Tenants of a student apartment building in Waterloo say they were promised a suite that would be move-in ready, but turned out to feature unpainted walls, exposed wires and a healthy layer of dust.

“We were told that the whole room would be furnished, that everything would be ready, that basically it wouldn’t be livable – and it wasn’t,” Duy Phan said in an interview.

Phan and three friends were expecting to share an apartment in 228 Albert Street.

They signed their lease in March, with property management firm Accommod8u, and say they were told the building would be ready for Sunday.

When they arrived, they say, they found appliances in boxes on the floor, as well as furniture missing and walls unpainted.

“There’s no way that we could live there for a full year,” Phan said.

“It looked nothing like what was promised.”

Another student who spoke with CTV News said that he was emailed a waive asking him not to use his unit’s balcony until further notice.

Accommod8U has an office on University Avenue.

A number of students were around that office Tuesday afternoon, claiming that their apartments were not move-in ready.

Officials with the company declined a CTV News request for an interview, instead emailing a statement which said that the City of Waterloo had deemed the apartments ready for occupancy.

“We have trades and staff working around-the-clock to correct all issues, the majority of which are cosmetic,” the statement reads.

“We have also pulled all resources we could find to address any additional concerns that our tenants may have.”

The statement goes on to say that hotel stays and refunds have been provided to tenants “on a case-by-case basis,” while the company expects everyone to be able to move in over the next week.

In the case of Phan and his roommates, both a hotel stay and a refund have been offered and accepted.

“We’re going to get all our money back and get our lease terminated,” Phan said.

Officials with the University of Waterloo’s off-campus housing department say that students in similar situations are typically advised to try and work out their problems with their landlords directly.

If that doesn’t work, the next step is usually to inquire about legal advice.