The Astley, M1

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

Amazing location and the flats have tons of character but since changing ownership they have really dropped in my eyes. There has been a new hot water supplier meaning our bill has increased over 280% costing £160 a month just in water alone. This frustration has been felt across the building and multiple concerns have been raised yet we have been all plagued by the same generic email from the staff that our bills have gone up due to the price of utilities going up. If this is the case they really need to update the energy performance certificates that are shared with new tenants stating hot water should cost no more then £231 over 3 years. The moth infestation is also horrendous at the moment and the default answer seems to be that it’s a city centre problem. I lived over the road previously with no issues like this.

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

Yes but unfortunately taking weeks. The hot water and moth issue is still ongoing 6 months later

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

Do not move here if you can afford not to. It like cheap but we will be paying over 1.4k in water bills a year now

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

Good: convenient location as it's close to the centre and public transportations. Bad: noisy with constant traffic/sirens, constructions, and shoutings. Slightly unsafe (more so than before) these days, many robberies and break-ins around the area.

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

Raised several issues relating to the building and none were fixed for at least a month, and still aren't. The response was always "they're on it and it'll be fixed the upcoming week", yet nothing was fixed. There was an issue with the community boiler component, and there would be no hot water for the entire building. This was finally fixed and hopefully all good now. The new security team seems okay but not as "caring" as the previous team. The previous team was let go when the landlord changed. They really cared about the residents and went above and beyond. The new security team is average so far, nothing special. They still haven't recruited the new building manager so the future service quality is unclear.

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

Clothes moth infestation in many flats and they have been spotted in the corridors and lifts, so even if it wasn't an issue at first, it could eventually become an issue in your flat. Management was not transparent with how the hot water is billed. We heard that the bill was a set monthly fee, then found out it was based on usage. Because the hot water is via a community boiler, it is a grey area in terms of price caps. The landlord gets to set the rate and daily charge, and the tenants are not protected. If you live in this building, you have to accept these rates yet they don't inform you what they are until your first hot water bill.

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

Brilliant area to live, with plenty of amenities and good access to transport. Lack of parking with the building, private car park opposite isn't the best.

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

Any issues when raised were met by the building management well, who knew exactly what they were doing and we're helpful. Took about a week to get the exterminators in to deal with the carpet moths, we would have liked this to be quicker particularly. In an email we received mention was made of determine if the issue was "historic" or not, which given the severity of the infestation and the fact we'd moved in recently, was not appreciated as it felt like management were trying to blame us for this, when it shouldn't have been for us to deal with on the first place being present when we moved in and is known to be a problem present throughout the building (told by the exterminators)

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

That the carpets were cotton, and the building was dealing with a moth infestation. We didn't know that the living room had a Juliette balcony as this wasn't shown in the online viewing or communicated beforehand, but was a nice surprise.

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

The area that the development is located is great. Plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants to go to in less than a 5 minute walk. The only downside is that it faces out over the busy Great Ancoats Street, be prepared for constant traffic noise and drunk people shouting.

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

When I moved in there was a few lightbulbs out and no filter in the extractor above the hob. They were offering furniture storage at the time but this seemed to create some confusion and furniture was removed from the wrong rooms.

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

Issues with moths and hot water always going off, seems to be a constant issue that needs looking at.

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

Naturally living so central in the city it is loud and that comes with the choice of living in a main road. However since living here there has been lots of new buildings next to us so there's a lot of construction which means a lot of dust. It isn't too bad though as personally my view is not obstructed by any of the builds. Bin collections are a 6am Monday morning job but it is what it is. Traffic noise is loud but again, this is what happens when you choose to live in the centre.

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

Almost immediately / we have found any emails are responded too in a timely manner.

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

I don't really have anything I could say and maybe I would write about the construction sites next door which have gone up since signing the tenancy however that is so fault of the buildings.