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Reviews 716
Emily
Mar 26,2021Renting with Grainger has been easy and Luke has been very helpful. Everyone has been polite and responsive.
Arch MC
Mar 26,2021My experience of Grainger plc and their agent is one of immeasurable disapointment and stress. They seem to at any length avoid even the simplest fixes (for instance the light motion sensor outside in the dark corridor has been broken for weeks) that would improve the living standard of all the residents even with unilateral requests and pleas from leaseholders. The defective roof construction has never been successfully dealt with leaving many flat owners in despair. They appear content to either delay communication, strategically deliver it until after hours on a weekend or plainly not make any at all. They are even more content with inflating costs and taking money whilst continuously not addressing intense concerns or taking accountability. Upkeep and maintainence is a total headache for even the most experienced trademan because of the shortcuts and shoddy workmanship used during construction. This clearly, is a not only common reality for many of the other residents but amplifies to serious and dangerous defects throughout the building. We live with a failed EWS1. The cladding and fire issues are the latest that have come to light. Immense issues the leaseholders have been wholly and carelessly burdened with. Grainger sold unsafe property, but take no responsibility. Delayed and blinkered communication seems to have served them well in the past, but as more continue to speak up honestly they resort to discrediting and blurring truthful, factual reviews and denounce anything negative as a "targeted campaign". Shameful. UPDATE: 26/03/21: Grainger have remarkably quickly replied to this with a copy and paste boiler plate they are using on every negative review For clarification – the NBHC Buildmark Warranty clearly names Grainger as the Builder. Grainger were the guiding hand in procuring the architects and construction firm Ardmore. By denying that fact Grainger is deliberately misleading.
Customer
Mar 26,2021Grainger plc, you’re a big and powerful company, and I do believe you can do the right thing here, but right now you are causing so much DAMAGE - financially, physically (to poorly built properties) and emotionally. I honestly wish I had never bought my flat. I saw on other reviews that you have very responsive and effective teams, but this is not true. You keep ignoring your leaseholders and the hugely worrying and scary situations you’re putting us into - unnecessary cladding issues, and huge defects across the property. YOU have plenty of profits, WE do not. This must be addressed, and as soon as possible. I’m losing sleep every night and that’s the least of my worries to be honest. You cannot remain aloof, you cannot protect yourselves only, there are lives at stake here. Really. Again, I wish I had never bought an apartment in a development like mine. It’s not worth the heart ache. I would never recommend this company. Sad to say.
Chris
Mar 26,2021I am a leaseholder of a flat since 2019 with Grainger being the freeholder. Before I purchased the leasehold of my flat, there had been a significant leak which I was assured had been fixed and I proceeded with the purchase in good faith. Just over one year later in December 2020, a significant leak has occurred again in the exact same place but also with water pouring through the external brickwork over my balcony. It is now clear from speaking to other similarly affected leaseholders that these leaks have been occurring for years and Grainger are fully prepared to invoice us the leaseholders for the full costs. It is glaringly obvious for all to see that this building has significant building defects yet it is my financial responsibility to remedy other’s mistakes according to Grainger. As one comment below states about scaffolding going up and down over the years I fully agree with this. I have not lived in my flat for even two years yet and scaffolding has been erected outside my flat twice in that time! The cladding and fire safety issues in this building is a scandal. We have a failed EWS1 and Grainger’s response is again as leaseholders we are fully responsible for all costs and they accept no responsibility in this. Our local MP and councillor have directly asked Grainger to look at their “moral responsibility” in all of this. Grainger should hang their heads in shame as your response to all of this has been woeful in my opinion. I find it interesting that Grainger in their replies below speak of a “targeted campaign” and “inaccuracies”. This is no targeted campaign Grainger. These are just innocent leaseholders speaking out honestly about their experiences with Grainger so far and we will continue to speak out.
Scott
Mar 26,2021Grainger are the freeholders of the development where I own the leasehold on a flat. They and their managing agents are incapable of dealing efficiently with any maintenance issues. I had to point out to them that we pay for buildings insurance when they attempted to pass the cost of external wall repairs on to me. Oh they said, I hadn't thought of that! Don't get me started on their handling of the current cladding crisis. Their incompetance and disregard for doing what is right causes no end of distress and financial hardship to their customers. Shame on them. In reply to graingers standard generic response, please be specific about which part you believe to be inaccurate. I have the emails from your management agent where they attempted to pass on the cost of external repairs direct to myself.
Rhian Palanganda
Mar 26,2021I moved into my flat back in October 2019. Grainger have offered a great service during my tenancy. With speedy responses and clear communication from my property manager Luke Pollard, any and all issues I've had have been resolved quickly and efficiently, meaning I've not had to worry about a thing. Having had a similar positive experience with their lease renewal team, I would definitely rent in a Grainger property again.
