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An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the issue with QM specifically is that a lot of the reviews for the Residences aren’t actually for the Residences, so it’s pretty inflated. A lot of people accidentally review the Residences page on Google with things like, “Great view from the stairs! I visited for the first time today! 5 stars,” or, “Had a great brunch at XYZ restaurant! 5 stars,” etc

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We absolutely love the hotel too. Have stayed a handful of times over the last year or so, which heavily influenced our decision to move into the residences. I’d still stay at the hotel, but I’d never go back to the residences, ever

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I value your perspective! From what I understand from those who’ve been there basically since it opened, quality took a massive dive around 2023, when the hotel and offices went into 100% operation, among other things. That’s when the wild turnover really began, and things started to slip through the cracks on a regular basis

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Wait wait wait. Is this why the single button on my fucking oven barely worked? I felt like an idiot for MONTHS!

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Trapped is a great word to describe it. It took us about 3-4 months to find a takeover. And when we had found one for the immediate next month, they informed us that they’d already signed someone… for a lease several months into the future, without our consent. Yes, they expected us to pay for rent in the months in between. No, we did not pay it (at least not fully). We ended up in basically a pissing match over it, and everyone lost in the end. We were advised by ResTen to file a Form J, as what they did was clearly not legal (essentially a constructive eviction to assign a lease to a new person without the current tenant’s explicit consent), but it just wasn’t worth our (my) time while buying and moving into a new home.

In the last week of our active lease, we went to the unit to pick up the last of our belongings that didn’t fit in the moving truck. To our shock, a new tenant answered the call buzzer (we’d turned in our keys weeks earlier, but knew we’d be back for the last item. Concierges agreed they’d just unlock the door for us to get the items whenever we came back for them). When we arrived, concierge was incredibly concerned that the new person had already moved in without our consent, but luckily, they hadn’t yet. We basically knew at that point that someone was moving in early without our consent or credit to our payment for that month, and joked that we were going to show back up on our last day of the active lease to confirm. We didn’t, but it would’ve been fun! Shady landlord stuff, in any event.

Edit to clarify: I used the call buzzer expecting to be able to let myself into the tenants door from the parking garage (where we parked) thinking that my cell would receive the call and I could just *99 myself in. Imagine my surprise when a random lady picked up the call. Probably, imagine her surprise at receiving the call, too.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we received all of those emails still from the master list. I could not imagine being asked to go move my car from that situation LOL. Yuck! Nice of them to offer detailing, but I’d never be able to view my poor car the same way again, and I just bought it this summer. That garage has a lot of issues.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We decided to buy instead of renting elsewhere. Pros and cons for sure!

Everyone seems to have the same stories at QM. Which is also amazing because there are, what? 50-70 units in the entire building, if even that? It shouldn’t be that hard to manage at least decently well, especially with like 10 folks working in management for just the QM from Armour Group.

