Beware - Bad Apartments In Edmonton
- Thread starter Stanley
- Start date
I think you just want to argue or something, anyway...my friend who is 7 months pregnant just received a rental increase of $390.00. So now her husband might have to take on a part time job to cover the difference while she is on mat leave. Oh and this brings her rent to $1,340.00 before all the utilities...heat, water, power that they are responsible for. Maybe you have lots of extra cash to toss around, but they don't and neither do a lot of people who rent...otherwise they would probably be home owners already.
owchee, that one's not cheap. maybe they should look elsewhere. there are cheaper places. Unless they need like 3 bedrooms. which city is that? i'm in edmonton
by the way i'm not arguing for the sake of argument. It's just that i moved to edmonton at the new year and everyone moans about the horrific rent prices, and yet it's often half what it would be in england. and it's still cheap compared to the cost of living
They live in Edmonton, as do I. Being new to Edmonton, you might not have had a chance to experience the bad areas of the City that would not be the safest, or cleanest to live in. She doesn't live in a ritzy area, just a normal area that doesn't have a high rate of crime, the last place they lived was fine until the drug dealers moved in next door and terrorized them until they had to move out. The other factor is they have 2 small dogs...another problem for renters, I have 2 cats and a 14 year old...it was pretty much impossible for me to find a new place in my area, I had to look hard every day for 4 months and I still only got to physically view 4 places. Slim pickings if you have a child and or pets.
Like I said, I can't comment on England, but having lived in Edmonton for the past 18 years, the rent was much cheaper even a year ago compared to what it is now. If you just moved here, sure it might seem reasonable, but before the boom, there was a significant difference in rent and the cost to purchase a house/condo. The rates are jumping and for the people who have been here and watched the increase, it is scary because it doesn't seem like the rates are going to stop or even slow down. Another thing is that you might be single, so a one bedroom apartment, this is much cheaper than a two bedroom that most families with other expenses have to bear. You have to think of the larger picture, more mouths to feed, more clothes to buy, so that on top of rental increases can be very difficult for families just starting out.
Like I said, I can't comment on England, but having lived in Edmonton for the past 18 years, the rent was much cheaper even a year ago compared to what it is now. If you just moved here, sure it might seem reasonable, but before the boom, there was a significant difference in rent and the cost to purchase a house/condo. The rates are jumping and for the people who have been here and watched the increase, it is scary because it doesn't seem like the rates are going to stop or even slow down. Another thing is that you might be single, so a one bedroom apartment, this is much cheaper than a two bedroom that most families with other expenses have to bear. You have to think of the larger picture, more mouths to feed, more clothes to buy, so that on top of rental increases can be very difficult for families just starting out.
I suppose i'll find out soon. I'm married but currently my wife is finishing a contract up north. she's also pregnant so when she moves down here we'll need to rent a one or two bed apartment that allows kids.
Anyway i currently live near whyte avenue and find it a delightful place to be.
Anyway i currently live near whyte avenue and find it a delightful place to be.
Good Properties
My husband works for a property mgmt company and they abide by the laws of Alberta insofar as rent and property maintenance is concerned.
Boardwalk doesn't have a good reputation - hubby used to work there, briefly, before being laid off. You see, he actually had the qualifications required to do the job - work on boilers, plumbing, electrical etc. They laid 6 or more maintenance people off (this was a few years back) - no explanation, nothing - just "gimme the keys and here's your envelope." Shortly afterwards, a friend of ours moved into a Boardwalk Property and he said the cleaners were the ones doing the maintenance. He said he complained, repeatedly about air seeping through one of his livingroom windows. After several months, finally, someone came to "repair" it. All they did was duck tape it!! He was so ticked - he said he was quite capable of doing that himself!! He wanted it fixed properly.
The upkeep they do is superficial - change light fixtures and switches; paint. But the real maintenance that needs to be done most likely are new boilers (to heat the complex) and, of course, they don't come cheap. It is unconscionable that you can't get your heat up to 20 degrees and I would call the health dept. It is totally illegal not to be able to heat your apt. Having said that, my hubby says you can't expect to get 30 C degrees either.
