A guide to living in Essex

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Being so close to the city centre is very convenient as everything you need is just a short walk away.

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

They are quick to respond and very helpful if there are any questions.

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

The staff were very informative so I knew everything before moving in.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

The location is excellent 10 min walk in one direction you are in the city center with all shops and restaurants, 10 min walk in the other direction you are in the middle of the nature along the river.

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

They have being responding quickly and accommodated are special requests

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

The number of restaurant you can reach walking is very large!

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Good: Walkable to shops, park and schools. Bad: No playground for kids on site yet, parking impossible in allocated parking spaces outside of house as blocked by other neighbours (Leafliving informed of this issue and were unhelpful), neighbours unfortunately doing drugs, dealing drugs and physically abusing each other loudly - unsafe for children around here.

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

Issues we had were rectified, just really slowly. We went without kitchen cupboards for about 3 months. Might seem trivial but the rent isn't cheap and I expected better honestly. Some issues were never rectified and we just lived with it until we left. Not ideal.

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

Take your own photos when checking in and checking out of property - standard advice anyway for a rental but LeafLiving really took the p**s claiming money from our deposit for things that we had actually sorted. (Charging us £300 for example to mow the lawn. We had an invoice from our gardener who had mowed the lawn on our check out day! Outrageous on their behalf - the things they tried to charge us for were laughable - indents in carpet, dust etc. Double check with landlord about parking - we were informed we had space for 3 cars at the viewing and then were later informed no, only 2 car spaces once we'd moved in and were repeatedly "told off" (via email) for parking a second car on our drive (when we were actually able to that was - most of the time our spaces were blocked by neighbours cars but this wasn't a priority for LeafLiving) Really stressful experience.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

There is a local co op about 7 minute walk away. Problems with this is that it can be a very congested road. The pavements to the co op are very narrow so for a family a little narrow and slightly dangerous. I t would be great to have a shop on the estate especially as its such a big one with many families. Not very much visitor parking, not bad for us but we know there are many issues with parking on the estate on the road and complaints made. Bins are collected on time, no anti-social behaviour on our side of the estate, no traffic noise for us we have been happy here.

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

Not about the garden situation and mould in the bathroom which we have to be constantly on top of. Taf especially has been the most helpful and professional young man dealing with our enquiry yesterday. Very approachable, friendly, helpful and courteous]. Important for the ocmpany to recognise this..

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

That the houses are warm, no too overly hot in the summer, good size bedrooms, Nice to have an en-suite, good sized garden if you can use it, The vinyl is easy to keep clean. Nice and light and airy.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Loved it since we have been here and looking forward to many more years could do with better takeaways in the area

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

Yes within days problems all sorted nothing major has happened

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

I think the shops should be put in asap ther is enough family’s here to warrant some amenities