Rockhill Tenants Collective

Residents of the Rockhill apartments in Montreal

Archives

Category: Management of Work

21 February 2024

The CLR asked the Rockhill administration why the employee sent to pick up the lamp post that was knocked over on the path and crushed by the snowplow, left its lamp a few steps away on the path, and did not bother to pick up other lamp posts that were dangerously leaning. The administration had not followed up and was surprised by this blatant lack of judgment, and promised to discuss this with the maintenance department.

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04 February 2024

Tenants are being billed amounts that, upon simple verification, are found to be incorrect. What's even worse, they discover this through an aggressive formal notice, or receiving a telephone call when the tenant is traveling.

According to an administration spokes person, a formal notice is sent immediately before any verification. This approach is unnecessarily aggressive and counterproductive: it causes stress, hassle, time losses, and various expenses (e.g., legal consultations), in addition to creating a sense of distrust towards the administration.

It is essential for Rockhill to ensure the accuracy of the amounts before bothering honest tenants with formal notices accompanied by threats of legal action, when it is unjustified. Furthermore, when tenants reject increases deemed excessive, Rockhill must make a note of this in the client file management system to avoid harassing tenants by prematurely demanding sums before the lease adjustment session.

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07 December 2023

Nothing has changed since the last meeting with the Property Manager. Did he give instructions, or are they not being followed?

We asked a gentleman responsible for maintaining the gym if the Property Manager had informed him to refill the cleaning wipes dispensers, and here is his response:

"I don't know who [this man] is... I don't know how to refill these dispensers, I will find out."

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05 December 2023

There seems to be a divergence in the responses obtained by tenants regarding the works next summer. While the Property Manager indicated to CLR that it would be Building C in 2024, others were told Building B.

However, no formal date has been provided.

Tenants have the right to know at least 3 months in advance in case of major works lasting more than a week, in order to make alternative arrangements during this period when it will be impossible for them to live at home due to noise and dust.

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01 December 2023

- Two tenants are surprised and concerned to have received messages from the Rentcafe platform without ever having registered. They rightfully wonder WHO has shared their personal information with this third-party company without their consent?
- This raises serious concerns about Minto's dissemination of personal data, especially since only checks and payments via Rentcafe are now accepted as of February 1, 2023 (bank payments are no longer possible). The information transmitted to this third-party company is sensitive and confidential: WHO authorized Minto to transmit it? What guarantees are there in terms of personal information protection and fraud prevention? Who decided to prevent any other form of payment?
- How is it that I received advertising for TD insurance from Minto?
- Rent cafe: Personal information disclosed on the platform even if the tenant has not joined (Identity theft)

The Property Manager explains that Rent Café is a platform for paying rent, submitting service requests, and providing various information to tenants. They confirm that no personal information is transmitted to anyone. Tenant's personal data is protected. The Property Manager confirms that to be part of Rent Café, tenants who make this choice must give their consent, otherwise, they are not part of it. They note that some tenants have complained that their personal information has been disclosed, and they will investigate this and keep us informed. Regarding unsolicited ads that some tenants may have received via Rent Café, the Property Manager says it is possible because MINTO has certain agreements with companies allowing them to advertise on the Rent Café platform. They also specify that if a tenant receives unsolicited emails or ads, they should take a screenshot and send it by email for verification purposes.

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24 November 2023

Currently, there is no follow-up on the work entrusted to contractors, and the maintenance staff is demobilized. The work given and performed by independent contractors paid through our rents is without quality control for the work carried out. Moreover, the building coordinators are never seen on-site, with very little direct contact with tenants, an abstract understanding, and inadequate comprehension of the concrete issues experienced in Block B. They do not conduct follow-ups, rarely assess the state of affairs, the progress of the work, or the final results, even though they coordinate these activities.

The Property Manager states that all contractors or workers assigned for a job have previously gone through control centers to verify their registration as official and compliant companies, meeting the competence and quality requirements of their work. They have all been checked and validated. Quality monitoring is ensured, but he explains that sometimes, due to the age of these buildings, unexpected issues may arise during the work, creating the impression that the job is poorly done. He takes note of complaints that coordinators are rarely seen on-site and lack contact, and he will investigate this issue to ensure improvement.

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24 November 2023

Unexpected work suddenly on the balcony of a tenant:

"Unexpected visit from the Property Manager, a plumber, and a contractor to assess necessary repairs on my balcony due to a water leak in the apartment below. No information is provided about the nature or exact date of these repairs. During the week of October 23, noisy work is carried out on the adjacent balcony with a suffocating toxic odor - no prior notice was given. On October 31, at 7:00 am, a contractor is on my balcony, and I am asked to remove my balcony furniture. Jackhammers start at 8:00 am without any prior notification. The coordinator calls me at 8:40 am to inform me about the work (!) and falsely claims to have notified me in advance. Suppliers (concrete) have mentioned that it's always like this, people are always surprised and frustrated to see them arrive, and they continue to ask the administration to notify tenants in advance, which it does not do."

The Property Manager takes full responsibility, admits to failing to inform us about this urgent and major repair. Acknowledges that he was wrong in this lapse and apologizes. He had not considered the noise nuisance that these works would entail.

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24 November 2023

We felt a desire for collaboration ,and observed communication efforts from our administration in the immediate aftermath of the submission of our petition, but the improvement has NOT been sustained. Many tenants complain about not receiving callbacks or messages, or receiving inadequate or confusing responses, without results. It creates a lot of unnecessary frustration.

Serious problems persist in terms of communication, both with tenants and with employees and suppliers. The administration MUST realize that it operates in the housing sector and has legal and moral obligations to the people who live here. It persists in acting with a mix of stubborn lack of responsiveness, and thoughtless haste.

Regional Director Contarini, during our first meeting (12.09.23), informed us that he would already require that every Friday, the coordinators send him, by email, a report of all communications and responses made to tenant requests. Since Regional Director Contarini was not present at our meeting today, it will be imperative, at our next meeting in a month, to discuss this again to assess whether these changes have indeed resulted in an improvement in communications and follow-ups.

The Property Manager takes this into account and only aims for improvement in communications. He says he is the first to suffer the consequences of these poor communications. Tenants are getting frustrated and angry, which seriously bothers him in his work. So, like all of us, he aims for improvement as soon as possible. He has changed the entire telephone system for all members of the administration to more efficient devices. Each employee now has a headset for better handling of phone exchanges. Unfortunately the problem is not technological: it is not caused by mishearing the sounds of the people speaking but not using active listening, empathy and a sense of urgency when discussing problems with the tenants.

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Next meeting

Monday 9th of September 2024 at 7 PM

In the hall of building C

(next to the stores)

Contact

Have a question? An incident, photo or opinion for the website? An exchange with the administration to share? Write to us at:

clr-rtc@googlegroups.com

Register with us here!

The Collective

Affected by the deterioration of the Rockhill Apartments in Montreal, some tenants began meeting in July 2023 to consider ways to address the situation.

From these meetings emerged the Rockhill Tenants Collective, a spontaneous group dedicated to upholding the rights of residents and the heritage value of this once upscale and avant-garde complex.