About Latimer

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

Kings hill is a great place to live with many amenities within walking distance. Restaurants, a gastro pub, 2 supermarkets and a train station a short distance away. There is on prem security and the grounds are well maintained. It does however have a large number of commercial office plots so traffic can sometimes be an issue.

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

I wish I had better researched the developers and how awful they treat customers.

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

I had to complain through multiple channels to get the developers to fix issues in my property. They didn’t even respond to my complaint until I reported them to the housing ombudsmen and threatened legal action. It took them almost a year to put right the issues with my property, and they even attempted to end my defects period early because of it.

The building itself isn’t the nicest looking block of flats in the world, but it’s not exactly an eyesore, the flats themselves are nicely designed with a modern finish, however some of the fittings like door handles and the shower head seem to be rather cheaply installed and are likely to break.

The primary selling point of the Courtyard to me and many others was the pet friendly nature of the development. Most of your neighbors will be friendly dog owners. Trying to find a nice development in central Brighton that is pet friendly is very difficult.

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

The Courtyard is located very centrally in Brighton, so you are within walking distance of almost anywhere and there are bus stops nearby that can take you to University if you’re a student, or Brighton station is nearby if you need to commute to London. However, the location of the courtyard is in a hotzone for drug users and homeless people. I personally don’t feel safe walking home late at night. It is not uncommon to be woken up by an ongoing domestic dispute from across the street.

You are also located right beside student halls, The Kaplan Building. We have personally had very few issues with the students, however, there have been complaints from those closer to the halls with noise complains in the early morning. Though the sound proofing of the windows and balconies is good. Though the building gets very warm so you will often need to keep these open.

The traffic noise is what you would expect from such a centrally located development. If you get a flat that is facing the main road you can expect it to be louder than if you get a flat at the back of the development. The location is also very close to a police dispatch center, so even with the sound proofed windows, you will hear police and ambulance sirens frequently throughout the day.

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

For the most part, the building met our expectations. I wish we would have known that the facilities were going to be delayed indefinitely. And we were not prepared for the brazen drug use and anti social behavour that can be witnessed from our windows.

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

Problems can take some time to be resolved. We had to have our washing machine replaced the day we moved in and it took nearly a week for them to move a working washing machine from an unlet flat to ours. But for the most part things get resolved without fuss.

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

There is a lot of car noises from on the estate. There is good walking access into the village and to the two village shops.

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

That the switch to the “outside light” hadn’t been hooked up to anything.
The fact there is flint in the grass.

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

It took a long time. Clarion were much quicker than crest though and clarion took months. Crest were utter liars saying they’d called me when they hadn’t.

So far the property management has been a bit hit and miss, poor quality grounds maintenance and irregular bin emptying to mention a couple of things.

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

WMP is on the outskirts of the village. It’s walkable (down a muddy footpath) in about 15mins where you have pubs, small shops and takeaway food.
Development is quiet and peaceful and surrounded by countryside.

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

Rural location isn’t for everyone …. bright lights and facilities ? No …. but that why we moved here

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

So far management company hasn’t been that responsive but lets give them time to get to grips with the new estate.