RENTER BEWARE ! They started showing our apartment to other people for the next lease one month and one day after we moved in without even asking if we wanted to resign and since then have had at least 2 showings a month. We are less than half way through our lease and have had like 7 people in here (and not the kind of people you want walking through your apartment.) We are considering legal action for making us uncomfortable in our own home while living here. We asked that they atleast give us 24 hours notice and they told us they didn't have too. read more

I do not recommend Mason Properties to anyone!!! If u want to live in an apartment with a broken a/c, heat that doesn't work and rude employees who are no help then this is the place for you! My boyfriends ac has been out for over a year. Last summer they put in window units as a temporary fix( this made more problems including bugs, dust coming in the apartment). That fall they removed the window units and assured they were fixed ( they were not) Fast forward to almost a month ago, my boyfriend called to have it fixed while we were on a trip. A week later we come back and it's 90 degrees in the apartment. The rude lady that works in the front had the nerve to say "you will be fine ppl lived without ac before". He calls again and they assure someone is coming to fix it and yet nobody came. They have the nerve to raise rent when they cannot fix anything that goes wrong! These people are negligent and don't care about their tenants!!! They just want your money! Please beware! read more

Terrible company. I have rented with them for two years and they are the most incompetent company in the DeKalb area. They do not ice the stairs and one of my roommates fell and got a concussion. They do not even clean the parking lot, which is the minimum any company could do. Also, tenants have complained about threats to their life and when going to speak to someone within the company they just said unfortunately we can't help you. Needless to say they could not care less abut your well-being. They say you can have guests over and have parking passes, but they omitted you have to pay to have a guest over. It is $7 for a week! Even if you plan to have a guest over for one day you still need to pay the full amount for the week. Tenants are terrible, because this company doesn't care in the least. People throw glass bottles from the upper floors and other tenants leave trash right outside their doors for weeks and one tenant just throws their garbage right out of the door and into the parking lot. There are many apartment not leased for next year because many people do not want to live in the apartments. They barely give you any of the security deposit even when the entire apartment has been cleaned and the only notable use is wear and tear from regular use, which should be assumed because it is being RENTED. They go into your apartment during spring break and I have found some of my belonging stolen each year they did this! When confronted they said it must have been my roommate, which is impossible because she was out of town the entire time and i was the one who dropped her off and picked her up from the airport. My advice is to find a better company instead of dealing with these money greedy bastards who would rather watch you get injured on their property than to maintain a safe environment. read more

First off, Ashbury court is very easy to get into. This should have been the first red flag. My bf at the time and I looked, got approved and signed the lease and moved in withing six hours. The first day I go to use the garbage disposal and it's not working. So I reach on in there and pull out a bloody handkerchief... At first, they seemed great. about six months in my bf and I broke up and he moved out. Then, I'd come home to see that my fridge was bare, or that someone took a shit in my bathroom and didn't flush. Then I come home, about 7 oclock to find my entire kitchen in my living room. No notice, no note. The door was unlocked, the air conditioner was on high and no one was there. I go to take a shower, after locking the door and come out in nothing but a towel to see a maintenance guy in my kitchen. It took three days for them to put my kitchen back together, in the meantime leaving me to eat out for every meal. A bit later they decide to re shingle the roof. All these Mexicans decided to put a ladder infront of my window and they get quite the peep show, as I'm fresh out of the shower and grabbing clothes getting ready for work. A few months later I have a..friend stay the night who calls me at 12 noon while I'm at work saying someone came into the bedroom, tried to wake him up and then left. After calling Mason properties to figure out who got in my apartment, they had no idea! The next day I come home and my door is unlocked. I go into the bedroom and they "repaired" the ceilings, from when they re shingled, 90 days prior. They somehow managed to put holes in my ceiling and decided to fix them that day-no notice. Then I come home and my fridge isn't working. I move the fridge slightly to make sure there's no leaking-and that's where I found the "will return tomorrow" notice- for a work order I never put in, there was no issue with the fridge. They never knock, they drank my soda and ate dessert I left out on the counter. They took a shit in my bathroom and didn't flush, along with leaving my doors unlocked and coming in and "doing Maintenance" outside of working hours. Now they're trying to charge me for pets I've never owned, and damage caused by the workers in the kitchen! I asked to schedule a walk through when I moved out and the lady at the office told me she'd schedule it. I call to inquire about when I can do this and they never did. I received the itemized deduction list- and they want me to hundreds of dollars (after security deposit!) They never salt the ice, they don't take care of the drug problem, and my neighbors complained of roaches. I would recommend stay as far away from this place as you can! read more

