I lived in one of BRW's Chinatown apartments in 1996. I was young and a bit naive about how the law works, and this company took full advantage of it. Upon moving out, I was presented with an invoice stating that my security deposit had to be used to repair damages which they attributed to my time there. In fact, the flaws listed were there from when I moved in.

Moreover, they tried to charge me for cleaning out trash which had been left in a common area, none of it by me!

To sum up, I didn't know how to go about challenging this frivolous charge, and they got away with about $1200 from me. In looking back, I could easily have gotten my money back, plus damages, had I simply gotten a lawyer to call them on what they'd done. They deliberately avoided doing a walk through when I moved in, whihc would have hindered them from making false claims. Having spoken to other residents, this was not an isolated case.

Oh, the apartment was also in violation of fire safety codes, and had mice.

Manager's Response
From: Manager	Date: 05/17/2006
There is ABSOLUTELY no improper/illegal practices regarding the return of a tenant's security deposit. All security deposits are held in a separate growing interest account. Upon the end of a lease, both the initial apartment conditions statement signed by the tenant as well as an inspection report are reviewed and sent to a lawyer for final decison. Fortunately witholding any portion of a security deposit is a rarity. If no damage is inflicted upon the unit, the tenant can expect a full return on his or her deposit with interest in a timely manner.

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