823 55th Avenue, Lachine, QC, Canada

gabrielle

Reviewed on Feb 24, 2016

Overall score

12345

Pros: Not very expensive. OK apartment overall. Decent kitchen. Fine for a student or a single person looking for a short term apartment.
Cons: There is *most likely* mold beneath the floorboards in the bathroom and hall - I overheard the landlady and repairman talking about it when I first moved in. THE APARTMENT IS CROOKED - the floors are VERY slanted. No window in the bedroom, so technically this is not even a real 3.5. Landlady will give you broken equipment (smoke detectors which she painted over, broken drawer under the oven, one of the stove tops doesn't work). Our hot water seems to be connected because when I shower the water will sporadically get piping hot or ice cold. Poorly insulated from the elements. No sound insulation at all and the landlady and her son, who are the upstairs neighbours, walk very loudly on their heels. The son will scream at random moments while playing video games (I think? Can't think of any other reason he would be screaming). Landlady insists on closing the lights in the entrance and hallways of the building off to save $, leaving me to stumble around in the pitch darkness. When I had people coming over - she would ask me why I needed to have people over so late, as if it was any of her business. Owns a dog right above me (who is lovely) but you will not be allowed to have pets. The 'repairman' she calls is a friend of hers - the 'repairs' he has done were either just bad or incomplete (fixing windows - he left them hanging off the tracks. Fixing holes in the bathroom walls - they're barely sealed and could reopen if I so much as pressed them. Fixing my closet doors - would simply place them back on the *broken* track so that they would function for another few days before breaking again. He stood with my landlady on my first day moving in, while I was still unpacking boxes, and told me how stupid I was for refusing to use their huge, old, LOUD dehumidifier for which they would not pay the electricity). Very shitty experience renting this apartment. BEWARE!

I don't recommend anyone live in this apartment. I was supposed to move in in July, but she pushed the date all the way to August 1st. When I arrived, she claims that she did not know I was coming??? And so she had to do repairs with the repairman frequently in the first week. I had to move out some things the previous tenant had not picked up yet (namely, a heavy treadmill). Pretends to be very sweet but then when you sign the lease she will try and slam with you with illegal fees and try to bully you into doing things her way, no matter if your rights are being infringed upon. If you dare to stand up for yourself, when you are right to do so, the tenant-landlady relationship will go south very quickly. She thinks she is doing you a favour by renting the apartment to you for 'so cheap' and that you should do whatever she says, no matter how little sense it makes (for ex, she tried to tell me how and when to wash my bathtub and she told me that the reason my washer was having issues was because I refused to use a useless dehumidifier... nonsense). I can't believe this woman knows so little about how to run a building, do repairs, or answer very basic questions about the place or the lease. Any time I had an issue, I would have to explain it a dozen times and she still wouldn't understand. It may be partially due to a language barrier (she speaks spanish and a bit of french). If you need to speak with this woman at all, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING because you will want proof. Once, when she wanted to give me an insurance form, instead of leaving it in my mailbox like I asked, she started slamming on my front door, louder and louder, ringing my bell, then slamming on my living room windows when I would not answer (I was trying to sleep and terrified someone was trying to break into my apartment). When confronting her about her senseless behaviour, I was told that I am an unpleasant and rude person (can you blame me after all this?) and that she would be happy to see me move out. Do not fall for the way she portrays herself in the beginning.
Additionally, the landlady's son is home most of the time, up late, stomps around and makes a lot of noise.

This apartment is NOT WORTH IT. You would be better off renting something a little more expensive so you don't have to deal with these people! Take my advice and RUN RUN RUN AWAY FAST. I hope the next potential renter will see this somehow and heed my advice!