cohabs.com

Would not recommend

Unfortunately, Cohabs was not a great experience for me. On the plus side, it was very convenient to be able to move into a space that was fully furnished and had most of the amenities you would need. I also feel I got quite lucky with a few of my housemates being great people to hang out with (but I'm sure that can be very hit or miss, depending on where you end up). But that's about where the positives end. Upon arrival, I was completely lost on the move-in process. The app wouldn't unlock the front door, I did not receive a fob, I had no clue where my room was, and nobody from Cohabs was present to assist (and since it was a Saturday, nobody was available via phone to help me either). Apparently, a house ambassador should have been around to welcome me and give me a tour, but that didn't happen. So for the first few days, I felt completely lost and out of place. Also, since the app wouldn't work for the front door, and I had no fob, I had to move in through the basement, which added an additional two flights of stairs to every trip I made. So things were not off to a good start. After about 2-3 weeks, I came home to find construction notices posted around the house. I came to find out that they would be doing about 3 weeks worth of construction on the 4th floor and the kitchen, which I had not been informed of at any time (the rest of the housemates knew, but Cohabs apparently did not think it was important to let me know when I signed my lease). They also offered a discounted rent to the rest of the house due to the inconvenience, which was not offered to me until I asked (if a housemate hadn't mentioned it, I would have been charged the full rent while everyone else received a discount). When I tried to find out why I wasn't informed of any of this, I was simply told that "they should have warned me." It's also important to note that security and access seem to differ from home to home. My house (Crown 907) had many shared spaces, which meant everyone in the house essentially had access to every floor. Since our rooms were not lockable from the outside, this meant our rooms were always accessible to the entire house if we weren't home. At one point, the house received an email saying that they would be changing how our fob access worked. For "safety purposes and to ensure NY regulation compliance", they let us know they would be installing locked doors on every level, which would require fob access. They also let us know that we would only have access to the floor we lived on, and the main kitchen. Many housemates were frustrated and confused, due to the shared spaces on each floor, which we were being told we would now be losing. They later clarified that we would all still have access to the shared spaces and they misspoke. But the confusing thing about this is that it did not add any additional security, because access essentially stayed the same - it simply required the one extra step of constantly needing your fob anytime you needed to access a floor. When I asked for clarification, Cohabs stated that this added security in case the front door was ever compromised. They also informed me that if I was unhappy with the security of the building, I could simply move into a different house. It was also incredibly frustrating to me that any internal house issue had to be handled by the people in the house. Whether it be noise (like when folks would come home at 4 am), cleanliness problems, etc., Cohabs didn't do anything to help facilitate conversations or provide reminders of the general house rules. We had to deal with everything on our own, which can make for very uncomfortable and/or tense conversations, and frustrations when the problems don't get resolved. While I understand this is the norm when you have roommates, it would have been extremely helpful to have Cohabs step in as the company overseeing the homes, and should help to ensure a positive and respectful environment (and especially helpful when there are nearly 20 people in the house). I'd also like to note that the move-out process requires you to be out at 10am on your last day, yet they charge you for an entire day. When I asked about this, they said this is how it always happens so that they can ensure the cleaners can come in and prep the room before the next housemate moves in on the same day. So while it isn't a ton of money, this means they are receiving double rent for the day, since they charge both the person moving out AND the person moving in. And while it really is minimal compared to everything else, I received a number of incorrect emails each month stating that my rent hadn't been paid (I once received 5 emails in the span of 30 minutes), even though I was an automatic withdrawals. So while it provided some convenience upon my arrival in New York, it was not worth the headaches I went through and would not recommend.

Date of experience: Jul 01, 2025