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Luxury flats are ‘tatty mess’
Saturday 19th May 2007, 11:54AM BST.
Residents are selling up and moving out of Wolverhampton’s flagship Market Square development due to poor management and a lack of repairs, it has been claimed.
People living in the luxury apartment block claim the site has been left to fall into a tatty mess – and they are still waiting for repairs to be carried out three months after a burst-pipe flooded the building.
Six floors of the block suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage during the flood back in February.
Firefighters raced to the scene to find three ceilings had collapsed and carpets and walls were ruined. But residents claim they are still waiting for management firm Bruton Knowles to carry out repairs. Andy Burton, who has lived in the block since April, said: “When you move into a place like this you expect luxury living but it is terrible.”
Read the full story in the Express & Star.
Residents are selling up and moving out of Wolverhampton’s flagship Market Square development due to poor management and a lack of repairs, it has been claimed.
People living in the luxury apartment block claim the site has been left to fall into a tatty mess – and they are still waiting for repairs to be carried out three months after a burst-pipe flooded the building.
Six floors of the block suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage during the flood back in February.
Firefighters raced to the scene to find three ceilings had collapsed and carpets and walls were ruined. But residents claim they are still waiting for management firm Bruton Knowles to carry out repairs. Andy Burton, who has lived in the block since April, said: “When you move into a place like this you expect luxury living but it is terrible.
“The apartments themselves are nice but the communal areas are so tatty. The carpets are stained and there are marks all over the walls.
“There is still a lot of damage from the flood back in February but nothing seems to be getting done. There never seems to be any response to any complaints you put into the management. Nobody will want to move into a building with such high service charges where the level of service is actually non-existent.
“I know two people who are moving out because they said they were so fed up. It is more like a sinking ship than flagship.”
Campbell Holden, spokesman for Bruton Knowles, said: “There was a major flood that caused major damage but the wheels have all been set in motion to sort it out.
“We fully sympathise with residents. It has been a while since the flood but it is an ongoing thing. The officers have been out and we are getting the final confirmation of what work needs to be done and the costs.”
Mr Holden disputed that residents were moving out of the complex.
The development was launched in a blaze of glory in 2004 when it was opened by John Prescott, heralded as the flagship in an urban renaissance of city centre living. It contains 64 flats and one swanky three-level penthouse apartment with panoramic views.
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Typical – this is what will eventually happen with all new build flats if they arent maintained
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thats the problem bad managers, and shoddy cowboy builders, and false advertising. plus stupid council planers i cant understand how the public can think flats are luxury appartments…
they are over priced ghetto’s wait 20 years and they will look
bad and run down. as all flats do in time look all around you ????
thats the probs today 250k and plus
and the council well whats wrong with them passing flats and houses all together well me i would never buy a brand new house
by flats as they all come ghetto’s god only knows what they will look like one day, like all things today over priced, and soon there will be interest rates rise up and watch out property falls remember the 80′s i do/// people out there dont buy flats and houses together they dont make money like a nice 3bed semi or detached house in a nice street and dont forget you will need a garage to put your nice financed motor car in to keep
safe at night. well thats what i think and i say to all you can’t run a country on property and dont forget
these flats was only old a run down
factory what a joke
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thanks mr reynolds
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Living in that part of town (or city) overlooking the market can hardly be described as ‘luxury living’. Panoramic views of the most underdeveloped area of Wolves – nice. I mean it’s hardly London, Paris or New York is it?
I do sympathise with the residents, but can’t understand why they’ve allowed this issue to drag on so long. I’m sure if people have enough money to waste on one of these flats, they can afford a good solicitor. At the very least residents could club together to cover the costs.
They’d find that Bruton Knowles will move pretty quickly with the threat of legal action upon them.
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Maybe this is why the price of new-build flats nationally has fallen since 1997.
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Plus of course it shows the truth of the old mantra, Location, Location, Location. What sane person would willingly live in the middle of Wolverhampton?
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When we where back in Wolverhampton we passed the Luxury flats and said how nice they looked. What a shame
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I notice from the display board on the Dudley Road in Wolverhampton that Bruton Knowles are also involved in developing Blakenhall. From their Web site you can see they have a finger in the pie of the ‘Summer Row’ Development. I hope senior people in Wolverhampton Council will be taking note of the standard of management of Bruton Knowles and thinking again.
