About Linden Homes

There is a deliveroo editions / dark kitchen in the lockups next to the flat. This means there are a lot of scooters coming up and down the roads. I don’t see this as much of a problem because the fact we can get reqlly good quality sushi or wing (piping hot out of the fryer) in around 10 minutes is a huge bonus.

There is a helipad just outside the flat block. As this is the closest helipad to central London it does get a reasonable amount of action and can be quite loud. That being said, the triple glazing on the flats blocks the sound out incredibly well. The only time this is a problem is when you are either sat on the balcony, or it’s hot and you have the windows open and even so there’s max 3 or 4 flights a day and the noise is about for 2 minutes.

The people in the community of this development are so-so. There’s a bunch of really nice and neighbourly people that live here, and then there’s a handful of people that only think of themselves leading to them complaining about stupid things because they feel entitled to. You’ll always get people like this in any community but it does ruin it for everyone else.

The management company are pretty useless. They take forever to respond to any questions and often only solve part of the problem ignoring the rest. They are also terrible at keeping track of payments. They almost took us to court over a payment we had already paid which was ridiculous.

Overall I would definitely recommend this as a place to live. There are some small downsides to this place, however being in this apartment more than ever because of the lockdown, this has been an absolute life saver of a place to live. The new flat and decent bright space and the private garden were exactly what was needed to get us through.

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

There aren’t many restaurants within 5 minutes but falcon Road and St John’s Hill are not far so cover that off nicely. Both the ship and the waterfront pubs are within around 10 minutes walk whixh is excellent. There is a co-op 5 minutes away which is convenient for small shops, but there’s also an asda about 15-20 minutes walk away which while far is convinient if you have a car and want to do a big shop. Having clapham Junction nearby is really handy, I used to take that into work every day. The bus links are plentiful however they can be quite slow during commuter times. Since lockdown I have cycled more and really discovered how continent the waterfront cycle path is. Overall, this is a pretty good place to live. The best part is that you are close to decent shops, restaurants, and bars. The worst is probably transport links though they are still pretty decent

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

A bit more about the local area – shops and pubs would have been good. Also, there’s a development going on nearby which is a great thing. More information on the phases of work and the plan would be great as this will inevitably change the value of the property for the better so being able to plan a little more around that in terms of selling would be excellent but that just a small detail. Overall really happy with the property

What is the best feature of your home:

The large triple glazed windows are great. Having lived in a number of other flats in London you often don’t get much natural light, and can hear the buzz city. These windows give loads of light and effectively block out the noise

The facilities are up to standard and with a 10 year NHBC guarantee the property management staff are fairly good at seeing that most material and product issues are sorted within an acceptable time frame.

The building management staff, however, are amazing; concierge are super friendly and helpful, and the background support staff have a handy man who is great at assisting with any small jobs around the complex and inside your apartment, they are great! Plus the online portal and email updates from the complex is the best I have seen – really professional with notifications of parcels received, regular site updates as well as general newsletters. Top marks on this front!

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

The location is amazing; you’re in zone 2, you have great transport links. You have the O2 and City Airport ‘on your doorstep’ and can get into the city within 20 minutes.

Canning Town is a really up-and-coming area with more additions of supermarkets, shops, bars and coffee houses by the day. There is also a cinema on the way, which will make this area very popular and fun to live in.

With tube links and City Airport a few stops away on the DLR, plus with Stratford Station 2 stops away on the Jubilee Line, not only are you easily connected to Central London, but you also have easy access to trains and planes to travel the rest of the country and the world.

There is very limited parking in the complex’s underground parking, but street parking permits are available. However, with such good public transportation connections who needs a car?

Living facing the River Thames and the train tracks means you don’t hear the noise from the traffic, however you do hear the Jubilee Line, which unfortunately is currently very noisy day and night!

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

The view from your apartment/balcony (good and bad) and how much noise you would get from the tube tracks.