My hubby's company just completed installing at least two (I think) new boilers in a couple of their buildings because, of course, they age. Once you hit 20 or 30 years, they have to be replaced. Also, if something needs repair and it's out of his expertise, no problem - contractors who have the expertise are called in - no hesitation.
So there are good landlords out there.
On the other side of the coin, there are also reasons why you often can't rent if you have pets. Again, hubby's works "...walk a mile in my shoes and you'll know why." Unfortunately, the bad ones make it difficult, if not impossible for people who are responsible pet owners to be able to keep their pets. In some cases, entire suites have had to be completely gutted because of smells and "stuff' found throughout the suite when the tennants have left. I mean literally, walls have to be knocked down, carpets and lino torn up and redone. Believe me, no rental deposit covers the cost of that!!
JM(&H)O
My husband works for a property mgmt company and they abide by the laws of Alberta insofar as rent and property maintenance is concerned.
Boardwalk doesn't have a good reputation - hubby used to work there, briefly, before being laid off. You see, he actually had the qualifications required to do the job - work on boilers, plumbing, electrical etc. They laid 6 or more maintenance people off (this was a few years back) - no explanation, nothing - just "gimme the keys and here's your envelope." Shortly afterwards, a friend of ours moved into a Boardwalk Property and he said the cleaners were the ones doing the maintenance. He said he complained, repeatedly about air seeping through one of his livingroom windows. After several months, finally, someone came to "repair" it. All they did was duck tape it!! He was so ticked - he said he was quite capable of doing that himself!! He wanted it fixed properly.
The upkeep they do is superficial - change light fixtures and switches; paint. But the real maintenance that needs to be done most likely are new boilers (to heat the complex) and, of course, they don't come cheap. It is unconscionable that you can't get your heat up to 20 degrees and I would call the health dept. It is totally illegal not to be able to heat your apt. Having said that, my hubby says you can't expect to get 30 C degrees either.
My hubby's company just completed installing at least two (I think) new boilers in a couple of their buildings because, of course, they age. Once you hit 20 or 30 years, they have to be replaced. Also, if something needs repair and it's out of his expertise, no problem - contractors who have the expertise are called in - no hesitation.
So there are good landlords out there.
On the other side of the coin, there are also reasons why you often can't rent if you have pets. Again, hubby's works "...walk a mile in my shoes and you'll know why." Unfortunately, the bad ones make it difficult, if not impossible for people who are responsible pet owners to be able to keep their pets. In some cases, entire suites have had to be completely gutted because of smells and "stuff' found throughout the suite when the tennants have left. I mean literally, walls have to be knocked down, carpets and lino torn up and redone. Believe me, no rental deposit covers the cost of that!!
JM(&H)O
Pissed off!!
Hi! I also have had a bad experience with boardwalk, I moved into one of their townhouses a little over 4 yrs ago, I then started having problems with things, and I would phone and write then in to be fixed and it would take mnths to get fixed, on one occation our tolite was leaking for mnths, it got to the point where we couldn't use the bathroom at home, but we had to go to another suit down the hall and use the bathroom there, this happened for a few mnths. The leak was so bad that it leaked into the heating ducks and everything, they never even thought about our health once and cleaned the ducks out. On another occation everything backed up and we had crap and stuff comming out the the sinks and stuff. Boardwalk decided one day to use the hard earned rent money to redo the sidewalks and one of the guys that where using the jackhammer must have got carried away and went through into our basement, smashed my fish tanks and a bunch of other belongings got ruined, and in the mi of all this they didn't even have the courage to come tell me but to let me find this out on my own. We had crack dealers living accross the hall from us, and there was ppl comming and going all hours of the night, and along with that there where fights there and so on, I have 3 kids, it got to the point where I did not sleep at night cause I was so concerned for our safety, so I now have insomnia, and I started having anxiaty attacks cause of all this stress. I did talk to the landlord about the neighbors and she said to me that she can't really do nothing about it, to call the police, so...to say in the end, if I call the police about this then it's me these crack dealers are going to be after. On another occation I called in cause there was mold growing around my bathtub, the guy came in ripped the tile off and then replaced it with some plastic background, then he said he would be right back, but he never did come back to finish it, my bathroom sat like that for mnths, so in the end I got tierd of looking at it, bought some putty, paint and sylicon and finished installing the background on my own, paintd the bathroom and all. Looked alot better then the mess he left it in. So about 2 mnths ago after movig in 4 yrs ago I got my blinds in the living room that I been asking for since they where promised to us. I