1-star review of Josefa by Urbanista

I chose Josefa because of its convenient central location and the opportunity to build a sense of community. To start on a positive note, the reception team is fantastic—super friendly, helpful, and truly the highlight of the building for me. The amenities were also a nice touch. However, I feel the building could do a better job of fostering community events, that people want to indulge in. I typically saw the same small group of people, and the social atmosphere wasn’t as vibrant as I expected.

Now, onto the less favorable aspects of my experience at Josefa:

* From the moment I moved in, I noticed strange, overpowering smells coming from the vents. I still can’t quite identify the source, but they were suffocating and would wake me up at night.
* I had a persistent leak in my apartment that lasted for several months. I didn’t notice it until it started to come through the ceiling and walls, and I suspect it might have been the cause of the unpleasant smells.
* My upstairs neighbors were extremely noisy and seemed to have a habit of dragging furniture across the floor from late at night into the early morning hours, almost every day. This went on for months. When I first complained, I received no response. It wasn’t until months later that they finally contacted the tenant, and the noise eventually died down.
* I experienced issues with hot water drainage and internet connectivity.
* As other reviews have mentioned, there was a high turnover rate in both the administrative team and among tenants. Many tenants I spoke to had issues with their apartments.
* Overall, I found the management to be unresponsive to most of my requests, except when they were asking about renewing my lease.

Move-Out Experience:
I moved out of Josefa on February 22nd, over a month ago, and I still have not received my deposit. I signed the deposit return documentation on March 6th, and now it’s March 28th. Despite following up twice via email, my messages have been ignored.

Overall, I have been very disappointed with my experience at Josefa, from the move-in process to the post-move-out communication. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

UPDATE: Following Urbanista’s response to my initial review, I waited patiently for the stated 40-day period—something I’ve never had to do as a long-term renter across multiple complexes and countries.

Based on their own timeline, my deposit should have been returned by mid-April. It is now May 6th. The only way I was able to get in touch was by sending a message to the front desk number I had saved, which then led me to the direct contact for the person responsible. Despite reaching out repeatedly over several consecutive days, my messages were ignored. When I finally received a response, I was told the delay was due to information being lost during a personnel handover—something that simply should not happen. Any competent organisation should have processes in place to prevent issues like this when staff changes occur.

Two weeks ago, I provided all the necessary details to resolve the issue, but now I am once again being ignored.

This is completely unacceptable. I strongly urge prospective tenants to consider this experience before choosing Urbanista. While they continue operating as normal, I am left out of pocket by upwards of $20,000 due entirely to their internal failures.

It’s clear they are quick to respond publicly to reviews in order to maintain appearances, but far less responsive when it comes to actually supporting current or former tenants.
However all my recent correspondence, with the 'person in charge' have been attached as images for all to see.

Review by Leah W., posted on Google Maps and collected by this site. It is the personal opinion and experience of whoever wrote it; this site is not affiliated with Urbanista or with the building's management.