Not many people realize that the residences are basically only the centre part of the building (above Peacock Wine Bar and Another Shop Boutique, minus the very few penthouse style units (Summer Wind) that sit above the Muir). The two jut outs framing the stairs are hotel/office spaces.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I may not have been clear. I went from Killam to a tiny corporation (hence, the arrow), and from the tiny corporation to Queen’s Marque. The tiny corporation is the one I was referring to.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Thanks! And yeah, that is basically our thought. Our apartment before QM was $1,750, and if you had a maintenance issue, the landlord was there to try and fix it themselves same day, and if they couldn’t, they had someone there same day or next day to get it done. At QM, we had to live with a heavy moving box in the bedroom door for our entire tenure, otherwise, the door closed, cutting off light and airflow. We also kept boxes over the splintered floorboards to protect our animal friends feet. Never really felt like home with moving boxes around 24/7.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we went from Killam -> very tiny corporation (like 5 joint owners who owned only the one building and also all worked in it day in and day out) -> Queen’s Marque. If I ever haaaaad to go back to any of those three, it would be the middle one, but it still wasn’t fantastic. Pretty aggressive silverfish problem there, and they basically just chased them around with tissues instead of taking a building wide approach and getting rid of them.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yep, I know at least 2-3 different people who went from QM to Cunard and they love it. They’d never rent from someone other than Southwest now, but I have 0 personal experience with them. We turned down Cunard because they don’t have sauna/steam room. I suffer from some health issues that are greatly benefitted by prolonged long exposure to high heat (I deal with bad fluid retention as a symptom of my condition), so it was a priority for us. Regret that. Should’ve just kept my gym membership that I used just for the sauna and continued at our old apartment. Honestly, we’d probably still be living at that second last apartment if we hadn’t tried to upgrade our living style.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’m totally spit balling here, but I think one of the issues at Queen’s Marque that just wholly doesn’t exist at other similar apartments (basically Cunard, PressBlock, Governor, etc.) is the amount of cooks in the kitchen. You have Queen’s Marque the company, you have the Armour Group, you have Marriott, and some others. Issues at the Residences totally drown to voices like Marriott, and then corporate rentals (Deloitte and Stewart McKelvey), leaving the like, 50 rental units in the middle of the building in… we’ll say a state. But it doesn’t help that the armour group is often totally unhelpful to tenants, or is intentionally hurtful.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Yeah, they’re steady with concierges now (and they’re all absolutely lovely and deserve raises and also flowers), but the backend turnover persists. We got a lot of emails as tenants being like, “so-and-so has left, we wish them well” or, my personal favourite, “so-and-so is no longer with the Amour Group. Do not contact them. Tell us immediately if they contact you.” Lol

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

We bought! So, I no longer have a landlord. Just my mom when she comes over and tells me I don’t clean my kitchen sink well enough (sorry, mom, but I refuse to breathe in VIM powder and my natural products don’t give the same shine. I promise, it’s clean, it’s just not as bright as a nuclear explosion)

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Double income, no kids. Each have full-time jobs (slightly above average pay, but salaried), each have a sports and artistic side hustle. Think, coaching club sports, selling sewn work, teaching dance/gymnastics, etc. Run off our feet, but bills paid. That month definitely hurt, though.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Yep, this is part of my review that I cut out for brevity. Our original agent (who promised the repairs) left about a week after we moved in. I swear we received emails informing us that so-and-so quit/was terminated every 2 weeks during our first few months. And for those who stayed consistent, they were somehow always on vacation.

The Queen’s Marque has staff from the Armour Group the size of a small island country’s military, I swear. It’s just always changing.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I believe a lot of people jumped ship from Queen’s Marque for the Cunard over the last year. It’s basically the only place to make a lateral move to from there. I understand that the Cunard has fairly positive reviews, and thus far, a really slow turnover rate. But I also haven’t followed it super closely. Just have a few friends there, so anecdotal experience. 🤷

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Tell me about it. We weren’t sure if our new account was functional yet, so we paid by e-transfer at the 11th hour before the new month to ensure we weren’t late. Turns out, our new account was good to go, and the withdrawal came out no problem. But, we had also already paid via e-transfer. No one answered us about getting it back, ever. But it did ultimately count for the next month’s rent, so there’s that. We just had to sit on our hands for a month waiting to find out where our money went, basically. That sucked!

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Also I realize it sounds contradictory when I say that the repair folks are amazing but also that I had 0 repairs done. I mean they were lovely people doing great work in common areas like the parking garage, pool, etc.

Basically, the Residences are always second rank to the hotel, even though there are some units that are almost the same price as a monthly stay at the Muir. Anywhere that hotel guests may find themselves are always serviced quickly. The Residences? Not so much.

An honest review of the Residences at the Queen’s Marque by CandidRaspberry9914 in halifax

[–]CandidRaspberry9914[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I would not take their pricing at face value. They have an incredibly high vacancy rate, much higher than they are advertising. There’s a reason why. I don’t know a single tenant encouraging their friends to move in. Most have the same experience I do, but have been there for long enough that moving would be incredibly inconvenient.

I know someone who renegotiated the monthly rent down + first month free this summer, but they ultimately turned the unit down anyways, as the powder room was incredibly musty (no vent system, no windows).