Apartment in Grove Court, Blanchardstown

JackHeuston

Does anyone have any experience with this apartment building / area? I understand there were some issues a few years ago (because of the courthouse closing the main gates after a certain time, a prison might have been built there, etc...) but when I visited I didn't see anything too bad at all, the apartment looked very good too and the area seems safe.

AlanG

I know some people living there and they really like it. Safe, quiet and reasonably well built. With the fingal offices in the complex it is always kept well and there is security nearby. Not sure what you mean by the prison but presumably the courthouse has a few holding cells for use during the day. Certainly there is no prison in the area or plans for one.

JackHeuston

AlanG wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by the prison...

Maybe it was just some rumours, I've read of some residents being afraid of having a prison next to the courthouse, but this was back in 2008. Right now it doesn't really look like there would ever be one.

Thanks for your feedback! It's basically like I pictured it after my brief visit last weekend, I'm going to move in one of those apartments next month and I got some doubts last minute.

handlemaster

would op not buy a house in the area for the same price ?

January

That's assuming the op is buying...

JackHeuston

And I'm not buying Just renting, I found a nice deal and couldn't find anything better in the same area. Of course I would prefer a house, but the apartment is cheaper.

JackHeuston

Hi guys, I just wanted to update this thread after one year of living in Grove Court. Someone else may be interested in this before buying/renting a property.

I can't say too much about owning a property, but living there has been exceptionally great. I'm paying 950 € for a single bedroom apartment with small balcony towards the shopping centre, by the way. I think there are many different layouts as families live in there too, with 2+ kids each.

Security 24/7, is always present and will monitor every access to the site by cars and pedestrians in real-time, there are cameras from the entrance up to the apartments parking garage. No cameras in the inner court and in the apartments area in general. I found this a perfect balance of privacy and security, as people living and kids playing in the court won't be constantly monitored. Still, if anything happens they can check who entered and left the apartments area.

The management company is fairly decent. If anything major breaks, they'll repair it in a timely manner.

No antisocial behaviour by any of the residents, too. And the area in general always look very safe. Lots of families, only a few college students.

You want to go shopping in (one of?) Ireland's biggest shopping centre(s)? No need to use your car and get stuck in the awful traffic around the stores. Just leave it in your parking garage, take the lift and cross the street.

If you work nearby, traffic is not really a problem. I work in Dublin 8 and sometimes I take one hour to go to the office and back again. I think it's the only cons but I got used to it by now. With public transportation I think that you're going to take the same time. Getting out with your car on Saturdays and Sundays also might be an adventure, just make sure to learn the times when shoppers are coming en masse. On Saturdays they start from 10am with peaks of standing traffic at around noon. On Sundays cars start coming in from noon.

You will see armoured Garda trucks every now and then, probably driving people to the courthouse, but only if you stay at home on week days. I work Mon-Fri and I only know about it because one time I was working from home and had to go out for lunch. Same with people waiting outside the courthouse's doors. Never had an issue with them either.

I thought that living next to a courthouse would have been bad, but it's actually the cleanest, most well maintained, most polite and secure place I've lived so far in.

It sounds far from Dublin city centre, 10km that can be driven in 20-60 mins depending on traffic, but you won't have any reason to go to Dublin, since every kind of service will be around you. Maybe you can't go on a pub crawl as you would in the city centre, but that's alright to me.

cilim75

thanks for info JackHeuston, what about walls and noise level, can you hear your neighbors or the sound isolation is good in those apartments ?

JackHeuston

Hey there.

I didn't have any problems up until a month ago. I live at "ground" level, and I always had upstairs neighbours, but I think a new family moved upstairs lately and they are exceptionally noisy. I remember with the old one you wouldn't hear them walking and moving stuff around, while this one is very... special. I would say the ceiling is well insulated, but if your neighbours decide to be mad monkeys, even the best insulation won't save you from hearing some noise.

The outer walls between apartments are well insulated, it's impossible for me to tell someone's at home unless I hear them going in/out from the hallway. I also have the bedroom next to the staircase and the main door, and I can't hear anything. Unless, again, people decide to hit the handrail (which is connected to the floor, and you'll hear the vibration), or jump on the stairs, which happens very rarely at least in my building.

If you're considering buying or moving here, I'd suggest you don't choose an apartment at ground level though, unless they've put a decent flooring. The humidity coming up from underneath is insane. My landlord has some cheap laminated wood flooring, and it gets damper and mouldier day after day, with me not even mopping. I don't know how it is in the other apartments but check the floor if you're getting an apartment at ground level.

