New Carpets on the way

It seems that they are starting to replace the carpets in the halls. Let us hope they make arrangements to get the people with pets to respect the new carpets, otherwise they will be changing them again pretty soon. It has happened many times that people with pets in the building have allowed their pet to defecate in the halls (on the carpets), in the elevators and right in front of the building entrance. And for those of you who have small kids, be careful of the green area around the building, because it is full of dog poop. So only time will tell if changing the carpets will actually make a positive difference to this problem building.

Water shut-off AGAIN, etc!

Today, Tuesday October 20th 2015, the water was supposed to be shut off in the building from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Although the water in the shower, toilet and kitchen sink work, as of this writing (11:30 p.m.), the bathroom sink does not work... there is no water in the bathroom sink. This is unacceptable. The water is being shut of on a regular basis for supposed "emergency work", but it seems more likely that management does not have a proper maintenance plan in place to deal with an old badly designed building. Having the water turned off for an entire day is absolutely unacceptable. And to have this occur on a regular basis is grounds for a rent decrease. I am sure I am not the only tenant who is frustrated with the continuing saga of bad management.

Although the new management have made some positive changes, such as the security cameras, other issues remain outstanding. The elevators remain an unfinished project as it seems only the basic minimum was done using Dollarama quality material to "spruce them up" from the slum state they were in for years, and I won't go into the operational problems which frequently sees us with one or more elevators not working.

Another problem which many face is the condition of the windows. As this building is over 30 years old, the hermetic seals on the windows are (in many apartments) no longer hermetic thus leading to a buildup of minerals inside the double panes as a result of condensation. This makes for dirty and or foggy windows which cannot be cleaned because the dirt and or fogginess is inside the two panes of glass. These will eventually need to be changed.

Then there is the issue of bad ventilation. Not only within the apartments, but also in the halls and main lobby. Many mornings I find myself almost gasping for air in the halls as they are filled with the odor of car fumes from the parking garages. If you are an asthmatic this can be a major problem.

And on some days the main lobby stinks so much of trash I want to vomit, and that is because the trash compactor for the trash shoot is just below the main lobby next to the elevators and is venting putrefying fumes into the main lobby.

If you are not already a tenant and are reading this, I am sure you will now be looking elsewhere.

And while I am venting my frustrations with this building, I would like to bring up another little observation here, and that is that many foreigners and new arrivals to this country are moving in to this building. It is a well known fact in apartment management circles, that foreigners who are new to the country and have little knowledge of their rights, are great tenants. They rarely complain and always accept rent increased, not to mention that often they find themselves in considerably cleaner settings than back home, and as such, while being completely ignorant to our standards. In short, this situation can be a problem for existing tenants because it means that management will slack-off on maintenance.

It may be time to seriously consider putting together a tenants association. A tenants association with the support of a majority of tenants would have enough power to force the building management to act fast and make concrete positive changes. If 100 of the tenants paid their rent for the next 3 months to the rental board instead of to the building, I bet you things would get cleaned up very fast! So, who wants to start a tenants association?

New Rental Apartment Building to Open Down the Street

The condo building at the corner of Gouin and Rive-Boisée (155 Rive-Boisée) that has been under construction for several years is being finished up now. The company Roxor inc. have announced on their web site, that this defunct condo building is now being converted into rental units... "Roxor was mandated to evaluate and restructure the previous condo project as a rental project after the structure was completed.". Maybe some tenants from the Marina may end up moving to this new building. But what is for sure, is that this new building, now a rental property, will surely bring competition to the Marina. Maybe the recent renovations in the Marina were done because of this eventual competition? (Oops, and we thought they renovated because they liked the tenants).

Water Shut-off AGAIN!

This is becoming ridiculous! Today, Tuesday September 15th 2015, the water will be shut-off from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ... the whole day! How can you shut off water to a building with over 300 apartments for an entire day?! Although the new management has made some good changes, they clearly have not got the water problems under control and they are very disorganized. This is a major inconvenience. Fix the damn water problems once and for all so we can stop this nonsense of shutting off the water every few weeks!!!

