About Clarion Housing

Residents of 3 Bensham Lane and the London Road block have access to their bin store via the car park but they have no car parking spaces.

There are cycle stores but there is no process for gaining access. I have requested this on a number of occasions without success. One of my reasons for purchasing my flat was that I thought that secure cycle storage was available. After moving in, I locked my bike in one of the bike stores but it was soon vandalised and bit by bit parts were stolen until there was othing left. The specific location where I locked my bike has a fence but it doesn’t reach the roof so thieves simply climbed over. There are two bike stores with fences that do reach to the roof, making them secure, but they are already taken. Now I take must carry my bike through my flat (to avoid dirtying the carpets) and park it on the balcony. My balcony is very small so I must upend the bike to open and close the door.

Building management is below average with the lobby frequently looking untidy. A lot of the paintwork is dirty. Carpets are falling away on the staircases.

Clarion have never provided me with a correct invoice for my monthly management charges. I have been chasing them since October 2019 (I moved in in August 2019) for correct invoices but they seem uninterested in engaging with me.

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

The immediate area has a good selection of small stores: Tesco Express and many ethnic groceries; also various harware stores. It is not far to walk to Croydon town centre where there are larger shops.

There is a good Chinese takeaway across the road. There are also plenty of chicken and chips takeaways in the local area. Also one or two ethnic eateries. For bars and dining out, one would need to go into or around Croydon town.

There is no green space in or around the block.

For transport, there are a numbber of bus routes that stop very close to the block. West Croydon train and bus station is within walking distance. East Croydon station, with high speed trains to London, Gatwick and Brighton, is a 25 minute walk or a bus ride away. Croydon has trams to Wimbledon, Beckeenham and New Addington.

Each flat in owner occupied 1 Bensham Lane has a single parking space in a covered car park. Cars enter via fob operated gates which frequently do not work and are left open. Pedestrians can enter from the road through a fob operated pedestrian gate. Residents of 3 Bensham Lane can also enter via an exit from their block even though they have no car parking spaces there. The same applies to the block on London road.

There is no free parking in the street during weekday daytimes, though there are metered spaces where one can park for a limited time. After 5pm and on Sundays, parking on the single lines is free.

There is a lot of traffic noise, especially from emergency vehicle sirens and motorists sounding their horns, although when the windows are closed, the double glazing mitigates the sound significantly.

The area in which the block is located tends to have a numer of less desirable people who have been known to cause trouble in the car park when the gates are left open. In the evenings and night some local anti-social behaviour can occur. I would not recommend single women to walk between the block and West Croydon station in the dark evening when crowds of youths congregate on the streets. There have been a number of stabbings recently.

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

I wish I had known that secure bike storage is unavailable.
I wish I had known that there high speed broadband is unavailable. The internet is the copper cable ADSL. I had assumed that a block as new as this would have fibre to the flat or, ate the very least, fibre to the cabinet but this is not the case. It is impossible to obtain an estimate of when this might become available although the residents are attempting to have it installed privately, i.e not through BT Openreach.

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

I am an owner occupier so Clarion will not help with internal repairs. For small repairs in the communal areas, they are reasonably responsive. For more major issues such as the car park gates or the lift out of action, one may wait for some time.

The flat itself is all very neutral and modern. It has great floor to ceiling windows and being in a south facing flat the rooms get a great amount of light during the day. They have very good sized balconies which feels like an additional room and it’s sheltered so it can be enjoyed in the cooler months too. One bug bear is that on the marketing floorpans and brochures, it had a dishwasher in it, but upon arrival, they had said it was a “luxury” item and this would have to be bought ourselves.

The residents are friendly and of similar age and our block feels like a little community which is nice.

There have been minor snags and initially these were dealt with quickly. However I’m still waiting, 5 months on from my last list and none have been dealt with and correspondence has been non existent/slow. There are lots of different departments at Clarion and my emails often get passed around lots of different people without me being cc’d in and I always need to chase to get anything done/sorted.

As we moved in during the pandemic, I wish they still offered a home demo over a video call once we had settled. There were things I found out weeks/months later by speaking with neighbours which could have been resolved earlier if I had known.

Wall insulation needs to be improved. Day to day you cannot hear your neighbours, but if they have friends over shouting does travel through the walls to other flats.

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

Good: Location is great and quiet. 5 min walk to supermarkets and retail parks, close to the River Wandle and Mordon Hall Park for some nice walks and small independent shops/restaurants. Short walk to the tube with easy access to central London. Surrounding streets are quiet with no anti-social behaviour and I never hear the traffic as we are far enough from the main roads.

Bad: No visitor parking (and not allowed to get a visitor permit for the street outside either). Bin facilities are good, though wish we had another recycling bin as it tends to get full quickly. Some noise from the industrial estate behind the development, but not often.

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

I wish I knew we’d need to get our address registered before moving in. It took a month or so with a few of us trying to sort it out.

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

Initially these were dealt with very quickly and my emails were acknowledged. However, a few months in, my snagging emails have been ignored for 5 months without a response even when I followed up on numerous occasions. With 4 months until our 12 month defect period is over, I hope these get resolved in a timely manner.

The development is basic in construction, and shockingly designed. My line of apartments has an imbalanced footprint – a huge boiler cupboard that dominates the open kitchen/living room space, and an oversized hallway space that you could throw a disco in. I undertook an immediate development project when I moved in to move the boiler to the hallway, at significant cost, but which has improved the design of the flat. I think it was very poorly and quickly designed, and complete with ugly and basic finishings.

The property management (Clarion) is staggeringly bad. Easily one of the most incompetent organisations I’ve ever dealt with, either personally or professionally, in all my years. I currently have my Service Charge suspended (since last May 2020), on top of a Service Charge that I cancelled for 18 months in 2016…. all relating to a complete absence of Service. I understand that a number of other residents have done the same.

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

The area has really developed over the past 5 years, with newer retail and pub establishments opening, turning Bow into a very desirable area to live for young central London workers. The proximity to Victoria Park is brilliant, which provides excellent outdoor space and facilities. There are significant development plans currently being considered by Tower Hamlets council which will further improve the area.
Mile End Tube is ~12 min walk, no. 8 bus is also very good for City and West End access. I have private parking at the residential development (at cost), but parking on streets is very restricted, and I understand there are restrictions on residents permits.
Bin collections are hit and miss (especially Recycling, which is high in volume, and sporadic in pick-ups). ASB is a particular issue, my development recently being subject to a Closure Order due to ASB and break-ins.

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

In hindsight, I wouldn’t buy off-plan, or at least, not without properly considering the layout. I was hugely disappointed with the internal layout, but this was very much a failing on my side.

Not a particular issue for my property – but I’d suggest good practice things to look out for in new properties are internet connectivity, mobile phone signal, what the neighbours are like, exposure to any outside issues (bins, traffic noise, etc), parking availability, access, any current local disputes/issues, ASB issues, council tax charges, (if in Flats) Service Charge costs.

Knocking on a neighbours door can often yield a lot of helpful information 🙂

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

With either silence, significant delay, or gross incompetence.

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.