3412 Avenue Harvard

Should You Rent?

Reviewed on Jun 30, 2014

Overall score

12345

Fantastic neighbourhood, close to public transport, shops, park and it''s pretty easy to find parking in the street.
Building is unclean, washer and dryer frequently break down and take months to repair, the building has mice and centipedes and sometimes roaches, frequent plumbing problems and water damage, owner doesn''t care about the building. I also got carpenter ants in my bedroom because the owner refused to fix a window frame where the water would leak every time it rained or when the snow melted.
The building is in a great neighbourhood and has beautiful historical architecture. It looks impressive when first visiting because of this and because the owner makes sure superficial updates are made once a tenant leaves. Beware that no further updates, repairs or paint jobs will be done once you sign the lease. The rent tends to be a bit lower, at first, than other apartments in the neighbourhood but then the owner hikes up the rent each year. Of course you can go to La Régie each year if you don''t mind. I suspect the owner of submitting false receipts to La Régie to prove that he spent money on repairs (at least when I lived there). Of course, I can''t prove this and I probably don''t have enough room to explain why I think this, but I do. Another thing that is fishy is that several people have had their apartments broken into right after buying expensive new electronic devices. I''ve also had problems with the super going in my apartment without any warning or my consent. I would call the office and they would confirm that they had sent someone to my place to investigate a problem. I had to buy an additional lock to keep them out and force them to check with me before sending someone over. Please check what I wrote in my negative comments. The owner is a slum lord. He doesn''t deserve to own such a naturally beautiful apartment building. I regret living there for so long. I managed to break the lease when I threatened to report him to La Régie for all the lack of repairs over the years and for leaving a two by four foot hole in my kitchen ceiling for two months following major water damage. Renters beware.