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Wolverhampton is a dump – move to sunny Walsall!
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luxury flats what we need is affordable housing and £150 + is not afforable!
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As a out of town Investor, I am horrified at how the place is kept. Bruton Knowles charge me alot of money in the upkeep of the development, where does it all go?
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Management companies such as Bruton Knowles should have a basic fault reporting tool to capture and track incidents and tasks raised by residents at Market Square. I find it hard to believe in this day and age how unprofessional their efforts seem to be. Surely Wolverhamtpon Council will take note of their ‘flagship’apartments if no contructive and productive action is taken. I disagree about Wolverhampton being a dump – the city is going places!
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The Market Square development is not the problem, its Bruton Knowles putting profit before people. How can Wolverhampton Council put up with this? Hope new developers in the West Midlands can now see how Bruton Knowles have performed managing Market Square.
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I agree with Anmol, this city centre area of Wolverhamton appears to be the subject of much discussion at Wolverhampton City Council amongst neighbourhood renewal officers. We are all waiting to see how the Summer Row development unfolds just behind us.
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I am a tenant at market square and believe that the mismanagement by Bruton Knowles is a fundamental reason why I shall not be renewing my tenancy agreement. Wolverhampton city council is making progress in the regeneration of Wolverhampton but the condition of what have been deemed as flagship luxury apartments are an appalling mess. Bruton Knowles have made no efforts to rectify the almost daily increasing problems with market square and from personal experience problems when reported are not dealt with and when contacted again to find out why this problem has not been addressed they never seem to have any record of the problem being reported. At the moment it seems a waste of time and effort to inform Bruton Knowles of any problems as they will inevitably be ignored.
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Obviously Wolverhampton town centre is not London or New York, I knew that before I moved in. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a great place to live though.
But I do believe passionately in the regeneration of city centres as living spaces. Our taxes are being pumped into these projects and I know the council are looking to improve things. The flats are good, it’s just Bruton Knowles who are the problem.
I am very unhappy that they seem to be involved in other council regeneration projects based on their “efforts” here.
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There is no evidence of basic management from Bruton Knowles I bet Wolverhampton City Council manage their flats better than Bruton Knowles manages this building. Simple repairs like the two broken automatic smoke release windows have been reported numerous times and nothing has happened. We still have lights not working, dirty windows, and leaks in the roof. It took an article from the express and star to kick-start them into action but even then they only sent someone in for a day to sweep the car park and put a few cheap padlocks on the broken doors and clear rubbish that had been there for months.
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I agree with Helen this has nothing to do with the council and everything to do with the poor quality of service being provided by the management company Bruton Knowles.
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The other day a workman rang my bell from the main entrance and woke me whilst I was sleeping; he said he was sent from Bruton Knowles but he didn’t have a key. I refused to let him in as the buzzer entry system is broken. He then he kept ringing back until I answered saying nobody else would let him in. I went down and asked him for some identification but he didn’t have any. He persuaded me to let him saying that he had a work card in his van parked on the upper car park. The card he gave me was not proper identification, he could have been anybody. I later phoned Bruton Knowles who were full of excuses and slightly annoyed that he wasn’t let in straight away…they were annoyed? What a cheek to expect residents to let people in without I.D and not have the buzzer system fixed in the first place. Surely a proper management company would be better organised than this
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It took an article in the Express and Star to get Bruton Knowles to clean up the rubbish that had built up in the car park. This is a basic management function that they shouldn’t need to be forced to do. How do Bruton Knowles expect Investors to attract tenants into a development when the place looks so run down?
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Phyllis (resident)
I am fed up with asking Bruton Knowles if the can put some new bulbs in
the
passage way lights to our apartment. Why can’t Bruton Knowles do a
simple
tast like changing a light bulb? I don’t think theve ever been bothered
with
this place since they took over, soon it will just be a dump.
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I was one of the first investors to buy at this development when the first phase was released. It was also my very first apartment as an investor. I really had high hopes for this area because of the amount of investment which was going into the area. What a mistake, my experiences with Bk have now put me off for life investing in leasehold properties and will probably never ever invest in apartment blocks again. what a shambles BK have been. I am seriusly considering not paying my management fees any longer.
