Tenant Newsletter: November 2021
Hello From Sage Living!
Thank you for reading our first newsletter!
This is the first monthly Tenant newsletter to be sent to all current Sage Living Tenants. It’s our intention to use these monthly newsletters as a way to provide regular updates on what Tenants can expect each month.
We encourage you to review this and all future newsletters to stay informed and up to date on our seasonal programming and scheduled improvements.
1. Important Changes To Contacting Sage Living
2. Renewal Season
3. New Rental Season
4. Heating & Cooling
5. RentCafe - Payment Complications
6. Health & Safety
7. Amenity Spaces
8. Phone Lines
Important Changes To Contacting Sage Living
As of November 15th, Sage Living will be changing the way we accept Requests from Tenants.
Sage Living has started to update internal software systems to better track and assist Tenant Requests. As part of this improvement Sage Living will be directing all Tenants to our Tenant Request Form.
Link To Form: Click Here
We will then no longer accept Requests after November 15th through emails sent to our common department email addresses: rent@sagekingston.ca, help@sagekingston.ca, or leasingadmin@sagekingston.ca
Instead; Tenants can submit a Tenant Request through the Tenant Request Form.
- Tenant Requests will then be internally assigned to customer support staff in office
- Tenants will receive an email notification when their Request has been assigned to a staff member, and then will receive direct and catered responses from this specific individual until their Request has been completed
- Tenants will receive updates and reminders each step of the way as their Request is being internally completed and will receive direct feedback via email from their assigned staff member
- When the Tenant’s Request is complete, they can then submit a new Request through the same link where they will be assigned a new staff member who will then work to complete their new Request
This is a BRAND NEW system and will take some time for Tenants to get used to, but this system should improve upon communication time, tracking and transparency.
Renewal Season
Our first renewal reminder will be sent to all Tenants starting November 8th.
If you are eligible to continue your lease for an additional 12-month term, you will receive an automated email with a digital form. The form will include a drop-down menu and provide the Tenant with the ability to sign the agreement and confirm their intention to continue the lease for an additional 12-month term, or terminate the lease at the end of their current 12-month term.
If you are on a fixed lease term which extends past August 27, 2021 and do not use the provided digital form to terminate your lease after this current 12-month term, then your lease will automatically continue for an additional 12-month term as included within your lease agreement.
If you use the form but later want to change your mind, you will have to contact our rental team for assistance and be sent a new additional form to complete. The ability to terminate the lease at the end of this fixed lease term will end December 16th 2021.
More information will be provided within the automated email sent with the digital form.
New Rental Season
We have started our new rental season for all locations through our annual Early Bird Agreement (EBA) program.
Each year our EBA program will lock-up approximately 80% of all suites for the next rental season.
Early Bird renters will receive Early Bird pricing which is typically less than the new market rate for Tenants who sign after the Early Bird program ends.
The Early Bird program is scheduled to end late December 2021.
Next year’s suite pricing will be included to all Sage Tenants within the renewal message to be sent November 8th. Without Early Bird Agreements, pricing for new leases starting September 2022 are likely to increase by $100/month per suite.
We encourage you to contact a rental agent today to discuss Early Bird Pricing if you are interested in renting a new suite for next year.
Heating & Cooling
Click Here For Thermostat User Manual
We are now in the fall-winter shoulder season. This can cause some temporary discomfort for Tenants as the building’s heating / cooling systems are transferred from a cooling cycle to a warming cycle.
In changing the building’s cycle from cooling to heating, the building will now circulate warm air rather than cold air. You will notice that your individual thermostats may not be able to cool to your desired temperature but may now be able to provide more warmth than during the summer months.
To help ease and circulate cool air within the building, hallway temperatures within have been decreased. This is intended to help decrease the radiant temperature within the building and help to cool Atrium facing suites.
As a base setting, please ensure that your thermostat fan setting is set to ‘auto’.
Should you experience difficulties within your suite, and find that the suite is overproducing warm air, we encourage you to complete the following steps:
1. Adjust the thermostat fan setting from ‘auto’ to ‘low’ or ‘medium’ this will help circulate the air within your unit.
2. If you find that having your fan set to anything other than ‘auto’ is increasing the temperature in your unit, please notify us so that we can have a technician review your heating unit.
