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Located in Zone 2 in Acton, Aviator Place features a range of one to two-bedroom apartments as well as three to four-bedroom houses. Residents can benefit from the close walking distance to North Acton station with connections into Central London in less than 40 minutes. North Acton Playing Fields are also less than a 10-minute walk away.
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Write a Review Upload PhotosCheap and less than cheerful
Unfortunately, upon close inspection, many things in Aviator Place are just not quite right. Whether it’s opening the fridge/freezer to see the rubber gasket come falling off, to getting 8 phone calls from an irate deliveryman outside because your intercom does not work, or walking past the jammed gates to the car park every single day, there are many things about the development that are theoretically nice but which are just not up to standard.
Even worse, it is a battle to communicate any of these issues to NHG. Making an online report as you are told you must results in no response, and emailing the property manager assigned to the development is even worse. She has a permanent Out of Office reply on, and you can never be certain whether she will actually read your message. Rarely does she reply at all, but when she does, it’s combative – ‘Are you sure it’s broken? Well, we already sent someone and they said it was fine.’ Yes, I’m sure it’s broken, and no, you didn’t send anybody, because I was working at home all day and I think I would have noticed. (By the way, today is 6 July 2021 and my intercom does not work today and has not reliably worked since I moved in, that would be in September 2020.)
Phones are not answered frequently and if they are, you are speaking to different random people who clearly take no follow-up action, regardless of the seriousness of the issue. I have reported emergencies like a large leak in the ceiling of the communal entry. No response, and no action, until about a day later when we received an emergency alert telling us not to use our plumbing as there was a major sewer leak and there was a lorry emptying the drains in the road out front. I had just returned from a cold winter run and was not able to shower in my home. Had anyone paid attention it may not have escalated into such a major emergency, which destroyed a downstairs flat.
It’s really an exhausting, demoralising, and nerve-wracking experience every single time there is any kind of issue with the development, because we all know that it will be a huge fight just to get anyone to acknowledge the issue, let alone agree to rectify it, never mind actually sort it. Those are the three stages – first, an argument about objective reality, whether there is or is not an issue in the flat where you live and where the representative from NHG has never set foot. Then, an argument about whether anything can or should be done by NHG. Then the final hurdle, getting the issue resolved, which often involves you setting aside multiple full days waiting for tradesmen who never arrive, agreeing to several appointments you can’t really attend because NHG says you must and they no-show, until you eventually give up and wonder if that wasn’t the ultimate goal all along.
Parking management is catastrophic. Maintenance of the communal areas is very poor, including failure to find a gardener such that the garden has overgrown resulting in mice in the ground floor flats. The shoddy build of the hall/entryways means the stairwell door is frequently broken and often repaired by residents as it’s easier than arguing with NHG. The paint quality is rubbish throughout, but most evident in high traffic areas, so the communal hallways are in a poor state. The intercom system is not fit for purpose. Internally, inside the flats, paint on walls in the kitchens that you should be able wipe clean comes right off if you so much as touch it. No transition trim in the main bathroom, appalling finish just about everywhere. A refusal to do any ‘snagging’ should have tipped me off as to the extent of this. Genuinely, I just try not to look too closely at my flat.
This is the universal experience of residents of this development – we are in contact with each other and of course we do share our experiences.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Aviator Place is very well connected to transport links, with East Acton station just over the road and Acton Central a short walk away.
Acton Park is very nearby, as is Wormwood Scrubs, so there is some green space.
The development is situated along the A40, so there is significant dirt, grime, litter, and noise at all times. It is worse by comparison to my previous home which was on the North Circular, but set back a little bit, with a better barrier of trees and foliage.
Parking is a massive issue. Most of the shared ownership residents have not been given an allocated space, and illegal parking is rampant. Cars (the same cars, daily) are parked on the pavement, obstructing pedestrians and making it generally difficult and unpleasant for other road users to get past. The ‘enforcers’ from Park Direct do absolutely nothing about this, but they do randomly come ticket residents – they have even given tickets to legally parked resident’s permit holders in their allocated spaces, without explanation. Park Direct is not reachable in any way to remove cars that are illegally parked and blocking other spaces, certainly not in a timely manner, so if someone is in your space for a month they will not remove it and nor will the council or the police intervene. But you may get a random, undeserved ticket. NHG property managers won’t care and will resist helping, too.
