even though I did everything correctly from my perspective (maybe they should learn how to answer the phone and not hang up on their tenants). Regarding Brick and Timber and Kelly, run as far as you can. Horrible company who I wish to never deal with again. Alanna, if you are reading this, I am super appreciative of you and everything you have done to make this horrible situation a bit more bearable. Side note, a few weeks ago Brick and Timber sent out a "refer a friend" program that if you refer someone they will give you a 500 dollar rent reduction. Seems like they are in dire need of residents, I wonder why. -Ben read more

UPDATE: I have nothing good to say about these people. I had to threaten legal action before they finally returned my money--which they had no claim to at all. Although they have attractive buildings, and, in our case, a most attentive resident manager (Luis Landos), I won't recommend doing business with them. These people are thieves. I post here because Yelp reviews seem to be among the few things that get their quick attention. B&T has been holding nearly $5,000 of mine for two months with zero justification. This is not a simple security deposit matter. The company has no claim to the money. I see from other reviews here that plenty of other people have similar problems with the company. I actually wrote a positive review in 2020 about the company. As you will see, my opinion has changed considerably. Below is a letter I wrote to the top executives of the company on July 5, 2022, outlining the problem and asking for my money. I have received several subsequent notes from underlings assuring me that some money, the amounts vary, will be returned. But it's now a month later, and I have yet to see one dollar. I wrote them again today (Aug. 8): "So when do you think your people are going to get around to sending me my money?" Their reply: "We are following up to let you know we are still working internally to find a solution for your issue. We will keep you updated when more information is available. Thank you for your patience as we work on this pressing matter." Here are the facts, as I explained to the executives a month ago: Mr. Greg MacDonald, CEO Mr. Ryan Brewer, Managing Principal Ballast Investments 351 California Street, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 Dear Messrs. MacDonald and Brewer: I want to open what will ultimately be a most unpleasant letter with a note of great appreciation for the two years my wife and I spent in one of your apartments--the very special XXX Austin Street (XXXX Gough Street, XXXX). We moved in just as the covid crisis began, and we always considered the place our "pandemic palace," providing just the right levels of comfort and security that we wanted and needed in such a trying time. We also felt that B&T always treated us well and took good care of the property. That said, however, I am outraged that B&T is holding nearly $5,000 of mine for no good reason. We moved back to New York this spring, vacating the Austin Street apartment on May 5. We were caught in New York co-op approval limbo, and could not give proper 30-day notice of our departure. I wrote B&T on April 29, immediately upon learning that we had our final approvals in New York. I offered to pay the full 30 days of rent, but Mr. Ryan Razon graciously waived the 30-day period and instructed me to write a check for prorated rent, through the 5th: "Regarding your prorated rent here is how you can get it (Monthly rent 5125.00/31*5 Days $826.61) is your prorated rent..." I gave the check to Luis Landos, the resident manager, on the day we left. I wrote "Prorated May Rent" in the memo line. B&T cashed it. Everything seemed to be in order. After a couple of weeks, I received a Liveable [trash and sewer] bill for $193.45. Before I had a chance to pay it, however, I realized that I had failed to shut down my automated bill-paying service, and it had sent a $5,125 check to B&T for an unnecessary June 1 rent payment. I immediately wrote Mr. Razon (May 25), informing him of the bill-paying error and asking him to deduct the Liveable bill from the total and to return the balance to me. He responded: "We wanted to let you know that if in case we receive it within the SDR refund time frame, we will send it back to you along with your refund." Again, everything seemed to be in order. Then, a month later, I saw that B&T cashed the erroneous check, and, after much back and forth before and after the [Independence Day] holiday weekend, Mr. Razon informed me that B&T is charging me for the full month of May and "you will receive. $939.79 before move inspection charges." No. That is not right. B&T owes me $4,931.55--the erroneous $5,125 check, less the outstanding Liveable bill. Anything less is unacceptable. We were excellent tenants, and this is no way to treat us. I appreciate your attention to this matter and expect you to authorize the return of my money. Regards, XXXX XXXX read more

