About Bellway Homes

Bellway Homes is one of the largest housebuilders in the UK. Based in Newcastle, it operates up and down the country. Bellway creates new homes with three pillars underpinning every project – quality, service and trust. Read on for more information and verbatim Bellway Homes reviews.

Developments

You’ll find a selection of London developments by Bellway Homes on HomeViews, from E14’s waterfront Limehouse Basin to the glamorous The River Gardens in SE10. Look out for in-construction Bellway Homes developments on HomeViews to see what’s coming up, too.

This collection of one, two and three-bedroom apartments – including a handful of wheelchair accessible homes – will no doubt appeal to City and Canary Wharf workers, first-time buyers, and families looking to be a part of the picturesque community of Greenwich. The development stretches for 300 metres along the Thames and covers a 12-acre site, set within pristine landscaped gardens, with views across the City of London and Canary Wharf.” – Bellway Homes review by HomeViews Property Pro on The River Gardens.

Bellway Homes reviews

“Great location that over time will improve. A variety of transport links available and only a short trip to central London.” – Anonymous, verified resident at The Residence.

“The building management are always responding to me on time and even better the concierge, they’re friendly and we all get along. My neighbours are all professionals and never disturb us either.” – Julie, verified resident at Lansbury Square.

“The gardens here are well maintained, plenty of greenery and ponds that are great for the kids to play around in summer.” – Deepak, verified resident at City East at Barking Riverside.

So, to find out more – click on the developments below to read Bellway reviews from residents. Do you live in a Bellway Homes development? Leave a review here. If you can’t find a Bellway Homes development on HomeViews, click here to submit a new listing.

Number of Developments

71

Ratings

3.95 Rating

Rating (based on 883 reviews)

Excellent

32.05%

Very Good

44.85%

Average

18.12%

Disappointing

2.15%

Very Poor

2.83%

Developments

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Showing all 71 developments

Bellway Homes reviews

Reviews

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Vibrant area

I bought my flat 5 years ago and moved in 4 years ago. Having previously lived in the Clapham area for 8 years I was drawn to this development because I wanted to stay in the area and this felt like a good opportunity to buy. My purchasing experience was very quick – I did the viewing on the Saturday, offered on the Sunday and offer was accepted on the Monday! The process as all very easy but because I had bought quite far into the project there wasn’t an opportunity to make any major requests for changes – I think I could make choices like what type of dishwasher I wanted but nothing more major than that.

I believe Bellway used a subcontractor to do the actual building work and there have been some really bizarre design decisions. For example in the bathroom there is a shaving point behind a tile! You would have to smash the tile if you want to use it and if I sell no one is going to know it exists.

I moved in about a year after buying, I think there was a delay by a few months. There were a lot of small snagging issues – like over 40 – I don’t consider myself a detailed person but there were a lot on my list. Bellway did come and sort them out but I think because of the subcontractor it just took longer and it was just a hassle.

There is now a managing agent who is good, they seem to look after the site well. It was a pain at handover as we were all having issues with our boiler and there was a battle between the managing agent and Bellway over who was responsible so it just took a long time to get sorted – but all is now good and well managed.

I love my balcony and view of Battersea Power Station, it is a great location and that is the best thing about the development. I do think the open plan layout is good in the flats, my flat is small but has a nice feel from the open plan layout. I think it has good storage, when there were two of us in the flat it was tough but it is a nice size of flat.

The wifi was set up and provided by the developer, I tried to change company but they couldn’t figure out how and for me it is fine. There is no parking and within our lease we are not eligible to get a parking permit on the streets nearby so that is definitely something to be aware of.

I think the flat value at the time of buying was good and it has held well with the market, it might not have gone up much but that is to do with the general London market and not the development.

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

The location is amazing. It is 2 mins to the tube, 4 minutes to the overland and Clapham Common is close by with lots of restaurant and bars. Clapham North is slightly cheaper than Clapham Common but it is still close to everything going on and within 15 minutes on the tube you can get to everywhere.

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

The flats are really well insulated and over the winter months I have no heating bill but in the summer the flats can get really hot.

3
Facilities
3
Design
5
Location
3
Value
3
Management
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Sadly lacking unfortunately.

I have been in a Bellway home for 2 years now. I wanted to give them time to fully assess.
Sadly lacking unfortunately. Initially I would have said they were great but as time has gone on their customer service has been bad.

I have had to chase numerous times for repairs, follow repairs and repeated repairs due to not being resolved.
Having to constantly chase up on things is not acceptable.
There has been poor workmanship on various things in the home unfortunately.
On the estate generally, things have not been completed or ave been missed altogether compared to the site plans. Some things with no hope of being done now.

Cost cutting and corner cutting actions have left things not up to scratch. You can literally see where they have tried to penny pinch and not do something properly and to a standard around the site in general just to save their costs.
Dead trees not replaced. Pavements left holey with old posts still protruding.
Patches of land left barren and weed ridden. Cracked and sunken paving.

