About Crest Nicholson

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

The area has good and bad aspects. The great aspect is that the development is located in a quiet area with lots of green spaces. The neighbours are friendly, supportive and care about the area they live in. Each household has an allocated parking slot and a garage. Not many cars park on street which is great. No traffic noise. The main bad aspect is that there are no shops in Elmsbrook. We need at least one grocery shop. Also the bus service is poor, so most people use cars. Those who do not have a car have to struggle.

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

It would be great to have known a real house completion date. I was promised the house will be completed in July but it was completed by end of October. It also would have been great to know that the water harvesting system in the house is not properly working and nobody knows how to fix it.

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

They responded to some minor problems but the larger scale problems are left unattended. I keep chasing for the remaining couple of issues for the last several months and so far we are not getting anywhere. All they say “we raised a works order and are chasing the contractors” but nothing is happening for months.

2

Facilities

4

Design

5

Location

4

Value

3

Management

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

Would be nice to have a shop on the estate but not essential. There os the dual carriageway not far which os very useful. We have suffered from anti social behaviour and there is parking issues on the estate with people parking on the roads which is completely unnecessary as everyone has large driveways but no one is policing it on the estate which is a really big downfall as it is becoming similar to Madley Park and Shilton Park. The town centre has everything needed and there is good access to Oxford, a bus stop outside of the estate would be useful. Traffic voice is almost zero which is great and Bob collections are ok. It would be nice to have a large park/field on or next to the estate as a lot of people have little kids and dogs on the estate.

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

I wish we had been able to view a show home before purchasing as we had to just do it from floor plans and I do not think that is fair just because you are shared ownership.

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

Yes but they keep falling off the radar and we have been asked several times of issues have been fixed but every time we say no nothing gets sorted.

Front gardens do not exist for us, it’s only a small patch of dirt basically. Layout of the parking as mentioned above is ridiculous, especially since basically everyone needs and has a car.

Property management is mediocre, we pay a fee for grounds maintenance which we barely see anyone do. Before we moved in to our property, our garden had lush green grass, however due to the grass not being maintained whilst in the process of buying, the grass had died and was “tended to” before we moved in. However, this grass has never fully revived and is patchy. The garden drainage is also terrible, since the ground is mostly clay with hardly any top soil.

House is a decent size, however the gardens are fairly small. A little bit claustrophobic with the number of houses around, but we never feel our privacy is invaded.

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

Parking is insane, unfortunately we only have one space for our house. We are two professionals who both own cars, which causes issues when we only have one parking space. We have also had issues with parking of other neighbors, which makes it hard for us to get in and out of our spaces. There is also no visitor parking either. Crest Nicholson have not done anything about the parking, which could easily be added.

Bins are collected weekly alternating between recycling and household waste. Parking has caused issues at times of the bins being collected as the lorry was unable to come down the road. Traffic noise is minimal, we are close to the motorway however we don’t take much notice of it. Hardly any anti-social behaviour, however the flats nearest to us, always stinks of marijuana.

Locally, we have two food shops which have basically everything in them. We also have a hardware store which comes in handy. Some nice pubs and a coffee shop. Great open space in terms of the recreation ground and other local walking areas.

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

How annoying parking can be. Especially if you have more than one vehicle. This has caused issues throughout the entire road, whilst staying amicable with the neighbors, it is really annoying having to move your car a lot or park a fair bit away from your own home.

What is the best feature of your home:

The house is actually quite spacious in the living areas and bedrooms. Clean white paint was also used throughout, giving the home a more cool vibe.

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

The local area is fantastic. We’re far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the town, but we’re close enough when we need to go there. Our village needs a shop desperately. The estate that we live on does need an area for children to play as there is only one park in the village. As for living in our street, it’s good to be fair. As you’d expect on any estate, there’s the odd few that you wish were living elsewhere.

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

We weren’t allowed to view the home in the first place due to Covid. Had we had done some research on other peoples experiences with living in a Crest Nicholson home, we quite possibly would have opted to live somewhere else in the area.

What is the best feature of your home:

The improvements we have made ourselves inside the home and in the garden.

1

Facilities

2

Design

4

Location

2

Value

2

Management