Mason is slow to do anything about repairs. They charge you excessively for cleaning, and unneeded painting. Yeah, the rent is cheap when you got a lot of people. but if one blind is missing, they replace the whole thing. so you get charged for that as well. oh, and forget about paying with a card. Cash or bank checks only. The only good thing about Mason is the nice lady who remembers everybody' name, and where they live. She's awesome. read more

Take it from someone who has lived at a Mason Properties property. These are not the people you want to pay thousands of dollars a year. I really could write a dissertation on it, but I'll do the highs and lows. Thank God I'm out of there. The only saving grace of Mason is that their prices are relatively low. However, that can be deceptive because they love to nickle-and-dime you. I get it, they want to make money. Everything they do is about making money, that is precisely the problem. Paying by credit card? Oh, that's a three percent fee that they just pocket. Water bill? Lease says they can charge 15% above rate. They are also always pressuring you to resign your lease, saying that if you don't resign 4 months into your current lease, they will raise the price on you. If you owe any kind of money, even a few dollars, they send you threatening letters stating they will put it into collections. But my main gripe is that they are constantly coming into your apartment. They stick papers on your door constantly. Stuff like: we will be inspecting your apartment. They don't tell you what they are looking for, though. Expect that twice a year. We will be coming in and changing your furnace filter. Twice a year. We will be coming in and checking your water meter. Four times a year. If it's cold, they will come and knock on your door and make sure that the heat is on. I'm guessing if you aren't there, they come in and check the thermostat. That's a lot of coming in, isn't it? It is. They only have to give one hour's notice or none in case of "emergency." I have had a few near misses where I haven't been dressed, the place has been a mess, etc. A home is supposed to be private. I get that they want to make sure their property is undamaged, but it's a serious invasion of privacy. My lease states that repairs may take up to 90 days. The lease also says you can't hang laundry INSIDE of your apartment. According to the lease, you can't have furniture out on your patio. Now, you can't really complain about any of this. You are now locked into a contract which, in my estimation, is predatory. The maintenance guys are okay but the ladies in the office are the worst customer service experience I have ever had, bar none. They lied to me, over the phone and to my face, and that is unacceptable. Don't even think you can get go above their head, either. They will not let you talk to the property owner. Security deposit? Kiss it goodbye. Remember, that's money that they can take... read more

BED BUGS! BED BUGS! BED BUGS! I would advise anyone that has half a brain to stay as far away from Ashbury Court as humanly possible. 2 months ago a overhead a conversation between 2 of our neighbors; the topic was bed bugs. I quickly joined their conversation and they reviled to me they had a bedbug infestation. When I asked them why they hadn't confided this information to management they were quick to tell me that they would be evicted. At this time I must add that for 4 months (almost immediately after sub-leasing the apartment) I had been receiving strang bites all over my body, I had originally chalked it up to spiders or ants. After speaking with my neighbors I made a visit to my physician who confirmed they were indeed bed bug bites. In the 2 months since then I have moved home but my boyfriend remains in our apartment. He is bitten every night. 2 days ago he made a simple request that the apartment be sprayed for bugs. Mason Properties has since threatened him with eviction if he does not pay a $400 pest removal fee. Today we learned that our building has been infested several times over the years; yet we will still be evicted if we do not pay their absolutely ludicrous fee. Keep in mind we are SUB-LEASING therefore any spraying was done long before we moved in. They [mason] claim the reason for the fee is because they spray before each new tenant.... however no spray was done before we move in. Today my boyfriend was greeted with an eviction notice. Now we must pay to move elsewhere, as well as replace our furniture. The only way that this could possibly be resolved is by hiring an attorney and taking them to civil court. Obviously this would be almost as expensive as moving and replacing our things. Thus is the reason I have taken to Yelp to get out my frustration and, hopefully, persuade other potential victims from renting at Ashbury Court. read more

