Moving to Wembley from a Victorian rental property near Kilburn was a big change but a great one. The flat itself is modern, nice white/beige/brown colour combination, wooden floors, modern facilities, and nice appliances too – absolutely nothing to complain about here. I don’t think I’d want to move away from this style of living to be honest!

Different buildings have different facilities. Montana for example has a common room with a sofa, TV, and pool table (although the pool table is not in great condition these days and the room itself is too small as the wall gets in the way of the cues…). Dakota has a TV area too and more of a study area around the side that has proven useful when I have been needing privacy. These areas are free to use but if you want exclusive use, they need paying for. This isn’t something I’ve gone for as I haven’t needed it.

Other buildings have (in my opinion) better facilities, and one where it feels a shame to live in the older flats (or indeed, not have access to the facilities in the newer ones) – Alto for example has a much larger common room which whilst it doesn’t have a pool table, feels like a place I’d love to work in. Other flats have open roofs with cinema areas, bar areas, and sometimes it feels in Montana + Dakota we have the lower end of the deal here, bit of a shame that we don’t have access to some of the things that others have. Occasionally events will occur (more later) which bring the Quintain Living renters together into one building, and it’s on these occasions you see what others have, and sometimes feel a bit sad you don’t have that access!

Montana + Dakota have a gym which is pretty good in my opinion – it’s large enough – 4 treadmills, 2 bikes, 2 mountain climbers and numerous machines for different exercises with dumbbells/barbells, punching bag and so on. Occasionally you can do a group session here (ie spinning). The gym is shared between us and other renters in the same area (not Quintain living but another developer) – but I’ve rarely had a problem with how busy it is. The treadmills (which I use all the time) are good, with internet access (bar one, annoyingly) to YouTube etc in case you want to watch something whilst running. There’s a one off fee for the gym, £35 as I recall, but that’s it – and you have access 24/7, it’s great.

Technically Montana/Dakota also have a ‘cinema room’, but I’ve never used it, as it’s expensive to use. There’s also a central garden area for us and the adjacent property development. It’s fine, has a pond and a nice seating area, but it’s not somewhere I spent most of my time.

We have a concierge and generally speaking they are great. 90% of the time I use concierge for parcels (as I’m sure everyone else does) but I’ve never had a problem. Concierge is there 24/7, and you can go to them for any issues (i.e. noise) as well. If I’m being brutally honest, some concierges are better than others, but I can’t fault too much. I’d much rather have a concierge than not, and all-in-all, they do a great job.

I must also mention that Quintain Living also have a building near BoxPark in which you can go to them directly to talk to them. They are more for questions re the contract (I believe they’re more for prospective tenants now) but for existing queries, concierge are first line, and then they can raise to the Management team, which is an example of where Quintain have faltered lately. It used to be much easier to contact Quintain about issues. Nowadays, you have to raise a request by email/through concierge. The time to reply has slowed considerably (from same day to 2-3 days), and often issues are taking longer to resolve (see later for a specific major issue we had with noise that illustrates this). Quintain can do a lot better here. Looking at reviews, many people talk about specific issues they’ve had, and the level of support they’ve received from Quintain being substandard.

Quintain haven’t been substandard to me for the majority of issues. However, as paying tenants, especially when we have an issue that we deem as relatively major, this is where a landlord can shine or sink. If Quintain were to improve anything (and I hope they are reading this) – communication between yourselves and tenants at times we need it, as well as the fixing of issues in a quicker way is the single largest factor between yourselves and 5* ratings across the board. I love Quintain Living in a lot of ways, but you really let yourselves down sometimes at the times in which we need you the most, and that is a problem – as a lot of others say, when we feel you care more about the prospective tenants than the current ones. Quintain have asked us to write reviews, so I hope they are reading! We are reasonable if an issue is hard to solve – it’s when issues aren’t solved, and communication is poor, that tenants get annoyed, and that’s what sticks in our minds when considering whether to renew, or to review, or to recommend. One issue can undo 5 years of good work.

A quick word on Internet, which is a lot of people’s bugbears in these reviews. Maybe I’m lucky but I haven’t had any issues personally. I think this is occurring in newer buildings. What I would say is that at a time of our lives where we’ve been indoors a lot, requiring WiFi to work well, this becomes one of the most important parts of our tenancy. It sounds like people have been having problems, and Quintain have been slow to fix. I can’t comment on this, but if this is true, this is another example of how dealing with the situation in a better way would prevent numerous 1* reviews, and even better communication would go a long way to ‘fixing’ the problem.

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

I have lived in my building for over five years – living in what was one of the first developments that Quintain (then Tipi) had on offer. In these five years, the Wembley area has changed almost beyond recognition – and most of it, in a really good way.

