Madison, Wembley Park, HA9

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

The environment is quite good in the local area but sometimes the neighbours are a bit noisy, especially when the children are crying and running in the corridor, could be inconvenient for tenants who work from home.

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

Some of my home facilities are broken, such as the hobs and door bell system could not be used. Otherwise, the rest is good.

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

Neighbourhood structure. I wish I could have know whether my neighbours having many children, which really had an impact.

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

Existing ones are good but we really need Boots here. I wrote this last year too but nothing happened. It will be great to have Boots in vicinity.

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

Resident team is very quick and responsive. Maria has been very helpful since day 1 of our moving in.

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

Everything is transparent and as seen and available online.

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

Madison has excellent transportation connections with the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines. Situated right next to Wembley Stadium, the neighborhood is always clean and feels safe. One drawback is the lack of green spaces in the neighborhood; we only have a small park. The building is also close to the Designer Outlet, which has been fantastic to have. However, I wish there were more cafes and restaurant options nearby. Additionally, perhaps more major shops within walking distance other than Sainsbury's would be beneficial.

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

Building management has been very responsive to our inquiries. However, I believe one of the key issues lies with the maintenance team's allocation of resources and time for each flat. When they do come, they are always very skilled at what they do and are pleasant to converse with (we have had over 3 minor issues and were visited by different people, from someone dealing with white goods to painting walls to fixing furniture). However, there are times when they are unable to visit us promptly upon our complaint. I think they may be either stretched a bit too thin with staff or that the management of the maintenance team could be improved.

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

The weekend street market isn't a regular occurrence, but we were thrilled to see it when we visited the Wembley Park area. It contributed to our immediate decision to rent the place, as it gave off a neighborly feeling. The market gets set up once a month or so once the weather gets better.

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

Commute / Transport - For individuals working in Central London, the commute is still unreasonably long for what you’ll pay. Quintain charges ~2.3k for one-bedroom flats in Zone 4, while one can easily find similarly priced options in Zone 2. The 35-minute commute to King's Cross is frustrating, especially with the Metropolitan line's frequent delays due to strikes and signal failures. Living in Zone 4 eliminates practical alternatives like walking, biking, or taking the bus into Central London. This long commute takes a significant toll on my well-being. Safety - While the area may seem safe, there have been stabbings here. One particularly disturbing case happened on Olympic Way last year. This heavily-used route to the tube was temporarily closed due to it becoming a crime scene. Local shops - The convenience of having Costco and the London Designer Outlet nearby is a major perk.

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

Since October 2022, just three months after moving in, we've been fighting inaccurate utility bills. The problems are obvious: - Travel Charges: Even when we left our flat empty for months, we were charged as if we had normal usage for a 1-bedroom apartment. - Regular Usage: Our bills for typical months when we're home reflect impossibly high consumption for two people working standard hours. Quintain Living denies residents access to utility meters in buildings like the Madison, framing it as a convenience since they handle the readings. This means you're forced to trust their claimed consumption, even if it seems unreasonably high, and simply pay the bills. Despite repeatedly raising concerns about unrealistic usage figures, Quintain Living's typical response is: 1. Claim they're investigating. 2. Provide a daily breakdown that only reinforces the questionable usage numbers. 3. Close the complaint case without resolution. It took four attempts and numerous resident complaints about overbilling (see Trustpilot reviews) for the Madison building manager and an Amber senior engineer to finally start another investigation. In short, Quintain Living's management lacks transparency and they have failed to address a serious discrepancy affecting our bills for almost 2 years.

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

Quintain Living unfairly dictates our energy broker and keeps us in the dark about it. We should have the right to choose our own supplier, just like residents in most other buildings. That's why it's crucial to ask about the energy supplier upfront when looking at any building. If the agent can't provide a clear answer or admits it's Amber / Community Utilities, consider it a major red flag and run away. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble. In retrospect, I regret my decision to move into a Quintain flat. Being new to London, I relied mostly on the guidance from my real estate agent. I was unfamiliar with the city and lacked knowledge of alternative housing options, leading me to select the option that was recommended by my agent. This seems to be a pattern among several of the residents here: many of us were newcomers to London who were unaware of the diverse housing options available. Now we all have to remain in our leases until they expire. Our unfamiliarity with the city and utility bill consumption made us vulnerable to utility bill scams. The realization of the discrepancy only came when we compared our bills with those of non-Quintain Living residents and noticed how absurd the price and utilities consumption we are being charged for.

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

Location is superb, close to many shops and restaurants and has play parks available for little ones.

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

We wanted to transfer to another but it is already too expensive for us.

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

We were not able to view the flat before we moved in because of covid; we only relied on the pictures and videos sent to us but if we had that chance, we would not have chosen the flat we are currently living in as it is really not optimal for living due to the poor ventilation of the flat.