No water again!

Once again, the water in the entire building will be shut off. A notice was posted throughout the building a few days ago announcing an "emergency water shut off" and explaining that the water would be shut off between 9 am and 4 pm on Thursday August 13th 2015. Although the new administration has been making improvements to the building environment, the frequent water outages continue to be a serious inconvenience.

Changes in progress...

Yesterday, Friday July 31st 2015, the water was shut off in the building for about 4 hours for some apparent emergency situation. Normally, I would have written an angry message about how I have had enough of this, but this time I will say that I am pleased with the recent improvements in the building and that considering the effort of the new building management to bring some good changes, I (we) should assume they had no choice but to shut the water off for a few hours. It may be a bit premature to say that the new management deserve accolades, but nothing would make me happier than to affirm exactly that in the next few months. Let us hope these good changes continue and progress to the point that we don't have to be embarrassed to admit that we live in the Marina Center.

Water Pressure down to almost nothing

The water pressure is down to almost nothing again. We had a water pressure problem a few weeks ago and were told it was because the swimming pool was being filled up. Then they discovered a problem and had to empty the pool, repair the problem and start filling it up again. Today the water pressure is so low that we cannot even take a shower. They could use one of the fire hoses and connect it to a fire hydrant to get the pool filled up quickly and without inconveniencing the tenants OR they can fill the pool between midnight and 6 am when most people are asleep... but that would be too logical! I guess nobody will take a shower for the next week while we let the swimming pool fill up!

Water Pressure Problems

Just as we thought things were slowly getting better, we are now faced with water pressure problems. From the lower floors all the way to the top, people are complaining that there is very little water pressure, to the point that it is difficult to take a shower or wash dishes. Will it take years to fix like all the other problems or will the new management do something about it in a timely manner? (Don't hold your breath!)

Renovations underway

Well it has finally happened! Since mid march we have seen some renovations. Painters are re-painting the halls and apartment doors (although they are doing a sloppy job) and now the elevators are being redone. They even started to re-doo the main entrance (but it looks cheap).

So it seems there are real renovations underway.

It is surprising that the security cameras have not been installed though. I have heard they are on the way. But it would seem to make more sense to put them in before renovations to catch the vandals than after the work is done. On some floors, vandals already started messing up the work.

Anyway, it seems the new management want things to get better, so it is only fair to give them a chance (...and the changes are welcome). Let's see what happens.

Recent pictures of this SLUM building!

Here are some recent pictures of this SLUM building! Click the images to enlarge the pictures. And don't forget to print them and take them with you to the Rental Board if you have a case there. These pictures will surely help you. In fact, print the whole blog and submit it as evidence to support your request for a rent DECREASE, or to BREAK YOUR LEASE and MOVE!!!!!!!

Painting the halls while the elevators are still a dump!

There are now painters painting the halls. Instead of installing security cameras, and cleaning up the main entrance and renovating the elevators, they decided to paint the halls. It makes no sense.

FIRST you install security cameras, then you make things better, otherwise the vandals just destroy everything again. And with the number of drug dealers, drug addicts who freak out in the halls (ya I'm talking about you lady!) and other unsavory characters living in the Marina Center, it just makes no sense.

The floors that have drug dealers and prostitutes see traffic from strangers coming in through the side doors or garage and walking into the halls from the stairs to get to their supplier apartment, and then they leave by the stairs again.

Even the security guard is worried. Although he often expels strangers from the building, sometimes it is just too dangerous for him!

The worst part about this, is that it is no secret. The janitors and the management all know what is going on and many many tenants do as well... and still nothing is done.

The only reason I imagine that the owner(s) would want to continue this scheme is because it forces people to move out and by having a high turnover of tenants it allows them to increase the rent slightly every time someone new moves in.

And did you notice that they invested in a new rental sign. The sign on Gouin offering appartments for rent is brand new. Too bad the building is a SLUM!

If you are stupid enough to agree to the annual rent increase as a tenant in this building, then you deserve it.