eCentral Apartments

I've lived at eCentral for 3+ years and witnessed a rapid decline in what was marketed as a luxury living experience. This building does not deserve the "luxury" title, given the degradation in cleanliness, management quality, and most importantly, security. During our tenure, we've encountered countless incidents, underscoring a systemic failure to uphold the promised standards. We were repeatedly assured of improvements; however, those promises remained unfulfilled, revealing a harsh reality far removed from expectations. Security is virtually nonexistent. The building's open access allows anyone to enter unchallenged, posing significant safety risks. Our personal experience of a break-in by a homeless individual highlights the severity of the situation. This lax security is alarming, especially considering the building's location at one of the city's busiest intersections. The concierge service, particularly by an employee named Natalie, further detracts from the living experience. Her unprofessional demeanor and lack of responsiveness have left many wondering about her continued employment in a customer-facing role. Amal and Kevin - you deserve better. Issues extend to package security, with numerous instances of missing deliveries. Cleanliness is another major concern, with pet owners disregarding rules, leading to unsanitary conditions in common areas. Financially, the value for money is questionable. Paying over $4,000 a month in rent, only to face rent increases of 15-20% and sometimes MORE without justification, adds insult to injury. The building has effectively transitioned to a standard Toronto rental property, devoid of the promised luxury and exclusivity. It's disheartening to see potential tenants being misled about the property's true condition. RIOCAN and eCentral should embrace its reality as a conventional rental building. Prospective tenants deserve honesty, not a facade of luxury that no longer exists. Lastly, please do not say you value feedback, we have given countless forms of feedback throughout our tenure with little to no action.
Apr 4th, 2024

This is one of the worst buildings I have ever lived in. It is poorly run and managed, high staff and managerial turno ver (multiple new managers in the last few months), and a complete lack of care and consideration for their tenants. First and foremost, the design of the units are atrocious and the finishing are anything but quality, the units are so small with little to no counter space. The walls are thin and you will hear your neighbours as if they were inside your unit. During the pandemic they lowered rents to attract more tenants then hit us with a 15% increase in 2022 and a 20% increase in 2023 and when we asked them to be more flexible as we have been good tenants, they refused and said they legally werent required to follow the rent guidelines - within 2.5 years of living there our rent increased by over $600. It angered me whenever they have the RioCan and Rhapsody executives visiting as they all stand in the lobby in fancy suits giving you fake smiles, while actively showing they do not care about their tenants. While the events they host, which is appreciated and sometimes nice, they are poorly communicated. They have well over a thousand tenants and cap events at 40-50 people (or even less) or only get enough treats for a small amount of people. Most of the concierge are not welcoming, Amaal and Kevin are the only ones that acknowledge the tenants and are friendly to everyone, not just the ones theyre friends with. The maintenance staff are always so kind and welcoming, and they work really hard to maintain the building but its clear that more staff are needed to keep up with the volume of work. The leasing agents take literal weeks to respond to you and will make verbal promises that they dont intend to keep - only communicate with them in writing and never take their phone calls when raising issues. A tenant died by suicide and Rhapsody forced the staff, who were first on the scene of the incident, to work the ENTIRE day AND the following day and the only support the company offered was a helpline. No paid time off and didnt provide or cover any counselling services. Just greed. The elevators are constantly broken and tenants frequently get trapped inside them (for short periods of time). The pipes have burst several times leading to floods that break the elevators or destroy tenants units and the building takes no responsibility for their negligence of maintaining the pipes as the reasoning behind this problem. If you want to live in a building run by a company that puts profit over people, doles out gigantic 15-20% increases for tiny units, and have no sense of stability, this is the place for you. I have now lived in two buildings (22 John St and this one) managed by Rhapsody Property Management and I can honestly they are one of the most evil, greediest, and poorly run property management companies I have ever seen. All of the problems I listed for this building are exactly what I encountered in the other, even down to the broken elevators and rental increases. This company needs to be investigated for negligence. DO NOT live here - do not get tempted by their exciting offers of 2 months free and and free gift cards - they will lower the rent, offer these incentives, only to jack up the price once youre in there. There are better buildings in this area with, at the very least, rent control. I am so glad that we got out. I will never move into another building owned by RioCan and managed by Rhapsody again.
Apr 3rd, 2024

