Belarmine, Stepaside

greengirl31

Hi All,
I'm thinking of buying a new appt in the Belfry in Belarmine in Stepaside.
I was just wondering from anyone that's bought in any of the earlier stages of the development like the plaza or parkview, has had any problems or issues and if so were they resolved. You hear so many horror storys of developers putting these complex's up so quick that they have all sorts of structural problems but by the time they come to light the developer has washed their hands of the place ...
I believe these were built by [EMAIL="c@atlethorn"]c@atlethorn[/EMAIL] construction who I believe have a fairly good reputation but does anyone have any first hand experiances??
thanks
A

edellc

my sister has been living there for just over a year now and as far as i know she had had no problems what so ever in relation to the structural integrity of the apartment, you can hardly hear the neighbours and amenities are starting to get going with the luas opening later this year, there is also a supermarket and great playground for the kids.
The area is serviced by the 47bus but you really would need a car her only major complaint is that its hard to get a phone signal (meteor) and you cant drink the tap water and when it snowed they got snowed in for days cars couldnt get up the hill but other that that she loves it there and i've never seen her happier

J-blk

I've been renting there for the last 2 years - it's a nice enough area and quiet but as the previous poster said, you'll need a car and it can be pretty dodgy getting out of the estate in the winter if it gets really bad again this year (there are two ways out - both uphill though).

Not sure I'd be too happy with the build quality overall though if I was buying instead of renting. I'm in an own door apartment that is right over a house - there are quite a few of these in the estate (and then there are aparment blocks like Parkview).

A few pros: GFCH, decent storage space (for a 2-bed), own door access, gets a lot of light in the bedrooms and living room (though this could be very different for other similar apartments), pretty decent sound insulation (compared to places I've lived in before), lots of parking spaces (unassigned).

And a few cons: there are some major cracks in the living room and one of the bathrooms, worse than just "settling cracks" - doesn't bother me as a tenant but would as an owner.

Water pump is extremely loud and this you can hear from apartment to apartment (seems to be the same pump used in all apartments around me) - so whenever someone takes a shower or flushes or whatever, you'll hear it. Could be a problem for really light sleepers.

Had a problem with a water leak from the ensuite shower too - water was leaking behind the wall because of a small gap in the pipe. Seemed to be built that way and needed an additional spacer installed, not sure if other similar apartments would have the same problem.

Not sure how much of this would apply to the apartments in the various blocks though.