The two obvious differences are the number of stores/shops that are nearby within the area and number of flats that there are around the place.

With regards to the Wembley Park area, within a 5 minute walk from my flat there are numerous restaurants, a few supermarkets (a larger one is 15 minutes away), a design outlet centre (where you can get ‘outlet prices’ on stores such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Lindt, Skechers, Nike and so on), a lot of coffee shops, a library, a private dentist, opticians, a decent pub (Fuller’s pub), post office, a hairdressers, a cycling shop, yoga/pilates, gyms, cinema, Brent Civic Centre, Wembley Arena and Wembley Stadium. Wembley Park, Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium are three train stations locally, most notably Wembley Park (Jubilee + Met line) and Wembley Station (National Rail up to Marylebone).

I don’t often feel I need to go far for something. It feels vibrant, and for those wanting some life in the area they live in, Wembley is probably one of the best places for it. It lights up at Christmas with great lighting and ambience. From time to time there are buskers on Wembley Way, and different other sorts of entertainment will occur throughout the year. Of course, there are also events at the Arena or the Stadium. To some, this might prove too busy – you do have to consider what you do during busy times as you don’t want to return to Wembley Park right when a match/event is ending for example – but on the whole, these events are nice to have – with good ambience and often a varied group of people. Perhaps just be aware of the times of which events happen, and build your day/evening around that a little.

With regards to new flats – I’ve almost lost count at how many new flats there have been over the past 5 years. They exist everywhere, and while I think that is a good thing in principle, occasionally I do wonder if Quintain lose sight on current tenants a little whilst acquiring all these new tenants through new buildings. When I first arrived (when it was Tipi), I felt very special, and in the opening few weeks and months I got to know a lot of the team at Tipi, who were great at answering any questions I had, solving any issues (I had a plumbing issue early on that was fixed almost immediately for example after a phone call), and generally being visible around the area (we all knew each other by name). That must have been when approx 200 flats were built across two buildings. Nowadays, it feels Quintain have 2,500 or more flats across all these buildings, and as such, the level of care they can give to an individual is lower, because the team hasn’t (or at least, doesn’t feel) as if it’s grown in the same way. More on that in the next review section.

IS WEMBLEY PARK SAFE?:
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To prospective renters who’ve not been to Wembley before – there are really two areas of Wembley. One is the ‘bubble’, as I call it – that’s from Wembley Park station to Olympic Way (the walk to the Stadium), and the surrounding London Designer Outlet and modern flats that this review is about. This area is a good area. I have never really felt unsafe here, even walking alone late at night (I am a male, so my experience might be different). There are numerous places such as the nearby BoxPark that can host late night dance/music sessions and as such the area around BoxPark can get quite rowdy, so this is the only place in which I feel a little uncertain at times. Otherwise, I haven’t really noticed any crime in the 5 years I have been here. I’m not saying it’s 100% safe, but I don’t see anything to suggest that it’s not.

I wouldn’t however like to travel outside of the ‘bubble’ more than I need to. This area includes Wembley High Road and surrounding streets which are, pardon the expression, fairly dingy. Whilst there are some useful shops on the high street, I tend to avoid as much as I can. Those who would be travelling and walking through the high street via Wembley Central wouldn’t be able to avoid this area, and I personally wouldn’t want to do that each working day. It’s not to to say that it’s dangerous – again I haven’t seen that, but I feel a sense on unease going there. The same goes for other areas around the bubble, most notably up towards Asda. However, residential areas around these areas are quite nice to walk around, especially towards Kenton. I would not venture South of Wembley, as these areas are known to be a little more dodgy in general (Stonebridge Park).

TRANSPORT
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Transport options as mentioned are good with three lines to the area. The main one, Wembley Park is fed by Jubilee and Metropolitan lines and by far the one I use the most. It’s a 10-15 minute train to Baker Street which feeds into all sorts of other places in Central London, so nothing is really ever too far away. I also enjoy going to West Hampstead and Hampstead areas, accessible via the Jubilee line.

Wembley Stadium is also closely, within a 5 minute walk and is fed by Chiltern Rail, going from London Marylebone to terminal stations including Oxford, Kidderminster, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Aylesbury. I don’t use this station much but it’s very accessible and reliable from the times I have used it.

Wembley Central is a Bakerloo line station about 20 minutes walk away and through the aforementioned Wembley High Street. Again, I try not to use this, unless I have to.

There is a relatively nice park nearby called King Edward VII park, about 10 minutes away by walk. It’s fine, but you’re also very close to Regents’ Park and Hyde Park near Baker Street – I’d much rather go there.

All in all, about 90% of my time in Wembley is spent in the bubble, and it’s a place I feel comfortable being in. It’s very lively, and quite a pleasurable place to be – and constantly changing – with new flats, and new shops/facilities. This is both a good and bad thing depending on your point of view – but overall the progress made in the area is significantly positive.

