Guardian Real Estate Management Inc. - Sarnia, Ontario

Pooja

I would advise potential renters to be very cautious. My group and I had a deeply frustrating experience with this company while applying for one of their properties on Somerset Crescent.

We submitted a complete and official application package with an extensive amount of personal and financial information—far more than is standard. This included not only pay stubs but also full bank statements and credit reports for all applicants. We provided every piece of documentation they could possibly need to vet us as serious, qualified tenants.

After all this, we were told we had to restart the entire process and resubmit everything on a different form, simply because their main employee is on vacation and there was no internal system to handle his files.

What's most concerning is their demand for all of this highly sensitive financial data upfront, before even offering a viewing of the property. They expect you to waste your time providing everything, with no guarantee you'll even like the house in person.

The process felt disorganized and disrespectful of our time and privacy. If this is how they handle the application, I can only imagine the issues tenants must face. We will not be proceeding.

Darcey S.

I recently used Guardian Handyman Services and was very impressed by their professionalism and integrity. The communication to schedule the service was smooth and they were able to work within my time frame. I am overall happy to have found this handyman service and will use their services again.

David W.

I've been renting commercial property downtown with GREM for nearly 10 years and on the few instances something needed attention (hot water tank not working, furnace not working, minor flood) their reactions were lightning quick. They provide an after hours emergency line to call and they always respond quickly. I'm a pretty demanding guy and call a spade a spade, and I RARELY write reviews, but after another positive interaction with GREM I thought I would take a few mins to write this.

Ben

I had Guardian manage my property for over two years, and my overall experience as a landlord was unsatisfactory. They were consistently difficult and costly to work with, and I wouldn’t recommend their services.

Virginia P.

My son stayed at Execurooms Sarnia while on a 4 month University Co-op placement. The building was clean and safe. The staffed cleaned and changed his linens weekly, had laundry facilities on site. Although the rooms are small the building location provides lots of opportunities to be outside exploring the downtown and water front.

Charlene S.

This company is horrific to deal with. After 8 years of renting a beautiful unit with GREM, there has been sharp decline in their customer support or responsiveness. Unfortunately, GREM operates under the assumption that their average tenant isn't proficient with governing laws- and they get away with it often.

2 years ago my neighbour unintentionally broke her glass stovetop. Under the Landlord Tenant Act, she was responsible for replacing it with the exact same model, or equivalent from the year produced. The serial number from the stove showed that it was from 2004. She didn't know her rights and they told her she could pay for half of the replacement of a brand new version + an admin fee, which was a ridiculous amount. While she was looking at her legal options, they proceeded to serve her with eviction notices until she caved. She paid close to 1600, which was hundreds more than owed because they took advantage of her not knowing her rights.

We did not have snow removal during the winter before last (2023) and part of last winter (2024). I filed a report with the Landlord Tenant Board, which takes months to process. Once GREM received notice in July, they reached out and asked me to withdraw as things were better than the winter prior. They had no problem calling, emailing etc- anything to get me to remove my complaint. During our conversations I had mentioned that my previous calls had been ignored, which led to me filing a report They seemed genuinely apologetic and I removed my case however.....

In the time since, the parking gate to our property was broken for over 8 months. They had minimal interest in this once I confirmed I rescinded my complaint about the snow removal. We had issues with rainbow park inhabitants going through our trash, hiding beside our vehicles, threatening us when we asked them to leave. I put up a motion censored light for safety, it was stolen We were consistently told that there were contractors who were going to look into it. Once I mentioned that I had filed another complaint as the timeline to address this was unacceptable, they became hostile and even sent an email blaming us for the gate being broken. Please note that the Landlord Tenant Act governs that GREM was responsible for fixing this- unfortunately they didn't care and assumed we wouldn't know our rights as tenants.

There are much needed repairs being done to the exterior of the building. Of course as tenants we aren't told when the contractors will be showing up- a day here and there, and we are blocked in to our parking area with workers around our vehicles. No heads up the day prior, etc. No worries, I have filed yet another complaint with the LTB as it is not legal to block your tenants and/or their vehicles in.

Over the years we've expressed concerns about fire safety and have been ignored. Someone has even fallen through one of the decrepit deck stairs. Ignored! They often send emails that they are coming to do inspections, and we make plans to ensure our pets aren't in the way- then they do not show up! I work from home and have noted this on 4 occasions over the past 2 years. Twice they've said Sentry is coming for an annual inspection and I've had to remind them that it happened a month prior- no response of course!

If you rent with this company, just know that they anticipate you will not know your rights as a tenant. In a passing conversation with a friend who works as legal aid, they mentioned that GREM is well known for trying to blur the line and that more of their tenants should speak up about it. Often this affects people who need housing and are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. If you choose to rent with this company, just know that they are predatory and will try to take advantage of you- make sure you know your rights inside and out.

Grant R.

I rented from GREM for 3 years. First of all, big shoutout to Cindy, after showing me some other places she actually suggested the unit I moved into before I even knew it was available. The admin team is always quick to reply during open hours, and the after-hours emergency line actually gets answered. The maintenance requests are quickly tended to, the smoke detectors get battery changes every 6 months (and they leave the old battery so you know it actually got done). The building I was in offered a number of payment options. Admin team is great at notifying people of the rules regarding assigned parking, smoking in/near the building, noise complaints, and all sorts of things. Best renting experience I've ever had.

Katie G.

A week and a half ago I called to complain about sidewalks not being cleaned in front of some of their apartment buildings. They apologized and had them cleaned a few hours later. Then last week when the snow was bad, those sidewalks were cleaned every day. Thank you!!!