Welsh Streets, L8

We really like the design of the house and we think everything is well placed. We find the appliances to be really good and haven't had any problems so far. The fridge is especially great, it keeps our vegetables fresh for a long amount of time. The landlord and management keep us updated too.

We love the Welsh Streets, the community here is amazing. We love our house too, well renovated and modern. The management of the development however needs reviewing. Over involved in tiny issues, nowhere to be seen when there’s actual, larger scale issues (rodents).

There has been consistent issues with PlaceFirst, especially during 2025 which led to media attention. Whilst we’ve not had any issues with our property itself, we were affected with the price rises, lack of communication and the desire to want more for our £. Our main concern, which we've raised is the shared garden space. This is constantly littered with broken toys, anti social behaviour in the form of loud, screaming children whilst we understand, and like that it's a place where families can thrive sometimes the behaviour can be unsociable, and late at night. We've never used the communal space, neither have our neighbours. We’d much prefer a larger garden which would remove these complaints. Alternatively, if the shared gardens were planted up and had furniture in - picnic tables, shaded areas ext. This would make the space more appealing, and usable. Currently its just a path to take your bin out, a path where the lights have always had issues. PlaceFirst could have community events to meet their ESG commitments such as building bug hotels ext. Shared planters ext. Mounted Bike repair kits. This would be great for children and families. Rodents seem to still be a problem, but have improved. In terms of value for money, if we compare our rent prices to professionally managed properties closer to the city centre they do offer more facilities - gym, community events ext. Something which PF is lacking, but still in the same price bracket. The house itself offers good design, however a refresh would be nice - paint, ext. We’ve not had this once since living here long term. Splashbacks in kitchens would be sensible (behind sink ext) as well as better paint, and access to the loft for storage. If we were to move, it would be down to the pricing. Not necessarily because we don't think the house is worth it, but because the overall package doesn't seem like value for money. PF advertise these as somewhere to live forever, and how great they are. The marketing is almost too effective, leaving much to be desired once settled into the property. The best way to retain people, is to offer more alongside properties which is why high rises are so popular you can achieve this through upgrading the shared gardens, a community space, co-working spaces ext. Stuff that brings a community together, driven by PF. Something which would be difficult at this site, which is why the pricing seems a bit off and people are desiring more. Electrical vehicle charging would be a huge benefit. And solar panels for all properties. Working CCTV on the front, and back of the properties would benefit us a lot.

Facilities on our development are well maintained and looked after. Everybody does their bit to keep our neighbourhood looking nice. If you ever have a maintenance issue, building management have always been in touch promptly and sorted the issue within a quick timeframe.

Overall, the rent is expensive for the properties and if the house looks nice on the surface, it has a lot of structural issues that are not being taken care of, or that will be temporarily 'fixed' by hiding the issue. For instance, mould in the bathroom, and the walls are only repainted over. Placefirst could do better in investing in more robust material, and long-term solutions.