Look, this is a mixed bag here. The development is of excellent quality and given its quality and location it is very well priced. On the minus side, the property management is quite terrible.
The buildings are built to the highest standard. The materials are top quality, as well as amenities and facilities (dishwasher, oven, washing machine etc.). Most importantly, the air circulation systems is absolutely fantastic. It works miracles: no humidity in bathrooms or anywhere really. I’ve lived in numerous houses and apartments in the UK before and I learned that humidity and mould are often and issue, even in new builds. I’m very happy to report, that nothing like that is happening over here. Apartments are fry and very well ventilated. I also enjoy the floor heating system. TBH, you don’t need to use much heating, since the aparments are well isolated (and well ventilated at the same time). Great job on this!
The property management is a big problem here. It is very difficult, often impossible to get anything done. There is no clear hierarchy of resposibilities within L&Q management, so whatever you do, they may simply never reply. The lady at the L&Q helpline once gave me a bunch of false information, simple because she could: she is not resposible for anything. She also said someone will get back to me within five working days, as this is their policy. Nobody ever got back to me.
Unfortunately, this has consequnces, also on property’s security. There has been a few bike thefts in the property in the past. They were never solved, because the L&Q took weeks to reply to any request: the CCTV footage was deleted. On other occasion the CCTV was swtiched off for a month and nobody noticed until some bikes were stolen. Nobody is able to say who swtiched it off and nobody is resposible for anything.
A few months ago we got quite a substantial service charge increase. We’ve protested that and asked for justification. We never got any reply. This is extremely unprofessional.
This is not a one-off problem but a systematic policy by the L&Q: to ditch any requests from tenants. Sometimes you get someone inside L&Q who genuinely wants to help, but they are never able to get anywhere.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
The development very well located. It is on the Isle of Dogs, which is self-contained neighbourhood with everything you need just within a walking distance. There are good schools, shops, parks, all sorts of activities for adults and children alike (like swimming, ballet, martial arts etc., even watersports) as well as nightlife in Canary Wharf area. The area has excellent location to the city centre on a Jubilee Line.
It is quite walk to the Jubilee station, count 15 minutes, but from there it’s just a few minutes to London Bridge and a few more to Westminster.
The single biggest issue with the area is the waste management. I think it is the Tower Hamlets council that is at fault here. The area has often tons of rubbish lying on streets and flying around. This is absolutely most horrible around Asda. And nobody seems to care.
The New Union Wharf has also its own waste management problem: the bins are underground and the council needs special trucks to empty them. Those trucks are often broken and waste is not being collected. Once, we had to wait six weeks for waste collection, can you imagine?!
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
When chosing this development it is clearly better to go for a smaller building. Bike thefts are targeted at the tall towers, and in tall towers there seems to be much higher chance of ASB. In smaller building you quickly get to know each other and can be more effective.
How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:
The policy is to not respond at all or respond very late. Please see my comments above.