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

The flats can get very warm, so consider whether the flat is N/S/E/W pointing. If you face the communal garden area, note that activity in that garden could cause some noise at night (someone I knew stated the fountains in the garden made quite a noise at night). If you’re facing the road, note that there’s quite a lot of traffic in the area, especially from motorbikes/mopeds delivering food. Sometimes if people are having a party it can get noisy, but it’s rare it happens.

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

At times of need, this is where your landlord can shine, or sink, as mentioned earlier.

Broadly speaking, Quintain have been pretty good at helping on issues. I haven’t had many in my 5 years, approx 1 a year, but each time, the issues were dealt with pretty well.

However, a few months ago, I (and all of Montana) had an issue that was horrible for us all. For about 16 days, we had a loud and incessant noise that turned out to come from the dry riser running through our building. The noise was very loud, and proved almost impossible to sleep in.

I went through what felt like a neverending back-and-forth between myself and Quintain in trying to sort this issue. It had occurred straight after the water having been off one morning, upon its ‘repair’ to then cause the issue.

Quintain will rightly state that the issue wasn’t really with them and more an issue for plumbing and had to get specialists in, which is correct. Also, it is true that they attempted to send people to attempt to fix it numerous times during the two weeks. Unfortunately, nobody was able to solve the issue until the noise went 16 days later (after a resident sent a note around all the flats asking everyone to make sure that it wasn’t them making the noise).

What I was not happy with at all was the level of communication between Quintain and I (or the Montana residents) during this time. I had to instigate all comms, asking what was happening and what was the progression in trying to fix it. It felt as if Quintain were actively hiding from me, as I could only speak to Concierge, who were passing messages on between us like a middle-man. Telephone messages went unanswered. Emails were sent with images and videos to Quintain to prove issues, but often I wasn’t getting a response. I had to press very hard to get anything from Quintain and the first group email sent to Montana occurred 6 days after the initial issue started. Those who weren’t as active as me in asking what was going on had to wait almost a week for any comms to occur. It was terrible. Concierge were getting annoyed at the situation, I was getting annoyed, and I’m sure Quintain were getting annoyed. The problem is, the way in which it was dealt with (by Quintain, not concierge who were generally sympathetic and great) was making it worse for us all.

I can’t explain how loud the noise was, but it was LOUD. But as it was continual and often came on and off in bursts, it severely affected sleep, and it was almost impossible to work from home. I felt as if for my mental wellbeing I had to leave the flat. I spent 4 nights in hotels. I spend 10 other days at other people’s houses. For half a month I was effectively unable to work or sleep in my flat. Some people (somehow) stayed in their flat. Goodness knows why some people didn’t complain. I did find a few people struggling like me, and we created a WhatsApp Group to inform each other about the issue. They all said the same thing. Quintain communications were poor, either ignoring emails or not providing solutions. They at one point gave us headbands that act as headphones to wear in bed – a nice gesture, but ultimately wasn’t a solution as the noise one would have to have their music at to drown out the noise was too loud to sleep in.

Most importantly in all this, there was no apology. Concierge were apologetic, but got nothing from Quintain. I appreciate they were trying to sort it out, but if I hadn’t pressed so hard to find out what was going on, I’d never have known. The issue was never actually fixed – as mentioned, it went organically, I think after the note was sent around the flats. It remains a mystery. There was no offer of anything to help, no compensation. No suggestion of helping find a place to stay for the night. Nothing. I found this terrible. If they had lived in the flats, they’d be horrified at their level of care for us during this time.

If the communication had been better, I wouldn’t have felt so angry. If there were an apology, that would have gone some way. If there were compensation for at least the nights I had to spent in a hotel, that would be gone a long way. I had to spend hundreds of pounds on accommodation, travel, buying earplugs/ear defenders etc to deal with this problem that wasn’t caused by any of us, and arguably caused by a contractor fixing the water that day, and with no followup to apologise.

Quintain, you’ve been great for other issues, but here you really dropped the ball, and I’m really sorry, but it’s left a lasting impression on me as a tenant of 5 years. I felt this damaged my relationship with you, and I pray that nothing similar happens again for fear of going through more anguish in trying to sort it out. If you’d dealt with the comms better here, with recompense, with apologising, I could see past the issue. It wasn’t your fault what happened, I know that, but it was dealt with really poorly.

In terms of building management, the staff are great. They are extremely helpful and fix all my problems within a very short amount of time. We have a receptionist that takes all of our parcels, so we never miss one!