People who live elsewhere in Acton will use this private road as a shortcut to take their kids to schools nearby, etc and they litter and are otherwise antisocial.
Thefts of parcels from the buildings are rampant and NHG has installed a ‘security’ system in the buildings which ensures it continues, making it impossible to let in visitors or delivery people all the way to the door of your flat. They cannot get up the stairs, so they will leave things downstairs and thieves will follow delivery vehicles and steal things straightaway. NHG has been made aware of this on multiple occasions and know the ‘meet and greet’ system forcing residents to go downstairs (there is no lift) to meet visitors is not fit for purpose, but they don’t care and refuse to make alterations.
Cleaning of the buildings and bin collections is haphazard and irregular. The street and neighbouring ones are often filthy and broken glass and other rubbish is never picked up, so if you have children or dogs beware where they are walking.
There is a severe lack of restaurants and shops on the A40 side of the development, where there are about a hundred chicken shops and nothing else, but there are some shops and restaurants about a kilometre away on Churchfield Road.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I wish I’d known it was common for there to be numerous and serious problems with new builds and that it was so hard to get the property management/developers to sort them.
If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:
Barring a high spec build in the first place, I would hire competent and caring property management.
no way near to perfection
facilities very poor. bike storage area, although good as inside the premises, there is no small gate to access, that bikers need to pass by ground floor hall. garden at back is fair but front facing A40, all trees are dead! would have been better to create more parking space for shared ownership owner than wide unamaintained garden. location is excellent as near all amenities. value is fair. property management is very poor and difficult to access. I find NHG staff in charge of Aviator is somewhat rude and choosy with whom she will reply to queries and complaints, if reachable as hardly answer to emails. Sad as this reflect the whole NHG customer service. the area and facade can be fixed if NHG would listen but with frontline staff difficult to access, feedback and good score goes downhill from there.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Parking availability — if NHG could just have created a slimmer garden fronting A40 and created a bit more parking spaces to be offered to shared owners, it would have been perfect.
front gardens – trashes everywhere. no maintenance. plants overgrown.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
Customer service accessibility
If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:
garden to be slimmer and more parking to BE OFFERED TO SHARED OWNERS. we are only 13 flats, so difficult to understand why cannot be offered each.
Room for improvement
Development design is decent and functional, facilities do require frequent maintenance eg main door not locking correctly and lift out of order, for which property management hasn’t been particularly responsive. Cezanne Road itself is lacking cleaning and maintenance, especially the green area that is left to grow unnoticed. Poor safety measures as CCTV hasn’t been activated, which let the abovementioned bike thieves go unpunished.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Ups: proximity to the Central Line. Downs: traffic noise, anti-social behaviour eg unauthorised parking, incorrect garbage disposal; misuse of communal spaces eg shoes, furniture in aisles, lack of security eg bikes stolen from locked rack, CCTV not working; no variety of restaurants and shops
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I wish I had known that CCTV were not in use before buying a new bike and getting it stolen (while locked indoors) 10 days afterwards.
If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:
Firedoors sound is totally unecessary and very disturbing.
Buy the house is its right for you but NHG are no where near perfect.
I think the buildings design looks great from the outside but internally you can see there have been some rushed decisions. The garden seems to be incredibly rushed and not maintained properly which causes frustrations. The facilities n terms of the actual apartment are great. Big spacious open rooms, lovely big windows and well thought out kitchen. The paintwork is awful, clearly the paint advertised as used is not correct. It will need a repaint very soon after moving in unfortunately. Management from NHG is almost non existent and its extremely difficult to get things sorted and put right. Defects management was not too bad but it had to be done very quickly so we didn’t miss the deadline but general day to day management is quite poor. Replies take a very long time and issues can take upwards of 3 months to be resolved.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
I think the location of the property is great. To be so close to central London for work and fun is great and the connections via buses, trains and cycling are perfect for my needs. The restaurants and local area needs a lot of work but I am sure this will follow with time and future developments going up.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I think it would have been nice to be told of a meeting date with our developing and management teams. I know COVID caused issues with this but now we are moving forward this should be booked in asap.
