500 Sherbourne Condos (Times Group Corporation) - Real Estate -

I'd like to echo AKoko's complaint. Roseanne has been thoroughly unprofessional and rude to me, my movers, and other persons who have moved into this building. I have no polite words for the stress and aggravation that she put me through on the day of my occupancy. She displayed a petulant and condescending attitude towards me which I have been told has been received by others as well.

She refuses to acknowledge emails until the second or third request.

I was very much given the impression that she any letter addressed to the board would be read by her and then summarized.

I would be very happy to write a formal letter of complaint should I be given assurance that it will go to the Board members without having been edited, reviewed or otherwise interfered with by Roseanne.

On the other hand, Beth (in the same office) is a delight! I have interacted with her on two occasions and found been thoroughly pleased with the speed of resolution and the way in which it was handled.
 
I also received a 2010 and 2011 property tax bill.
The 2011 is legitimate, however I also have an issue with the 2010.

My interim statement of adjustments clearly breaks down my occupancy fee (aka phantom rent) into three items:
1) Interest component (based on unit price less any deposits)
2) Realty tax component (aka property tax)
3) Common expense component (aka maintenance fee)

I have already paid 2010 property tax to Times Group as part of my occupancy fee. I should not have to pay it again to the City of Toronto.
Times Group has either failed to give the property tax they collected via the occupancy fees to the city, or there is a delay in the paperwork somewhere.

Given Times Group's history of of dishonesty (ex Blindgate) I am concerned they are trying to pocket the taxes I paid them, and think that I will just pay the city myself.
Thus, I am forwarding the property tax bills to my Lawyer and asking for advice on this matter.
 
Hmmmm...I should go over my statement again as well.

I also got a letter from CRA regarding the HST rebate which they claim has been credited on the sale of the property. I don't see it anywhere on the statement of adjustments. Has anyone else gotten this statement from CRA?
 
Thank you for responding to my questions.

We did receive the HST rebate thing. I didn't have time to match it with the "closing statement" yet. Will keep you posted on that.

I was told by my lawyer that we are liable for 2010 tax cos in the "closing cost" there is a rebate credited to us. I have yet to confirm that but will definitely do so this weekend. This property tax thing is quite stressful cos I wasn't expecting to pay for 2 years!

As for the electric outlet, I seriously think our unit is wired badly. Within the first few month of our moving in, one of the outlet near the dining room sparked & the track light in the kitchen keeps blowing out. We must have replaced 5 light bulbs on our own by now. Anyway, they sent the electrician to our unit to check on the outlet & he said the "nail" was too long so each time we plug something in the nail would touch the wires or something that shorts it out. I was shocked! "nail was too long", are you serious?! Where else is the nail too long then?

The vacumm cleaner is a small canister one that we bought from Canadian tire. I doubt it uses much power, I can check. The outlet where the tv is suppose to be trips quite often & we were told if the kitchen track light was on our tv may trip cos we have got PVR, DVD plugged in at the same time. Seriously? So my guests can't enjoy a dvd while I'm busy in the kitchen preparing snacks? What BS is that?! Anyway, the electrician said he can't do anything about it now so we moved the "media centre" to the adjacent wall which means now the cable is running across the room which is untidy & ugly. I'm super mad I don't know what to tell you.

Another thing is the window screen. It keeps popping out of the frame!!! The window guys came & said I need more of those plastic thingy to hold it in place & 2 months later, I've yet to see any plastic!

Overall we are very please with the place due to the location, price, nice neighbours & pretty good conceirge. That is about it, I'm really not very impress with the workmanship of the "infrastructure" if you know what I mean. ie. my electric wiring, the location of the switches, the location of the vents, the cable points etc. All these issues I can never fix is really bugging me.

Sorry for ranting. It's Friday & the weekend is gonna be nice. Let's enjoy it.

And thank you in advance for "listening".
 
Re 2010 Realty taxes:

Yes, buyers paid the taxes as part of the occupancy fee. However, most of the realty taxes portion of the occupancy fee was credited back to buyers on final closing. The credit was buried amongst all the other adjustments and applied to the final closing price so it didn't feel like a rebate. Actually, it's not even listed explicitly as a credit. The occupancy fee section in the FINAL STATEMENT OF ADJUSTMENTS shows the amount of occupancy fees already paid and the calculation for the amount that actually should have been paid. That calculation is different from the INTERIM STATEMENT OF ADJUSTMENTS. We were charged occupancy fee based on calculation in the interim statement but the correct calculation is in the final statement and is less. So our occupancy fees were higher than they should have been. The difference was credited back to us (at least to me) on final closing.

Do check the occupancy fee section in your FINAL STATEMENT OF ADJUSTMENTS with your lawyer to make sure that the occupancy fee overcharge was indeed credited back to you.

Like everyone here, I was surprised by the 2010 tax bill. I reviewed my final statement of adjustments. There was no mistake. The realty taxes were indeed credited back to me on final closing.

Not really sure why Time Group charged us realty taxes during occupancy only to credit it back to us on closing. Seems kind of pointless.
 
No problem with ranting, you are raising some good questions in regards to the way that units are wired. A lot of people don't know that it can be easy to trip the breakers by adding too much load. In the kitchen, use anything with a motor on the GFI outlets. They are a separate circuit and they have protection if you have an accidental spill of liquids near your appliances. Toasters are a good idea to put on this circuit too.