I am a college student that attends NIU. I rented from them for the 2013 - 2014 academic year. I rented a studio apartment. It was a quiet place overall. My neighbors must have been drug dealers because every 10 minutes their door would be opening and closing. The appliances are old. They are loud. They need to be replaced. Everything worked, it was just in bad condition. They also entered my apartment without me knowing to change the blinds. I was offended that they didn't let me know they would be coming in to the apartment. If you're looking for an apartment, I would urge to STAY AWAY from them, and look for a better place. The place was in perfect condition at the end of my lease, and it was sparkly clean, but they still kept almost all of my security deposit. I was disappointed. They are evil for doing this. The evidence I've collected form them suggests they like to screw over college kids, so please college kids, stay away from them. read more

What a surprise another DeKalb slumlord... This property feeds off of NIU students and uses their security deposits to make the minimum repairs required due to basic wear and tear. We have lived there for 3 months and have had a car towed even though the sticker was clearly on the vehicle as instructed. The sink clogged and maintenance came out to unclog the pipe and then suddenly "discovered" that the garbage disposal was cracked and blamed me stating that potato peel cracked the unit?? According to Mason Propeties, "Garbage" Disposals are not for garbage?? When maintenance took apart the disposal they found pices of old sponge and orange peel wedged in the unit which was obviously from a previous tenant as I don't use sponges and have not had any oranges since moving in. This was conveniently not included on the maintenance report. PARENTS OF NIU STUDENT TENANTS BEWARE!! The property does not allow the parent into the unit for the initial walk thru nor do they allow you OR your student in the unit for the final walk out at the end of the lease! THE PERFECT SCAM.... If you rent here be prepared to hand over your security deposit, it's theirs from the moment you sign the lease! read more

When signing the lease at James Court through Mason Properties I was told all of the units were remodeled like the show unit. Then after signing the lease expecting a remodeled apartment at the walk through I discovered we were lied to. The apartment had old appliances, very old cabinets, a stove that was broken, a water heater under the sink the makes the entire house hot, old carpet, and a piece of plastic covering the fuse box. After stating my concern and trying to work something out i was told nothing could be done at all. I planned on resigning after the lease was up but not after being lied to like this read more

Almost no security deposit back, despite my cleaning for three days straight and leaving it cleaner than I received it...paper thin walls so I got the pleasure of hearing EVERYTHING my neighbors did (including disgusting nighttime activities if ya know what I mean), drug dealers live there, hallways always smelled like weed, outside always had trash and abandoned belongings laying around, appliances were from the 1960s, air conditioner was meant for a 150 sq ft area when i had a 775 sq ft apartment, they entered my apt on numerous occassions without my permission....i could go on forever. just trust me, stay away...this place is hell on earth read more

This place is a scam. The owner threatened to call the police after they had my car towed. Her words were " you should be use to the police being called on you because you are African American"... I will definitely be getting my daughter out of this roach motel!! read more

Do not rent here. There are plenty of other management companies in DeKalb that NIU students should look into renting from. Mason took over my apartment complex halfway through my lease so I had no choice but to deal with them. Just received my deposit back (or lack thereof). I will definitely be arguing some of the charges. The place was filthy and run down when I moved in (very different from the model they show you) so I should not be charged for them to replace things that should have been replaced 2 years ago. Rent elsewhere to get your money's worth! read more

Never rent from these people! They have excessive fees and charges and will file eviction notices immediate when you are past 5 days late. They also put money you pay towards fees and then say you didn't pay rent instead of putting the money towards rent. SANDY is the name of their collections person at the main office. She is rude and arguementative. Also, if you ever go to court with them there is about 10 other people there for "not paying rent" (really it's late fees or other hidden fees) and guess who Mason Properties attorney is? Coincidentally it's Mr. Mason! Good luck if you get to that point because he seems to know the judge well. They will kick students out onto the street after racking up their bill with fees and charges. Stay away from this property management company! read more

Mason Properties rents old moldy town-homes for overcharged prices. They will get money from you any possible way they can. The office employees make you feel very unwelcome and are rather bitchy, especially the women. Go to Pittsley, much nicer and cheaper. read more

