Barkley Houses

"Update: The response below from Barkley is false. Never had a professional of any kind come out to fix anything (including pest control). The response below is substantially edited from the first where I was insulted and threatened. There used to be more negative reviews but given their history of bullying and bogus threats of legal action I'm not surprised those disappeared. I found Ms Barkley to be unreasonable, irascible, controlling and unprofessional. I was a compliant tenant and always paid the first of the month. When the heating broke during an historic cold front they refused to hire a professional to fix it, dragging the maintenance on for days. Our building was infested with roaches (they don't do any pest control) and deteriorating, yet they just kept raising rent. They harassed me to move out earlier than we agreed upon because they found new tenants who needed an earlier move in date. I re-scheduled the movers to come earlier (within ten days) and when their prospective tenants backed out, Barkley went silent and never notified me.Yet, they demanded I pay another three weeks in rent. If you move here, you better be desperate. Again, the response below is just bogus."

"I was a tenant of Barkley Houses for three years and lived in two of their properties during my time. The first a post-war converted attic apartment in a house built in 1916, and the second a duplex unit built in 1927. Both were period original with all of their historic character and charm intact. For those who appreciate vintage and historic homes, the Barkley's are responsible for maintaining and preserving the largest selection of old stock rental housing in the city. They provide a valuable service for people who want to experience and feel a connection to "Old Austin" in a town that is constantly changing. Being a family run business, they are personable and attentive landlords with a unique investment in their properties and tenants well being. Older homes are not without their quirks, and it takes a certain type of person to embrace the nature of their age of properties. With that understanding, one's living experience has the potential to be all the more meaningful in one of their homes, and that experience I cannot recommend highly enough!"

"I LOVED my time and home in Cherrywood. Full of character and charm, it was the best home I ever had. While I would whole heartedly recommend renting in darling duplex nation I would highly recommend NOT renting from Barkley. This review is directed solely at ownership and their choices, as I had nothing but wonderful interactions with the staff. In the 2 years I lived there my rent was raised over 35%. Despite overall rising market prices in Austin, this is egregious. Especially in a home where 50% of the windows don’t open and the rest don’t fully close. More importantly, I know of several instances where this means that Barkely is charging nearly $500-$600 more than your neighbor in an identical apartment down the block. Our good friends currently pay $1650 while Barkley wants to charge $2300. While maintenance was mostly timely, “fixes” we requested nearly always left us worse off than we were before. Towards the end of our stay my partner was performing all maintenance requests to avoid the inevitable frustration it would cause. Here are a few examples: 1. Asked for locks on the the front door when we first moved in (mandated by Texas law). This took several weeks to complete and when it was finally finished, I was informed by our downstairs neighbors (both young men) they had gotten copy of our house key. This was later remedied, but the oversight was astounding. 2. Asked for our broken screen doors to be repaired. When I came home they had taken them away entirely. It took several months to finally get replacements. 3. They literally taped our refrigerator shut for two weeks until they could “fix it.” They repeatedly told us the door would not close because we had “too many condiments in the door.” With the fridge empty as we moved out, the door still refused to close. 4. We informed them that the ceiling had several ceiling leaks and visiblea damage leaving the ceiling soft to the touch. They fixed this by spray painting over water marks with a different color paint. 5. Don’t get me started on the time a possum died in our attic and they said there weren’t any holes in the roof 6. …this list goes on. While annoying, this poor “handywork” became mostly a running joke amongst friends and family. Ultimately, it is the ownership that sealed my impression of Barkely. As you can see from other reviews, we were not the only tenants that suffered from callous, greedy, and frustratingly inconsistent communication from Medora Barkely. From trying to bully me into moving in early when I first signed (another complaint depicted elsewhere) to horribly inconsistent and often entirely contradictory communication over the course of moving out, the impression I was left with was that of an incredibly greedy, callous and manipulative person. Business is business, but humanity is humanity. Despite what their marketing might suggest, it is clear what ownership’s priorities lie. Now that I am no longer a tenant and subject to the consistent abuse of power, I am happy to share my experience"

"I’ve been a tenant for just shy of 4 years now, their team is fast to respond, never argumentative or trying to blame me for normal maintenance issues that happen. My pet cat has been safe to explore, the neighbors have all been easy going. I have left art projects outside for weeks at a time and never been scolded or berated by them or anyone, nor even had something stolen. It’s been a healing place, my Barkley Home, and I just wanted to let prospective people hear that from me!"

"Barkley Houses (John & Medora) are wonderful landlords! We leased with them for 7 years and they were attentive, quick, and extremely accommodating. Ryan in the office is great, and Daniel, their maintenance manager is great too. They really care for their properties and their tenants. I'll miss renting from them, and if we hadn't relocated we'd still be there."