Riverton Apartments, 89 Forward Ave

Veda

2 months ago

Awful building and management. Just look elsewhere. 1. Smoking issues: They allow smoking inside of the apartments but the common areas on some floors reek of weed and cigarettes and you can also smell it in the vents. 2. Major insulation issues + sky-high electricity costs: My unit rapidly loses 2-3 degrees of heat every hour, the apartment is always freezing despite running heaters 24/7 and the issue is structural, so no amount of weather sealing is going to help alleviate the issue. Also the hot water is supplied through an electric boiler that tenants pay for, which also consumes a lot of electricity. On an average, if you're being very conservative, you're going to use 25-30 kWH every day in the winter. 3. Incompetent maintenance team: I requested for maintenance because my apartment wouldn’t heat up despite running the baseboard heaters 24/7. I got a thermal imaging camera and it showed so many drafts coming from behind and under the heaters, and cold radiating through walls and double-paned windows. The electrician and general maintenance guy just shrugged and told me I "chose to move to the worst apartment in the building" and there’s nothing they can do about it. All contractors I've met except the plumbers used profanities and are extremely rude for no reason. One of them looked gleeful when I told him my cat was falling sick as the apartment is freezing cold all the time. 4. Lack of cleanliness: Balconies and windows are full of spiders. This is a problem in the neighbourhood, with Riverton Park being no exception. Also the common carpeted areas are never vacuumed. Only the main entrance is vacuumed and mopped regularly. 5. Unnecessary costs: The laundromat uses Coinamatic, which has now started charging "service fees" whenever you load up the card. So you are now paying an extra amount just to do your laundry. Also Osgoode is one of the few property management companies in Ottawa that are fighting the provincial rent reduction for multi-unit properties. Lame. Overall I haven't had a good experience here and would not recommend this place to anyone.

aqil hashimi

2 months ago

This is the best management! They respond to any questions or tickets for maintenance quickly. The management staff is friendly and always helpful. I definitely recommend them to anyone who is looking for rental apartments. Best, Sayed

Ana Lindsay

3 years ago

A wonderful place to live overall! Below is my feedback on the various aspects of the building based on ~2 years of living here. Moving in: I recommend booking the service elevator as early as you can and try to do it during working hours, since the super isn't always on site. Overall, I've booked it 3 times (my initial move-in took 2 days and later on we needed it for my partner to move in) and on both Sundays that we've scheduled the loading dock on the door ended up locked, however Osgoode was able to chase down the super within 15 minutes after I called them. The management: very proactive and welcoming, they've had a few staff changes and some were definitely better than others, but overall they are very responsive (usually reply within a couple hours) for most requests. I have actually ended up locking myself on the balcony shortly after moving in and again, after calling Osgoode the super was there to let me back in after only 15 minutes on a Sunday evening. The crowd: it is a fairly quiet building with a mix of young people, elderly and a couple families with kids, definitely not empty, but not crowded either. The facilities: the gym and sauna are kept clean and maintained, there are laundry machines on every floor that function through the app, which is very convenient; going back to crowding, over the 2 years I've only had to wait for the laundry only a handful of times since a lot of people seem to be working from home and run their loads during the workday hours. The building also has a patio on the 4th floor for barbeque, but unfortunately it has been closed for most of last and this year for balcony repairs. The units: some apartments have been upgraded, but even the older ones are well-maintained and cleaned, with good kitchen appliances and water heaters. In terms of repairs, I personally had one issue with a gap in outside insulation of one of the walls that caused storm water to blow in and leak in from under the baseboards, but, once notified, the management was able to schedule an inspection within a week and had the issue resolved within 2 months. Another time my toilet has clogged and that has been dealt with the next morning, so no complaints there. The utilities: the tenants pay their own Hydro, which I have found to be a bit expensive for a one bedroom (~$200 in the winter and ~$60 in the summer without AC), but I believe that has to do with the insulation issues I've described above. The building has its own generator, so we haven't lost power during any of the outages. The area: my kitchen and the balcony face a construction site, which gets loud sometimes, but the windows do a great job of blocking off the noise. There is a convenience store across the street from the Forward Avenue entrance and it's about a 10 minute walk to the Tunney's Pasture and 15 - to the Parkdale Market. Overall, the area is very safe and quiet, we haven't come across any issues even during Bluesfest. The units facing the river also get a wonderful view of the August firework festival! Other perks: for the few remaining smokers here, the older units are grandfathered and you are allowed to smoke inside the unit/on the balcony and the patio, which is incredibly convenient and is getting harder to come across. All in all, I have greatly enjoyed my time here, and after living all across Ottawa and doing several apartment hunts, I find that this building offers some of the best values for money in the city centre. Also check out this view!

Mithila Majumder

5 months ago

The view is extraordinary, staff are friendly.