The staff is very unhelpfull and they don't have knowledge of all the rules of this apartment. If you call and ask a question about one of the policies, rules, or how a procedure works like how the rent payment works or security deposit works, one of the staff members will give you one answer, if you call the next day and talk to a different staff member about that same question they will give you a different answer. Also one time i had to fill out a form for something related to the apartment then i left the place but the staff did not give me all the forms so they called me back and i had to go all the way back to dekalb to fill it out. The repairs are really slow we had problems with the heating and reported it in december but they only came and repaired it in march. All the positive reviews on this website and many other websites are fake . Nobody has anything positive to say about these apartments. Try to avoid it at all cost. read more

Mason properties can go die in a fucking hole. I have had nothing but awful experience with them. Old Orchard is one of the worse they have. First, we had two different types of cockroaches that they wouldnt deal with for days until we brought it in to them and showed them. And even then we didnt get help till the next day because they had "no one on call." Next we had two broken windows when we entered the place. Also our screen door was off the hinges. Since these were easy repairs i believe thats why they got their so fast but still wasnt what we expected. Next we had a leak in one of the rooms that they didnt get to for over a month and a half and thats only because i called and complained that we think we had mold. And right now we are dealing with a black out in our apartment that only hit OUR apartment and none of the others. We got it fixed but our washer/dryer is broken, our stove is broken, our heater is broken and sounds like its going to explode and they wont be getting to it for another two days to a week. no heat, no home cooked meals and no hot water. we've also had problems with them just coming in without asking first but we told them we would block the doors if they tried without asking so they started calling first. DO NOT GO WITH MASON!!! you will have nothing but problem after problem with poor service and mean, sarcastic people. i've only lived with them for a semester and i am THREW with them. read more

Dont even bother looking at Mason!I could go on and on about our experience but i wont.... when we moved in we had a few minor maintenance problems, no big deal we put in for them to be fixed and nothing was done until 8 months later! when they started showing apartments they told us that they had to show our apartment and that it wouldnt be intrusive at all. THEY LIED we had groups of strangers in out house 3 times a day at least twice a week. it was MISERABLE, she even told us to clean our apartment before she came with people. One time she knocked on my bedroom door at 9am on a Saturday while showing, i told her "dont come in" because i was in bed and unclothed, instead of showing the bedroom next to mine she swung the door open and let 4 strangers into my room. when i called to complain to her boss I was told "you signed the lease and she can do that so i see no problem with how that was handled" when i got angry with her she wrote me a $100 fine for DISORDERLY CONDUCT!!!! We had mold growing in our bathroom that was making my roomy sick, when i called to make a complaint so told me that it was dirt and to clean my ceiling! I was so frustrated i called the city and had to have them come in and inspect the mold among the other things that were broken and not up to par in my apartment. THE MOLD DAMAGE WAS SO BAD IN MY APARTMENT THAT THEY HAD TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE BATHROOM! but that only happened after the city made them fix it. Now we are moving out soon and we have a HUGE bug problem. 2INCH LONG HOUSE CENTIPEDES that crawl up the walls across the carpet and well in the bedding..... the staff is rude, disrespectful and overall just slumlords of Dekalb.... read more

I have never felt so ROBBED in My LIFE!! When first signing a lease term with Mason Properties In Rockford Il The Lanlords Son (who I Never Communicated with my entire lease term) Added an additional month to my requested 6 month lease term. I was moved next to some of the noisiest neighbors and I left several voicemails regarding complaints. I decided to stick it out for the remainder of my lease term after I realized voicemails were not getting me help. Finally Time to move remind you I have Paid All months rent on time in full. The Landlord son (Ryan) tells me to drop the keys off at his unattended office. I Do So I never here from Mason Properties for A Month. I decided to call the office in dekalb were I was told I Am Able to Wait 30 days from the issue date of my deposit. After Waiting a full two Months 60days I am given the opportunity to pick a percentage (what Mason properties claim is owed to me) (no pictures submitted to show reasonings of reduction) of my deposit from dekalb which is one hour away from my home town and were I Live. I Will NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE TO THESE THIEVES AND THEY WILL NEVER GET MY BUSINESS AGAIN!!! On top of this robbery I still have not met my initial landlord. I only dealt with her thieving, Lying Son. I wish I Could leave No Stars read more