then decided to move at the end of Sept 2009, I gave proper notice, I ended up moving out a week ahead of time so that I can get the kids settled into the new place and then I would have time to go back and collect what was left there and to clean the place up. I went back 3 days before the end of the mnth, and the landlord had changed the locks, took all my mail out of the mailbox, and we didn't even do a moveout report which was supose to be done 7 days prior or 7 days after moving out. I know that I do owe for 3 screens and 2 sets of blinds for the kids rooms, but I just found out that they are trying to take use for carpets that where last done in 2001 same with the walls and lino. , and a bunch of other things, they are trying to say that there is 4100 dollers worth of **** there, which there wasn't and they where the wrong cause they changed the locks on me before they where supose to, and took my mail on top of that. They are charging me to renovate the damn place, new kitchen cupboards, countertops, new fridge, stove, and $ 40 for a damn lightbalb, thats just getting carried away. I'm lucky that I took pictures off all the stuff through the yrs and that I have lots of witnesses to all this, I am now taking boardwalk to court and am counter suing them for the damages that I recieved living in their building. Also for the fact that I came upon some health problems due to living in such poor conditions of being scared to sleep at night because of the stuff going on in the building. In all this I also seen my doctor on a reg. basis and was telling her why I was so stressed and could not sleep at night. Don't ever rent from boardwalk.
Hi! I also have had a bad experience with boardwalk, I moved into one of their townhouses a little over 4 yrs ago, I then started having problems with things, and I would phone and write then in to be fixed and it would take mnths to get fixed, on one occation our tolite was leaking for mnths, it got to the point where we couldn't use the bathroom at home, but we had to go to another suit down the hall and use the bathroom there, this happened for a few mnths. The leak was so bad that it leaked into the heating ducks and everything, they never even thought about our health once and cleaned the ducks out. On another occation everything backed up and we had crap and stuff comming out the the sinks and stuff. Boardwalk decided one day to use the hard earned rent money to redo the sidewalks and one of the guys that where using the jackhammer must have got carried away and went through into our basement, smashed my fish tanks and a bunch of other belongings got ruined, and in the mi of all this they didn't even have the courage to come tell me but to let me find this out on my own. We had crack dealers living accross the hall from us, and there was ppl comming and going all hours of the night, and along with that there where fights there and so on, I have 3 kids, it got to the point where I did not sleep at night cause I was so concerned for our safety, so I now have insomnia, and I started having anxiaty attacks cause of all this stress. I did talk to the landlord about the neighbors and she said to me that she can't really do nothing about it, to call the police, so...to say in the end, if I call the police about this then it's me these crack dealers are going to be after. On another occation I called in cause there was mold growing around my bathtub, the guy came in ripped the tile off and then replaced it with some plastic background, then he said he would be right back, but he never did come back to finish it, my bathroom sat like that for mnths, so in the end I got tierd of looking at it, bought some putty, paint and sylicon and finished installing the background on my own, paintd the bathroom and all. Looked alot better then the mess he left it in. So about 2 mnths ago after movig in 4 yrs ago I got my blinds in the living room that I been asking for since they where promised to us. I then decided to move at the end of Sept 2009, I gave proper notice, I ended up moving out a week ahead of time so that I can get the kids settled into the new place and then I would have time to go back and collect what was left there and to clean the place up. I went back 3 days before the end of the mnth, and the landlord had changed the locks, took all my mail out of the mailbox, and we didn't even do a moveout report which was supose to be done 7 days prior or 7 days after moving out. I know that I do owe for 3 screens and 2 sets of blinds for the kids rooms, but I just found out that they are trying to take use for carpets that where last done in 2001 same with the walls and lino. , and a bunch of other things, they are trying to say that there is 4100 dollers worth of **** there, which there wasn't and they where the wrong cause they changed the locks on me before they where supose to, and took my mail on top of that. They are charging me to renovate the damn place, new kitchen cupboards, countertops, new fridge, stove, and $ 40 for a damn lightbalb, thats just getting carried away. I'm lucky that I took pictures off all the stuff through the yrs and that I have lots of witnesses to all this, I am now taking boardwalk to court and am counter suing them for the damages that I recieved living in their building. Also for the fact that I came upon some health problems due to living in such poor conditions of being scared to sleep at night because of the stuff going on in the building. In all this I also seen my doctor on a reg. basis and was telling her why I was so stressed and could not sleep at night. Don't ever rent from boardwalk.
