The rent is insanely high. You can easily get a two-up-two-down in Toxteth for £450 pcm. PlaceFirst charges as much as £800 — and that’s before you add in any extras, like pets or household appliances. It’s hard to justify that cost, especially when you consider the other glaring flaws in the development, and the fact that… well… we’re talking about poky Victorian terraced houses.

Parking is a nightmare, and I’m regularly forced to park away from my house, sometimes on completely different streets. The roads are narrow and poorly marked. Meanwhile, the presence of planters means that the amount of possible space is reduced further. PlaceFirst could easily remediate much of this by issuing assigned parking, with clearly-outlined painted spaces.

And then there’s the fact that the Welsh Streets is still a building site, with much of the development under construction. This means noise, disruption, and roads temporarily blocked due to the presence of cranes and other apparatus.

To PlaceFirst’s credit, they’ve proven diligent when responding to complaints or requests for repairs. However, this is undermined by the multiple (and glaringly-obvious) cut corners. The front and rear doors were shabbily installed. Meanwhile, our toilet was affixed to the drywall by a single deteriorating screw, which eventually failed and left us without a toilet for an entire day.

In short, it’s okay. Not great. Not good. Just okay. Nothing is perfect, but it’s hard to overlook the Welsh Street’s several glaring flaws when you’re paying an obscene amount of rent each month.

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

The Welsh Streets is a tight-knit community, and to PlaceFirst’s credit, it has allowed this to flourish organically. This is largely thanks to the design of the development, which boasts a large communal garden (although, for the sake of clarity, this has also been somewhat of a source of drama). Separately, the development is well-positioned to nearby bus routes to the city center. You also walk; it’s just twenty minutes by foot.

There’s a Tesco within five minutes walk. If you’ve got a car, you can also get to town quite easily, or the nearby Edge Lane retail park. All in all, you’ve got the convenience of living within close proximity to the city center, without having to deal with the noise and inconvenience.

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

I wish I knew how frustrating it could be to share a communal garden. Privacy, I barely knew ye.

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

There was an inevitable delay in getting issues resolved due to Covid. Things, thankfully, are now getting back to normal. But some issues are foundational (like the installation of the doors) which can’t easily be resolved by a 30 minute visit from a Timpson’s locksmith. Many of the problems could have been avoided by the developer taking care during construction.

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

Overall, I’m really happy with my home, especially given how hard it can be to find pet-friendly and affordable, good quality homes these days. It was like moving into a brand new home and it actually feels like a home for once. It’s close enough to the town and in one of the better parts of Hartlepool. The houses look lovely from the outside and the development is well maintained.

I really only have two main disappointments. Firstly, there has been a lot of anti-social behaviour from local kids setting fire to fences, banging on doors, and smashing windows. Placefirst have been great at dealing with this, as have the police, it is a local problem to the whole area, but has made living here pretty miserable at times, especially during lockdown when kids were not in school. As a result of the repairs from damage caused by the kids, and from the pandemic as a whole, rents have recently gone up. Secondly, the maintenance firms have changed a few times, so reported incidents haven’t been dealt with as quickly as they could have been and you can be left waiting all day for an 8 am appointment then no one shows up until 5 pm. That’s very irritating.

One annoyance with my property is that there is a draft from somewhere so it can get very cold and expensive to heat in winter and could be a lot more efficient. I no longer use the downstairs because of the kids banging on the windows all the time and it being so cold, but I think it could be fixed easily enough, it just needs some insulation work. I don’t think other properties have this issue, mine just happens to be an end of terrace and I have private neighbours and empty homes next to me.

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

I wish I’d known about the anti-social behaviour and how little sunlight my property would get, I would have chosen one of the different properties and avoided these issues. Sadly, it’s not possible to move to a bigger property or to move to a different property or development unless you go through a whole new application. I think that’s a real shame, especially for folks who move in, then meet someone, change jobs and work from home, or who decide to start a family. If you’ve been a long-standing tenant, it seems silly to have to go through the whole application process again from scratch, especially since this impacts your credit file. A lot of folks will likely move off the development rather than stay as a result.

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

I’ve been disappointed by the management side, the repair reporting is nice and easy, but the repairs have been very slow. I’m also clinically vulnerable and shielding so asked that the boiler man wear PPE, he didn’t have adequate PPE just a neck gaiter, no sanitiser. I waited three weeks for the boiler being broken which was supposed to be an urgent repair. I’ve also lost work days waiting around for inspections that never happened, so that feels like the management couldn’t care less. Which is a real shame, because the property is great otherwise.

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

Likes: proximity to Princes Park and the Park Road Tesco; short drive into the city centre; good transport links on Princes Avenue. Close to Granby Street Market and Squash. Overall the neighbourhood is extremely friendly and community minded, on the Welsh Streets and beyond in L8. Lovely lovely people
Dislikes: many section 60 orders have been put in place during our tenancy which have given us worry; recently more car break-in attempts; constant building noise, dust, cranes; fireworks year round day and night

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

Ask a lot of questions and make sure you get clear answers before you move in or sign any paperwork. Make sure you get everything in writing

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

Quick to reply to emails, slow to act in general. Repairs have been okay but there is poor communication between whoever takes the calls from residents and whoever dispatches contractors.

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

The location isn’t particularly well connected – much like most postcodes outside of the Liverpool city centre. There are however good amenities, with supermarkets, pubs/restaurants and the university campus nearby. Most of the area is still a building site, which is a nuisance.

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

There are a few inconsistencies in the way tenancies are being managed, such as monthly rental value for each property and additional charges for pets (which some pet owners aren’t paying). Enquire about these to avoid dissapointment.

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

I would endorse the inclusion of allocated parking for each household. As the roads are shortened as a result of the ongoing building work, there is often a scramble to park anywhere near your own house – particularly as multiple households have multiple cars.