Nightmare After The Deal Is Done!
Upon moving into my condo, built by Avi Urban, things seemed great! The finishes were nice, the upgrades were that of luxury apartments, and the building looked good both inside and out. But, once my warranty was out and the real issues started showing, things took a major turn for the worse. As I was seeing things on the property degrade, I decided it was time to join the condo board to really get a feel for what was going on. The first thought I had was “this is totally disappointing” and a sense of extreme upset towards Avi instantly formed. The list of problems that were identified with the building was pages and pages long. The risk to safety to the residents was even more disturbing.
Companies had to be brought in to assess the issues and determine what was missing and what each risk was, at a cost to the board and residents. This information was provided back to Avi, and the only response received was “we’ll pass this on to our team and look into it.” Days, weeks, and months have passed, and Avi has not returned any calls or emails. It seems once they got our money they washed their hands of the property and that was it.
Now, we still have the issues of resident safety as a priority to resolve and are still waiting on Avi to respond. These safety issues have also been identified as building code violations—which, according to provincial laws, states the builder is on the hook to solve this. That doesn’t seem to matter to Avi. They can’t seem bothered to respond to our management company or board. With instruction from our management company, we have tasked them to quote out the costs to fix these building safety issues. We cannot leave our residents at risk of potential disaster any longer. These costs should never have had to been absorbed by the residents and board, but with the lack of integrity on Avi’s part, we have no option. So BUYER BEWARE—Avi doesn’t seem to care that the people buying their properties are people too, and not just sales figures on reports and charts. We should be able to feel safe and secure in the residence we’ve purchased from them, but having these issues sitting in the back of my mind, it’s hard to feel anything but worry and be concerned that everyone is doing their part to live safely.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $300,000.00
- Company Response
As a company, we pride ourselves on delivering quality products and customer service to our homeowners, and we would like to address your grievance, if possible.
We strive to provide clarity and operate with transparency, so we would like to clear a few things up. Before we’re able to obtain occupancy permits and have residents moving in we (and any other builder) must meet strict City of Calgary requirements and receive official sign-off from the following City of Calgary Safety Codes Officers: Plumbing, Gas, Electrical, HVAC and additional inspections are performed from Calgary Fire Department at which point they sign-off on the Occupancy Sheet. Depending on the building permit, further inspection and sign-off is acquired from the Development Inspector and the City of Calgary Building Safety Codes Officer.
Inspections don’t stop there. We also require consultants from geotechnical, structural, mechanical, and electrical departments to issue Completion Certificates that get presented to our Architects, who will then issue an Overall Completion Certificate - all of these departments and officials review, and sign-off on projects. These regulations and protocols are in place to eliminate building code violations, and ultimately protect the customers and homeowners.With any multi-family development, it is essential that the property management companies ensure proper and regular maintenance of the building and its operating systems. This mitigates wear and tear and ensures the distribution systems are always functioning properly, which can dramatically reduce costs (eventually passed onto owners), and most importantly, maintain the safety of residents.
We’re sorry you have felt the need to reach out to us on a public review forum to have your concerns assessed. Our Avi Urban Customer Experience Specialist and warranty department holds your concerns to a high regard and would like to address them. Please reach out to our Customer Experience Specialist directly: Tara Lyseng at 403-536-7078 or tlyseng@homesbyavi.com.