Montana & Dakota, Wembley Park, HA9

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

Parking is a non existence possibility as it’s so expensive, Wembley Park is very far from central. There’s a lack of proper supermarkets nearby. The dog runs are good

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

They were fairly responsive until I was trying to negotiate the 20% rent increase

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

That they would hike the rent by huge amounts year upon year

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

I am a current tenant at the Canada Gardens building, and relocating to a larger apartment at the Montana building. Generally quite happy with the local area. Since still under contract, we were happy to relocate to another building that suits our needs.

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

We are looking forward to Quintain contacting us regarding our case and giving prompt and immediate timescales for resolving this matter. We hope that the company reviews its policies regarding upkeep of their apartments, in line with the expectations of the rent they are charging

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

Do not trust Quintain to refresh or refurbish flats between tenants. They clearly have no policy to do this. If you must move in, pick only the newest flats and make sure you can view the condition in detail before signing.

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

I have lived in my building for over five years - living in what was one of the first developments that Quintain (then Tipi) had on offer. In these five years, the Wembley area has changed almost beyond recognition - and most of it, in a really good way. The two obvious differences are the number of stores/shops that are nearby within the area and number of flats that there are around the place. With regards to the Wembley Park area, within a 5 minute walk from my flat there are numerous restaurants, a few supermarkets (a larger one is 15 minutes away), a design outlet centre (where you can get 'outlet prices' on stores such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Lindt, Skechers, Nike and so on), a lot of coffee shops, a library, a private dentist, opticians, a decent pub (Fuller's pub), post office, a hairdressers, a cycling shop, yoga/pilates, gyms, cinema, Brent Civic Centre, Wembley Arena and Wembley Stadium. Wembley Park, Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium are three train stations locally, most notably Wembley Park (Jubilee + Met line) and Wembley Station (National Rail up to Marylebone). I don't often feel I need to go far for something. It feels vibrant, and for those wanting some life in the area they live in, Wembley is probably one of the best places for it. It lights up at Christmas with great lighting and ambience. From time to time there are buskers on Wembley Way, and different other sorts of entertainment will occur throughout the year. Of course, there are also events at the Arena or the Stadium. To some, this might prove too busy - you do have to consider what you do during busy times as you don't want to return to Wembley Park right when a match/event is ending for example - but on the whole, these events are nice to have - with good ambience and often a varied group of people. Perhaps just be aware of the times of which events happen, and build your day/evening around that a little. With regards to new flats - I've almost lost count at how many new flats there have been over the past 5 years. They exist everywhere, and while I think that is a good thing in principle, occasionally I do wonder if Quintain lose sight on current tenants a little whilst acquiring all these new tenants through new buildings. When I first arrived (when it was Tipi), I felt very special, and in the opening few weeks and months I got to know a lot of the team at Tipi, who were great at answering any questions I had, solving any issues (I had a plumbing issue early on that was fixed almost immediately for example after a phone call), and generally being visible around the area (we all knew each other by name). That must have been when approx 200 flats were built across two buildings. Nowadays, it feels Quintain have 2,500 or more flats across all these buildings, and as such, the level of care they can give to an individual is lower, because the team hasn't (or at least, doesn't feel) as if it's grown in the same way. More on that in the next review section. IS WEMBLEY PARK SAFE?: ---------------------------------- To prospective renters who've not been to Wembley before - there are really two areas of Wembley. One is the 'bubble', as I call it - that's from Wembley Park station to Olympic Way (the walk to the Stadium), and the surrounding London Designer Outlet and modern flats that this review is about. This area is a good area. I have never really felt unsafe here, even walking alone late at night (I am a male, so my experience might be different). There are numerous places such as the nearby BoxPark that can host late night dance/music sessions and as such the area around BoxPark can get quite rowdy, so this is the only place in which I feel a little uncertain at times. Otherwise, I haven't really noticed any crime in the 5 years I have been here. I'm not saying it's 100% safe, but I don't see anything to suggest that it's not. I wouldn't however like to travel outside of the 'bubble' more than I need to. This area includes Wembley High Road and surrounding streets which are, pardon the expression, fairly dingy. Whilst there are some useful shops on the high street, I tend to avoid as much as I can. Those who would be travelling and walking through the high street via Wembley Central wouldn't be able to avoid this area, and I personally wouldn't want to do that each working day. It's not to to say that it's dangerous - again I haven't seen that, but I feel a sense on unease going there. The same goes for other areas around the bubble, most notably up towards Asda. However, residential areas around these areas are quite nice to walk around, especially towards Kenton. I would not venture South of Wembley, as these areas are known to be a little more dodgy in general (Stonebridge Park). TRANSPORT ---------------- Transport options as mentioned are good with three lines to the area. The main one, Wembley Park is fed by Jubilee and Metropolitan lines and by far the one I use the most. It's a 10-15 minute train to Baker Street which feeds into all sorts of other places in Central London, so nothing is really ever too far away. I also enjoy going to West Hampstead and Hampstead areas, accessible via the Jubilee line. Wembley Stadium is also closely, within a 5 minute walk and is fed by Chiltern Rail, going from London Marylebone to terminal stations including Oxford, Kidderminster, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Aylesbury. I don't use this station much but it's very accessible and reliable from the times I have used it. Wembley Central is a Bakerloo line station about 20 minutes walk away and through the aforementioned Wembley High Street. Again, I try not to use this, unless I have to. There is a relatively nice park nearby called King Edward VII park, about 10 minutes away by walk. It's fine, but you're also very close to Regents' Park and Hyde Park near Baker Street - I'd much rather go there. All in all, about 90% of my time in Wembley is spent in the bubble, and it's a place I feel comfortable being in. It's very lively, and quite a pleasurable place to be - and constantly changing - with new flats, and new shops/facilities. This is both a good and bad thing depending on your point of view - but overall the progress made in the area is significantly positive.

