Hightown Housing Association Reviews 

Awful housing association. I haven’t lived in the flat I rented for over 6 years now however when I did live there I was told I was able to “make any changes to the property I moved into, including knocking down walls” I moved into what can only be described as a shell of a property with wires hanging out of walls, loose floor boards, missing skirting boards, the list is endless. I installed a brand new kitchen, had carpets fitted throughout and paid a decorator to fix the awful job they left me with, to be told by my housing officer how much of an improvement I had made to the property. I paid my rent in full and on time every month. When I left I received an invoice for a kitchen, skirting boards, plug sockets, doors, again the list was ridiculous. I sent photos of what the house was like when I moved in and what it was like when I moved out to be told it didn’t matter. I then had a bill for over £7000 sent to me. After being told numerous times it would be looked into when I put in a complaint I received letters from debt collection agencies twice! I got so stressed out over the 3 years of absolute hell they caused, while I was pregnant with my daughter for 9 months of it, that I agreed to make payment monthly. I do not recommend anyone living in any of their properties, you get told one thing by one person and another thing by someone else then get fobbed off. And now I’m paying for a property that apparently is an absolute dump! This started in November 2018 and I gave in in July 2022

As per response below: I did complain at the time and was told I was out of the time frame by 2 weeks so I could no longer complain anymore.

Do not buy share ownership from the Hightown Housing Association, especially any of their development at Watford. BLUE BELL They make me regret the home ownership team's unnecessary bureaucracy. When I try to contact them, you wish to talk to them, but no one wants to talk to you. Recently, I have a problem with my fan extraction warranty. I try to talk to them, but they don't know anything about their property. I've been without an answer for almost eight weeks. Every day, excuse the deployment of cheap material. They don't know where they bought them. I'm really sorry for myself and my family in these situations. Please take my advice.👎👎👎

Service charge has just increased in our flat by £124 (Welwyn Garden City) I don't know how they can justify this seeing as they are already violating their current contract.

When did you last clean the windows? 3+months ago

Water tanks never serviced leading to HUGE costs to all flat owners in our block - pure limescale!

Countless other issues of neglect

Scumbags have absolutely no care i wish i could give them less that 1 Star, vile company with no morals or standards.

Stay away from this company.
Extremely rude and stuck up on the phone. Hung up on me when I tried having a conversation about post being late? Charging an extra week of rent because they won’t come and check over the flat when my tenant was up and they expected me to drive the keys 40 minutes away when I work 12 hour shifts besides weekends when there then closed.
Laura and Karen were Very unprofessional on phone but not email funnily enough.
Vile company, do not listen to a word you say. My neighbours have had no end of problems and are also looking at leaving their properties. Flats have only been open to tenancy since April and Hightown have done such a bad job already people are leaving? Says it all.

They used to be somewhat good and dealt with problems, but not anymore. They seem to allow all sorts of unscrupulous people to rent their properties: drugs and antisocial behaviour are rife. Construction of properties is poor, especially the soundproofing: that was a major problem when I first moved in. Hightown don't care though, they never respond to emails and the phone line goes nowhere. They need better communication with tenants. I don't know which maintenance number is the correct one, who the property manager is etc.

Had a few problems with my electrical box that was ripped off the hinges (apparently this is a common issue with locals at the time).
When i contacted housing as its my responsibility to report it,
I was told this was my supplier who are to replace this.
I asked my supplier, my supplier replied and told me this is not something they do, the engineer would come and replace the whole meter as well (not worth their while) nor had replacements I'm assuming.
So i asked if they (the supplier) could give this to me in writing so I can provide this as evidence.
It took 2 reporting's (wasn't priority over another problem), given 30 days to sort the problem they say.

So it did get sorted, it wasn't an emergency, it was seen to and the engineer did a nice, clean job of it.

They didn't just ignore the matter, a kind lady on the phone reviewed the status and asked further on my behalf.

I didn't see the comments below before I moved in, I'm happy with the service so far

Hightown housing association is dishonest and is deliberately cheating customers out of money. They employ contractors who sit in vehicles around properties in order to claim money for work that they do not do. Staff members from regional managers and property inspectors up to heads of department and directors will support the contractors and keep tenants' money. They have dangerous electrical wiring and a cowboy approach to health and safety. Dodgy Cladding in recent builds has created major financial problems for them recently so they'll, want to take every penny they can from you. Even if you get one staff member to accept that Hightown were at fault, others will step in to deny the conversation ever took place. They will not review evidence like photos or recordings because they are afraid. Avoid them - they'll take your money and risk your safety plus will retaliate if you make too many requests or complain. If you are experiencing difficulties take legal action or use the ombudsman service - they must be held to account before there is a disaster

Absolute joke, disregard for tenants mental health, safety against bad tenants. They approve everything that’s illegal and give no advice whatsoever. Their complaints system is a disgrace 10 days to only state that there is nothing that they can do to help. I’m past my tether and seriously need help. I would not advise anyone to bid on their houses all they are concerned about is collecting rent.

