About Charles Church

As a first flat, it was pretty cool – I have subsequently sold it, but I really enjoyed living here.  Located in the Jewellery Quarter it meant very easy access into Birmingham city centre, Broad Street & Brindley Place, but also felt quiet enough to be relaxing… except for when the students would party on random weekday evenings!  The walls were paper thin & thankfully my neighbours were not students.

Access to the bins & the post boxes was very annoying – the pedestrian access was obviously on the ground floor & my parking space was on -1, but the bins & post boxes were on -2, which meant you had to make a conscious effort to check your post box or trek down in the lift to take the bins out & come back up in the lift.

There were also numerous issues with the sliding vehicle gate into the development which continually broke – on more than one occasion, I had to wait over 2 hours to leave in the morning.  These things happen but the management company never apologised or even let you know the issue had been fixed.  I also had a bust up with the management company over a leaking pipe from the flat above me – the owners above refused to accept responsibility for the damage caused to my flat & the management company also refused to get involved saying that I should speak directly with the owners of the flat above – not my responsibility!  The management company did eventually sort it out when I proposed deducting the cost of repairing the damage from the next 3 year’s service charges!

The flat itself was well appointed and very comfortable.  The fitted washing machine did break after about 4 years, just after the warranty expired, but apart from that it served me very well.

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

Jewellery Quarter is super cool – love the square & The Jam House is great

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

The thin walls & how unresponsive the management company were

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

Excellent nearby amenities
Excellent transport links
Clean well maintained estate
Good friendly community

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

I would have liked to have known the full intentions with the land around the estate as the estate seems to be forever growing which is a little concern for the state of the traffic

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

Have been reasonably quick to respond to any queries we have had

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

Billingshurst has a good amount of facilities with new shops, garages, food outlets being added now. It’s primary school and doctors surgery are however overwhelmed and a second school is badly needed as is either a second doctors or a great expansion but neither of which seem to be happening.

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

How they downgrade their response times after you fill in their satisfaction survey, that the road behind us would be a 50mph rather than the expected 30. That the natural drainage around the property was so poor due to insufficient removal of wealden clay.

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

I would want more space between us and the neighbours/pavement.

There is also a problem with speeding in the area, I think the estate would benefit from speed bumps as there is no paths on some of the road and has resulted into a few residents almost being run over!

There is absolutely no phone signal what’s so ever, the estates Internet is ran by fibre nest and there is frequently problems and times when the Internet is down for days at a time, I solely rely on WiFi calling and cannot make calls when my Internet is down

The gardens are also constantly wet and I personally have found it impossible to grow any turf so we have opted for astro turf,

Generally there are really lovely people who live here and there is beginning to have a community feel to the area,

I am a housing association tenant and my house is ran by sage housing, who have been amazing, I couldn’t fault them in anyway

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

Paddock wood is a amazing place to live, it’s close to Maidstone for shopping, has a good train service and a lovely village feel to the area

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

Sage have been amazing since the day I moved in, there customer service is second to none and will always fix problems efficiently if any arise