Riverwalk Apartments , Waterford, County Waterford

"Fortunately, I only lived in Riverwalk for one semester, but that was more than enough. I can only advise against renting a room here; the price-performance ratio is abysmal. The dilemma already starts with the booking: Almost no information on the homepage, emails/calls are not answered, wrong statements, room changes, ... Moreover, the pictures on the homepage have absolutely nothing to do with reality. The management makes sure that the grounds look well-kept, but inside everything is old and dilapidated. I had rented a standard single room and received a booking confirmation for it. After about six weeks I was informed that only more expensive large single rooms were available. My room was not really clean when I arrived, but the kitchen was terrible. I entered an existing shared flat, and the kitchen was filthy (greasy oven, dirty fridge, rusty cooker, cupboard under the sink was unusable because of mould). The room was old but seemed okay at first. After about four weeks, the first mould stains appeared on the ceiling and corners. I also discovered a large area of mould directly behind my bed. The caretaker removed the mould, but it was obvious that it had simply been painted over before I moved in. When you complain about the mould, the reception staff acts completely surprised, even though they know exactly how bad the condition of the houses is, and you often get annoyed/unfriendly answers to questions. Furthermore, it is so cold in the rooms that one can hardly stand it (approx. 13 degrees inside temperature from January-March). The heating is expensive but does not help because of the poor insulation. Overall, the electricity costs are incredibly high, and if you have inconsiderate flatmates, there is hardly anything you can do about it. For example, one of my flatmates left the heating on all day. So we sometimes had costs of €15 per day, even though my other flatmate and I only came home from university in the evening. The walls are also as thin as paper so you can hear every word and step of your flatmates. At least there is Wi-Fi in the rooms now, but the connection quality in my room was not good enough for online lectures. Doing laundry is also an adventure (but not in a good way!). There are a total of 6 washing machines and dryers, half of which are usually broken. In addition, the room is pretty disgusting (mouldy washing powder in the washing machines, lint and dust everywhere). Often the machines don't start even though you put in a token. If you tell the staff, they tell you "the machines are old, they can't work properly anymore". Tip: Take your laundry to a laundrette; it saves you a lot of time and hassle! It was bearable for one semester in Riverwalk, but I never wanted to live there again. The living conditions are an imposition, and it's a cheek to charge so much money for them."

"Shane (property manager for the last 20yrs) confuses maintenance issues as "complaints" and there's nothing he hates more than "complaints". After a 40min conversation with him; he offered me a week to try out my room and if I don't like it I get a full refund due to me raising issues with hot water, the heating and damp odour in my room on my first day. The room has a lot of wear and tear, small bits of broken furniture and discoloration in the walls as management has obviously tried to cover up living mould with a few coats of paint instead of investing in a structural fix. It is clear this institution does not have the student's best interest, health and wellbeing at heart, they're much more so concerned about keeping costs low and profits high. Shane and the girls in reception don't mind telling a few white lies if it means less work for them. In my experience, Shane in particular can be very rude and offensive to students."

"Absolutely horrific place. Manager is rude, hateful of his tenants(especially students), and like others have said is downright awful to deal with. Rules and guidelines are unclear when signing the lease, and on the website. Heating either doesn't work or costs near a tenner for 2 hours of barely anything. Mold issues in almost every room, broken items take months to even get looked at, nevermind fixed. Loud campus, especially at night, stench of weed almost every night, doors locks not working, and so much more. The manager also enjoys entering your apartment (illegally) with 0 prior notice, and entering bedrooms so hide private belongings. All in all, do not waste your money by even thinking of going here."

"Riverwalk, I Would rather sleep in my car than this place, it's overpriced for the little you actually get and The manager is ignorant and lazy. Wireless internet was only recently installed for the residents (2021.......) Very difficult to get any sleep with road noise and other student's late night rowdiness around the complex. My room itself had mold and damp everywhere with either nothing done about it or careless painting to try hide it. Place was filthy when we arrived, blood sweat and tears trying to clean the apartment which is apparently meant to be cleaned after each resident. No tv unless it's requested, washing machines and dryers which are in another building unless youre very lucky only actually work half the time. They would be swallowing your tokens and not turning on or leaving the clothes damp even after drying, the tokens being 7 euros for only one wash and one dry in exact change or you can forget about it. Flies everywhere, Manager hates students. The elevator was left broken for a good 3 months leaving us lugging the weekly shop or any laundry etc. up and down 3 flights of stairs every week despite management being told the same week it stopped working. Glad there weren't any disabled residents that would have badly needed it. The extractor Fan door above our oven came clean off it's hinges when we opened it and after complaining, reception said it's just "usual wear and tear". Have also heard horror stories from other students about their apartments being in a bad way on arrival but my photos here speak for themselves. My advice just stay somewhere else it's not fair on yourself to be put through it."

"Horrible living situation to put yourself into. Freezing cold, radiators catch fire. Mould that grows on the walls that they take 3 weeks to clean. Poor service, rude and condescending security. I wouldn’t pay €150 a month for such a place never mind the bones of €400 they ask for. Absolute rob."