There have been issues with contractors on site and a mismanagement of parking requirements, Hgv access and parking issues. Poor planning of deliveries and the impact on residents. Littering by contractors terribly.

We took into account that this is a building site and allowances have to be made but it has been extreme and the lack of management and care to the residents unacceptable.

The estate is such a lovely estate that is has been a shame to see a lack of attention to detail in the finishings.

I unfortunately would not consider buying from Bellway again following my experience and would also really think about the idea of buying a new home from a large corporate building company like this in the future.
Profit is king above fulfulling actual plans and completing works to a high standard.

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

The location and area itself is lovely.

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

Speed and profit is more important than quality and attention to detail.

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

Apathy and slow until you have to escalate. Only taken seriously after numerous complaints and escalating and losing temper.

2
Facilities
2
Design
5
Location
3
Value
1
Management
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Barking Riverside – Unless its your only option please don’t buy.

This is very tough to write, as a homeowner who has lived here for 5 years now. I brought my fist ever property here over 5 years ago now on the help to buy scheme. I was 27 and desperate to make the change from paying a landlord to paying off my own mortgage. I own a modest 1st floor two bed two bath flat and I want to start with the positives, which are as follows.

The build quality is actually very good and the room sizes are by new build standards huge! Heating and electricity bills are very cheap thanks to the modern insulated design and there are several areas/ parks for young kids to play and explore. You can take a walk to the river and enjoy their small wilderness walks among long grasses and wild flowers.

Now for the not so nice parts, in the 5 years I have lived here I have seen the arrival of the uber boat service and the train station, despite these additions the value of my flat has not increased. So if your hoping to see growth on your property’s value I suggest you look elsewhere, although the help to buy scheme will save you a few bucks, the flats are over priced to ensure the developer is well compensated.

The train station, well for some reason the train line runs to gospel oak and avoids zones 1 & 2. So if your working in central its actually just as quick to get on a bus as it is to take the train. Check its route and your travel time as its still an hour. And as for the boat its allot more expensive and unless your work is close to the river your actually worse off. Again I highly recommend you check your route and travel times, plus costs.

However if you are someone who drives to work please bear in mind that the traffic in and out of the development is truly horrendous from the hours of 7am to 6pm. Again please check using google maps as I kid you not their are times it takes 15-30 mins to drive what must be all of 3 miles. And there are plenty of idiot drivers trying to undertake and push you out.

You also need to remember this development is no where near at full capacity, and seeing as the trainline goes to nowhere, people are likely to remain going by car so its only going to get worse, food for thought if I haven’t already discouraged you!

So that about wraps up transport links.

Now for the bad bits about the environment, firstly I would like to mention the lovely buzz of the overhead power lines, fortunately I am not that close to any of them however at certain periods of the day in the week they make allot of noise. My advice is try to buy as far away from them as possible, say for instance not on the development.

The deal breaker, so if you do not already know the development is situated in between two very large and very pungent human waste sites. Beckton Gas works is actually a site where they process our human waste and create methane gas, the name Beckton Gas Works is just a clever play on words. Then on the other side of the river to the east of us you have crossness sewage treatment works. Together these make up the largest waste sites in the whole of Europe, and luckily they are right on your door step. Now to be frank they don’t always smell, in fact more often than not they don’t. They have sealed the lids to allow the processing of the smelly gasses, however from time to time they have too much and need to realise it into the air. The problem is it leaves the smell of what can only be described as a 7/10 human fart rating, and say its released at 3pm, you will be left with the smell until the early hours of the morning. This tends to happen 2-3 times a week in the summer and 1-2 in the winter.

Thirdly you may or may not be aware that it is still a building site, and it is right next to gill aggregates, a company that ships in thousands of tonnes of sand. The sand is stored in giant open pits, the problem with this is the sand is free to travel with the wind. And this sand tends to land on cars, now if your using your car daily this is not a major issue however it will stick to windows, balconies and cars that don’t get used all that often. Again depending how wind a day it is will play a factor although it can get very windy what with being next to the river.

You also need to remember that the development is surrounded by a big dirty industrial site, that has many businesses that deal in waste management, they have large lorry’s carrying building waste and recycling waste and they tend to leave a trail of mess in their wake. I couldn’t tell you how many lorry’s pass through there every day but its a huge amount and they are mainly responsible for the horrendous traffic throughout the day. I don’t know if the industrial site will be moved at any point but until it is, it will continue to ruin the roads with traffic and overflowing waste.

So that round about wraps up the local environment.

So finally time to review the not so local amenities, community and developers.