When I moved out of my apartment, the check they sent me to return my security deposit bounced and they subtracted $300 without notifying me ahead of time as a fee for my move out walk through (which is illegal in CA) Brick and Timber bought my building in San Francisco less than a year before I moved out. Overall they were disorganized during the transition and after. But not awful. It felt like they were trying. The real issues arose when I notified that I was moving out. At first everything went smoothly, but when I wanted to schedule a move out walk through, it got frustrating. First they tried to talk me out of doing it altogether even though the law in CA provides for a move out walk through any time within two weeks of your move out date. I moved out of state so coordinating was complicated and took several more emails after the ones trying to talk me out of the walkthrough. The day came for the walkthrough and when they guy from B&T hadn't shown up an hour after our arranged time, we called to see where he was. He did finally show up but and blamed us for him being late. Following the walkthrough I got an email from a CSR (they outsource to Zen Desk so no one you talk to can make any decisions and they aggressively and annoyingly beg for positive reviews at the end of every interaction, even after you've already given one to get them to stop begging). In the email it showed my total deposit with no deductions for damages but a $300 deduction labeled move out walkthrough fee. No one had ever mentioned any fee, let alone $300, for my walk through. I didn't know at the time, but do now, that in CA that is not legal. When I received my refund and deposited the check in the bank, it bounced. That kicked off a two week process to get my money, including me having to call the SF Rent Board and Tenants Advocates for help. Both organizations informed me that B&T was in violation of two laws. One that all renters are entitled to a move out walk through at no charge and the other that security deposits must be returned within 21 days of move out. Both also told me to call a lawyer. Instead I notified the CSR of the situation and ultimately I was wire transferred my full deposit, but only after threatening to call an attorney. I will close by saying that a gentleman from their office did call me and apologize for the inconvenience which I appreciated, however it really felt like they were trying to take advantage of me with that $300 walk through fee. Know your rights and ask for what you are entitled to under the law. read more

TL;DR: Literally RUN. This company is SO bad. I wish I could properly explain all the BS they've put us through in the last year. First of all, after we signed the lease it was next to impossible to get in touch with the resident manager to pick up our keys. I was truly scared that we were going to show up with all our belongings and have nowhere to enter. When we moved in, they didn't do a walk-thru or anything, so there was no record of the condition of the apartment. We had the toilet and the shower break in the first month and it took them 4 days to fix the shower (unusable during the entire time). The fire extinguishers were expired, so lots of code issues going on. Then sometime in 2022 we get a notice on the door that the building has not been up to code for retrofitting for FIVE YEARS. Eventually we get emails from management that they're going to start construction. Was going to start in October, then November, then December, and then FINALLY started literally the day we moved out. In December, the washing machine became full (janky coin operated machine in the nasty basement) and it took them over 2 months to empty the coin box so it was usable again. I only know this because we keep in touch with our neighbors who still live there and they said just this week it was fixed. Over two months of not being able to use those facilities. After being moved out for a month, I get an email letting us know our account is delinquent. We owe HELLA cash for damages and cleaning, but I had to ask 4 different people what the charges were for because they wouldn't tell me straight up. The worst charge (besides $150 for a nail hole that we forgot to patch) was $800 to "reglaze bathtub". They PAINTED the clawfoot tub right before we moved in and didn't seal it properly so it started peeling within the first week of us living there, and then wanted to charge us for it?? We never put in a request for it because it didn't seem like a big deal and it was going to take god knows how long of not being able to use the tub for them to fix it while we were still occupants. Anyways. Here we are, 6 weeks post move-out and these idiots are STILL dragging their behinds responding to emails. If anyone knows a good lawyer, hit me up. read more

This is a review for the folks in charge at Brick & Timber who make the decisions regarding our rent, living conditions, etc. It is NOT for the leasing agents or the customer service team that responds to maintenance requests, who I think are based outside the US--those are the people with 5-star reviews on here and I have no issues with them. B&T is easily the worst property management company I've ever been under, and that's saying something. They just don't care. And honestly, it's by design. It's in their best interest to not care, or not provide maintenance that actually fixes problems because if we move out then they can jack up the rent for the next tenant and make more money this rent-controlled building. I live at 845 California Street and our beautiful building hasn't had a consistently and trustworthy working elevator for months. Sure, one of the two elevators gets fixed and works for a day. And then the fire department comes when people get stuck in them. BOTH elevators have been broken more days this year than they've been working (one hasn't worked in a year at all). And they don't even send notices most of the times that the elevators are out of service-- probably because they don't want it documented. There's piles of stuff in the stairwells and hallways. The cleaning services have been cut back and the building is dirty and smells. And don't even get me started on them reinstalling carpet that had sewage all over it. Also, I think they're not letting our property manager actually manage-- he used to send little helpful reminder notices (don't forget to pick up your packages, remember to clean the lint traps, recycling bins are blue) and those have suddenly gone once B&T came on the scene. Also I emailed him once a simple question, and he forwarded it to B&T, and B&T told me to not email him. WHAT?! He has a B&T email address. Is he just here for show because the law requires it??? Probably. My advice for anyone renting a B&T unit. Document everything. Take pics/video of your unit before and after you move in. And before/after every maintenance "fix." B&T is notorious for making you pay a bunch at move-out. Good luck everyone! read more

