About Countryside

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

Good:
– Location, location, location. The development is on the doorstep of the Canal and there are loads of beautiful nature walks near by.
– Close to the City Centre. Its a really short drive into the city centre and a reasonable walk if you prefer.
– Quiet. Its nice and quiet on the development and near by.

Not so Good:
– Parking. Every house has a double driveway (I think), but there isn’t really much on street parking.
– Finish. As per all new builds the finish is at times questionable. Countryside have been relatively quick to fix everything but there are parts when we moved in that felt rushed.

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

You need to prepare yourself to spend lots of time chasing up outstanding work and snags as the houses seem to be handed over in pretty poor condition when new. The snags are numerous but generally not serious (I’ve not heard of any massive leaks or movement like with some other developers) but an eye for detail will help you identify where corners have been cut on the finish. For example its worth checking that your walls have had a proper even coat of paint and that woodwork has been sanded and finished properly before being painted.

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

Generally they have been responsive, especially when we first moved in. It has become harder and harder to get snags resolved as more houses are handed over and as mentioned above there are large items outstanding on the estate which keep getting promised but never finished.

3

Facilities

5

Design

5

Location

3

Value

3

Management

Issues:
Poor quality fittings
All the door handles had to be changed within a year of normal use. The locksmith we engaged told us that the handles and doors were of poor quality in the first place which was why they broke so quickly.Lift breakdown
Within the first year, the only lift in the building used to break down every alternate week for about a period of 6-12 months until residents protested against paying the increase in service charge until a new lift was fitted. This inconvenience has caused the elderly and disabled a lack of access and frankly should be illegal.

Hot water
It’s been about 6 years since phase 1, and we’ve been having issues with the communal boilers / power cuts up till today. The hot water would be down for long periods especially over winter and any fix would only be temporary. It’s come to a point where you can’t take being able to have a warm shower for granted.

Communications
We are currently receiving text messages informing us of any outages – primarily hot water related issues. However, this usually comes much later after we have reported it to the L&Q emergency number, which might be useful to some, but not the majority who have had to experience it firsthand. When reporting and asking for updates on outages, helplines are staffed with rude CS agents who sound like they need additional training / are inadequately informed by the service/operations team, so they are not in a position to provide proper updates.
What is concerning is that these issues (hot water, broken lifts and poor quality fittings) are not unique to Acton Gardens. Properties all over the country by L&Q are experiencing similar issues. A simple search online would surface lots of examples. Save your hard-earned money for another place with a developer who genuinely wants to provide quality homes.

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

The area itself is fine being close to South Acton overground and Acton Town tube. There has been a growth in amenities around the high street too.

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

I wish I had done more research into the issues L&Q developments have been facing all over the country. The amount of grief this development has given me and other residents is unimaginable.

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

The location is great for transport links and has a local high st for shops and restaurants. However, it is missing a large supermarket or upmarket bars/clubs.

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

I probably would suggest a professional snag inspection as we found a lot of issues later in the process that you would not notice on a first look around.

Facilities;
1) only one public garden near the entrance which is no good.
2) didn’t see any other facilities in the department

Building management
1) good as they are on-time on the completion date.
2) any house defects that they will follow up and fix . Even we need to ask & Push over few weeks

Property management
1) Customer service department is doing well as they explained our needs to site Manager.
2) helpful to review our reported defects and make related action for fix it

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

GOOD:
1)Convenice to buy daily stuffs as the location ia close to Town Center or even Wednesbury.
2) short driving distance to Birmingham city (only 25mins drive)
3) set up in a separated area in which the security seems better.

Bad:
1) Lack of big country park nearby
2) number of house density is too high
3) public leisure space in this department is limited.

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

Good kitchen design on those 3 bedroom from size of Lea or bigger.

What is the best feature of your home:

Sky windows which is the eye drawing design for me to buy this house

3

Facilities

5

Design

4

Location

5

Value

4

Management