The Radian, Philadelphia PA

The Radian has levied incredulous charges since the end of the lease term this year and scammed many of their residents. Management has been absolutely awful. Would not recommend living here.

This year, The Radian sent many of its recently moved out tenants bills for hundreds of dollars for nonexistent damages and belongings left behind. Pennsylvania has laws that protect tenants, and The Radian's actions blatantly violated these laws. In Pennsylvania, landlords are responsible for normal wear and tear and can only charge tenants for excessive damage, yet The Radian charged for ordinary scuff marks on the wall that were present before move in, repainting, and allegedly even charged one tenant for the presence of dust.

Additionally, Pennsylvania has a law that landlords must retain any possessions left behind by moved out tenants for 10 days (in case they want to come back to get them). The Radian threw out many tenants' left-behind possessions before this deadline AND charged fees for removal in blatant violation of this law.

Upon a single email disputing the charges, a threat was immediately made to send the bill to collections if it was not quickly paid. There was absolutely no attempt by The Radian to act in good faith (while they did reduce the bill in my case, all of the charges they levied were illegal, so this is not good faith) or abide by state law. The Radian violated the rights of its tenants and then threatened those who dared to dispute their unlawful conduct. Whatever you have to do, do not live here.

At the end of this year, the radian charged its residents hundreds of dollars each in supposed “repair” fees for normal wear and tear. This is completely unacceptable and in violation of Pennsylvania state law. I would suggest all incoming Penn students to stay away from living at the Radian since they will try to get you with unnecessary fees every way they can.

So sad to be leaving a great home at the radian! You made my senior year so much better!

As I approach the end of my three years as a Radian resident, I find it to be a convenient off-campus apartment complex near UPenn's campus. I only have Penn’s Quad to compare it to, so I suggest checking out reviews for other apartment complexes before choosing the Radian.

I've had both positive and negative experiences at the Radian, which I will outline below.

For the positives, there are nearby restaurants, a bank, a CVS pharmacy, a grocery store, dry cleaning lockers, mail lockers, and more. I also appreciated the office’s help in delivering things when I was sick, living with roommates, the view (I was especially lucky to have a corner unit), and the conveniences of a reliable maintenance team/kitchen/in-unit laundry.

As for the negatives, the several false fire alarms, the lack of meaningful community events (granted, the Covid-19 pandemic did not help), the leasing office’s lack of help for finding a sub-letter, the pressuring of people to re-sign their lease in October, the exorbitant rent for a one bedroom/one bathroom unit, and the unreliable elevators summarize the list of disappointments I’ve had. I also encourage the Radian to update their images because of recent renovations and other construction that was out of their control, such as how Penn’s New College House obstructs the view onto 39th and Walnut Street. I write this constructive feedback so the Radian can hopefully improve in the future.

Overall, I recommend leasing from this building if you can afford it and like their amenities, yet I caution you that there may be times when you’ll be disappointed with the Radian.

As of this writing, the Radian only offers 12 month leases, so you'll either have to pay summer rent or find someone to sublease from you. Personally, I recommend a four bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment (which I subleased for a semester) because it is reasonably priced compared to a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment and having roommates can add liveliness to an apartment!