High Fidelity Property Management - Chicago, Illinois

Alysa P.

I’ve rented for 2 years with High Fidelity at different properties and have had nothing but great experiences. Any time I had a maintenance request, they took care of the issue within a timely manner.

When it was time to do showings for my apartment as I was moving out, each leasing agent gave me at a minimum 2 days notice. They’d even let me know when they would arrive and leave the apartment. The communication from the agents were phenomenal!

When I had a minor security scare (to no fault of High Fidelity whatsoever) Fanny Mendoza was extremely quick to help me mediate the issue by getting the locks changed at the quickest time possible. Throughout the entire process, she was quick to communicate with me & got the issue solved in less than 24 hours.

If I ever move back to Chicago again, I would try renting from High Fidelity first!

Victor P.

Avoid this rental company at all costs; do not ignore the red flag reviews like I did. I signed a lease with this company two months ago and could not even move into my apartment it was so filthy. Filthy is actually an understatement — it was a biohazard zone and a health risk to live there.

There was cat food and soiled cat litter all over the apartment. The bedroom carpet was covered with stains from animal urine / vomit. The carpet was also frayed and peeling off of the floor at all the edges, allowing all of the filth to get into the cracks and under the rug. One corner of the room had rotted wood with some sort of bug eggs buried into the hole and carpet in that area.

There were ants all over the apartment — in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The shower was actually littered with dead ants. There were broken tiles in the shower leading to water damage making the whole tiled wall soft and flexible. There was water damage and mold under the kitchen sink. There was moldy food under the cabinets and appliances.

They did attempt to have the carpet cleaned… twice… but it was beyond cleaning and remained filthy. The only communication I received was to specifically tell me that it would not be replaced (supposedly this was denied specifically by the company owner). This is despite the carpet clearly contributing to a larger bug problem in the apartment. They had someone nail a random piece of metal over one edge of the carpet, solving absolutely nothing.

Can you guess what management’s response to all of this was? Nothing. I left countless messages with their answering service and emailed both management@hifipm and john@hifipm multiple times without receiving a single response. The manager for my property actually had the audacity to passive-aggressively email me to “Have a wonderful weekend!” as she refused to return any phone calls.

The only additional communication I received was that — despite not being able to even move into the apartment — I would continue to be responsible for the rent unless I could find someone to sublet the apartment. They graciously offered to market the apartment for me for another month’s rent.

Truly the worst experience I have ever had with a rental company in 15 years and it’s not even close. For context, I am what most people would consider an ideal tenant — a healthcare worker with excellent credit and zero previous issues with landlords. These people basically stole over $2000 from me (not to mention numerous other expenses related to preparing to move-in and the fall out from being unable to do so).

John, if you are reading this: you should be ashamed. I don’t need you to comment your email address to discuss further; the only additional communication that is warranted here is an apology from you to me. And — if you had even an ounce of integrity — a check returning my money.

Edit: an empty response, what a surprise

Savana N.

Overall this is one of the best management companies I’ve dealt with Chicago. Everyone from the leasing office is very sweet and nice! I feel like they take care of problems in the apartment fairly quickly and always respond to me on the rent portal. My maintenance person who I see the most is literally the nicest man I’ve met!

Here are my cons. The application process was strict. Freelancers will have a hard time getting approved without a co-signer.
The apartment I’m in specifically definitely has some issues that aren’t easy fixes. Haha vintage charm= vintage issues.

Overall I like this company and I would absolutely stick with them! I’m getting my lease renewal in March and I’ll totally update my review if they raise the rent too much! So standby haha!

Erica L.

The new property manager Michael has been a huge improvement and great to work with! He responds quickly to service requests and follows up to make sure I’m satisfied with the repair. Much more communicative and responsive than past experiences.

Chelsey R. H.

3am on February 18- though high fidelity has been aware since Janaury 21 that their heating systems do not work, it is now 58 degrees inside my "centrally heated apartment". They often send out technicians that bandage issues. In January, the tech told me to keep my heat at 74. Now it is at 76, and my apartment will not get above 58.