The kitchen lights are halogens - they can burn out more than normal bulbs. I think the ones the builder used are probably not very good. I like the ones from Costco and from Ikea. I have had that style of light for years and find the bulbs last around 18 months each with regular usage. They also consume a lot of watts - 50 each so they can affect your Hydro bill if you use them a lot.

I have my TV, LCD TV, amplifier, cable box and a small computer all running in the living room with no issues. The load they place on the circuit should be small enough not to cause issues. The living room should be on the "Lights and Receptacles" circuit in your unit. The kitchen lights can draw a large amount of Watts, but are low Amps. They should not cause the circuit to trip with the stereo system on.

In my unit, I have two separate 20 Amp circuits for the kitchen plus GFI. So there should be actually no reason for appliances in the kitchen to affect the living room.

Having said that, under no circumstances should the circuit box spark when you plug something in. If there is a fault in the wiring that occurs when something is plugged in, that is a serious problem. That is a defect in workmanship and I am pretty sure it is covered under Tarion.

You can get an electrical tester that shows wiring faults at Canadian Tire. This can help identify what circuits are faulty and must be repaired. The one I would recommend is: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...le%2BTester.jsp?locale=en#tab_page_reviews_li

I would happy to lend you my tester if you would like to try it out.

Another thing that is worth looking at is to "map" your circuits, The way to do this is to turn every breaker off. Using a nightlight or other small appliance that only works when plugged in - like a radio, you can check to see what outlets work as you turn on each breaker. I was surprised to find my dining rooms lights are on the same breaker as my smoke alarm! You'll be able to see what's together on the same circuit.

As far as repairs goes - I have a bedroom window that does not open and a screen door on the patio that was never made to fit properly. I am not chasing the builder as I can live with these things. I also still steamed with the attitude I got over entering my unit without permission. I don't want them coming in here w/o supervision.

Have a great weekend!!
 
The kitchen lights can draw a large amount of Watts, but are low Amps.
Click to expand...

Power (measured in Watts) is the product of potential difference (measured in Volts) and current (measured in Amps).
Since the voltage is constant, if power increases, so does current.

I was surprised to find my dining rooms lights are on the same breaker as my smoke alarm!
Click to expand...

This is a direct violation of the electrical code and the fire code.
 
flooring

Does anyone have any idea why our laminate floor makes a cracking sound as we walk on it? had issues with it separating in the winter too, but that seems to have resolved with the change in climate. humidity levels I guess.
 
Property tax - waiting for a response from the lawyer. yangsui, I'm going to assume for the time being that I'm in the same situation as you, and that the tax collected by Times Group was refunded at closing. Why did they collect and then refund it? Probably to utilize the money for their benefit, and not to pay us interest for the use.

Shelfun - your issues are pretty concerning. I am not surprised that they used inferior techniques in the electrical infrastructure, but I am really concerned about property damage & fire safety! Doug said it was a violation of the Codes, so perhaps you should investigate this matter further? You can still take things up with Tarion.

Legin - If the laminate floor you are writing about is the default floor that came with the unit, then I have no personal experience with that type. I paid a lot of money for an upgraded floor and it is a complete piece of shit, to put it bluntly, so it's not surprising you are having problems with the laminate Times Group included at no cost.
 
Jumping in elevators? Really? Is it such a prevalent problem that we needed a patronizing mass email notice about it? LOL.
 
This is a massive privacy violation. I sent a note to beth asking that they please BCC in future. Congrats to the property managers, you have exposed everyone's email address for the whole building.
 
I don't think it will be a big deal, they obviously mess up, not a big surprise considering.

Anybody have dirty carpets in their hallways? I have complained to Roseanne about our floor and have been promised for months they would be cleaned and nothing.
If they do as good a job as the lobby carpet I guess it won't make much difference. I didn't know that ugly carpet is permanent, I thought it was for winter only. It
really looks crappy in front of the elevators. Not a very bright idea putting carpets there.
 
Re: Roseanne complaint

@ Klaus,

Thank you for your reply. I did complain that same day to Roseanne's boss, who is Harold Cipin, on the phone and via e-mail. He responded to me quickly and said that he would speak to her and resolve the matter. He did mention that I wasn't the only one who has complained about her.
The following week I had another argument with Roseanne on the phone concerning my A/C unit. It clearly states in my purchase of agreement that the A/C unit is a part of our maintenance fees. She did not wish to acknowledge this fact and wanted me to show her proof. Why is it my job to teach her about her job? I got fed up with her and so I photocopied and gave it to Beth since Roseanne was out of the office. Thankfully my A/C is working fine. My issue is the principle of this matter. I am not going to pay extra money for something that I'm already paying for in my maintenance fees.
By the way, Klaus, are you part of our condo board? If yes, isn't there a better way to contact the board without going through Roseanne? Someone with better knowledge of our maintenance fees and having good public relations skills would be better suited as a property manager.
 
Thanks, sweetsuite, for backing me up Re: Roseanne.

Concerning the property tax bills, I too received both 2010 and 2011 bills and have been waiting to hear back from my lawyer. It looks like from these posts that we are responsible for both. What a disappointment. Thankfully I read this in time to prevent me from paying lawyer's fees and interest fees for not paying my 2010 tax bill.
 
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