Sovereign Reviews 266

I have been living in the accommodations for a few years now, sharing a house it's definitely not a easy task and the conditions are not the best.
Recently I have moved to a studio and I am quite happy with it!
I have seen so far 3 managers, the actual one is improving our houses quality and at least is able to ear our concerns and tries to act on it, it has although a lot to be improved, but I think is going on the right direction.
I am happy with the current manager and team :)
Hopefully, we are going to see positive results in the few next months...

There just bad to rent from constantly hassling you for money for obsuerd charge like people from around the area fly tiping in the unsecure bin rooms window cleaning service that never happened and constantly asking me for more rent when I had it payed directly to them and clameing errors on your account so that can charge twice and the clame it was a mistake on the payers end

I have lived in my home 8 years and yes there has been some ups and downs but life’s been up and down. They have always tried to help me even when it had caused them problems, my issues have always been with the management companies that are forced upon us and sovereign.

Sovereign Housing is the worst
They own properties and lease to tenants for many years but do not have the audacity to repair or maintain
I am pvt owner and my neighbour is an 78 year pensioner tenant with lots of physical health issues
Their side of boundary fence was blown by yhe storm in February 2022 unfortunately the tenant is not able to replace as he is retired and cannot afford to replace this
However this is affecting my privacy and safety as Sovereign won't repair or replace the dilapidated fence
They also refuse to take responsibility for the boundary saying its not theirs yet on the deeds for both mine and theirs shows that theybown the property
Surely is it the responsibility of the tenant to replace the fence or the landlord
Landlord is Sovereign and they have no respect for the neighbours of their owned property but are benefiting the rent from the property
My safety is compromised as anyone can access my garden
Also the cost of putting the fence is adding up to thousands of pounds which they are not prepared to share
I have phoned them and left messages with no reply and the customer services is diabolical
My concern is if I foot the bill to erect a replacement fence they will own it and when it does goes down they will expect me to replace it
Has anyone resolved this with Sovereign
As am considering legal action

They provide an appointment to carry our repairs then don't bother turning up then, when I call them, they say the reason they didn't turn up was because I wasn't in. But then when they do turn up, they says things like "I'm not qualified" or (if an electrician arrives, "you need a builder").

24 hour call out for disabled issues such as sewage coming through the floor left for 2 days. Disabled tennents forced to move out over weekend to access care at own expense

Val Bagnicki who we dealt with regarding our wills was extremely good in explaining everything we needed to know and took my wife and I clearly and expertly through the whole procedure. All our queries were answered in a plain ,understandable way .Much obliged to Val.

I am a homeowner and not part of Sovereign Housing but my neighbours are. Their residents are harassing and bullying us all the time. Police are involved but still harassing us. They are breaching the Sovereign tenancy agreement due to their Anti Social Behaviour but Sovereign does not do anything.

Sovereign are by far and away the worst company I have ever had to associate with. I have dealt with them and their predecessors for 30 years, and little changes.
Trying to get answers and actions from them is an undertaking in itself. After our neighbours and I tried for three years to contact them regarding replacement of a dangerously delapidated common boundary fence, we did the work ourselves, as we received no response from them after numerous queries. Now we have to fight to be paid by them for their share of the cost, as it is overdue.
Charges levied for our sewerage services are now at a ridiculous level, and this is still not resolved after a query 33 months ago. There seems to be no communication within the organisation, and external communication is erratic and inconsistent. We have been misled and run around in circles at every turn, and that is putting it kindly. They constantly wriggle out of their obligations, whilst charging the highest possible rates for what is done. The bills, invoices and other information we have managed to glean from them is inconsistent to the point of being useless, as it is impossible to reconcile them due to differing formats and figures every time. The problems we have had are manifold, and the organisation should be fully inspected by a higher authority.
My advice to anyone buying a freehold property with service charges payable to Sovereign is to think very hard about their decision - I wish we had.

it is a joke that sovereign house cant give you online rent statement and it say not available to the online account.
29,7 she booked it for
the ex girlfriend is milk for all she cant as she booked 2 time for someone to come fix boil from 12.30 to 16.30 and that tell me she not live there again too. or she I pick up the phone and call job centre and she what there say about it too.

Had my bedroom flooded by a sovereign worker who was ment to be putting insolation in my loft. Been living on a camp bed for 9 weeks while work been going on to get my bedroom ready. Your Insurance company will only pay half of the value of my things, I got legal advice, I've turned it down. I've had to use all my savings to buy myself a bed again just so I can get out my living room off the camp bed. All my stuff that didn't get ruined is still in boxes as I've no furniture. Still waiting for insurance/sovereign to sort it out.

