Riverbank Apartments - Paramount Properties

NO STARS for this place that discriminates against people with disabilities. I wanted to move in a few years ago, but I was appalled by the lack of accessibility features. They promised me they would look into it, but they never did. I checked again recently and nothing has changed. This company is garbage for ignoring the basic needs of a large segment of the population. They should be ashamed of themselves for running such an exclusionary and unethical business.

Cockroches everywhere, pest control gave notice a day before the treatment so we had to take unplanned leaves causing to loose 100s of dollars. It usually happens once a month. Management has been rude and they fight back on everything.

I've been living here for almost 3 years. It's a good apartment! The lobby is clean and I feel safe living in the apartment. I don't hear my neighbours and management has been really friendly. The maintenance guys are lovely and always fix any problems I have in the unit the same day or the next day. It is an older building, so the bathtub, toilet and sink have gotten clogged a few times. The carpeting in the living room and bedroom is not preferable, but manageable with a good vacuum. I also like that it's also pet friendly! It's close to the grocery store and public transportation. Landsdowne place is about a 15 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride. It's also one of the cheaper buildings in the area when I was apartment hunting.

However, laundry is quite expensive at 2.50 a load, and they recently started charging to load the laundry card. It gets quite expensive per month.

When the rent increased, they kept charging me the same price and then told me I needed to pay the difference for the first 3 months that they didn't charge it. It was quite an expensive lump sum. It took them about another 4 months to actually start charging me the right price.

Very old building that requires constant repairs, dealing with management has got to be the biggest nightmare since they rarely fix any problem, Management are the worst they fight you back on everything

Overall annoying neighbors, infested with insects such as roaches and spiders, every few months they have a bedbug problem and you have to clear the unit for bedbug inspection

Flood happened in my apartment because my neighbors upstairs decided to leave their window open, and I had to deal with moving furniture and drying the carpet for weeks

This is a stress inducing apartment and I must say it’s not worth living here even though it saves money.
Looking to move anywhere away from this building.

This is a good apartment, nice location, friendly neighbors. It is happy to live here until I have to deal with the manager. When I saw this post I realized that I am not the only one who resents the perfunctory attitude and buck-passing of the manager.

Great building, reasonable rent. It's kept clean and tidy. It was nice and clean when we moved in, no bugs seen yet. The staff are extremely friendly and come make repairs very quickly. It's an older building but very well kept. I never hear my neighbours, and no smells coming from other apartments either. Would definitely recommend.

Apartment was filthy when I moved in last month. Property manager denied place was dirty and walked out in anger in middle of inspection. Had to call head management to get them to clean it, and it's still filthy after their cleaning, will have to hire professional cleaners to attempt to remove all the nasty grease stains, stuck on food, dirt in kitchen, filthy black dirt on ceilings, mold in bathroom, etc.

Updating my review:

Had a lot of work getting the place clean, but now am enjoying it here. Nice view, no insects, good location, friendly building staff.

Made deposit to move in, but they kept changing my apartment floor with different excuses every time in less than a month 3 changes. I got tired and requested a reimbursement of my deposit. They kept giving me excuses of why after over a month I haven’t received my checked.
Lack of professionalism

The property is full of dogs making the lift extremely dirty all the time. The laundry machines often have dog's fur. Very old property and has not been renovated since built. The walls inside is as thin as paper and often you can smell what your neighbor is cooking from your house.

If I could give zero star, I would. Worst service in the world, extremely not recommend to anyone for the sake of your mental and body health. Let me give you an example. When I first move in, the reception had no idea what he is doing, he orally asked if I want a parking spot, I said yes, there was no agreement for me to sign. After 1year later, after I have paid the parking fee every month on time, I got a ticket from them today, they refused to cancel that even I had explained everything (I got sticker and sign everything except the agreement), now I have to pay 85 dollars fine even though I have paid my parking spot already. It is unbelievable. It is stupid.

I’ve lived here a year now and have always had a great experience with management. Anything wrong with my apartment was fixed ASAP. My bathroom had a lot of Issues when I first moved in but the staff have fixed everything from leaky taps, to replacing the sink bowl, and re-tile the shower.

Other than it has recently been difficult to make contact with the office due to Covid-19 outbreak. (edit. They can now speak to you through a glass window, keeping everyone safe, wearing masks and still being really helpful with anything you need.)

