Saxon Place, ST1

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

Sience living here it's been alright. Electric gates to the back car park in operation with fob. Close to bus stop, Lidl around the corner. Not traffic noise , very quiet at night. Nice neighbours. The developer got company who is carry about plant and cutting grass around the estate every two weeks for free during the summer time. Unfronetely we don't have open space for kids or any playground for them around here.

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

Unfronteley we were told that the parking outside the steets will be for everyone with the residential car park permit( roughly £40 a year), unfornetely council changed the plan and this parkings are only issued for people with blue badge which I don't really understand.

What is the best feature of your home:

It's cheap during the winter time . I have my thermostat set to 23 degrees all the time and the bills is not more as £180 for gas and electricity . Family 2+2. During the summer it comes down for maximum £90 with octopus.

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

This development is extremely close to the city centre. It is on a main road which does not cause an issue noise wise however there are issues with anti-social behaviour (e.g. homeless people sleeping around the estate that use drugs).

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

I have contacted them about two issues, one took a long amount of time to resolve, the other took a week but they had to rely on external solutions.

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

I wish I had known who to contact in terms of LIV / Fortior Homes / Martin & Co for property management. Still a little confusing.

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

Parking spaces limited No cameras in car park No electric gates

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

No problems as of yet But there has been issues when needing to park due to workers

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

nothing as of yet Bar the gates coming in and out arnt electrical

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

These houses are massively overpriced on the rent. Shoddy workmanship. Some neighbours are drug dealers who have been busted and convicted by the police. They are still dealing drugs. After 16 months repairs are still outstanding. The Liv management company told me if I’m not happy then I can leave without penalties. All the grass just will not grow. The garden floods. The neighbours animals pee all over the plants and now they’re dead. Some truly scumbag residents including drunks, druggies and thieves. The parking gates are just useless. Many reports for many things by many people have fell on deaf ears with Liv. We’ve been living on a building site for over 16 months and we’re still charged high rent. The flats are a complete eyesore. Rusty balcony barriers.

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

Very very poor. Repair issues and nuisance neighbour complaints, the terrible state of the grass all fall on deaf ears. I’ve asked if I can smarten the place up by painting the fence but once again it’s fell on deaf ears. It’s a case of put up or shut up. I also asked if the developers could put a shed base in for us as we live on a incline but I was told no and to do it myself. It needs some digging out to make a level area as it’s quite steep. Liv just said “NO”

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

We were told the parking gates were gonna be motorised but it was lies and now the gates don’t get locked. We were told no benefit claimants would be living here but they are and they’re druggies and dirty attracting there scumbag sort to hang around and thieve. Tramps and scroungers also hang around.

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

Local shops are a bit overpriced, but it's only a short walk to Hanley centre where there's a better range of shops, including restaurants and bars. Hanley centre is quiet and I would avoid hanging around late at night due to the unfriendly drunks and crackheads near the bus station. Public transport is convenient but the buses aren't on time often. Parking is allocated and labelled on the bays and some of the neighbours do abide by this. The bays on the street itself are owned by council and require a parking permit (not that anyone has one) and those spaces are always contested because why park in your allocated space when you can park on the street? Bin collections are always on time, but some people place their bin to obstruct the driveways into the courtyard. Some people forget to pull their bins back after collection, so you will always see a stray bin on the street for a couple of days. Anti-social behaviour is common and I have had people ringing my doorbell at 3am in the morning for fun. Traffic noise isn't bad if you have your windows all shut. Police/ambulance/fire sirens are frequently heard since we are close to the stations. Late night/early morning you can hear some drivers speeding down Lichfield Street with their upgraded engines.

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

I raised issues/repairs in Apr/May 2021 and my issues were finally fixed by the builders in Jan 2022. By that time, I had accrued a long list for them, which they did fix all in one go. So I would sum up by saying, it's a slow process.

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

YMCA centre is a couple streets away so be prepared for anti-social behaviour and homeless people from Hanley centre tend to come take shelter in the courtyards during the winter.