Vistry Partnerships

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Burfield Grange is well located for access to the Cuckoo Trail with two access points on the development. There are nurseries and schools (Primary and Secondary) within walking distance and Hailsham Town is a 2.5km walk away accessible via the Cuckoo Trail. The roads are well proportioned with all homes having accessible parking on driveways. Part of the public land is owned by Hellingly Parish Council and other parts of estate managed by a management company - the latter is payable by a service charge payable be each home (there are 240). We have an excellent Resident Association and Neighbourhood Watch scheme which ensure that the estate is well kept, and relatively crime free. Burfield Grange is a beautiful, quiet, well respected and well looked after development and many of the residents comment how lovely it is living here.

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

When buying a new build home (1) Get absolutely everything that is agreed put in writing (2) Do your homework and ask other residents how they feel about the developer and their home (3) Employ a Snagging Company - this house will be the biggest purchase of your life - get it checked by a professional (before you complete on the purchase if possible) - it is money well spent - trust me! (4) Do not use the solicitor recommended by the developer - they are often not impartial (5) If you do not know the area take the time to explore before you buy (6) Check out Social Media - once the homes on new developments start to get occupied there is often a Facebook page for it, also look at social media for your developer - it can be an eye opener, (7) Do not be fooled by sales pitches - of course the developer wants to sell their homes and quickly so there are some good deals out there (8) Do not believe that NHBC or LABC or other so called 10 year guarantees cover everything as they do not! - these companies are funnily enough funded amongst others, by the developers - you may be surprised by some of their findings and decisions! (9) Enjoy your new home once you have purchased knowing that you have done your homework.

What is the best feature of your home:

My home is well located within the development, looks attractive and is energy efficient. To be honest, now we have ironed out the issues we had with it when we purchased it, made some internal improvements and have decorated it throughout, we aboslutely love it.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

A really beautiful development with adequate green spaces and impressive rear gardens. Beautiful restaurant within walking distance and Tesco store, Frinton on sea about two mins by car with adequate shops, post office etc. Finches is so quiet, when you sit outside you can only hear a pin drop and neighbours all seem so friendly and respectful which is lovely.

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

By taking animals which are part of any family is brilliant and the gardens are a wonderful size with adequate walking areas close by

What is the best feature of your home:

Beautiful looking bungalow with the front porch like it is, beautiful large garden, easy to keep clean flooring and felt like a home the day we moved in! Nice that it’s fitted with good quality white goods too.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Newhall we thought was going to be our dream come true, we purchased a £500k detached home to see our life out in peace and tranquility. What we didn't account for is the known thug that Simple Life Homes rented to opposite us at 2 Treadle Path that has made our life a living nightmare. Anti social behaviour, aggressive answers when being challenged when he parks his work van in a visitors bay but rams my fence to get as close as possible. He has put up 2 cam eras facing our house and he and his wife stare into our windows while chain smoking every 20 minutes. He has 2 allocated spaces and has taken over 2 car ports and secured them into enclosed garages where he runs his roofing business from outside our new home. This is breaking na number of the covenants we signed for. He also has 5 French bulldogs yet Simple Life Homes have a policy for only 2 dogs.

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

Very poorly, very slowly and annoyingly some of the bigger messy things could have been fixed before we moved in. They need to do much better.

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

if we knew we were going to be intimidated by a neighbour and let down by Vistry, SHW the Estate Managers and Simple Life Homes we would have stayed where we were.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

The local area is great; it ticked all the boxes. We're no more than 10-20 minutes walk away from everything we need, including shops, doctors, community hospital (no A&E), train station, pleasant walks, etc.

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

They were working through our snagging list slowly but steadily. After six months, we discovered that one drain that had been regularly overflowing was not actually connected to the sewer. Their response to this major issue was pathetic and the only way to get their attention was to go through official complaints procedures and threaten going to NHBC.

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

Tell them you're going to bring your own building expert over on a regular basis during the build, and won't complete until everything is done to a good standard to your satisfaction. If they won't accept these terms, then walk away.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Hurstpierpoint is a lovely village with a few nice pubs, and some great local shops. Our street is great, we’ve not had any issues at all really.

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

Gateway as a company don’t seem to be very involved or communicative. Bovis have been okay.

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

Some gardens have serious drainage issues!! The houses aren’t very soundproof.