In regards to reviews with the smoking tenants, if you contact the management they will issue a notice. The the tenant smoking. It is written in the lease that if it bothers other tenants you have to smoke outside. I have not had this issue myself but I often smell the food being cooked in the unit next to mine (smells amazing so I cant complain)

Other than that, the rent is affordable, the view on my floor is beautiful, bus stations and mall are close by for food and travel. The buildings location is great. And in my opinion any apartment can be made to look nice if you take some care in your living space.

(adding some photos to show a little what the rooms are like, only my bedroom, bathroom and the view for now.)

Apparently, this apartment is the worst in winter season because the heaters are very ineffective. So you’ll be walking in your house in a jacket. And the windows can’t stop the wind from entering your house.
Don’t live here if you can’t withstand winter

Rafael goes above and beyond to ensure tenants are happy, I have had numerous instances where Rafael would help me out no matter the situation. Thank you so much Rafael!

The office staff is excellent but the units are horrible. The manager, staff are very quick to respond and will help/fix anything immediately. The superintendent is an excellent man, very outgoing, nice and helpful. On the other hand, the walls are made out of spare tire plywood. You can hear normal conversations through the walls. Turn off your fan and t.v, and you can hear your neighbour tossing and turning in bed. End up in the wrong unit and you won't be sleeping. Indoor smokers will absolutely infiltrate your unit with the nasty smell. Always see regionex pest control trucks coming and going to deal with tenants bed bugs, roaches or springtails. Inconsiderate tenants slamming doors in the middle of the night, yelling in hallways, dog urine in elevators. Clearly out of the hands of office staff. It's not their fault nor can they do anything with those issues. Otherwise, thanks to Raf the superintendent and staff they were great. To bad the units and tenants are defective.

At my worst situation, this place offered my a shelter to live. Spent 4 years of youth here, and my old apartment still appeared in my dreams.
Easy access to 2 Uis, close to mall and the rent is not that much high.
Most importantly, the staff are very friendly. Never been stolen before.
Of course some facilities are quite old and the sound can easily go through your walls.
FYI, you do need to duel with the bug problems if you're living at a low level.

Currently (July 2018) the staff in this building are very good and the manger is professional and helpful. They are all friendly and in my opinion make a good team. My apartment was somewhat dated and in need of renovations. I was paying $1300 a month for a 2 bedroom. The flooring needed replacing in the kitchen, hall and bathroom as it was very old. A new bath was needed as mine was stained and looked horrible. The vanity units were old fashioned and needed replacing, particularly the doors which were in terrible condition. The bathroom cabinets were also old and the mirrors were marked with black spots. There are no ceiling lights in the bedrooms so be aware of that if it would be a problem. I also had to buy expensive light bulbs myself as management only allowed one in each light. If a light fitting requires 2 or 3 bulbs then put the correct amount of bulbs in for tenants instead of penny-pinching! All the windows were dirty outside and I was told that they are not cleaned so not sure what is going on there? The kitchen cupboards and drawers were horrible and in bad condition. The cupboards were chipped on the corners and one of the drawers had a hole in it. This building also allows smoking which is a massive problem for non-smoking tenants and a real nuisance. It's long overdue that ALL apartment buildings become NON smoking! Most rental apartments in Ontario allow pets and I personally don't agree with this. There are tenants in this building who are too lazy to pick up their dogs poo and when the snow thaws in spring the evidence is there to see. There is a LOT of poo on the grass verges at the back of the building in spring. I also noticed a lot of pee marks in the lift. The cleaner does a good job trying to keep the areas clean but of course it would better if like Manitoba, most apartment buildings are pet free. If you are going to live on the back of the building be aware of noise nuisance from Billings Bride Estate. It's mostly on weekends but some weekdays too. I believe they host private parties in the grounds and the music coming from there can be VERY loud at times and really annoying, I could still hear it with my windows closed and with ear plugs in. I'm not sure how they are allowed to do this in a residential area but that's how it is. I would also like to add that the windows can be dangerous as they are low and slide all the way open so do make sure they are safe for children. Some of mine were not. The water pressure is high in this building so that is definitely a positive. The building also has a small indoor swimming pool which is a nice extra and is warm too. It's also close to the Rideau bike pathway and a 30 minute walk from Lansdowne. There is no longer a Post Office at Billings Bridge and for me that was inconvenient. I didn't like Billings Bridge and found it too busy with both traffic and people. I also found it somewhat neglected and untidy. There is also a lot of social housing in this area. Billings Bridge is on the transit way which is convenient. I'm not sure if $1300 a month would get you a better apartment but I know renting is expensive in Ottawa. I only spent 10 months there I as didn't like living in Ottawa.