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I am currently a tenant in one of the flats. i can’t complain about the upkkep of the flat itself but when entering the building it is a little to say the lleast a bit depressing. when getting to the flat we have no light and this has not been working since i moved here last year. being a woman this somtimes can be a little scary when coming in at night. you would think that with these luxury apartments there would be a good standard of maintainance!i really think that the management company should pull its finger out and get this bulding back to the standard it proclaims to have
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I am a resident at Market Square and love my apartment and city centre living. However, Bruton Knowles are a nightmare to deal with. Maintenance/upkeep problems are reported to them but are never acknowledged or rectified. Although I was a little embarrassed to see reports on my home in the Express and Star, I am hopeful that perhaps BK will now begin to repair the “flagship building” that has become a “tatty mess”.
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I am a co-owner who bought as an investment. I am not surprised at Mr Holdens doubts that many people are moving out as what they are currently overseeing is the quickest way toward negative equity ever encountered in an inner urban flagship development.
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The Market Square apartments are well built, and if correcty managed
will prove to be a pleasurable place to live. The management company BK is unprofessional, the quality of their staff is inadequate, the results of poor management are obvious.
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BK are an unresponsive management company, careless of their responsibilities. Andrew has been brilliant in his work on behalf of Market Square residents.
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Well folks here we are, 2 months after the article about Bruton Knowles and Tatty Flats hit the front page of the express and star and the place is still a mess. 5 months have passed since the flood and still the fire doors in the main foyer have not been repaired and the water-stained carpets and marked walls have not been cleaned. General maintenance is none-existent – bulbs not working, windows not cleaned, utility doors missing, both car park automatic gates have been out of service for months. The wilting flower boxes on the railings say it all.
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Just thought I’d pop back here out of interest. As an owner/resident I’m still very unhappy with the service offered by Bruton Knowles.
There’s been a long standing problem with a door to the electricity meters by my flat. This got worse and when I re- reported the problem there was no acknowledgement of my complaint. Simply a shoddy temporary repair job mysteriously appears with no prospect of the fault being properly rectified.
Never mind though, I recently received a glossy pamphlet from them to keep me sweet.
Great value as ever.
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It’s has now been 10 weeks since BK had the photos of the missing outside service doors and damaged inside service doors but still no new doors? Why will BK not do the work? The main gates have not worked for four months, do BK just not care about the people at Market Square?
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Just how long does it take to change a couple of doorframes and doors and get some carpets cleaned. I can’t believe how inefficient Bruton Knowles are. Its been 5 months since the floods and they have done nothing about making our lobby more presentable. Its an embarrassment to bring visitors here.
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I know of 4 apartments in Market Square that have been up for sale for ages. Nearly 25% of the apartments on this site are now empty. Letting agents are avoiding bringing potential tenants here because the place is such a mess. All it needs is a managing agents that is bothered about doing a decent job to make the place a little more presentable. Each apartment pays about £600 year on service charges to Bruton Knowles but so much is being left unfinished.
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The cark park gates have been broken for ages now. I phoned Bruton Knowles and was told that Mr Cambell would phone me back. He didn’t. This was weeks ago and they are still broken. Common courtesy wouldn’t go amiss by simply returning calls and keeping their commitments. Disgraceful.
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I’m just wondering how many more lights in the lower carpark have to stop working before Bruton Knowles start replacing them. Of the 18 lights installed, we are down to one set on one side of the carpark and 4 sets on the other, and its gets a bit spookey at night. You would think this would be part of the normal inspection process of a management company that was interested in doing a good job.
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The poor reputation of Bruton Knowles Management and their employees is now well known. They are treating disrespectfully the residents of Market Square, by not responding to simple problems. Fine words and promises do not make for good management. Property with good prospects in pole position in the city is deserving of commitment.
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Hi,
We have been living on a new build estate in Gloucestreshire for 2 years which is managed by Bruton Knowles. We have withheld are last two payment as they are useless! They now want to fine us £50 in admin costs!!! What for writing two letters!
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