Employees of Liberty Development found going into condo suites when your not home

[PinkLucy]

Did you sign a blanket authorization Professor? When our building needs entrance for HVAC, annual maintenance, fireplace maintenance, we are sent a letter giving the date it will happen and we sign an authorization that they can/can't enter our suite. However, for fire alarm inspection they simply inform us that they need access to the suite on a certain date -- fire alarm testing isn't optional. I believe that entering in case of emergency is part of the buying agreement.

 

[Solaris]

Dear Solaris,

In my opinion, Liberty Development ranks lower than whale poo. Be very cautious before buying from them. Homework needs to be done on these guys before buying from them. Speak to HSBC Bank, Hair Salon, Dental office at the commercial building at Hwy 7 + Warden. They have had water flooding on more than one occasion because of poor construction and an ongoing battle with Liberty Development. Less than one year after the condo was built the swimming pool was closed for nearly 7 months because it was defective. The list goes on and on.

Should you want proof of such events, I can provide you with parties to contact and written correspondence. In my opinion stay very far away from Liberty Development. You money maybe better invested in another builder. I also posted another thread months back on how they built my condo unit.

Also there is a man who posted a petition online which includes Liberty Development who is owned by Fred Darvish, Online Property Management who is owned by the same and Darcon who is or was owned by Latif. Please see this link: http://www.petitiononline.com/cndmulkl/petition.html

Please give your feedback

Thanks for sharing your experience Naveen, really appreciate your comments. I have heard about the long occupacy fee period that EKO owners had to go through in the beginning and the initial swimming pool problems

I recently acquired a suite in EKO1 through resale (haven't closed on the property yet), perhaps due to the fact Liberty's reputation was ZERO in my mind, the EKO building was not "as bad as I thought" when I visited (spoke with property manager Lucy who was very nice and seemed to 'care', appears the building is well maintained), while not luxury by any standard, the suite itself seemed pretty decent (perhaps the previous owners took care of all the problems)

Given all the stuff I hear about Liberty, I agree with you 100% that I would never buy directly from that builder (nor Daniels and Concord Adex) ... the only reason we considered/accepted Liberty this time is because we 'physically' saw the EKO condos in person, rather than buying from a plan (ie: pre-construction)

I don't quite understand what that petition has to do with Liberty's EKO project though ~

 

[Naveen]

Dear The Professor,

When I moved in I did sign to allow them to enter my home for maintenance. It all started when a customer service representative of Liberty, Jeremy Carsons opened my front door while my wife was sitting on the sofa in her night clothes. For what reason he wanted to enter is unknown, but a letter from Liberty said he thought we weren't home. We immediately called the police. After that incident we complained to the Customer Service Manager Darleen Freeman, who didn't do a thing. We later find out that Jeremy Carsons is the son of Darlene Freeman. What a conflict of interest. As a result in writing we removed all permission to allow access to our suite unless fire, water leak or personal injury as the law states. After that incident the lower penthouse owner caught another employee going stealing from his suite. After that the superintendent came into our suite when we were not home and admitted it to police.

As for the locks, we inquired about changing them but was told we could not because Property Management / Superintendent needs to have a key in case of such emergencies. The problem with this company is that Liberty Development also owns Online Property Management who employs the staff. To me this is the biggest conflict out there. Of course the property management employees are loyal to Liberty. After they had the turn over meeting, they still kept Online Property Management as the management. What I suggested was to bring in an impartial property management company that was not owner by Liberty. To me this is fraudulent!

 

[Naveen]

Thanks for sharing your experience Naveen, really appreciate your comments. I have heard about the long occupacy fee period that EKO owners had to go through in the beginning and the initial swimming pool problems

I recently acquired a suite in EKO1 through resale (haven't closed on the property yet), perhaps due to the fact Liberty's reputation was ZERO in my mind, the EKO building was not "as bad as I thought" when I visited (spoke with property manager Lucy who was very nice and seemed to 'care', appears the building is well maintained), while not luxury by any standard, the suite itself seemed pretty decent (perhaps the previous owners took care of all the problems)

Given all the stuff I hear about Liberty, I agree with you 100% that I would never buy directly from that builder (nor Daniels and Concord Adex) ... the only reason we considered/accepted Liberty this time is because we 'physically' saw the EKO condos in person, rather than buying from a plan (ie: pre-construction)

I don't quite understand what that petition has to do with Liberty's EKO project though ~

Dear Solaris,

The petition seems to be about Fred Darvish and Latif who are principals of Liberty Development, Online Property Management and Darcon and their connections to fraudulent activities. Please tell me if you interpret the same? I did some homework and it seems Peyman Dhousty who wrote this petition is from BC. With respects to Lucy, she works for Online Property management who is owned by Liberty. Of course she will put her best face on for outsiders but speak to homeowners about her behavior and rudeness. Most people that I know who live there hate her. Can I ask what building you bought in. 55/75 South Centre, or 30/32 Clegg Rd? How come your suite hasn't closed? I don't understand that part.

