Grand Central Apartments Letterkenny BEWARE!!

aaahhh

Im starting this tread to try and help people from getting ripped off by staying in grand central in Letterkenny.
I had such a bad experience living in grand central that i dont want other people to go through what i went through. At first the apartments look nice and appealing but dont let that fool you. first of all there is a really bad mould problem, the manager (m mc g) tells you that you have to leave the windows opened all the time to prevent getting mould even in the winter when it is freezing and the heating costs a bomb so you dont want to sit in the freezing cold with the windows opened. secondly you get "free broadband" which doesnt work most of the time and there is a limit per person and if you go over you will have to pay for it BIG TIME!! the manager walks into your apartment without notice whenever he feels like which IS a total invasion of privacy its horrible!! getting your deposit back is a NIGHTMARE, dont expect it all back even if you left the apartment the same or in a even better condition than when you moved in he will still looks for ways to keep your money! i cleaned the place like mad when i was moving out but appartently he "had" to get cleaners in to clean the apartment after i left which came out of my deposit along with other things that should have came out of my deposit like rent he said i didnt pay which i did, fine for not handing my keys back in time even though he didnt tell me when i had to leave the keys back....he will eventually screw you over!! im not the only person who had a bad experience in grand central apartments i know of a lot of people who went through the same things as i did! if anyone else would like to share there experience please do, its too late for us to get our money back but we could help prevent others from getting messed around by the manager (m mc g) who has no respect for anyone.:mad:

RoyalMarine

ok, first off... please use paragraph's!

aaahhh wrote: »

Im starting this tread to try and help people from getting ripped off by staying in grand central in Letterkenny.
I had such a bad experience living in grand central that i dont want other people to go through what i went through. At first the apartments look nice and appealing but dont let that fool you.

aaahhh wrote: »

first of all there is a really bad mould problem, the manager (m mc g) tells you that you have to leave the windows opened all the time to prevent getting mould even in the winter when it is freezing and the heating costs a bomb so you dont want to sit in the freezing cold with the windows opened.

If the apartments are in that bad a state with mould then he needs to sort it out.
as far is im aware, the owners of that building block are PRTB registered.
Ignoring mold is a big no no.
contact the prtb and report it.
http://public.prtb.ie/

mold can lead to health issues.

aaahhh wrote: »

secondly you get "free broadband" which doesnt work most of the time and there is a limit per person and if you go over you will have to pay for it BIG TIME!!

did you sign a contract at all in which the extra charges were clearly outlined?
were you told of a fair use policy and informed of how much you are allowed to download/upload?
if yes, then im afraid its your own fault for going over the limit's.
if not, then i would be seeking a full refund for these charges as they were not given to you.

aaahhh wrote: »

the manager walks into your apartment without notice whenever he feels like which IS a total invasion of privacy its horrible!!

landlords cannot enter the property at any time without seeking your permission. This is the case even where their right to enter the property at any time is stated in your lease.

this is the law. The landlord has to give notice of an inspection or if he does call un-expected, he is required to knock and ask permission to enter.

aaahhh wrote: »

getting your deposit back is a NIGHTMARE, dont expect it all back even if you left the apartment the same or in a even better condition than when you moved in he will still looks for ways to keep your money! i cleaned the place like mad when i was moving out but appartently he "had" to get cleaners in to clean the apartment after i left which came out of my deposit

most apartment block owners will hire a cleaning company to come in once students move out. they charge a set rate.
when you moved in did you make a list or take photo's of the place?
when you moved out did you call the landlord around and show him the condition of the apartment?

this is what i did when i moved out of my student apartment. it helped a lot as when the landlord viewed the apartment after i cleaned it, i got him to sign a letter saying the apartment was in a satisfactory condition and no further charge will be taken.

aaahhh wrote: »

along with other things that should have came out of my deposit like rent he said i didnt pay which i did, fine for not handing my keys back in time even though he didnt tell me when i had to leave the keys back....he will eventually screw you over!!

was there a return time stated in the lease/contract in small print?

if yes, then you didnt return them on time.

if no, then i would be looking for a full refund of that fine.
he has no right to fine you for something he never informed you about.
thats against the law, and you should have refused to pay it.
since he took it from your deposit, i would contact the PRTB and report that too.

aaahhh wrote: »

im not the only person who had a bad experience in grand central apartments i know of a lot of people who went through the same things as i did! if anyone else would like to share there experience please do, its too late for us to get our money back but we could help prevent others from getting messed around by the manager (m mc g) who has no respect for anyone.:mad:

in all honesty it sounds like a good place until you move in and the problems start happening. as a student, its hard to find a new place to live and relocate due to deposit's etc.

Lesson learned, be more careful in the future.


im going to leave this thread open, but i warn everyone, if this starts to turn nasty i will lock the thread and ban's will be issued.