The library is my favourite facility in The Collective Old Oak, this is because it is quite and allows me to work undisturbed. My room is quite small and my desk chair is uncomfortable, so I find it harder to work in there. I also really enjoy the activities they put on every day, it’s always something different and it’s a great opportunity to spend your spare time doing something worthwhile. I particularly like the movie nights, yoga lessons, meditation sessions and art activities. The development has such a rich and thriving community, I stop and speak to all the other residents when I see them, they are all so friendly.

Although my room is quite small (it does kind of remind me of a hotel room), it has plenty of storage space – I especially make use of the under the bed storage. Also, I like that we can stick things on the walls and really make our rooms feel like home. I even have plants in the bathroom!

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

The accommodation is easy to commute as it’s just 7-minute walk from the station, but it’s a bit quiet during the night-time. Also, there aren’t many grocery shops within a close proximity.

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

That there are activities and events every single day!

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

the staffs are very nice and helpful. they also provide quick response to our problems. the building have staff for 24hours where you don’t need to worry if there is no help during your stay!

The not so good…

– Our previous flat on floor 14 has a significant defect of a loud gushing water sound in the bedroom walls/ceiling. We had to live with it every day for nearly eight months. It was the reason we moved to another building before the end of our tenancy. The situation was ongoing for much longer than we had liked, and we feel the ‘residents team’ who were dealing with this purposely kept pushing it aside. I do find it very hard to believe that the previous resident never flagged this to Quintain Living. In the end, it resulted in us having to swap units as the fix for the defect is not simple. It now appears that Quintain Living never had any property intentions of actually fixing it because the flat is back up for rent without fixing it. They purposely asked us to provide us as much info as we can to resolve this for future residents… now it’s up for rent with no fix to the issue.

– You will likely have neighbours from hell in this building. From thumping the floor every hour of the day, (the people on Floor 15 disturbed not one but two flats on floor 14), and then you have the smoking and shouting from Floor 13. Having to wear earphones every hour to do your work in peace or not open the doors/window on a hot day without smelling weed is not ideal. Due to the pandemic, Quintain Living are limited on what they can do to sort these neighbours out. Both apartments in question have been spoken to by Quintain Living, but floor 15, in particular, have gotten worse soon as management were involved. Floor 15 should not be able to get away with what they’re doing… TWO flats have moved or will be moving out because of ONE flat.

Quintain Living thankfully allowed us to do an early unit swap due to these issues, and Sakina/Grace (both are great members of the team) found us a flat that met all our requirements, and we have now moved to another one of their buildings, and so far, it is a hundred times better! It is much friendlier than what we witnessed in Alto, we can’t smell smoke, and there is no waterfall feature in our bedroom anymore.

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

The good:
– The location of the flat is ideal. It is kind of hidden away from the main hustle and bustle of Wembley Park. It is a two-minute walk from decent size Sainsbury’s, coffee shops and Boxpark and just over five minutes to Wembley Park station.
– Elvin Gardens (the greenery area by Alto/Landsby) is lovely to sit in during the warmer months

The bad:
– Other residents (not myself) have seen drug dealing outside the main doors of Alto, and there has been some anti-social behaviour surrounding the building.
– People tend to linger outside of Alto, which is annoying. People LOVE to use it as a backdrop to their photos or ‘music videos’. If it was dark I would walk in through reception as it can be quite intimidating seeing a group of people likely up to no good blocking the main entrance to your home.

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

If you are considering moving here anytime soon, I would avoid Floor 14 and probably floor 12/16, so you’re not above/below the two problematic flats on floor 13/15. Also, every Alto flat that we could see from our balcony smokes and it is meant to be a non-smoking building. I believe Alto is now one of their cheapest buildings, and it is starting to attract the wrong crowd… criminals in some cases! Supposedly one of the aims of the rebrand from Tipi to Quintian Living was to attract those on higher incomes and older age groups… pretty sure at times you’d have a more peaceful life in the student accommodation opposite Alto than you do in Alto itself.

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

I wish we had known the flat had a huge defect, that the ‘no smoking’ policy is not taken seriously at all and that sound proofing between floors is non-existent.

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

Big Sainsbury’s is very close which is convenient. It’s very close to the city centre with a variety of shops and restaurants. The neighbourhood is safe although the empty building in front of the facility may look scary. There have never been any incidents near or at the Locks. There is a private parking and a place to leave bicycles, and a public parking at the front as well. There is also a place to charge electric cars just in front of the building. The big flaw of the localisation is the proximity to the busy ring road. Even though my apartment is on the other side of the road, it still is loud when the windows are open. And, unfortunately, in the middle of the night, especially during the weekend, some people speed on the road and sometimes on the parking and it’s very loud.

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

I wish I’d known how to access the underground car park earlier and that in order to get a fob a person has to pay additionally (thought it was coverem by rent).

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

They have always been helpful and quick to answer any questions or raised concerns.