Stour Meadows, TN25

Where to begin? Firstly, will confirm that all incidents mentioned past or present (mainly all still present!) in this review can be proved via emails sent/received with Crest. You may not see this review for long as we know for a fact Crest try and have negative reviews removed on most review sites, that is why we are starting to leave reviews on a many as possible, to warn as many people as possible. Do not buy your ‘dream’ home with Crest and IF you do, please, please, please research carefully first and take note of the negative reviews. I would normally bypass bad reviews myself thinking it’s easier to criticise than to praise, but please these negative reviews are all genuine and ALL of them we can relate to 100%. Each and every one. So it will take me more than one review to express the utter disgust my wife and I have towards Crest. We purchased a new build at the Sevington Lakes development in Ashford, Kent. This is on the same development as Stour Meadows (which is actually only 4x houses) only further up the road. Nine months in, we still have major snagging and works outstanding. Nine months of being treated with utter contempt, fed lies, no proper answers to questions asked, no empathy or respect. Nine months of shoddy workmanship; A completely wrong kitchen installed, which they tried their very best to cover up. No dishwasher that was ordered installed and in a working condition for almost three months. One of the most serious issues being a 5-month internal gas leak caused by poor installation, therefore no less than 3x fraudulent gas certificates issued…our list of issues with them is endless; We are having to have our front cladding completely replaced, due to poor storage and water damage pre installation. Repointing to the entire back of our house, they have tried to patch it no less than 3x times. We are still awaiting our porch/canopy to be fitted. This was due to be fitted the week we moved in (1st week of May 22) then it was June, July and we still await. They tried to pass plans for a canopy not agreed to either. The driveway needs to be completely ripped up, releveled, and re-laid due to flooding. Electrics not installed to 2022 industry standards. Lofts not vented properly causing condensation issues and await extra vents to be fitted. A bit too late as insulation now wet through and in some houses the rafters are wet through too. Will they replace the insulation etc? maybe but there will be months and months of constant fighting and wrangling with them. The street lighting is only just being properly worked on now, it has been dark throughout the dark winter nights. Drains constantly blocked and being pumped out at least once a week. Once they have your money, you are nothing. For them it’s onto the next fool. Their supposed mantra is “We want you to be happy”. Absolute nonsense. They treat us all like tenants instead of homeowners. Communication is a nightmare. When you do finally get answers, they are never in the form of a direct reply to your concern or complaint. Always swerving the difficult questions or not answering them at all. The Eastern MD just hides behind his secretary and uses her to reply when he needs too. Staff turnover is beyond a joke we have literally had at least 4x site managers and 4x customer service managers over the past 9 months. We wished we never bought a home from Crest in the first place. What an indictment that is. But they don’t care anyway. They absolutely do not care what anyone thinks of them at all. End of. It’s all about the buck, OUR buck. So, we feel it is best for people to be warned rather than fall into the trap that we have. It has affected our mental health this past year it truly has, we wouldn’t wish that on anyone else. It was meant to be our dream. We have wanted to live in Finberry for nigh on 6 years. They genuinely turned that dream into an absolute nightmare. Please feel free to ask any further questions, will be happy to assist.

It could be more impressive if they would plan the development stage more systematically. Not just the main entrance (where it creates many muddy roads), many construction heavy vehicles, kept travelling one of the main road where many residential units located, for their new construction phase. Developer should plan or build a new road for their new phase instead of creating unnecessary inconvenience /troubles/ annoyance to existing residents.

What scores it lower, for me, is all the issues to do with the fees we have and to pay in terms of the land management fees. This has been quite unexpected and stressful! I love that we are in the heart of Ashford. So close to the train station, town centre and surround restaurants. Perfect location.

It’s a shame the bus route has not been installed yet. We’ve lived here for 5 years now and there is still no sign of a working bus route, which, for my children and getting school has proven difficult. I don’t like the unexpected management fees and this is a huge negative for me.

Design of the houses are modern and well thought out with the weather protection and not having to paint the house the insulation and finishes are top class. The room sizes are good and finishes are good in all the bathrooms we are very pleased with all