Farls

Are these the pink appartments in the middle of the town? Because I stayed in these years back and had the EXACT same problem with the kellys that own them. And from talking to people that have since stayed there nothing has changed.

The mould was unbelievable and they tried to convince us it was our fault!!

Rip of merchants, one good thing about the recession is it has hit these type of people HARD.

Buttercup18

nah theses are the new apartments beside the new dunnes there only 3 years old.. i live in them and have done for the past 2 years and to be honest iv had no problems with either the landlord, deposits or mould!! think u might have just been unlucky!

Chickah

I live in them too, there is a bit of mould on the inside of the external wall, nothing drastic though, can't say I've had any other problems, be happier if the broadband was a bit quicker but other than that no complaints!:)

me mee

aaahhh wrote: »

Im starting this tread to try and help people from getting ripped off by staying in grand central in Letterkenny.
I had such a bad experience living in grand central that i dont want other people to go through what i went through. At first the apartments look nice and appealing but dont let that fool you. first of all there is a really bad mould problem, the manager (m mc g) tells you that you have to leave the windows opened all the time to prevent getting mould even in the winter when it is freezing and the heating costs a bomb so you dont want to sit in the freezing cold with the windows opened. secondly you get "free broadband" which doesnt work most of the time and there is a limit per person and if you go over you will have to pay for it BIG TIME!! the manager walks into your apartment without notice whenever he feels like which IS a total invasion of privacy its horrible!! getting your deposit back is a NIGHTMARE, dont expect it all back even if you left the apartment the same or in a even better condition than when you moved in he will still looks for ways to keep your money! i cleaned the place like mad when i was moving out but appartently he "had" to get cleaners in to clean the apartment after i left which came out of my deposit along with other things that should have came out of my deposit like rent he said i didnt pay which i did, fine for not handing my keys back in time even though he didnt tell me when i had to leave the keys back....he will eventually screw you over!! im not the only person who had a bad experience in grand central apartments i know of a lot of people who went through the same things as i did! if anyone else would like to share there experience please do, its too late for us to get our money back but we could help prevent others from getting messed around by the manager (m mc g) who has no respect for anyone.:mad:

Hi. I also stayed in grandc apartments. I moved in when they were brand-new flats and stayed there around 2 half years.
I did have problem with mould the first winter i was there and mentioned to the manager at the time which wasn’t m mcg.
He said that i need to open my windows more often which i then started to do. I do admit that i didn’t open the windows at all during the winter months due to it being very cold outside even though i would be out at collage from 9am to 5pm most days. I did read up on causes’ of mould and found that there are 2 possible ways of it occurring. Either coming from outside rain penetrating the walls which wud show up as an isolated mould spot or if the moisture content of the air inside was so high. (dew point) how much water can the air actually hold before forming into to its liquid form. This was the problem i found. As soon as i cleaned the mould from the walls i opened the windows more often. I.e. while i was out at collage the windows were open and i closed them when i came back from collage and turned on the heating, the mould never returned again.
Its like this, why do u open ur windows in the summer? To let fresh air into the buildings so the walls can breathe...well do u not think the walls need fresh air during the winter as well? Of course they do.
A new manager did start while i was still in grandc. He always informed me when he would require access to my apt to test the smoke detectors which was done about 2 times during the collage year sept to may. I received a letter saying when he would come to the aapt and if the day and time did not suit to let him know. He would also as u probably know inspect the apts which a letter wud be sent about him doing so.
I did have one or two issues witn the new manager. I would like to give u a call to see if u had same if u didn’t say already. What ur email ?

lineker

that last comment seems very fishy first post and everything, i'm guessing its someone to do with the management, he probably wants your email so he can check it against facebook, or some internal contacts book from when you lived there. I also stayed here nice place though, m mcgee can be a bit too picky and slow in giving out the deposit, but it like this if he waited as long as us to get his rent money from us he'd have thrown us out long ago.

me mee

lineker wrote: »

that last comment seems very fishy first post and everything, i'm guessing its someone to do with the management, he probably wants your email so he can check it against facebook, or some internal contacts book from when you lived there. I also stayed here nice place though, m mcgee can be a bit too picky and slow in giving out the deposit, but it like this if he waited as long as us to get his rent money from us he'd have thrown us out long ago.

Calm down gary Liniker...im def not the management and nothing to do with the managmen thank god.
I lived there 2 and half years and no the procedure as everyone who stayed there wud.
I had problems getting back my deposit too and had penanlty givin to me for some noise a few nghts which i think was harsh. We were only students with no money and trying to enjoy collage life.
And your right, he was far to picky. The apt had to be very clean

aaahhh

Your right lineker that post did seem a bit fishy, now that a new student year is starting it might be management trying to make the place seem better! Im sorry me mee i am not willing to give out my email address to a stranger on a forum so that you can call me.....to be honest that freaked me out a bit!! like you could just ask me here unless u are trying to find out who i am!

