While it may appear fine at first, there are some serious quality of life issues at Le Havre:…read moreFor starters, unless you are acclimated to colder climates, you will need to purchase electric supplement heaters for your unit as the management will not provide heat until the thermostat reaches 50F, and even then only the bare minimum. While you're at it, pick up some earplugs also, as the noise situation at all hours of the day and night is deplorable; slamming doors, loud arguments, gas-powered leaf blowers and car alarms that ring on and on.
Most of the plumbing is original, so be prepared for the water to be shut off without any advance notice while the maintenance dept. traces leaks, etc. Also, be home or be prepared to allow the plumbers access to your unit to troubleshoot in your absence.
You will be charged a whopping fee of $8,000 to rent the parking space that may have been included with your Co-Op. You will need to pay this fee as the locals don't take kindly to people taking up the parking spots in the street in front of their homes.
The individual units don't have laundry facilities; instead washers and dryers (often broken) are alternately placed in the odiferous compactor room on each floor. Finding available machines can be a real problem with many families residing there.
The complex has 2 swimming pools, though overcrowding with small children preclude taking a casual swim without bumping into them. A private health club for adults is a much better choice.
Each building has only a single elevator, and when it is broken or undergoing inspection, be prepared to walk up/down the stairs. The maintenance department puts chairs in the stairwell so that you don't have a heart attack. Many of the residents also smoke in the stairwells when it is too cold to smoke on their terraces, so avoid the stairwells if you are sensitive to secondhand smoke.
Better yet, you'd probably be better off to avoid Le Havre at any price...