What is the best feature of your home:
Big open rooms and lovely floor to ceiling windows and Connection to central London.
Don’t buy from NHG
NHG the worse team ever. Had the worse experience with this property. I regret buying and regret knowing NHG. I had a sewage leak all over my bedroom and NHG blamed me even though we informed them on first days of moving in. The are so u helpful and not supportive at all. They fail to response. The managers are non existent and useless. The service charge is not used properly for what they ask for. We haven’t had proper services at all. There is not enough parking for everyone and even if you do have a spot, you will still get a ticket and the NHG won’t help you. They fail to even do their job. Our housing officer is either always on holiday or take supposedly 5 days to reply but comes back 2 weeks later with a pointless message. There is so many defects and issues. The builders who made these properties did such a rushed job that they must be cowboys.
Worse decision of my life coming here
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Close to the underground
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
That the building is such a rushed job. The sewage being in working condition rather than having actual human waste in my bedroom for weeks
If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:
Everything. Management, the contractors, the housing officers. Everything from ground up.
The design of the building is alright, however they need to improve cleaning in the building
im very unhappy with their management because i’ve had a broken window for over a year they sent someone to fix it he said he’ll send someone back and no one came, i keep calling them but same thing, The design of the building is alright, however they need to improve cleaning in the building
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
There is no parking, fortunately we don’t get traffic noise, shops are not too close but at an ok distance, open spaces close, transport good
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
There’s no parking for people living in flats, you can’t get a permit however we got told that before we moved in
You could find better than this building and Developer.
They don’t answer on the phone and email. they have long process to fix any problem on my apartment.
My bicycle was stole from this building and they said we don’t have access on CCTV and we cannot help you. I don’t recommend it .
If you have another choice. Good luck to you all
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
There is a lot of shops and restaurants nearby this apartment. The big problem is noisy on A40 especially if you live in upper floor in this building. The walls are not insulated Enough. There is parking Onset.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I don’t have insulation in the second room front of the motorway
What is the best feature of your home:
parking and near by many shops and not far from underground.
General review
Building were we live is new, nice and clean with nice communal garden. I really like the design of the building it looks modern. Building management is pretty satisfying and we never had any major issues. Area around the building is kept clean at all times.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Area in general is nice. Consider we live next to A40 the noise isn’t bad at all. Plenty of local shop in the area.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I wished to know that the bike storage room isn’t really secured as my bycicle was stolen even though it was locked and I was told that CCTV isn’t working after it was stolen.
What is the best feature of your home:
The best feature is for sure the communal garden and the fact that the building is pet friendly.
Renoir House, Aviator Place
Overall, the development is great. We have a massive amount of space in the flats, and lots of light. The communal gardens are also secure and lovely to spend time in. However, the building management is terrible. Faults are not fixed. And the service charge is very high for the lack of service we get.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Brilliant transport links. Great pubs and restaurants in the local area towards church field road. The only issue is not being able to get parking permits for family or friends.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
The size and brightness of the flats are exceptional for zone 2. It’s great value. However, the building management is what lets the development down.
How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:
I have had a leak on my balcony since November 2019 which has never been rectified. I had to contact the builders myself to organise the fault to be fixed.
Well-rounded And highly-recommended development
Overall a really nice development. The little backyard which is accessible for everyone is nice and clean. The security is great and I will really safe. It is great to have an elevator here and moving things up and down goes smoothly. The building has a good management and is always open for inquiries.
Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:
Traffic is a bit nuez the whole time but the noise is not too bad. The shops in the area are great especially restaurants, supermarkets are a bit further away.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I was told everything that I needed to know when moving in!
How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:
We have usually gotten a quick answer and the landlord is really nice. Only one inquiry took a bit.
Resident photos