My partner and I have lived in the same rent-controlled apartment for 22 years. The building itself is old but truly beautiful, and for decades was well maintained and kept properly. That changed immediately after the property was sold in June 2025 and Brick & Timber (B&T) took over management. Since their takeover, many of the housing services we have legally received for years have declined or disappeared. In our experience: The building is rarely cleaned, and when it is, the work appears minimal and poorly done. Maintenance issues are ignored for months - even significant ones. (For example, we had a 2' x 2' hole in our ceiling that went unaddressed for 7 weeks.) We've experienced what feels like a systematic pattern of pressure and behavior that we personally interpret as harassment - something we later learned many long-time tenants have reported experiencing with this company. From my perspective, these tactics seem designed to wear tenants down or confuse anyone who doesn't fully understand their rights. Thankfully, we know ours, we have legal protections on our side, and we refuse to be intimidated. If you are considering renting a property managed by Brick & Timber, I strongly advise caution. Based on our experience, here are the things we've found absolutely essential: - Document everything--in detail. - Communicate only in writing, never by phone. - Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. - Stand up for your rights, including against anything you believe to be harassment. - Do not assume anything they tell you is accurate--even in writing. - Verify everything. In more than two decades of renting in San Francisco as quiet, responsible tenants who always pay on time, we had never once needed to contact the San Francisco Rent Board or the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. Since Brick & Timber arrived, we've come to know both very well--and we are deeply grateful for their guidance and support. Prospective and current B&T tenants: take note. Protect yourself, know your rights, and don't overlook the resources available to you. read more

Completely Incompetent Staff -- Do Not Rent Here My experience with Parkmerced was one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had. Seven days before my scheduled move-in date, I reached out to ask how I should pay my first month's rent. I was told, "It's electronic, don't worry about it." Based on that information, I proceeded with my moving plans. Then, at 10:00 AM on the Friday before my Saturday move-in, I was suddenly informed that I actually needed to provide a cashier's check or I would not receive my keys--all while I was at work with virtually no opportunity to obtain one. This wasn't a minor inconvenience; it was sabotage of my move. By that point, all of my belongings were packed, my movers were scheduled to arrive in less than 24 hours, and I could not simply cancel them. My current lease ended on the 15th, the same day I was supposed to take possession of my new home. When I called for an explanation, I received nothing but scripted responses of, "We're sorry, sir. We understand, sir." Then, at 3:00 PM, I received another email doubling down on the requirement for a cashier's check, despite the fact that your staff had five business days to either process an electronic payment or inform me of this requirement. This is not customer service. It is incompetence. Your team's failure to communicate in a timely manner doubled my moving costs, created unnecessary stress, and demonstrated a complete lack of accountability or professionalism. This entire experience was avoidable. Had your staff done their job and communicated the payment requirements when I asked a week earlier, none of this would have happened. I would strongly caution anyone considering renting here to think twice. If this is how they handle something as basic as move-in instructions, I have serious concerns about how they handle more significant issues. read more

I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts on the exceptional work that our maintenance manager, Patricia Prado, has been doing. Over the past few months, I've had the pleasure of witnessing firsthand her unwavering dedication and commitment to our team and company. From the very beginning, Boss Pat has consistently demonstrated a proactive approach to maintenance. Whether it's handling tickets or responding to urgent repair requests, she always prioritize our tenants needs. Her responsiveness is truly commendable; I've seen her tackle issues swiftly, often going above and beyond to ensure that everything is resolved promptly. One of the things I appreciate most about Patricia is her attention to detail. She just doesn't fix the problem at hand--she takes the time to assess the situation thoroughly and make recommendations for long-term solutions. This level of care not only prevents future issues but also enhances the overall quality of our living environment. Moreover, Boss Pat has been incredibly approachable and communicative. She takes time to explain what needs to be done, which fosters a sense of trust and transparency. It's clear that Yuri and her genuinely care about the comfort and satisfaction of our residents. I also want to acknowledge how well they handle communication with the team. Their ability to coordinate with vendors and manage projects efficiently has resulted in seamless operations, and we've all benefitted from their organizational skills. In summary, Patrcia Prado exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated maintenance manager. Her hard work, professionalism, and commitment to excellence have truly made a difference in our community. I'm grateful to have them overseeing our maintenance needs, and I look forward to continuing to see the positive impact of their efforts. Thank you, Boss Pat, for everything you do! read more