Absolute Joke of a Housing Association. Completely disregard the safety of their tenants. Had a 4 year bath leak, that was only realized after i pulled carpets up, Extreme black mold under bath, around skirting boards in bathroom, hallway, and Kitchen.. flat is only 4 years old. All floors, in every room is extremely damp, advised not use bath as it is dangerous, Contractors refused to do work, while we live there as health risk to Autistic Daughter. Hightown refusing to move us. Hightown cheekly getting a different contractor out, which will just say same thing. Guy in charge (you know who you are) doesn't know anything and makes up excuse after excuse.. whole situation is an absolute joke, and sooner or later will heading down the court route. Disgraceful.

We have been threatened and harassed by our neighbour for 14+ years. Hightown are reluctant to get involved at best, criminally negligent at worst. Hightown will not support you if you're being harassed and threatened, even in light of overwhelming evidence. Our tormentor is currently serving a police caution for harassment. Hightown have completely washed their hands of the situation and their scheme where we live. They no longer maintain the estate and seem happy to let the perpetrator vandalise their property with impunity. Despite contacting the CEO, nothing has changed. They simply do not care. Apparently we have had a new housing officer for 6 months, we found out yesterday (12/01/2023). I suspect Hightown will flag this review as fake, but they know who I am and the foregoing is true.

AVOID!AVOID!AVOID! DO NOT BUY FROM THIS HOUSING ASSOCIATION. ALL THEY CARE IS MONEY. YOU WILL GET VERY POOR QUALITY ON THE FLATS THEY SELL. THEY WILL IGNORE ANY ISSUES YOU RAISE WITH THEM AND TAKE NO ACTION ON URGENT ISSUES. BLUEBELL PLACE FEELS LIKE A RUBBISH PLACE RATHER THAN A 'BLUEBELL'.

over two years complaining about the condition of the grounds - the gardeners are incompetent. two years of complaints and they cant even follow their own complaints procedure.

NOW GOING TO OMBUDSMAN!

I bought my flat through Hightown, which was brand new 10 years ago. But in the last few years, the level of service from Hightown has massively declined and I have had endless battles trying to get Hightown to for fill the agreed Maintenace and garden service I pay for each month.

The gardens surrounding my block of flats in the complex, have not been serviced since September 2021. The hedges and garden beds are overgrown, weeds have taken over and the grass is in a sad state. The grounds are sprinkled with litter, broken glass and dumped items, which Hightown refuse to remove, despite several emails and complaints. The windows too haven't been cleaned in years, and the wooden cladding which was promised and in the budget, to be treated and repaired in the summer of 2019, still hasn't been addressed.

I've escalated my complaints to the site manger Derek Parfitt, as my emails and complaints were not even acknowledged, and still after his apology, nothing has been done about the total neglected of the grounds and exterior of my block, despite my continued monthly service charge payments.

It seems because my block of flats, which is half privately owned and the other council housing, it has been the only block to be totally neglected in the complex.

I don't know where to turn as Hightown, are the management company and are not listening to my complaints or following out the duties they have agreed to do for the service charge of our complex.

Where to start! I wish I had read these reviews before! Absolute cowboy company. Houses are built very cheap, I’m constantly waiting for things to fall off of the wall. The house wasn’t even wired correctly so much so I had a leak in the water tank cupboard leaking onto live wires leaving my house as a fire hazard. Hasn’t accepted any liability just like Fairview Homes. Now having to go through the housing ombudsman! I lived 18months with no bath handle so had to have sellotape over the wholes praying no water leaked down them. The stench pipe hasn’t been correctly built and leaked dirty water over my daughters ceiling. The list goes on. They don’t respond and when they do they ask you for the same things over and over again. They left the house unsafe due to a faulty lock on the front door yet blamed me for it and also the back door was built incorrectly yet apparently that was also my fault!!! AVOID at all costs! Thank god I’m selling my house now, it just annoys me that they have to take half the equity due to it being shared ownership.

Avoid Hightown like the plague.
They are unscrupulous charlatans who do not care about their tenants at all.
All they care about is money and find it acceptable to allow you to live in disgusting conditions of water pouring in through the ceiling damp and black mould everywhere. They don't do anything to help you or even apologise for the problem. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS YOUR LIFE IS AT RISK WITH HIGHTOWN!! Absolutely disgusting attitude they have.

If looking for Shared Ownership then avoid Hightown, houses are poorly built and Hightown don't care about the breach of building regulations