A guide to living in Leeds

We have lived at Abbey Court for nearly a year, and during that time we have not had a single day without some sort of issue. That's actually quite an achievement. Most companies strive for consistency in customer service. Casa has achieved consistency in customer frustration. Casa's greatest strength is making you believe something is about to be fixed. You'll be told the issue is being investigated, escalated, monitored, reviewed, or actively being worked on. Then several months pass, the problem remains exactly where it was, and a brand new issue appears to keep it company. Let's start with the communal bin store, which deserves its own section. The bin store was fitted without an adequate lock, leading to months of anti social behaviour right outside residents' homes. It then became occupied by homeless people for months. Despite numerous emails and complaints, the issue dragged on for ages. During this time, residents struggled to dispose of rubbish properly and regularly had to walk past waste and human faeces. Just a reminder that homes here start at around £1,600 per month. If you've always dreamed of paying premium rent prices to live next to overflowing rubbish, human waste, maggots, rats, unpleasant smells and mystery liquids covering the floor, then Abbey Court may be exactly what you're looking for. The bin situation is particularly fascinating. Casa's solution is usually to explain whose fault it isn't. Sometimes it's the council's fault because of bin collections. Sometimes it's the builders' fault. Sometimes it's the residents' fault for "not disposing of rubbish appropriately". What is rarely provided is an actual solution. Residents are repeatedly told to flatten cardboard and dispose of waste correctly. A fair request in principle. However, I ask you this: would you want to spend any longer than absolutely necessary inside a bin store full of maggots, rats, foul smells and human waste? A bin store where opening the door sometimes came with the added surprise of discovering a small community of homeless people living inside? Most residents are trying to get out as quickly as possible, not settle in and organise a recycling workshop. The best part is that Casa has been "working on improvements" for months. The issue was reported at the start of the year. By June, it was still not properly resolved. At this rate, the maggots will probably have their own residents' committee before the improvements arrive. Before moving in, we were reassured that builders on site work at reasonable times and are respectful regarding noise. In reality, expect loud music throughout the day, weekend working, bank holiday working, shouting, swearing and general disruption. If you have children, keep the windows shut unless you'd like the builders to contribute to their vocabulary development. Of course, when you raise these concerns, Casa will explain that they don't actually have control over the builders. This is an interesting position given that the builders are working on their development. Apparently everyone is responsible except the company managing the site. If something breaks in your property, prepare for a similar experience. Maintenance requests can take months to resolve despite repeated phone calls, endless emails, formal complaints and constant chasing. At one point it genuinely felt quicker to learn how to repair the water tank/boiler ourselves. Security is another excellent feature. For a premium rental development, the main security provision appears to be the Ring doorbell that residents have to pay for themselves. This allows you to safely witness all of the anti social behaviour, disturbances and ongoing problems from the comfort of your own home. It's less of a security system and more of a live streaming service for management failures. You also get the added benefit of the development's alarm systems, which frequently remind everyone how secure the empty properties are by going off at random intervals. Even when Casa staff are present on site, meaningful assistance is often difficult to find. To be fair, the £1,600+ monthly rent does come with one notable perk. Resident events. During our time here we received a free pizza and a coffee. It was a brave attempt to compensate for the overflowing bin store, rats, maggots, anti social behaviour, maintenance delays, noise disruption and alarm systems. Whether one pizza represents fair market value for all of that is a matter for debate. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of living here is the complete lack of accountability. If you read the reviews, there is a recurring pattern. The builders are responsible. The council is responsible. The residents are responsible. The only group that never seems responsible for ongoing issues at a development managed by Casa is Casa. In summary, if your dream is to pay luxury rental prices for student accommodation levels of management, ongoing maintenance problems, construction noise, overflowing rubbish facilities and endless promises that things are "being worked on", then Abbey Court is the perfect place for you. If, however, you expect a clean, secure and well managed development where problems are resolved within a reasonable timeframe, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere.

When I moved in, the washer dryer had a horrible amount of mould on the rubber seal, and the smell could quickly fill up the room. Despite a good attitude when communicating with me, the staff don't get things done. The job to fix the washer dryer kept being a no-show or rescheduled more than 5 times for more than 15 days. And this is an ongoing issue. I haven't been able to do laundry for at least half a month after I moved in, and no laundry alternatives or cost reduction were provided or negotiated by the staff. The maintenance team is also not responsive or reachable. It's really disappointing.

I’ve only recently moved into Mustard Wharf, but I’m genuinely loving it so far. The building is beautiful, the facilities are great and it’s been such a positive experience from day one. A huge shoutout to Kourtney, who was amazing throughout the move-in process. Moving is stressful enough as it is, but she was always friendly, helpful and quick to answer any questions I had, which made everything run so much more smoothly. The staff in general have all been lovely and welcoming, and it’s clear they genuinely care about the residents. I’ve already made use of the work from home spaces and they’ve been brilliant, especially as I’ll be starting my PhD soon. I haven’t attended any resident events yet, but I love that the building puts them on as it’s a great way to meet people and build a community. One of my favourite things is the 24-hour concierge. As someone living alone, it adds an extra level of security and peace of mind, and the building feels very safe. It’s still early days, but my first impressions have been excellent and I’m really happy I chose to live here.

We moved in here as a stopgap between selling our house and our onward move, and it's been so good for us. We had a very uncertain moving date as we were waiting for our sale to complete and the level of flexibility and understanding shown was so appreciated. The management team deserve a huge shoutout in general (Kourtney, Elise, Jac, Amie, Laura especially - and the lovely friendly cleaning lady with blonde hair whose name I don't know.) There's someone available to help 24/7 and they really go above and beyond to be helpful and friendly - we feel very looked after. Really can't say enough good things about that aspect of living here - we'll miss it when we leave! The common areas are kept really well maintained and clean. The coworking space is invaluable, we use it all the time as it's great not to have to work in your flat and get a change of scene. Also lovely to have the roof terraces and the gym on site. We've not used the refectory yet but it's a great option to have if you want to cater for more people. The two coffee/pastry shops on site are fab, and a Sardinian restaurant's just opened on site which is exciting. Willow Pilates on the site is fantastic. The flat is well designed and the appliances are really modern and high spec. Everything works well: a couple of very minor snags when we moved in were fixed on the same day by maintenance. Only downsides for us are that the flat gets very hot and it's hard to cool during hot weather: it's single aspect with very large windows and south facing so it turns into a little greenhouse. Common spaces have aircon which is welcome, but there isn't any in the flat itself. And we've been on the waiting list for a parking space for several months - we're renting one in a nearby building in the meantime. Though to be fair, being so close to the city I appreciate it's not set up for everyone to need a car!

One of treadmills has been out of commission for a few weeks. Carpark is taken up by the nearby construction and my guests have nowhere to park on site when visiting that is cost effective. The facilities are good but small issues constantly arise like the outdoor security gates get broken or have really hard to open handles. Very frustrating