Luke
Mar 26,2021I've been a Leaseholder with Grainger for 10 years, I have seen scaffolding go up and down on our development to fix the same leaks over and over again, if you Challenge them or give a Honest bad review, they cry targeted campaign, they seem to have no culpability and no compassion for their leaseholders complaints
N_seven
Mar 25,2021Experts at obfuscation. Currently caught in a situation, not of my making, that is rapidly spiralling out of control. Grainger unilaterally decided to conduct an EWS1 survey, even though our building is less than 18m and did not require one. Off the back of this survey, our building apparently has issues with cladding, fire cavities, fire doors and wooden balconies. As per their blanket copy and paste response to people on this site, Grainger neither designed or built my development, but as far as I can see are doing nothing to reclaim costs from Ardmore, the original developer. If they are, they not being transparent about the process and where we currently are in that process. Every day that goes by we bear the further financial burden of paying for waking watch (currently £8.5k per week). Every day that goes by we sit in a flat wrapped in flammable material wondering if we’re the next Grenfell Tower. This is a national scandal that requires companies with a moral compass to step in and assist. I do not feel like we are getting this from Grainger. I wish I had never bought my flat as I can see the very realistic outcome of bankruptcy and homelessness in 2021. So for these reasons, and a few more, I would avoid Grainger; not recommended. 26/3 EDIT - Sorry, you are correct, there is an inaccuracy. For clarification – the NBHC Buildmark Warranty clearly names Grainger as the Builder. Grainger were the guiding hand in procuring the architects and construction firm Ardmore. By denying that fact Grainger is deliberately misleading.
Jonty
Mar 25,2021I bought a flat from Grainger in 2009. Had I known that... - our roofs would leak - our door entry systems wouldn’t work from ´Day One’ and I had to pay Grainger to put it right - the lift in one of our blocks would be out of commission for several years because of rain water penetration despite one of the residents being a wheel chair user - an external wall insulation survey would be commissioned without my consent - Grainger would tell me that my flat had failed that External Wall Insulation Survey and I would have to pay them to put it right - Grainger would attempt to force me to borrow their money to pay them to put right the defective work they had commissioned - the Chief Executive would stonewall me and wouldn’t answer my letters when I wrote to her - Grainger’s managing agent would send emails about defects to leaseholders at 5:30 pm on a Friday - Grainger would deny being ‘the builder’ of my home and our estate - Grainger’s CEO used to work for RBS ... I would never have ‘bought Grainger’ at all.
Fed up shopper
Mar 24,2021As a leaseholder living in a block of flats for ten years with Grainger as the freeholder, I cannot recommend them as landlords. They have failed to maintain the building and let the ten year guarantee expire, just so they can charge hundreds of thousands of pounds of work to leaseholders to rectify what is a building defect ie the building design was faulty. We have had three different management companies in ten years, each arguably worse than the other, not helped by the fact that Grainger do not engage with them either. We have had a cacophony of issues due to the cladding scandal and building safety issues uncovered, again due to problems with the build, yet Grainger's sole response is they will be passing costs onto leaseholders because "that's what the contract says". Due to this terrible, exploitative experience, I would not even buy leasehold again. 24/02/21 - update in response to Grainger. Yes, you are the main developers and the fact remains that rather than dip into your extremely deep pockets, as other freeholders and developers have done, you plan on passing all of these costs onto leaseholders, basically taking our savings and forcing us to get loans. Leaseholders are absolutely not at fault for any of this, you bear more responsibility than we do, yet you're hiding behind current legislation to force us to pay for works and interim measures that were never intended to be included. Considering none of us can sell or remortgage until these works are completed, why don't you waive the ground rent or put it towards the work?
Julian
Mar 24,2021I have owned a Grainger flat for over 10 years. They have shown themselves to be disinterested at best. There have been 10 years of issues of water ingress through shoddy design/workmanship in construction of the roof. There is almost constantly scaffolding erected and now we find out that the building has been constructed without some fire barriers and with flammable cladding. Unlike other builders, who have tried to help their leaseholders, Grainger are passing all remediation costs onto the leaseholder. As a result I am constantly fearing for my safety and financial future when I should be enjoying my home. Future buyers beware!
Pontus
Mar 23,2021The experience of having Grainger as a landlord is, frankly, terrible. They have appointed a management company which lacks capacity to deal with the simplest of queries, makes constant mistakes and seems to purposfully obtuse important things going on. It's taken Grainger seven months(!) to commission fire alarms that are needed to comply with the new fire regulations and in the meantime residents are being charge throught the nose for a 24h waking watch. EDIT: After seeing Grainger's response to my comment. It's simply not true that my review is part of a targeted campaign, if negative comments have appeared here it is because some of Grainger's leaseholders have lost patience with Grainger's poor customer service and the way that Grainger is responding to the cladding scandal. For more than 10 years I have been frustrated with Grainger's appointments of shoddy management company after shoddy management company as a way to keep leaseholders at arm's length. During all this time it has been been impossible to get accurate accounts, regular communication and clarity on service charges. Worse building works carried out have been of consistently poor quality, meaning they have had to be redone time after time. Now that we face a serious situation related to fire safety it is clear that what was previously an annoyance is a major problem. This comment is to warn any future tentants or leaseholders that what has happened to us may happen to you. Beware. We are facing potential costs of several hundreds of thousands of pounds because of Grainger's approach to the cladding scandal. Many other freeholders are behaving differently and accepting the legal, practical and more responsibilities that they have to make their building safe. Not Grainger. Grainger claims it is taking safety seriously, but it has taken 7 months(!) to commission the installation of fire alarms following the fire safety survey. Grainger also claims to be trying to support leaseholders, but so far the only 'support' that is being provided is communication that they plan to pass all costs on to leaseholders who in reality bear no responsibility for the faulty design and construction of the buldings and bought leases from Grainger in good faith. Please stop making out that these comments are 'inaccurate' and instead deal with the genuine concerns of your customers who you claim to so highly value.
