pickleberry
New Member
Hi all
This looks like the kind of place which is full of knowledgeable people, so if anyone has any advice to offer I would appreciate it greatly!
I moved into my brand new build condo in September. I won't name the project because of the content of this post.
I was one of the first in, we're now sitting at 75% occupied units, with the remaning yet to be completed. Registration is in motion (apparently), but until then we're all paying the occupancy fee, plus taxes and full condo fee. Promises of an early registration have come to nothing - no suprise there - but there is talk from the developer of early next year.
There are three elements to the management structure here:
1) The developer - the main spokesperson we all have to deal with is arrogant, unhelpful and untruthful individual who seems to have no care other than to make the cash.
2) The 'property management company' - a company I have never heard of, and Google produces nothing. Seems to me they're creaming off the condo fees and providing zero in return.
3) The on-site construction manager - who works for the management company - doesn't seem to do much other than write notices.
Before I go into things, I want to let you know that isn't just my gripe - everyone in the building is feeling the same as I am - not just me being awkward and picky!
The main problem we have is with the quality of the work done in our building. The common areas still have a lot to do, but what is worrying is the quality of the workmanship in the units.
We all submitted our Tarion PDI forms, I personally have spoken to about 10 of my neighbours, not one of us was below three pages of defects or incomplete items listed. My unit is one of the smallest at only one bedroom and I was able to list about 50 items that needed rectifying.
The construction workers are proving useless at fixing the issues. Of my problems, about 3 have been 'rectified'. The main gripe we all have is that the workers really are hopeless - when they come to fix a simple issue they arrive early (7am), without the proper notice, and end up damaging other things such as floors, tiling, etc. I have been lucky with incidental things being broken, but other residents need whole rooms refloored.
It is frustrating beyond belief - so much time and money is being wasted by the developers to resolve minor issues that should never have been accepted in the first place. Every single one of my light switches/hydro outlets is out of alignment. I have cracked windowframes, poor baseboards, moving floorboards, broken countertop, the list goes on. The construction workers they have hired have no idea of how to perform a good job. Residents have lost confidence in the work being completed.
We all report these issues to the manager on site, but nothing seems to be done. We are even having problems with rodents in the building - including in my unit personally. I reported this weeks ago but nothing has been done to resolve the root cause.
The developer will no doubt fall back on the 'we have one year to resolve the issues under the terms of the Tarion warranty', but in the 4 months I have been here, hardly anything has been resolved. I have furnished and decorated my unit but others are holding out until the work that needs to be done is done. Some residents are even asking if we can hire our own contractors to resolve the problems and bill the cost back to the developer/Tarion. It really is getting that bad.
In addition, we are all paying our condo fees (which, incidentally are higher than what was given in the disclosures), but seem to get nothing for it. Obviously we can't use the common benefits, but they're not giving us services we should be getting. Garbage collection is disorganised and not environmentally friendly, my windows have not been washed since i've been here, and are filthy, etc..
As mentioned above, I personally feel that I can't talk to the developer as the person we deal with is totally unapproachable (this with with regards to a claim for delayed occupancy - I was told that they have no interest in resolving the claim and i'll need to fight it with Tarion). He even told another resident they should move out when they complained about excessive noise from the garage door motor!
The manager on-site gives us the brush off with "i'll look into it" but it goes no further.
Is this kind of scenario par for the course with new builds or are we the exception?
I'm trying to get us all together and unite to solve the problem - but who should we approach and what legislation is there to help us?
If anyone has any advice or can provide links to resources that would be great!
Thanks for reading
-M
This looks like the kind of place which is full of knowledgeable people, so if anyone has any advice to offer I would appreciate it greatly!
I moved into my brand new build condo in September. I won't name the project because of the content of this post.
I was one of the first in, we're now sitting at 75% occupied units, with the remaning yet to be completed. Registration is in motion (apparently), but until then we're all paying the occupancy fee, plus taxes and full condo fee. Promises of an early registration have come to nothing - no suprise there - but there is talk from the developer of early next year.
There are three elements to the management structure here:
1) The developer - the main spokesperson we all have to deal with is arrogant, unhelpful and untruthful individual who seems to have no care other than to make the cash.
2) The 'property management company' - a company I have never heard of, and Google produces nothing. Seems to me they're creaming off the condo fees and providing zero in return.
3) The on-site construction manager - who works for the management company - doesn't seem to do much other than write notices.
Before I go into things, I want to let you know that isn't just my gripe - everyone in the building is feeling the same as I am - not just me being awkward and picky!
The main problem we have is with the quality of the work done in our building. The common areas still have a lot to do, but what is worrying is the quality of the workmanship in the units.
We all submitted our Tarion PDI forms, I personally have spoken to about 10 of my neighbours, not one of us was below three pages of defects or incomplete items listed. My unit is one of the smallest at only one bedroom and I was able to list about 50 items that needed rectifying.
The construction workers are proving useless at fixing the issues. Of my problems, about 3 have been 'rectified'. The main gripe we all have is that the workers really are hopeless - when they come to fix a simple issue they arrive early (7am), without the proper notice, and end up damaging other things such as floors, tiling, etc. I have been lucky with incidental things being broken, but other residents need whole rooms refloored.
It is frustrating beyond belief - so much time and money is being wasted by the developers to resolve minor issues that should never have been accepted in the first place. Every single one of my light switches/hydro outlets is out of alignment. I have cracked windowframes, poor baseboards, moving floorboards, broken countertop, the list goes on. The construction workers they have hired have no idea of how to perform a good job. Residents have lost confidence in the work being completed.
We all report these issues to the manager on site, but nothing seems to be done. We are even having problems with rodents in the building - including in my unit personally. I reported this weeks ago but nothing has been done to resolve the root cause.
The developer will no doubt fall back on the 'we have one year to resolve the issues under the terms of the Tarion warranty', but in the 4 months I have been here, hardly anything has been resolved. I have furnished and decorated my unit but others are holding out until the work that needs to be done is done. Some residents are even asking if we can hire our own contractors to resolve the problems and bill the cost back to the developer/Tarion. It really is getting that bad.
In addition, we are all paying our condo fees (which, incidentally are higher than what was given in the disclosures), but seem to get nothing for it. Obviously we can't use the common benefits, but they're not giving us services we should be getting. Garbage collection is disorganised and not environmentally friendly, my windows have not been washed since i've been here, and are filthy, etc..
As mentioned above, I personally feel that I can't talk to the developer as the person we deal with is totally unapproachable (this with with regards to a claim for delayed occupancy - I was told that they have no interest in resolving the claim and i'll need to fight it with Tarion). He even told another resident they should move out when they complained about excessive noise from the garage door motor!
The manager on-site gives us the brush off with "i'll look into it" but it goes no further.
Is this kind of scenario par for the course with new builds or are we the exception?
I'm trying to get us all together and unite to solve the problem - but who should we approach and what legislation is there to help us?
If anyone has any advice or can provide links to resources that would be great!
Thanks for reading
-M