I did open the windows to try and get rid of the mould but that shouldnt be neccessary when ur sitting in a cold flat which is too expensive to use the heating the last thing i want to do is open a window to let more coldness in like i didnt have to do that in any other flat/house i lived in!

i got fines for letting a firm alarm off in the apartment when i was cooking and the alarm was right above the cooker and it wasnt even a smoke alarm it was a heat alarm and i was using the oven and the hob so it wasnt my fault that the kitchen became too warm above the cooker!

you must have been lucky that you got notice before he entered you flat because i didnt. when there was an inspection i got a notice but many other times he use to just walk in at his own pleasure and me and my flat mate use to lay out wee traps like putting stuff behind the door and if they were moved we knew he was in and once or twice we came back and the door wasnt even locked and we def always locked the door so we know for a fact that he use to just walk in without notice.

me mee

aaahhh wrote: »

Your right lineker that post did seem a bit fishy, now that a new student year is starting it might be management trying to make the place seem better! Im sorry me mee i am not willing to give out my email address to a stranger on a forum so that you can call me.....to be honest that freaked me out a bit!! like you could just ask me here unless u are trying to find out who i am!

I did open the windows to try and get rid of the mould but that shouldnt be neccessary when ur sitting in a cold flat which is too expensive to use the heating the last thing i want to do is open a window to let more coldness in like i didnt have to do that in any other flat/house i lived in!

i got fines for letting a firm alarm off in the apartment when i was cooking and the alarm was right above the cooker and it wasnt even a smoke alarm it was a heat alarm and i was using the oven and the hob so it wasnt my fault that the kitchen became too warm above the cooker!

you must have been lucky that you got notice before he entered you flat because i didnt. when there was an inspection i got a notice but many other times he use to just walk in at his own pleasure and me and my flat mate use to lay out wee traps like putting stuff behind the door and if they were moved we knew he was in and once or twice we came back and the door wasnt even locked and we def always locked the door so we know for a fact that he use to just walk in without notice.

yas all need take a chill pill lads. yas are all paranoid...chill
the fire alarm went of in my apt too but i never paid it. No way i was going to pay for that. Money was tight enuf to pay the high rents.
The manager is still the same and still at the same **** as when i was there, so that wont change. I no 2 people who move in last year and they didn’t get back most of there dep.
Im not sure what u have to do to get all of ur dep back?

In relation to the windows.....im sure u wernt sitting in your apt 24 hrs per day? How often did u open ur wind? I wud open mine from 9 until i came back from caollage so had no prob with mould after that.

lineker

Yeah wouldnt stay there if I had to now, the manager does really take the piss, don't know why he still has his job...... if he was fair with people thats all that would be needed..... Those flats behind mcginley motors seem nice! Dont know the name though??

Chickah

Yes I completely take back my last post, it is most definitely a case of
"Beware". I didn't see that side until around christmas time.

Mould problem is completely out of hand, there should be adequate ventilation to combat it without the need for opening windows in the depths of winter, and he also sent letters out insisting that tenants clean the mould off and that he'd charge for painting if the mould marked the walls. He needs to brush up on his tenants rights because the mould is officially the landlord/ management agency's problem.

Bills are ridiculous, absolute daylight robbery.

He shows up unannounced, if your slow to answer the door he'll just let himself in and forget about the deposit because regardless of whether you've been the model tenant or not he'll still come up with reasons to keep at least half of it! :mad:

Farls

What is this guys name? you can PM if you want to keep it off boards. I'm just really interested to know if anything to do with the Kelly's that own the pink apartments because the problems are the EXACT same.

The Outside Agency

maybe not relevant but... anyone living in letterkenny long enough will tell you most of the land in proximity of the river swilly was swampland before any construction was done on it....

if the building is badly insulated, you will likely see more mould around it.

there are some large buildings in that area which suffer from mould problems, especially the groundfloor apartments in riverside/westside..

it was so bad in one of them that a tenant ended up in hospital with a bad infection.

during the boom, a lot of poorly constructed buildings went up and it's only after 5-10 years you begin to notice.

annaj

lineker wrote: »

Yeah wouldnt stay there if I had to now, the manager does really take the piss, don't know why he still has his job...... if he was fair with people thats all that would be needed..... Those flats behind mcginley motors seem nice! Dont know the name though??

Glenveagh Court apartments, I lived there, there are some apartments with mold problems as well , but not all of them.

Lily086

Oh my God people, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM the Grand Central Apartments!!

<snip>

I would rather live under the bridge than in GC.. Please, no matter what, find another place to live in but avoid this place...

Simply giving everyone heads up...

Mod note; Please refrain from naming and making possibly liable comments.