WhiteMan32

I've been renting an apartment in Grove Court for just over 10 years now.

Received letter during the week from property management co. announcing remedial works and repairs to the building's exterior over a 6-month period.... together with plans by the landlord to carry out various home improvements to the apartment during which I must vacate the property for a 3-4 week period by early September at the latest. While the letter does offer movement to a similar apartment within the complex that will already have been repaired/refurbished, unfortunately this comes with a monthly rental price increase of several hundred euro as part of a new minimal 12-month lease!!!

I presume other renters residing in Grove Court also received this same letter?

handlemaster

I assume this property is owned by a big property management company ?

I.e. REIT.

JackHeuston

I didn't receive any letter, but my apartment is privately owned by a single person and won't be going through any renovation (I think). Most of the apartments in my block are being worked on heavily though, not sure who owns them but it seems like they're all under the same owner. I took a peak when the workers were doing their thing in the two other apartments on my floor and they're basically re-doing everything starting from the ceiling, which was removed.

My guess is with the exterior panels being broken lots of water came in between walls and floors/ceilings? I have no idea, luckily my place looks fine other than the floor that seems to be not insulated at all.

handlemaster

Might be a fire safety issue also. If I were living there id make it my business to make sure all fire safety measures are in place with paper work to prove

JackHeuston

WhiteMan32 wrote: »

I've been renting an apartment in Grove Court for just over 10 years now.

Received letter during the week from property management co. announcing remedial works and repairs to the building's exterior over a 6-month period.... together with plans by the landlord to carry out various home improvements to the apartment during which I must vacate the property for a 3-4 week period by early September at the latest. While the letter does offer movement to a similar apartment within the complex that will already have been repaired/refurbished, unfortunately this comes with a monthly rental price increase of several hundred euro as part of a new minimal 12-month lease!!!

I presume other renters residing in Grove Court also received this same letter?

I hope you found something else. It's been five months now and I had to live with construction works on my doorstep from Monday to Saturday. That management company even let them set up an office in my building and workers are slamming the door shut every few seconds from 6am. On a morning of a few days ago, I woke up with workers on my balcony and nobody ever asked me permission or informed me of that. Stuff on my balcony disappeared and was damaged, plus the absolute scare of having people look at you as soon as you move from the bedroom to the living room in the morning. Management won't do anything about it. Not sure if my landlord is trying to push me out, as if I have another place to go. Surely he didn't show much interest about the whole situation and the fact that I'm still paying rent for an unliveable place. I've complained multiple times to both management and landlord.

If you found another place outside Grove Court I would say you're lucky, it's a living hell here and it'll go on until October. I started missing work and have to go to the GP taking time off and sick leave since all this started.

I wonder for how much they'll rent the apartments once they're all "renovated"? Surely twice what they were a few months ago?

They're really showing their true colours.

WhiteMan32

JackHeuston wrote: »

I hope you found something else. It's been five months now and I had to live with construction works on my doorstep from Monday to Saturday. That management company even let them set up an office in my building and workers are slamming the door shut every few seconds from 6am. On a morning of a few days ago, I woke up with workers on my balcony and nobody ever asked me permission or informed me of that. Stuff on my balcony disappeared and was damaged, plus the absolute scare of having people look at you as soon as you move from the bedroom to the living room in the morning. Management won't do anything about it. Not sure if my landlord is trying to push me out, as if I have another place to go. Surely he didn't show much interest about the whole situation and the fact that I'm still paying rent for an unliveable place. I've complained multiple times to both management and landlord.

If you found another place outside Grove Court I would say you're lucky, it's a living hell here and it'll go on until October. I started missing work and have to go to the GP taking time off and sick leave since all this started.

I wonder for how much they'll rent the apartments once they're all "renovated"? Surely twice what they were a few months ago?

They're really showing their true colours.

Sorry to hear about your recent experience there, of which has sadly affected your health & well-being. Sounds like quite a contrast when compared to before all the recent building repairs/refurbishment works commenced, when it was a relative quiet place to reside.

It would be wholly correct to say that I have been lucky - accommodation-wise - since just before all this started there back in April last. My surviving parent sadly passed away after Easter...and as part of the will, the property (located elsewhere in Dublin 15) that they resided at was left to myself. I naturally moved out of Grove Court and straight to there.

Although I know that rents have sky-rocketed over recent years, I hope you will manage to find some suitable alternative, if and when you have to move out of there.