Day three with no water for flushing the toilet, bathing, cooking, laundry or drinking. Claudia Tanus let us know that they are "handling the repair as carefully as possible", which apparently means stringing an electrical cord through standing water/muck and sewage to give power to an unsupervised space heater (video below), to heat the pipe and unfreeze it over night?

21 days without laundry. I was told on December 18 that a vendor will follow-up, though no one has reached out until January 9. Laundry is part of the amenities everyone in four separate units and part of why we pay over-market rent in this area. The third party answering service that takes messages for High Fidelity is kind, but John McGeown no longer seems interested in maintaining the properties his company manages.

Day 32 waiting to hear back about a leak in the basement. I was told someone would come take a look, but no one has. I had someone take a consultatory look, and was informed it's a sewage leak. If it didn't feel so unsafe, I would have more time to be angry at how many times safety issues have been ignored.

Every inspection on 6 of the buildings I've looked into have failed. I do not know how they are legally able to exist. https://webapps1.chicago.gov/buildingrecords/

The updated response to this review requests tickets be submitted through their portal, which I do for documentation and have 21 tickets at this point, averaging three issues a month since move in. These are things like leaks from the ceiling, broken appliances, unsafe conditions with porch wooden boards sticking up with exposed nails, a fly infestation from day one, broken ac, mold smells coming from the basement through heating vents, and a window with street access being without a lock for eleven days. I do reach out privately but also think it's important for tenants to understand that they are signing up for a second job when renting from HF.

Additionally, from the way one of their property managers responds to tickets, I thought he was a bot. Any time an appliance is down, he stalls the fix by a day by requesting a picture of model number. He must've taken classes in passive response from the owner for his other stock responses (as can be numerously seen below).

As my centrally air conditioned apartment crept to 80 degrees in July, high fidelity property management sent two different sets of technicians to gaslight me that it was just too hot outside and that was as good as it would get.

There is a bathroom leak in the ceiling, that was previously patched, and the source is undetected though now two technicians have been sent out and insist that it is fixed.

All of the closets are outfitted with bars to hang your clothes, and traditional hangers do not fit or allow the closet doors to close.

My kitchen has a number of things that weren't cleaned or are improperly installed. Though an amenity of the apartment is the dishwasher, it does not properly work.

The kitchen has no AC vents and remains very hot.
I pay $145 a month flat rate for utilities; everything is constructed so that the upstairs tenants and I share some of the same systems. When they run their heat, the heat comes into my apartment and I have to turn on the AC to counteract. I cannot open the windows because of the flies and noise.

HF has failed all inspections on this property since 2013.

In the rental portal, you will be charged a $2 fee when paying rent, even when withdrawing funds directly from your bank. It's a 5% fee for credit cards.

Maria F. S.

What a sad and stressful situation we are living right now with High Fidelity! Since we moved we have opened several requests in the app, unfortunately we have had to wait a while to get a quick solution. Now we are suffering the damage of a leak, living with a ceiling almost falling down, a wall full of water and bad smells coming from there.

Lizzy E.

The worst rental management company. They do not respond to maintenance requests in the legally required time frame. Every time I call the company for help or an update they take my message and I hear nothing back and no calls back. I reported a broken window 2 months ago with no communication on getting it fixed. Which is a building violation and a safety hazard since it cannot be opened or closed safely and water is getting into the bedroom. Secondly, we have 5 leaks in our roof that have rotted through the ceiling that were reported 2 months ago with no action. And finally, the blinds broke and the tech came 2 months ago and took the blinds, promised to return the next day, and never came back to fix them so we do not have blinds in one of the bedrooms. I have been constantly calling, emailing, and messaging through the app with no responses.

Karla R.

I’m going to be honest, the reviews worried me a lot as my building just switched over management. I am SO impressed with this management. I had a lot of maintenance requests with the previous management that were either ignored or poorly fixed, but High Fidelity has been so attentive with fixing my requests so quickly and doing it in a way that won’t need adjustment later. Hector has been so helpful and good at helping me understand what the issues are and how he’s going to fix them. I am genuinely so happy with this management as it has made my 1st month living in my place really great!