Overall an amazing residence and management is great (especially John and Kevin). John is a very versatile individual who keeps things real but also eloquent enough to get along with a multitude of different personalities and backgrounds. All in all it seems like ecentral know exactly what they are doing and who to hire. The future is bright for ecentral and guys like John and Kevin.
Mar 19th, 2024

DO NOT move in to this building. I lived in the building for two years and here is a summary of my experience: 1. The building floods continously. At least 4 big ones that affected several apartments, halls and elevators. They want to cut cost and never do the proper maintenance of the output pipe which causes backflow to the units. 2. They will give you a "good deal" using free month rents, discounts or gift cards to convince you to move in. When you have to renew your lease they'll hit you with outrageous rent increases. They increased my rent by 15% in 2022 and 20% end of 2023. I tried to ask them to consider my history of paying rent on time and high cost of living and ask them to consider to keep good tenants. They didn't care, this guy Jon mentioned that because the owner has to pay higher interest rates PM was asked to increase rents. Other tenants where hit with rent increases up to 40%! 3. The elevators are always broken, they make weird sounds and tenants get stuck inside all the time. I was worry about my safety all the time. It took them a week to fix the holding bar you see in the picture. They won't even care about the correct mechanical function of the elevators which I mentioned several times to staff. 4. A tenant committed suicide and jumped from the balcony. Not saying this is the owners fault but they managed the episode lacked sensitivity. They didn't offer any support or time off to the building staff. 5. The main entrance of the building always smells like dog pee, dogs pee in the halls and you can see it in the carpets. Because the garbage chute is always broken tenants are leaving garbage bags in the halls, not even in the disposal room of each floor. I had friends that lived in other floors and it's not a single floor issue, it happens in all the floors. This caused a roaches infestation - check other reviews for phtos . They did bring a pest management company to deal with it, I'll give them that. The Property Manager and the building owner RioCan can be summarized in one word: greed. I'm so glad I moved out!! I will never (or recommend for friend or family) rent again at any RioCan owned property :)
Apr 2nd, 2024

Dear Prospective Tenant, in many ways, 15 Roehampton is a good place to live. The location speaks for itself. Rhapsody provides reasonably good management. The concierge are friendly and helpful. And the building is relatively clean. So why only one star? Well, it all has to do with the frequent fire alarms. This morning (Feb. 2024) for example, at 4:48am an announcement came from the Toronto Fire Department telling us that they were investigating why the alarm was set off and to stay in our suites (as if we had somewhere else to go at 5am on a Sunday morning). A few minutes later, a second announcement said something about the second floor. Then, 15 minutes later, a third announcement informed us that it was a false alarm. I assure you that 100% of the 3000+ tenants were awake at this stage given the earsplitting 100+ decibel announcements. I can also assure you that all the tenants knew something else, i.e., that the alarm would be false. (Visions of the boy who cried "wolf"). How did we know this? Well, because it has happened so many times before. Four years ago after several false alarms - some in the wee hours - I contacted senior management at RioCan asking them to investigate the frequent false alarms and find a solution. Over the years, as the frequency of false alarms continued, I repeatedly asked them to fix the problem. So here we are, four years later and the false alarms continue. Lest you think, dear prospective tenant, that I am writing this review for your consideration, think again. Actually, I am writing it in the slim hope that senior management at RioCan will see this review and take action to solve this problem once and for all. In the meantime, before deciding to move in, please give due consideration to whether you value your sleep. Below is my review from a couple years ago. ******** It is with considerable reluctance that I award only one star to our home at 15 Roehampton. In many ways it is a good place to live. The problem with the elevators is probably unavoidable and temporary, although communication with residents with updates has been very insufficient. However, a bigger problem since I moved in two years ago is the frequent false fire alarms. Over a year ago, I wrote to Rhapsody complaining about the frequent ear-splitting alarms at all times of the day and night. The response was unsatisfactory, basically saying that the alarm was connected to 8 Eglinton through the parking garage and that nothing could be done. This morning again at 6am another ear-splitting false alarm with several unintelligible announcements at ear-splitting volume. Two weeks ago I wrote the CEO of Riocan and now senior management is apparently investigating. Two false alarms later, and I guess they are still investigating. I'm at wits' end. Do we have to withhold our rent to get the message across?
Feb 24th, 2024