About Barratt London

– We were also lucky to get one of the three beds in the block facing Priory Park with the massive wraparound balcony. As the other blocks get built we’re realising that not all of them have the generous balconies and separation from adjacent block that the back ones do.

– Maintenance of the landscaping and internal areas has been good so far.

– Look forward to hearing what the ‘commercial space’ at the front of Upton Gardens is going to be. The area badly needs a cafe or two where you can buy a cappuccino. There were rumours that a Waitrose was part of the plan, if Barratt can indeed deliver that there would be nothing like it as we’re short of good supermarkets around here as well.

– The only negative for me in terms of build is that all walls are plaster board. Wish they’d gone with brick. You need to be constantly careful with the walls, and the acoustic insulation is poor.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

The area offers excellent value for money, perhaps the cheapest you can find in zone 3 in all of London. Upton Gardens is very close to the tube station. Lots of good south Asian cafes and restaurants, the football pub at the corner has closed for renovations to make it a gastropub (should open by summer ’20), an excellent international grocery in Barking Road, a small but decent Tesco and good bus connections to get to Stratford.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

That flats can be built with all walls plasterboard, and exactly how poor the sound insulation can be because of this.

What is the best feature of your home:

The best part about my apartment is the huge wraparound balcony that runs the L shaped length of the flat (85 feet or so).

– I do wish the side of the building was extended just a little bit, rather than wasting space on an outside terrace circling the building which isn’t used/open to anyone, and is a bit of a waste of space. An extra metre or 2 would make our living room much better.

– The lifts are too small: our sofa and bedframe were unable to fit. The bedframe was able to be carried up 3 floors of stairs. The sofa had to be sent back. There was plenty of space for the developer to make the lifts bigger – instead they opted to make them tiny.

– We purchased a bespoke Wardrobe through Barratts: unfortunately you are not able to customise it to your taste. Its just got 2 shelves and 1 long coat rail. Now we have to pay more to create shelving/draws inside using a different company.

– Options to customise the Kitchen further, were not provided. The part of the wall behind the Sink lacks a splashback, so dirty water/food/liquids splash on the wall. Non-stain resistant paint was used, so when you clean the wall – paint comes off. We need to buy/install our own splashback now.

Facilities:
– The bin store/cycle store/basement access has been closed since we moved in June 2021. This is due to the London Fire Brigade inspection. Not sure why it has taken 9 months to resolve this.

– The intercom system breaks down regularly, causing deliveries to be missed. Bit frustrating. It tends to be fixed within a day or 2 at least.

– The Vent-Axia air system has brought in tarmac/asphalt smells from the ongoing building works outside. This has caused the flat to smell and forced me to turn the air system off till the building works stop.

Property Management:
– FirstPort are terrible. Overcharged for service charge, so I requested a £500 refund. Notification states it will be paid in 10 days. It took over a month. I had a large bill to pay (bought a puppy), and I was counting on that £500 coming in within the 10 days given to me.

– FirstPort hired a dodgy Parking Enforcement Company to manage the Underground Parking. When we first moved in, we weren’t given/told we have a Parking Badge. So our car was fined £60 for parking in the Parking Spot we bought for £20,000 with the Flat. When we argued our case, the Parking Enforcement Company refused to reverse the fine, despite us owning the spot we were fined for parking in. FirstPort said it is out of their hands. Barratts offered a compromise to pay half the fine (which went up to £160 as we disputed). Eventually, I combed through our Lease Agreement and pointed out that our Lease states we do not require a parking badge to park in our parking space – therefore the fine is invalid. Eventually it was dropped. But honestly – this Parking Charge Company should not have been hired, and FirstPort are useless in helping.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Good:
– Location: near the High Street, Grocery shopping, Gyms, Restaurants, etc.
– Transport: next to Hounslow East/Central and 15min walk from Hounslow Railway Station. Near Hounslow Bus Garage too. Near Heathrow.

Bad:
– Parking availability is awful, Holloway Road/Matisse Road has no parking. The spaces are monitored by a dodgy fake Parking Enforcement company. My mum and furniture delivery drivers have been fined for stopping briefly (not parking).

– Noise/anti-social behaviour: its Hounslow. Goons hang around and make noise, litter, throw things at residents’ windows. Kids doing laughing gas canisters outside. I’ve seen couples arguing at 3-4am after a night out, screaming at each other, assaulting each other, etc.

– Bin Collection is poor, and rubbish piles up in the waste bin storage area outside – this attracts rats. Partially residents fault, partially Barratts fault.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish we’d known how small the lifts are – to better order furniture.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

We have raised multiple issues which have been resolved by Barratts – although there are still some outstanding ones that have not been resolved.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Transport could be improved. For example with the 199 it only comes every 10minutes and in the morning they tend not to stop if too full. It os a 15 minute walk to Canada Water what is alright. The tube is fine. We got the junilee line which is great.
I like the scenery of the area. It is really nice. We got shops and nice cafes around. I also feel it is quite safe although there have been few issues.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I would say I knew everything before moving in here.

I like that there is also a great sense of community here because of the number of apartments on the site and we are friends with lots of our neighbours. There are many events that are organised by residents, and we have regular barbecues where across the main path across the estate, everyone comes together and donates food for us all to enjoy. It is a really nice community here.

When we moved in, there were only a few problems with small details in the flat like nails in the walls, but the management company came the same day to fix them. All in all, I am quite happy with them. We do have a concierge on the estate where we go to for all services, and they are good with deliveries and issuing any information to tenants. It is also nice to have a gym on the site, which is right next to the concierge office.

Our flat has a very modern design and we have a lovely balcony, which is the size of a box room. We make use of the space by having lots of plants and my dad even has a shed there, and we always sit together as a family on it. It is a nice area and as we have a flat on one of the top floors, we get a nice breeze.

However, the quality of the flat is not that great, especially in terms of insulation. It gets really cold in the winter as we have lots of windows in the apartment that are full length and we get a draft coming in. It was a huge hassle to find curtains for the long windows and we had to get them tailored specifically. Whereby in the summer, it gets really hot and we have to put on fans as we don’t have any air-con. We also hear a lot of loud music in the summer from all over the site as the walls are quite thin.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

I like that it’s quiet and isolated as well as how well located the development is for travel into Central London. I’m a University student and I really value the station that is nearby and the three different bus stops, which offer a variety of different routes. I think it’s great if you need to commute into Central London for work.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Parking is a big problem – there are so many apartments but barely any parking spaces.