Building great, apt landlord pain in the neck
Pros
The building is clean and the area is wonderful. Neighbors are friendly for the most part. There are security cameras all over and the super takes care of maintenance pretty well. The park is right across the street. It’s a 10 minute walk from the Kew Gardens train station. The area felt safe overall.
Cons
My landlord was a bit of a pain. She gave us the keys to the apartment the very day we had to move in and she lived there until the previous day. She didn’t clean the apartment before leaving and we collected two large boxes full of her things (including food left in the refrigerator), which she asked us to store for her in the closet and to consume the food she left behind if we wanted. She felt entitled to have me manage her mail, which she continued to receive throughout my tenancy. Whenever I had an issue in the apartment that needed fixing, multiple people related to her husband would come to the apartment to supervise. We basically had to host them anytime we wanted anything done. It was awkward and uncomfortable. We informed her and her husband that the fridge was making a weird noise months prior. Husband came and said it was normal. During the pandemic, our refrigerator stopped working. Instead of purchasing a new one, she hired a company to come fix it. The company did not follow COVID guidelines and I asked them not to come back. We were left without a fridge for about two weeks before she decided to purchase one. A lot more to share but you get the idea. She threatened us multiple times on not giving the security deposit back if anything in the apartment was not as she had left it. She refused to come to do a walkthrough to check things out, as per the law, until I sent her a letter stating that she needed to do the walkthrough with us. Her feedback after the walkthrough was for us to seal all the holes on the walls, which we did not make. We did it anyway. I had to record the apartment and send her pictures to establish that it was in fact left in excellent conditions. We got the security deposit back, but it was a long process I’d back and forth getting her to come and check out the apartment and give us time to fix anything she felt needed fixing.