3. Take time to vent air out of your suite. This may include opening windows or turning on bathroom or kitchen vents. We understand that some Atrium facing suites may not include windows that can be opened. We do encourage these Tenants to attempting venting their suite through the vent/fans within their kitchens and bathrooms.
4. Review if there is excess heat entering your suite through windows. Suites with large glass windows or doors can become warmer through exposure to sunlight. Tenants may receive relief by partially or periodically using blinds or shades to decrease the amount of sunlight and additional heat entering their suite from windows or glass doors.
During this brief shoulder season it’s not uncommon to still experience short periods of time where the outside temperature is unseasonably warm. While we will experience more cold days than we will warm, some days will still be warmer than others.
Large buildings such as these cannot quickly transition from cool to heat and then back to cooling. For some buildings special technicians are required to visit the building and manually change the seasonal temperature, this is a task that can only be completed by specialized technicians and may take days to complete. While it would be ideal to change the central temperature daily, scheduling and completing this task can take weeks to complete, and by the time a technician is scheduled to complete such work, the unseasonable temperature would have already improved.
If your thermostat or heating / cooling system is not working correctly, and cannot produce heat, please use the link below to contact our Team.
If your thermostat or heating / cooling system is not working correctly, and cannot produce heat, please use the link below to contact our Team.
RentCafe - Payment Complications
We understand that some Tenants may be experiencing unique complications within their RentCafe Accounts.
We encourage all Tenants to contact our office should they experience complications with payment processing through their RentCafe account.
Health & Safety
In order to ensure the health and safety of all residents, Tenants are required to abide by the following housekeeping procedures:
Garbage Disposal
All waste must be disposed of by using the garbage chute found on each floor of the building. If you are not familiar with the location of the garbage chutes, please review the floor plans found in hallways near each elevator. Items that do not fit in the garbage chute must be brought to the large waste bins located at the exterior of the building. Waste must not be left on the ground near the garbage chutes. Residents who fail to follow these procedures may be at risk of incurring additional fees associated with cleanup.
Security
In the interest of all Tenants, building entry points must be left closed at all times. All entry points are secured using an electronic fob system to prevent non-residents from entering the building. Leaving entry points open leaves the building vulnerable to security risks and will not be tolerated. Please ensure that all doors are closed behind you upon entry to maintain the security of the building.
Smoking
To ensure the comfort and health of all residents, smoking and E-Cigarette use is not permitted in any location of the building. Use of smoking products within the building premises will result in significant fees applied to the appropriate Tenants ledger.
Amenity Spaces
All amenity spaces are still undergoing completion and neither the Builder or our Sage Living office are able to advise expected timelines for completion. At this time, delays are due in most to supply chain issues. Unfortunately, many distributors are experiencing extended delays due to supply and manufacturing issues that have been caused by COVID-19. Suppliers are unable to provide accurate timelines to the Builder, and Sage Living is in turn unable to provide completion timelines to Tenants. Any updates received by our office will be communicated to Tenants upon receipt.
It is important to note that most Condominium Authorities in Canada have decided to keep all amenity spaces closed at this time due to COVID-19. We are unable to comment on the intentions of the Condominium Corporation assigned to 652 Princess at this time, though it is likely that these spaces will remain closed until thorough and attainable Health and Safety procedures have been put in place by the Condominium Corporation. The assigned Condominium Corporation will provide completed by-laws to our office at the time of final closing so we may advise Tenants accordingly.
Phone Lines
Sage Kingston Phone Line: (613) 900 - 2820
Phone lines for all Sage Kingston Tenants are operational during regular office hours: 11am and 4pm between Monday and Friday. Phone lines are directed to staff within our Waterloo head office.
If you experience any emergent maintenance items outside of regular office hours, please call our office at (613) 900-2820 and follow the voicemail prompts. All messages pertaining to after-hours maintenance requests will be sent to our on-call after hours technician.
After hours technicians will first review the voicemail and reply promptly after. They cannot assist should the Tenant not leave a voicemail.
If there is a life-threatening emergency, please contact 9-1-1 immediately.
Thank you