Kilburn Quarter, NW6

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

Rough end of a good neighbourhood. Some unsavoury characters are still in the area, as it's all redeveloped council estates, but it should gentrify in time. The main reason to avoid is because of HomeGroup and their complete lack of competence or care.

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

HomeGroup will make your experience a nightmare, and you will feel trapped and helpless as they are a bunch of incompetent jobsworths with no ability to follow through on anything. Issues go unresolved for weeks/months, emails and calls go unanswered, and they are completely failing in even the most basic requirements of their job.

What is the best feature of your home:

Good insulation, close to transport and shops, energy efficient.

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

The area is quite handy, with an underground station and all stores within a 2- to 5-minute walk. Right in front of the building is the bus stop. Numerous cafés, restaurants, and sports clubs may be found nearby.

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

Immediately and managed to solve all my problems and requests!

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

None, there are nothing that surprised me and I did not know before moving.

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

Terrible and expensive management by Network Homes. Non-transparent costs, original design related issues unresolved and costs passed on to owners. Good location, improving neighbourhood but missing safety and security elements.

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

Many outstanding issues with increasing service charge.

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

Service charge has tripled !!! How unreliable and mismanaged Network Homes is.

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

The area is very nice and is definitely benefitting from gentrificiation over the last 5 years. The nearby park is a clear highlight with a playground and high quality sports facilities. Within a 15min walk radius there is generally very good selection of local shops, cafes, though there are no major brand supermarkets (requires about 20min+ to get to the closest one) other than convenience stores

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

Initial responsiveness is good, but requires chasing people multiple times in order to have to works booked and caried out

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

Service charge itemisation, calculation and allocation across flats

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

Network Homes continue to underperform. Wasting energy, inadequate maintenance, open doors and windows. Actually there’s no proper management. Everything is outsources where Network Homes cares the least about value for money and unable to manage the zillions of subcontractors who make good money out of it. There should be a more holistic approach for maintenance especially when you work with so many subcontractors

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

Often not, if yes with long delays and no follow ups. Many open, outstanding issues.

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

Development was mis-sold with regard to service charge. It’s more than doubled in no time. No proper account management. Still unconfirmed account statement, all based on estimates and no proper management. Also distribution of costs should be more based on floor size or number of people as some expenses are disproportionately high for smaller flats.