I cannot deny their are now two local small co-ops, they are reasonably priced and open 7am-10pm and have very friendly, welcoming staff. You can definitely pick up a variety of supplies however as always they don’t have everything you need, so your still going to need to pop to a big store or get a home delivery. If your not a fan of online shopping then its a 15 min drive to Asda, Sainsburys or Tesco’s, although the latter two can take longer during peak traffic hours. There is a small tatty looking coffee shop next to the co-op that’s part of the older development but I have never been interested in going to it. And there is also a local pharmacy but again its small and my experiences in their have not necessarily been bad but they could definitely be allot better.

For all the gym freaks out there your closest one is back in town which is about a 25 min trip, other than that there is a floodlight pitch for football though i have never seen any invites to play. And to be fair I’m useless at football so there may be an opportunity for any football fans to join up but you would need to check first.

As for community the local church seems a blast and always has things going on, its a majority african community and they are really friendly. If you are into this sort of thing I have no doubt you will really enjoy yourself. Its as busy as the A13 slip road most days so evidently a great venue.

As for schools I cannot comment but they are new and there are several to choose from. As for trouble/ crime, I am aware that there are two local drug gangs and we have had several police vans and police squads in the local area protecting one gang from another, due to a gag related shooting. However I have to state that i have personally never had any trouble at all in my time here. And I have often stumbled home from the local bus station with absolutely no issues at all. In reality there is trouble in most areas and of all the places I have lived this definitely scores low on crime in relation to the other places I have lived. It is genuinely a very nice community here.

Finally onto the developers, now lets be real here, anyone expecting high quality service from a business that’s building cheap houses on this development is kidding themselves. They know its cheap, they know its smelly and they know if your buying here, you either cant afford anywhere else or you haven’t bothered to do your research. Fortunately the only issues i had with my place were scuffed doors and some finishing of painting. Now I had to chase them to complete what should have been done before I got the keys but one call and one email sorted it relatively pain free. However since this time I have had multiple parking issues that go undealt with and as for the maintenance charges well they are a rip off to start with and they went up 50% around 12 months ago. In total I spend £3,300.00 a year on ground rent and maintenance. And in return I get someone to hoover the communal spaces once a week and spray some cheap perfume. The lift gets a sticker once a year and a couple of blokes cut the grass once a month. The windows also get washed twice a year so all in all, I’m getting robbed as there are about 90 properties in our building.

So why write this? Well assuming this actually gets posted, I don’t want my loss and pain to be experienced by anyone who has bothered to do what I didn`t. And that’s research, as soon as the fire cladding issue is fixed on my property it will be going up for sale and I shall never return.

I am confident even if this makes it onto the website, some unfortunate sole will still buy my flat and if not I will just rent it out.

As they say you get what you pay for…

Cheap but overpriced, Smelly, poor commuter links, ridiculous traffic, now property value growth and a severe lack of local amenities.

And there are still more homes to be built so the above will only get worse.

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

How bad it smells, how bad the traffic is, how unclean the surrounding areas are, how bad the transport links are and how much sand blows onto the development.

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

They are non existent and ignore every email. Too lazy to actually deal with any issues.

1
Facilities
3
Design
1
Location
3
Value
1
Management
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The flat feels very modern and spacious and as we are on a corner there is light from two sides.

I bought in Hale Village 4 years ago before the building had been completed and moved into my flat a year later. At the time of buying the London property market was booming and we were finding it impossible to find a place. We were looking at lots of different options and not much choice as we wanted to be within Tottenham. We learnt about Hale Village as they were still building the final building and we queued overnight on the Friday so that we could secure a flat, some people had camped out for 3 nights.

My experience of buying with Bellway was fine. We had to wait one year whilst the building was being completed and they kept us updated. We could view the flat 2 weeks before we moved in and an opportunity to spot anything that needed doing. They then staggered the move in dates so we moved in in batches. We had a few small issues but these were sorted out. The management company has been good – for the first 2 years any issues were covered by Bellway and since then I haven’t really had to go to the management for anything. They clean the buildings and everything is looked after very well. There is a concierge for the village at the front gate but I don’t have much cause to speak to them and everything is always well looked after.

My flat is 2 bed and 2 bathroom, the second bathroom is a definite plus. The flat feels very modern and spacious and as we are on a corner there is light from two sides. The communal gardens are entered via a coded gate and are between two buildings. They always look well kept and are nice to look at.

I feel very secure within my development though Tottenham as a whole is not always considered as the safest area.

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

We wanted to buy here because of the amazing transport links and how close it is to get to the Victoria line and the train to Liverpool Street. You also have the wetlands and Lee Valley a step from the development and it is great to have such great open spaces that make you feel like you are out of London.
It takes 20 minutes to get into town door to door are there are some great cycling routes and the lee river for running. The area is lacking some shops and restaurants which would be good with the new developments being built nearby rather than having to go elsewhere.

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

There is no parking permit if you live in the developments – we have a car parking space but with the new developments being built there is less and less available to get and you are not allowed to apply to the council for a permit.

3
Facilities
4
Design
5
Location
4
Value
4
Management
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These reviews are the subjective opinion of a HomeViews member and not of HomeViews

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