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

At times of need, this is where your landlord can shine, or sink, as mentioned earlier. Broadly speaking, Quintain have been pretty good at helping on issues. I haven't had many in my 5 years, approx 1 a year, but each time, the issues were dealt with pretty well. However, a few months ago, I (and all of Montana) had an issue that was horrible for us all. For about 16 days, we had a loud and incessant noise that turned out to come from the dry riser running through our building. The noise was very loud, and proved almost impossible to sleep in. I went through what felt like a neverending back-and-forth between myself and Quintain in trying to sort this issue. It had occurred straight after the water having been off one morning, upon its 'repair' to then cause the issue. Quintain will rightly state that the issue wasn't really with them and more an issue for plumbing and had to get specialists in, which is correct. Also, it is true that they attempted to send people to attempt to fix it numerous times during the two weeks. Unfortunately, nobody was able to solve the issue until the noise went 16 days later (after a resident sent a note around all the flats asking everyone to make sure that it wasn't them making the noise). What I was not happy with at all was the level of communication between Quintain and I (or the Montana residents) during this time. I had to instigate all comms, asking what was happening and what was the progression in trying to fix it. It felt as if Quintain were actively hiding from me, as I could only speak to Concierge, who were passing messages on between us like a middle-man. Telephone messages went unanswered. Emails were sent with images and videos to Quintain to prove issues, but often I wasn't getting a response. I had to press very hard to get anything from Quintain and the first group email sent to Montana occurred 6 days after the initial issue started. Those who weren't as active as me in asking what was going on had to wait almost a week for any comms to occur. It was terrible. Concierge were getting annoyed at the situation, I was getting annoyed, and I'm sure Quintain were getting annoyed. The problem is, the way in which it was dealt with (by Quintain, not concierge who were generally sympathetic and great) was making it worse for us all. I can't explain how loud the noise was, but it was LOUD. But as it was continual and often came on and off in bursts, it severely affected sleep, and it was almost impossible to work from home. I felt as if for my mental wellbeing I had to leave the flat. I spent 4 nights in hotels. I spend 10 other days at other people's houses. For half a month I was effectively unable to work or sleep in my flat. Some people (somehow) stayed in their flat. Goodness knows why some people didn't complain. I did find a few people struggling like me, and we created a WhatsApp Group to inform each other about the issue. They all said the same thing. Quintain communications were poor, either ignoring emails or not providing solutions. They at one point gave us headbands that act as headphones to wear in bed - a nice gesture, but ultimately wasn't a solution as the noise one would have to have their music at to drown out the noise was too loud to sleep in. Most importantly in all this, there was no apology. Concierge were apologetic, but got nothing from Quintain. I appreciate they were trying to sort it out, but if I hadn't pressed so hard to find out what was going on, I'd never have known. The issue was never actually fixed - as mentioned, it went organically, I think after the note was sent around the flats. It remains a mystery. There was no offer of anything to help, no compensation. No suggestion of helping find a place to stay for the night. Nothing. I found this terrible. If they had lived in the flats, they'd be horrified at their level of care for us during this time. If the communication had been better, I wouldn't have felt so angry. If there were an apology, that would have gone some way. If there were compensation for at least the nights I had to spent in a hotel, that would be gone a long way. I had to spend hundreds of pounds on accommodation, travel, buying earplugs/ear defenders etc to deal with this problem that wasn't caused by any of us, and arguably caused by a contractor fixing the water that day, and with no followup to apologise. Quintain, you've been great for other issues, but here you really dropped the ball, and I'm really sorry, but it's left a lasting impression on me as a tenant of 5 years. I felt this damaged my relationship with you, and I pray that nothing similar happens again for fear of going through more anguish in trying to sort it out. If you'd dealt with the comms better here, with recompense, with apologising, I could see past the issue. It wasn't your fault what happened, I know that, but it was dealt with really poorly.

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

The flats can get very warm, so consider whether the flat is N/S/E/W pointing. If you face the communal garden area, note that activity in that garden could cause some noise at night (someone I knew stated the fountains in the garden made quite a noise at night). If you're facing the road, note that there's quite a lot of traffic in the area, especially from motorbikes/mopeds delivering food. Sometimes if people are having a party it can get noisy, but it's rare it happens.

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

The streets are really clean and we have a selection of convenience stores in walking distance. There is also a large supermarket a mere 10minute walk away. The sport shops in the LDO are shops that I really like and the surroundings are very quiet even on event day, so much so that I hear bird song when I wake up to go to work. The metropolitan line can have you into central London within 20minutes, and with the new Elizabeth line I managed to get from Canary Wharf to Wembley Park in 30minutes. All in all I have nothing but positives to say about living here. If I was absolutely pushed, more green space would probably be appreciated though there are some local parks that can be reached.

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

We had a big problem with our WiFi dropping off. It took a long time to figure out the issue was the old router, but once this was established a new one was sent out the next day, installed and I’ve not had an issue since.

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

I wish I knew we didn’t have a barbecue area, and that we can’t use communal areas in other buildings. Plus we were told that there might be some free tickets to Wembley stadium but have recently been told this will never be the case. Other than that everything we were told by our letting agent was spot on!

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

It’s a bit better since the night tube in back but it’s really far from central and quite hard to get a taxi. Not amazing for supermarkets if you don’t have a car. Parking is ridiculously expensive so it can be fairly isolated especially on tube strike days. It is quite good though if you have a dog, but you will need a car if you have a big dog. The building is quite well soundproofed so the noise isn’t too bad.

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

Slowly and inefficiently. It’s hard to get a response and a lot of going round in circles.

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

I wish I’d known how hard it would be to get back from nights out