About Grainger

We rarely heard any noise from apartments either side of ours but noise from apartments above and below is terrible – likely at the upper limits for passing regulations. Every footstep sounds like a loud stomp – our upstairs neighbours experienced similar. If doors are shut hard the whole apartment shakes and can become very annoying if your neighbours are in and out a lot or are habitual door slammers (which our downstairs neighbours were). This is more apparent in the living / kitchen areas where there are no carpets to dampen sound. Pin Yard staff are aware of this but there is nothing they can really do about it. Some other odd things worth noting such as USB ports in plug sockets next to bed ringing loudly.

The site is surrounded by building sites and will be for the foreseeable future. These create a lot of noise and working from home became unbearable at times. We were regularly woken up by bin collections from the Jet2 offices at 2-3am. Leeds Council has little sympathy – the building is not in a residential area in their view. Grainger would not help at all on this.

Having worked on branding for some Renaker developments in Manchester the amenities and service are very basic in comparison.

Experienced a “do as we say or not was we do” attitude from some members of staff. For example, receive email about not smoking/vaping at the front of the premises then see the building manager vaping at the entrance. Receive dramatic email about not parking on car park ramp then literally see her parking on it a few days later. This affects trust and reflects an “us against them” power trip approach. Martin, however, was genuinely nice and helpful and displayed a lot more empathy than his colleagues.

Checkout experience was very unclear and stressful. We cleaned the apartment to their exacting specs – inc. filling walls and repainting to a pro standard. We still had a negative time getting out deposit back despite all rent being paid and damage being accounted for. Our deposit is still to be returned. We felt it was a bit petty to deduct money for cleaning an exterior window we were told wasn’t our responsibility. Watch out for this.

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

10-15 walk to centre of Leeds. Decent pubs and Tesco in short walking distance. However, I experienced constant noise from building sites (set to continue for the next few years) and was regularly woken up in the middle of the night by Jet2’s bin trucks.

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

Noise from apartments upstairs and downstairs is really bad.

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

Things were solved but we would often have to wait longer than you would hope.

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

I really like the Facilities like the gym and the movie room. The building design is very modern and depicts it’s worth. They also have a inbuilt sockets and facilities that allow easy to work from home.
However the Internet connection poor, and the gym tends to get very busy around 8 to 10pm which are my preferred timesupplier especially after work

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

I wish i knew i was unable to repaint or refurnish my apartment.

The building is great. The facilities work well (especially the delivery of the parcels via the locker system). The management is superb: Grainger employees are polite and attentive and react to any minor issue promptly. There is also a web portal (Building Link) for the main communication needs (for sending messages to the management, maintenance requests, sending messages between occupants). The security personnel does a wonderful job at keeping the entrance safe and welcoming people in the building. Everybody is courteous, polite, and efficient.

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

GOODS: The area is close to the Lee Valley, surrounded by green, protected areas, and water, both from the London water reservoirs and the canal. Flats either have a view on the canal side or on the Lee Valley side, both views are gorgeous, depending on individual preference. Tottenham Hale station (tube and rail) can be reached by a 7-8 minutes walk, and connects to the Victoria line, which is one of the most reliable and quiet lines. Flats have balconies of generous size (I believe the size actually depends on the flat layout). Windlass is also close (7-8 minutes walk) to Tottenham Hale Retail park, with many honestly-priced shops (Lidl, Asda Living, Wilko, Currys, tkmax, Boots, Next, etc.). There is also a smaller Tesco express on the way to the station and the shop center. The main road, Hale Wharf, is quite, clean, relaxing. I have not experienced any anti-social behavior. There is definitely no traffic coming in, and therefore no noise. There is no big road nearby, which also contributes to the place feeling more livable. Despite being very close to the station and the shopping center, the development is actually located in a lovely and quite spot.
BADS: Besides the retail park and the station, there isn’t much life (in terms of pubs or restaurants). I could only find one nice pub (the Ferry Boat Inn) and one nice cafe so far (Table 13). A new development is being built right across, which may be annoying to some, but to be fair, windows are very solid and keep the noise out considerably.

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

I wish I knew this: everything related to Windlass and Grainger was very good/excellent in my experience, but the nightmare comes when you have to deal with letting agencies. Since this is a new and beautifully-presented development, letting agents inflate the prices too aggressively, there is a lot of speculation and unnecessarily long waiting times that are due to letting agencies play their games under the scenes. Since many flats were/are available at once, it is very hard to understand which unit/layout you’re actually enquiring for when you see online ads, many of these are ghost ads and report different prices, different pictures, and different layouts than those that later the agents present. Avoid letting agencies as much as you can, always try to contact Grainger directly: double-check with them whether the info that you are receiving from the letting agents is correct and up to date.

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

Management is always available online and during most of the days can be found at reception. They respond quickly to any minor issue and actively solve bigger issues. So far, they went the extra mile to help at any time that I needed.

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

There are plenty of supermarkets a 10 minute walk away and the tram is over the road for quick journies into the town centre. There is a nice walk by the canal to Media City which is good to do on sunny days.

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

We didn’t realise there was a massive billboard across the road. The light from it in the evenings can be seen through the bredroom blinds which can be disruptive to sleep but didn’t take long to get used to. The building hosts social events and sometimes competitions with prizes which are fun. There are also social groups to get involved with like a book club or mother’s group etc. It’s nice to be able to get to know your neighbours and socialise with new people if you want to.

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

With Coronavirus we asked about potential help with the rent and management replied within 3 days with a possible and helpful solution should we need it.