The Albany

Affordable apartments with all utilities included except phone and internet. There is a small gym with dry Sauna. The management team is awesome and on top of any issyes that might pop up.

Best Landlord, Wendy is easy going, family orientated accommodating and lovely and her hubby is very friendly and handy. If possible l could go back but needed a 3 bedroom

I lived at The Albany for 3 years. The couple who manages the building do their best to keep the tenants safe. The apartments are very spacious, and reasonable priced, but very dated (1970s style) - plumbing issues; could do with modernization.

Despite what was said, I still have good memories with Wendy and Randy. They do their best with what they have. I just wish that the things said were not said. Everyone makes mistakes. For what it's really worth, I feel hurt. Really I do care and I'm going to do my best to be the best tenant. Wendy and Randy do care about their tenants and the building. I'm sorry that I spoke too much. I dont want to feel bad feelings. I want to do what's right and make people happy. I think Wendy and Randy want that too. I may look like a brown nose. I really do like them. That's why I have spent countless times conversing with both of them. Listening to what they say. I even got a pen this year, countless chocolate and candycanes, a thank you card, a new apartment, even got to see pictures of Las Vegas. There are people who have lived here for years. Wendy and Randy have helped them during times of need. I may be annoying. Isn't everyone annoying at some point. It was hard to take Wendy's stress about the building. I only feel that I want my safety. You know what , that does not have to do with Wendy or Randy. I think they are doing their best. I'm sorry for being bipolar. I dont do well with confrontation or conflict. I hope they have a safe trip.

4 Tips if you're going to live here: 1) DO NOT take Randy's word for anything. He says what he has to, and makes promises that his wife will not uphold. 2) When dealing with Wendy, ONLY ever correspond through writing. She likes to boast her 30 years running the building, and how she keeps to Tenant Landlord Advisory Board, but when I called her bluff and took my issues to the board, they disagreed with a lot of the "rules" and "common practices" she was telling me. BOTH Randy and Wendy Westgard are extremely untrustworthy, and rely on uninformed tenants. Approach with caution. 3) NEVER make a complaint against, or have one made against you, by a tenured tenant(5+ years or their daughter). I guarantee, regardless of who's in the wrong, you will be on the losing side. 4) Check the top of the cupboards before moving in. We went 10 months before we discovered BIRD FECES on the tops of our cupboards from previous tenants. Lay it down: Its an old apartment with old bones, but you can tell the husband/wife team have done as minimal as possible to keep it up to date(including safety codes, which Tenant Landlord Advisory Board advised me still have to be kept up to date between tenants). Wendy sends Randy to vet the prospects, and do all the walk through, essentially lulling you into believe you're dealing with an easy going gentleman. But she actually pre-signs the paper work, which, the Tenant Landlord Advisory Board advised me is wrong. He essentially has no power, other than to protect the tenants from herself. For a cheap apartment, I don't expect much. I've been around, I know what to expect in this city. But this is by far the worst experience I've had. The tenants I experienced were, by far and large, great people. Hardworking adults, just doing their thing. Unfortunately, my (tenured) neighbour thought it was ok to listen to heavy, bassy songs multiple nights during the work week between 10-12 at night. When I confronted him, he lied to my face and said it was the old lady upstairs, after I HEARD him turn his music off before he answered his door. When I approached the landlords about it, I was told "Oh! But he's been here for 15 years and is a really nice guy." And refused to take any action, even though they said they had had multiple complaints from the surrounding suites. From there on out, all our interactions were met with disdain and rudeness. Wendy has the people skills of a herd animal, opting to talk over her clients rather than actually listen. I overheard her talk over a gentleman, in her lobby office, whom had concerns about his wife's mobility issues in the building(let's ignore the fact that she didn't close the door to keep his privacy over such a sensitive issue). I discovered, very quickly, that she operates by verbal diarrhea, in the hopes that any issues you have, you will give up on, since you will not get a word in edgewise. And this isn't evn 1/2 of the issues that have arose.(We'll ignore the fact that they are currently withholding $800 damage deposit because THEY(their accountant) wrote out the cheque wrong, and both TD and CIBC refuse to cash it) For cheap, all inclusive rent, you can not go wrong with the building itself, and the majority of the tenants. But if you expect a certain level of professionalism, and fairness from your landlords, there are much cheaper and better managed wood structures near by. APPROACH WITH CAUTION. And definitely get to know your Tenancy Act and the guidelines set out by the T&L Board of Edmonton. Wendy will try to play on any perceived ignorance.