Zapperzy

I have stayed here and never had a problem. No mould, place was pretty warm even with minimal heating, landlord always knocked or gave notice before entering, can't think of any problems I had. The internet was a bit slow at peak times and went down quite a lot and had a pretty crap download limit but I had a backup stick to use anyways. It's a b1tch to clean when moving out though but I got my full deposit back.
Really can't see what all the fuss is about, they're some of the nicest apartments I'v see for the price and I done a fair bit of looking beforehand and seen some utter dives.

MICKDX1

There is a mould problem with some apartments,as an other post said most of the same area was swamp land,my gf wont even stay here,you cant be opening windows in the middle of winter that does not make any sense,cooking in a confined space and drying clothes on a clothes horse just adds to the problem,I think im getting a lung infection from all this bad enviroment,problems with landlord same as above,best to avoid this place,otherwise get your own contract drawn up,pay all the bills yourself direct,gas-electric.Im going back to a House!

chris07

Jus an update to let yas know avoid this place like the plague. Saw this thread last year after I moved in and thought it was jus someone who had partied all year and understandably got a hard time with deposits and building manager letting himself in to break up parties. Well I was mistaken he jus lets himself into any apt wether your partyin or not. Total breach of contract and privacy. Mould is a joke. Heatings a disaster heats up very quick but obviously terribly insulated as once its off its straight back to cold within 10 minutes.lovely looking apts but god the hassle is just not worth it. I wouldnt mind but i got my deposit back so its not like I was done out of money and am having a go i would jus like to let others know what there getting into. the manager comes across completely sound at start and then slowly turns into a headwreck who (now think about this) jus lets himself into ur apt Wether ur there or not. Which is just outrageous. Just avoid unless your completely fine with a stranger comin into your apt and doing god knows what when you're not there. Oh and 'free wifi' is a joke. 200 mb per day limit. To Put that Into perpective for ya a 3.5 minute video on youtube is around 50 mb give or take. After 200 mb ya have to pay through the nose for more. raylight dobbery rant over.

Kilgore__Trout

I stayed in GC apartments for a short while. While they do look nice, they really aren't good to live in during the cold months. Within 30 minutes of turning off the heat, the place is back to being very cold. I think we were charged over 30 Eur (ludicrous when you can rent from 40) a week for heat too, even though we didn't use it all that much.

Can't say had any problems with the manager walking in, although we were only there a short time. If he is doing that, he should stop. People don't pay rent so a stranger can barge in on them whenever it suits.

RedFormanFITA

I stayed at Grand Central aswell back in 2011. I was there a year and right from the get go the manager was terrible (I'm using very polite words here just in case you're wondering). He rushed from apartment to apartment showing them to me, he wouldn't use the lift at all. He insisted I pay my esb and gas bills through the management company BIG MISTAKE. Do not let a manager or landlord do that, take charge of paying your own bills.

He was never in his office when I needed to see him about anything, but I had to either wait in my apartment or outside his locked office if he had to talk to me about something. He has more rules and regulations up on the walls about what will happen to you (financially) if you step out of line, but rules and regulations regarding his behaviour are non existent.

Both he and the 'repair man' (joke) just let themselves in even if you are in bed, in the shower, in the jacks, the first thing you hear is someone turning a key in the door. Bad enough when you are a man, but what about when you are a woman, or a woman who has a young child or baby with her.

Apartment are freezing the moment you turn off the heat, bills are sky high and he (the manager) wants you to act as a snoop on people living either side of you. If they play music or make any noise, it's your problem, he doesn't want to know. The computer system in his office (another joke) went down during my stay there and he had to change over to a manual system, oh jesus what a nightmare that was.

The bottom line with GC is, AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

JohnGrace2007

All changed in GC Now
New Managment Team in Place
Repair Works on Building Defects On going

LkDlIrl

JohnGrace2007 wrote: »

All changed in GC Now
New Managment Team in Place
Repair Works on Building Defects On going

Under new management? Complete lie! Still the same building manager from 4-5 years ago. Not even going to get into complaints really, just read the thread above; mould is insane, building manager starts off lovely turns nasty, 'free broadband', utilities are daylight robbery, building manager NEVER in office, families with young kids living in the 'student accommodation' building, forget about your deposit and expect bills to come out of nowhere.

Just a warning from someone who's never had a problem with a landlord in 4+ years of renting. It's not worth the stress and upset put upon you by the building manager (who doesn't have a clue how to run a building).

AVOID AVOID AVOID

ajaymaity

Hey folks,

Been reading over the thread. I have a potential offer for renting an apartment at Grand Central and was wondering if I should take it. I have been reading the comments here and they seem really horrific and also quite old now (more than 5 years - first post is more than 10 years old). I was wondering how is the situation now? Are there any current tenants who can give me an idea about the current management? Is it still a ripoff? Do the landlords still enter your apartment without permission? Any advice about the current state is helpful.

Thanks,
Ajay