I wanted to add to your list of bad Land Lords or property management groups:
Equity Hub Inc
Nathalie Lui Hiller
Shaun Hiller
I am currently living in a very unsafe apartment building. A couple of my neighbours was having heating issues my landlord instead of fixing the problem have opened the fire doors to circulate the air. Thats what they for to keep fire on one floor... Earlier this year one neighbour had sewage in her kitchen sink. The landlord didn't notify the building to see if anyone else was having problems only way we found out was she told a neighbour who told a neighbour etc etc. This is how that landlord deals with situations. they is the kind of landlord that band aide the situation until it looses it's grip and poof here we go again. I am lucky I don't have a problem with my place. I am leaving at the end of my lease because I don't want sewage in my kitchen sink or a fire to burn my place. Too bad to I liked the place if the landlord would fix it up. I often wonder what the fire department would think of the doors being open. the apartment building is called BEVAN APARTMENTS it's on Whyte Ave and 98 st... Be smart stay away. I know they own other apartments too. Watch for this guys.
Equity Hub Inc
Nathalie Lui Hiller
Shaun Hiller
I am currently living in a very unsafe apartment building. A couple of my neighbours was having heating issues my landlord instead of fixing the problem have opened the fire doors to circulate the air. Thats what they for to keep fire on one floor... Earlier this year one neighbour had sewage in her kitchen sink. The landlord didn't notify the building to see if anyone else was having problems only way we found out was she told a neighbour who told a neighbour etc etc. This is how that landlord deals with situations. they is the kind of landlord that band aide the situation until it looses it's grip and poof here we go again. I am lucky I don't have a problem with my place. I am leaving at the end of my lease because I don't want sewage in my kitchen sink or a fire to burn my place. Too bad to I liked the place if the landlord would fix it up. I often wonder what the fire department would think of the doors being open. the apartment building is called BEVAN APARTMENTS it's on Whyte Ave and 98 st... Be smart stay away. I know they own other apartments too. Watch for this guys.
Does anyone know how to get ahold of an apartment owners name? having problems with my landlord and would like to talk to someone.
Also add to the list; Blue Ice Properties!
Find a place outside of Edmonton, small towns, Gibbons, Fort Sask, Bruderhiem... get out of the core.. all these places are like 30 minutes from Edmonton.
I've rented in Toronto and a couple of other cities in southern ontario as well as in Calgary and I'd say there are good and bad landlords everywhere so you always need to have some idea of what the laws are in your area. However, I would say that my recent time as a tenant in a Calgary apt building downtown was pretty bad. From talking to other renters here I get the impression that renting in a house is better. At any rate for people coming to Calgary (which is actually a great city) beware of some of the downtown apt buildings. I heard the ones right in the heart near the LRT stops are ok but some others are run by less than friendly condo owners or management companies. In particular, we rented a flat in the towers at the corner of 4th and 17thSW and were less than satisfied with the landlord. The area is actually really great and considered more chic and pricey but this landlord seemed to want to take advantage of that. He didn't fix our shower and the elevator was replaced resulting in a gap of elevator usage for several months...no abatement on our rent. When we moved out he tried to power trip us over the security deposit...pretty sad really. Other's I know had fine experiences in some high rises so I think it's those towers in particular that are just bad...run by bad people and bad condo owners. We are just glad to be free of them. Now we can enjoy Calgary properly.