Barney Gale
Mar 23,2021Scammers - avoid.
Norman Yap Ceramics
Mar 23,2021Having bought an apartment from Grainger in 2009, we have seen nothing but denial and unwillingness from Grainger to rectify the plethora of problems we have encountered. These problems include penetrating damp, flat roofs not draining properly, non functioning entry door systems and most distressingly their choice of cladding at the time of construction. In all these instances, Grainger kept up an air of detachment and reluctance to behave with integrity to resolve these issues, preferring instead to blame their partners and to pass costs on to their leaseholders. Unlike Barclay Homes and Taylor Wimpey who have decided to fund the replacement of inappropriate external wall cladding now found to be dangerous, Grainger are working to force us to borrow their money so that they can put right their mistakes. I would therefore urge future home owners to seriously research into the behaviours of their developers and to choose wisely to avoid this sort of upset. Since publishing this review, Grainger have seen fit to deem it defamatory to say that they are working to force us to borrow their money. I was asked to submit evidence and it was simple - their Managing Agent of choice said so in a letter! So now the review has been reinstated and I see that others have had the same response from Grainger that amounts to more of you-are-wrong-and-we-are-right. So I repeat - if you are thinking of buying or renting an apartment, do some serious research into the reputation of the developer when it comes to resolving problems after you've paid your money to them.
Al
Mar 23,2021I have rented with Grainger for the last 2 years in Manchester and they have been brilliant. They have attended to any issue that has been raised and are constantly looking to improve the building whilst taking on residents feedback. Mark and Martin have been superb from day one and I would recommend their services to anybody looking to move in the Manchester area.
Rory
Mar 23,2021Disappointment is an understatement. My experience with Grainger is one of greed and lack of morals. Leaseholders suffering mental health problems and extreme financial stress through no fault of their own. Do yourself a favor and do not sign anything with them they will take as much as they think they can get away with. Communication is woeful, although I hesitate to call it incompetent. Leave bad news till after 5 on weekend so people are less likely to react and thats after they have left you in the lurch for as long as they possibly can. Happy to take your money when nothing needs doing but when the building, your home needs work they will ignore you and fight you. This is but a taste of behaviour your in for if you enter into a contract with Grainger. UPDATE 23/03/21: Abuse of the abuse system.. Grainger also tried to flag this review as "harmful content", which, if you are not aware blurs the review so no one can read it. You might notice a fair few other reviews here have the same Blur on them. I would suggest Grainger spend more time doing right by their customers and less time trying to remove legitimate reviews of their woeful service! UPDATE 24/03/21: Grainger have replied to this with a copy and paste boiler plate that addresses nothing and seems to be aimed at inflaming the situation. Just to point out again they only replied after they failed to remove my post through TrustPilots abuse system. My review contained nothing inaccurate and it seems TrustPilot agrees. The fact your "disappointed" in my review is a damning reflection on your own service.
Felicity E
Mar 23,2021Grainger's communication and morals are non existent. They have done everything they can do avoid talking to residents about the cladding fiasco, ignoring emails and refusing to provide documentation. As a result, residents are being changed £8500 A WEEK for waking watch and thousands more for other repairs. Other companies have paid these costs for residents as they, quite rightly, recognise that resident are not at fault and should not be out of pocket. Grainger's approach to the situation has had a substantial impact on my mental health and I wish with everything I had that I had never bought one of their properties.
Laura
Mar 22,2021I had some damp issues with my flat which (along with falling rental prices) dictated my decision to move. In fact I was ready to move a year earlier but our property manager, Nicolette, helped me to feel like the rental was a home and was really efficient and human (also had dealings with Diep who was helpful). The thought of moving into a different property with a potentially awful landlord when I already had a` really good and responsive contact person meant I stayed an extra year when I probably should have moved. A shout out to the maintenance team (gas/electric/gardeners/plumbers) who were really great - and a fond farewell to the gentlemen who deal with the white goods repairs - they were fab.
Joan
Mar 22,2021Unfortunately Grainger's reaction to the cladding fiasco has been extremely poor, which is why I'm only leaving one star. In truth, if zero stars were an option I would have chosen that. We already pay extortionate service charges and have recently discovered that 100% of all expenditure needed to fix the cladding fiasco will be passed on to the leaseholders. Given that many other companies have taken on at least some of the payments themselves, it seems Grainger are going against the business standard. Zero for effort, zero for engagement, zero for customer service. ***Responding to the Grainger reply below*** You say my review contains 'inaccuracies'. Please list them so I can address/remove them. I want to be fair.
Charlie Phipps
Mar 26,2021Fast to fix any issues. Excellent customer service from Louise S at all times.