After living in this building for several months now some things are quite clear: 1. Managers essentially lied to me when i inquired about the building. They said its a nice cozy/quiet place to live and fully concrete when in fact its one of the loudest buildings i have ever lived in. This is amplified by the fact they seem to have construction going on every other week which you can hear from several units/floors away. Was told by manager that they book construction times from 9 am-5 pm weekdays so tenants are least disturbed as possible. I had the whole floor of the apartment above me be worked on from Saturday until Wednesday and some of the work was still going on well past the times given and when I asked the manager why this is going on during weekends until late evening the response i was given was "well it needs to be done" then hung up on me. 2. Have had 6 power outages some lasting several hours and its only been 6 months. I have also had no heat one time and the building itself has had multiple water leaks including one that happened to a unit above me that had leaked from the bathroom ceiling onto the floor and hallway overnight. 3. There has been multiple break-ins to vehicles on the property including my own vehicle twice which is in a locked parking garage. Thieves will smash windows like they did to my work vehicle. Managers do not seem concerned about this. 4. The building has a few good things going for it such as the onsite workout/rec room, the location and the rent which is a fair price. The units themselves also seem to be quite spacious and nice. Laundry only takes change which is a complete pain as most other buildings use laundry cards you can recharge with credit/debit. Overall i likely wont be resigning my lease here unless the situation improves.

If I could give this place less than 1 star, I would. You likely won’t meet the one landlord Wendy until after you’ve signed the lease agreement but you’ll soon find that she’s an extremely disagreeable person to interact with and you always will end up dealing with her and not her nice husband who you initially meet. Even the company that owns this building doesn’t like her. Noise complaints about a neighbour were met with such caring responses as “I hear nothing” and “he’s a long term tenant”. There are no lines painted in the visitor parking area so they can micromanage even more, threatening to tow visitor’s cars who have every right to be there because their whiny daughter’s view of a dirty alley is obstructed. It felt at times that their sole purpose was to make every tenant’s life as miserable as possible. There’s a long list of people who have had a terrible time living here and there’s constantly someone moving out. Please read and believe their reviews. I couldn’t recommend this place less. Until Wendy retires, I would stay far far away from this place if I were you. The building also has a problem with their plumbing and scalding hot water coming from the taps if you so much as lightly touch the faucet to adjust temperature. This makes showers not enjoyable at all. Laundry facilities are a joke. I often took sheets out of the wash with new dirt on them that wasn’t there before washing, so gross. This building needs some serious updates starting first and foremost with the awful management here. Stay away! Worst rental experience I have ever had.

Landlords overall were nice and fixed things quickly although not throughly. Notably once our sink was leaking so they came in and stopped the leak but switched the cold and hot taps. Another time they came to stop grey water from coming up our sink drain but only installed a sud stopper (useless against greywater). The building was warm until it hit-40 and no one bothered to turn on their heat so several pipes burst causing mass power outages. The landlords also requested us to hire a professional carpet cleaner ourselves within 3 days of our lease ending, at our own cost without seeing the condition of our carpet. If you want the carpets cleaned at the end of each lease, fine, but include the price in the rent, don't snake it from us last minute. Additionally this is illegal to do and you should dispute it. Finally, our home overall was cozy and quiet with nice water pressure and hot water. We especially enjoyed the size of our balcony. I wouldn't rent from Randy and Wendy due to the final hidden fee we encountered but the rest of our time at the Albany was fine.