 

[Solaris]

I bought a unit in 55 STC ... it is a resale unit with closing scheduled for September, that's wheen the seller is moving out ~

wrt Lucy, she "seemed" very helpful in providing information on the building and maintainance fees (how much its gone up etc), how to book moving elevators, at least she's been super patient with me so far ~ so for that I'm happy

are you still in the building Naveen??

 

[Solaris]

Here's some photos I took of the building and the suite ... like I said I was expecting much worst before my visit, but was suprisingly pleased (just ignore the suite owner's crap) ... perhaps due to the fact my expectation from Liberty was ZERO:

Click to Enlarge



for now I'm happy ... let's see what my thoughts are after moving in couple months later ~ LOL

 

[Wooba]

Did he give an excuse as to why he was in your suite? I know when we've moved into condo's the property management has asked all residents to sign a sheet basically giving them the authority to enter your suite if you're not home. They do this to change the HVAC filters, do fire alarm testing, and in case of emergency (i.e. water damage). Did you sign a similar letter?

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that letters of that nature are just for a limited time after you move in to fix things from your PDI. Beyond the initial move in date, the property management can come in for things like fire alarm testing, changing filters, etc but they must give you 24 hours notice. Except in an emergency they are not allowed to enter otherwise.

 

[Wooba]

change your locks

Most (all?) condos do not allow you to change the locks so that they can enter your unit in an emergency.

 

[PinkLucy]

Or if you change them you have to provide a key so that doesn't really get you anywhere!

 

[TheProfessor]

The letter we signed is open-ended, meaning doens't "expire". Therefore, staff are permitted to enter (must be accompanied by a member of security). During the first few months it was quite common to come home and find a notice saying they had entered the suite to repair a deficiency we had noted. Now, after three years of being here, they only enter once a quarter for HVAC filter replacement and once a year for fire alarms (all other fire alarm testing can be done outside of suite).

This is exactly how it was at my previous condo as well.

 

[PinkLucy]

Good point ^^, i.e. they are supposed to leave a note that they were in your suite, and they're supposed to be accompanied by security. I think those are pretty standard rules. If this guy was coming in on his own (walking in on Naveen's wife, admitting he was in the suite), there's a problem there.

 

[DSC]

Most Condo Corporations have a Rule (Rules can be legally enforced) that says something like: "No owner shall, upon reasonable notice, deny entry to his unit to the condominium corporation or any person authorized by the corporation to perform the duties of the corporation. "

'Reasonable notice' would probably be 24 hours unless it was an emergency (e.g. leaking water going into Unit below). At least in cases where no notice has been given it would be normal to leave a note or tell owner. Condominiums are a mixture of common elements (owned by the Corporation) and Units and parts of the common elements (balconies or plumbing in the walls for example) can often only be accessed through the Unit.

 

[neuhaus]

In the past condos I have lived in I received at least 24 hours notice if the mamgement or builder needs to enter my unit.
I always schedule a time where I could be in my home, as I don't trust strangers alone in my home as I have a lot of expensive stuff lying around.
I never had a problem before and I even changed my locks and that wasn't an issue either (I don't even think they noticed).

Naveen, this is definitely a privacy and tresspassing issue. They simply can't enter your home anytime they want unannounced.
Haven't they heard of knocking? That's simply common sense.

If that happen to me I would in a second run for a knife or a weapon, thinking it was a robber. I would be very mad if I found out someone was entering my home without any notice.
That wouldn't be safe for the developer either (though I could care less about that).

 

[Naveen]

I have been reading all of your feedback and I sincerely thank you all. To address some of your comments, firstly the Builder did not leave any note/notice saying they entered into my suite. This never did provide this courtesy to any of the owners. Secondly when they did enter suites, they never took security with them. Why wouldn't Liberty have this as a common practice?

This was the first condo I ever purchased and lived in. What a nasty horror experience this Liberty provided me with. Now that I have been through all this I research more and try to ask others for their experiences to educate and empower myself. Their seem to be many other builders who have a good reputation and at least treat owners and residents with dignity.

Please keep sending your feedback. As a result of many of your comments, I ordered the police report and officer's notes from the incident when the superintendent came into m suite. After I receive it I will scan it and post it. By the way, many of you have mentioned that you would sue Liberty for trespassing as a result of them illegally coming into my suite. Can anyone recommend me a good lawyer?

Regards,

Naveen

 

[Naveen]

Dear Solaris,

Here are photos how Liberty built my unit.