Also, how constrictive the NHBC 10 warranty makes things. I.e. you are given extra space, blank switches and spare fuse slots on the fuse board for additional appliances you may wish to add yet you are not allowed to install additional appliances (such as a water softener) as these can void your 10 year NHBC warranty. This was never highlighted and in fact contradictory to these electrical allowances created and presented/advertised on the home demo.

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

The Developers and/or Sales/Aftersales Team. They mis-sell and mislead, and then do very little to resolve these breaches in contractual obligations. This could lead them into hot water very soon!

The overall attention to detail in the homes is terrible. On completion day we actually raised issues with our carpet and flooring downstairs, we still have not had this rectified and now in an internal battle with them.

Our turf was laid and they are quoting its normal….well we followed the maintenance regime and its coming up, bald patches, you sink in it and there are rocks everywhere. Not really the best when you have a 2.5yr old.

Our solicitor raised with us that Linden homes tried to resubmit different boundary plans for our property which meant we had some land missing from our plot. So underhanded and their solicitor admitted an admin error.

Due to a 10 day response and me chasing this for our formal complaint to the MD, he threw a shocking response to us, backtracked everything that was approved and said it was all normal and customer service were in their target KPI for responding.

Once they have your money, the customer care goes our the window.

Whilst we love the house and location, I would advise people to think twice before buying and do your own flooring and turf.

Throughout the 6 months we have been here, they have ceased working with 3 different contractors which has not helped the situation.

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

Love the area, very accessible to shops and the main town. Cant fault the location

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

I would never have turf or flooring done
Their customer care after sales up to MD level is shocking. The turf is normal apparently for Linden homes and we have carpet coming up, glue, cuts on flooring all noted on completion and apparently its our tough luck that we wont get colour matching carpet as they will only change one bit.

Overall attention to detail is so bad, its a production line and they bully you to exchange and complete so they can have the money but any care and especially after care is appauling considering the prices they charge.

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

Decent finishings, turf which isnt coming up and sinking with rocks everywhere and the customer care

3

Facilities

1

Design

5

Location

1

Value

1

Management

It was quite smooth moving in, there were a couple of issues but nothing too bad. They are usually fixed if you flag it quickly, so I am quite happy with the management on the site. They were quite responsive when I had a leaking window and came to fix it very quickly. We do have a concierge service, which is useful to have, who are open 4 days a week and they collect our packages. I’m not sure if we have any CCTV cameras but I have never had any issues with safety in the development. There is a lock on the front door and an additional one past the foyer. I find it to be relatively safe.

We do also have a garden on the site, which is a nice touch, but I don’t not use it that much, but it is well-kept with lots of nice trees and flowers and it’s a nice place for children to play in. I wish there was a gym included.

The building of the development has been well thought. The height of the buildings could have been better thought out as people living on one side don’t get a great view. My flat itself looks very clean and modern with all the appliances up to date because the building is new. It is a very spacious and bright flat with lovely big windows with a view towards East London. Inside we have three bedrooms, and two are very large. The other is a bit smaller, but I don’t mind. We also have two bathrooms, which is a luxury. We live in a furnished apartment but have been able to personalise our flat through adding in various home accessories. I do also have a spacious balcony, which leads out from the living room. We have put a chair and a small table on it and it’s nice to use during the summer as at least 7-10 people can fit on it. It can get very hot in the morning, above 25° especially in the summer. We are able to open our windows but there is a security feature in place, which means we can’t open them all the way. My flatmates and I now have fans in our rooms.

There are some resident events put on by the building’s management but there are more for families and I am not really interested in them.

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

The area is becoming better with easy access to the city via the DLR line, which goes to Bank. You can also take it to get to Stratford. It is a 30-40-minute walk to most areas, like Bromley-by-bow so it is a good compromise. There is not a lot in the area to necessarily do, apart from a couple of shops and a small Tesco only a 3-minute walk away. A larger Tesco is about a 15-minute walk away.

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

Everything was explained to me very well about the flat.

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

Management were responsive when I had a leaking window and fixed it pretty quickly.