Seventeen, SM1

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

no parking, sometime bin collection once a month. close to police station frequent siren is expected.

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

Very poor. I tried to contact the management office regarding the lift was out of service, but I just received automatic reply email with no action of the lift.

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

Lift service is poor. You will have free gym chance whenever you go out~

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

There's a good range of shops on the high street, although some places have shut down since COVID, but we now have several bubble tea places in their place which I am happy about! We have several restaurants. There are excellent transport links, with Sutton station being so close, plus buses to Morden for easy access to the tube or tram. The street is great location-wise, but as it's a main road it can be quite noisy as the traffic noise is constant (although I am used to it now). There is absolutely no parking at all which is a big problem when you want deliveries/pick ups from Uber etc, as lots of delivery drivers and taxi drivers won't park anywhere nearby in case they get ticketed, then complain at the residents like it's our fault! Bin collections: the bin room is absolutely awful. There are too many normal bins and not enough recycling bins, so the recycling ones always overflow, then the bin collectors won't take them because they don't shut, and the problem perpetuates. I mentioned this in my last review, someone from L&Q got back to me in the comments about it, I asked the building manager person to swap out some of the normal bins for more recycling bins, she asked me to send a photo of the bins which I did, and since then I have heard nothing. Par for the course from L&Q. A lot of the other residents also don't keep the bin room clean and dump large items in there without organising for a collection from the council, which means we all then get charged in our service charge. Not really experienced any anti-social behaviour other than the smell of weed every now and then.

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

A lot of the time they don't respond, and if they do, it's generally only after a lot of chasing.

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

That new build doesn't necessarily mean good quality.

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

The building is very close to Sutton High Street which has a very good variety of shops and restaurants. We lost a few during the pandemic, but new ones have quickly sprung up in their place (including several new bubble tea shops which has made me happy!). There is a small park nearby and some larger ones if you're willing to walk further or get a bus to Morden Hall Park. Parking availability is abysmal, there is no parking at all in the development and it was a condition of the building being built that it was a car-free building. There is nowhere even for delivery drivers or taxis to stop because there are red lines outside, which often leads to frustrating conversations with infuriated delivery drivers, who don't seem to realise there's nothing the residents can do about it and it's infuriating for us too! We have communal bins which are OK but we only have four large recycling bins for a 10 storey building, which is nowhere near enough, and we have far too many normal waste bins. This means the recycling bins often overflow and when that happens the council will quite often refuse to take them because the lids won't shut properly. We also have a problem with people leaving bulk items in the communal bin area which we then all get charged for on our service charge, because the council charges to take them away. I've not experienced too much anti-social behaviour, but every now and then we have had youths trying to get into the building by buzzing residents and saying they lived in one of the flats but have forgotten their key and asking to be let in. Traffic noise is bad and constant, and I can't have my doors open in summer while the telly or radio is on because the traffic noise drowns it out, or at night because it would wake me up when it gets busy again at dawn. This may be better on the higher floors. But I must admit I got used to that very quickly and the noise is now somewhat comforting to me!

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

Slowly, and only after a lot of chasing, and on some occasions they have responded rudely.

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

That new build doesn't necessarily mean good quality.

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

The area is great; two minutes' walk to the High Street and everything you need very close by, with excellent transport links into town, a bus ride to the Northern line at Morden, always a way to get home. The only thing Sutton is missing is a theatre.

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

That the building was cheaply made in a rush, and there would be so many things going wrong with it.

Please share one thing (or more) which you would change about your development:

Put proper building/property management processes in place so things get fixed without you having to chase a thousand times.