This is a tricky one, I love my home and have no issues in its management BUT Sovereign’s regard for peoples data is non existent. I have been experiencing a sustained breach in my personal information for 18 months. When sovereign were made aware, I was dismissed with solicitor intimidation. The ICO complaint made them pay a smidgen of attention but that was six months ago and they are yet to fix it. I keep getting platitudes and pats on the head but no action. They haven’t followed their own complaints procedure. There have been so many data breaches over the past couple of years it’s shocking. I wouldn’t surprised if they were hit with a fine from the ICO.

Sovereign put trustpilot reviews on your file held by them. I have been debating whether to put another one on here. Mine was discussed even before l confirmed it was me by sovereigns staff which shows they spend more time on trustpilot than actually doing their jobs. Even that it had been updated. If they did their jobs they wouldn’t have 1 and a half stars. Nothing I said in my review was untrue or unfounded and I think it’s important to be able to have your say without fear of reprisals but this is what happens when you call people out on ill treatment, bias and not doing their jobs. I did a DAta request and the response to several of my emails between staff is disgusting and whole emails are heavily redacted. (What’s in them then?)I have a right to see the content of the email even if names and other identifying factors are redacted. If there regarding someone else then that’s poor data protection anyway and shouldn’t be in my file. Words like ‘ sink in’ are used to make me understand things which is discriminatory as I have a neurological disorder and Fibromyalgia which affect my thought processing. It also states they have done a vulnerability review without my consent and it states ‘ sensitive approach- mobility issues’. (LOL sensitive approach- when does that start?) But they wouldn’t take into account any evidence from my consultants or OT in this case. So they recognise I have health problems? Interesting. When it looks good on paper but in theory?
One email stood out as it mentioned ‘ that I wasn’t helping myself ‘by giving that awful online review, which I am fully entitled to do. This person is fully entitled to make peoples lives a misery apparently as that’s all she has done. If your not doing your job properly then ‘own it ‘ and have the guts to say we got it wrong. There’s no point being affronted when your caught out which they have been. There are a lot more behaviours from the tenant who’s been harassing us that I would find concerning.
I will be putting in another DSAR to see what responses I get put on my file regarding this which is my right to do as I have a complete lack of trust in sovereign.
I have also requested audios from meetings that I attended but was told they could not be downloaded but in the files it says they have been sent between staff. ‘Worth a listen to before taking on the case’ was the comment. This involved myself and another neighbour who was being harassed by same person.
They say that I have been threatening ( I threatened legal action) and I have requested copies of audio calls as in most of them I am crying because of yet another sleepless night because of our neighbour or more abuse from her which my previous call was to the police on several occasions.
They have also failed to provide attachments relating to meetings had about the case but where our concerns and details would of been discussed. I was accidentally invited to one and they quickly backtracked saying it was an error.
One other thing is when you contact the customer centre the person who responds maintains their anonymity by being called ‘ Kat W’, or Heidi B whilst you have to provide your DOB, mobile, email, address which I have in my email signature anyway but they still ask for my DOB.
They have also included something in my file completely unrelated that relates to my neighbour which is a data breach and I will be alerting the ICO of this.
Several neighbours have also made malicious reports about us but have also witnessed the abuse we have received. Another neighbour came to our door and was abusive and now has a public order offence? But we are the problem?
This whole episode has left me really mentally unwell. Up until the point of writing this she is still giving us problems. She was Drunk and disorderly again yesterday and several neighbours told her to shut up.
To top it all off the DSAR with all my confidential information in was delivered to my neighbour when it should of been handed to me.

This company is the worst I have ever had to deal with.
They are more than happy to lie, send text messages demanding money when none is due, and refuse to refund it when it is paid in error. They quote their Tenancy agreement, but don't adhere to it themselves.
Just look at the paragraph citing drug dealing from their properties, and then at the incidents of the same being reported and not dealt with, causing untold misery for other, law abiding, tenants.
The call centre stall appear to be untrained, and often, rude.
This is a company which wishes that the tenant did not exist. they appear to be only concerned with money to the detriment of keeping the housing stock suitable for its tenants, who, by the way, housing associations were set up to serve.
The Regulator of Social Housing regulates registered providers of social housing to promote a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs.
Sovereign clearly does not fulfil this role .
Clearly, an email to the above and your MP in the first instance is the way forward to improve this disgusting, poorly run, outfit.

I have been a Sovereign resident for over 9 years and have to say they really are the worst. I have lived next to drug dealers for the entirety of my tenancy, Sovereign have always known and have never done a thing about it.
When I came to live here the tenancy was conditional that no dogs or cats were to live here. This policy was changed at their whim without informing any tenants here and in legal terms invalidating all of our tenancy agreements. I now have a dog living downstairs that I am scared of and again Sovereign don’t care.
One previous tenant (a drug dealer) caused me so many problems I attempted suicide - again Sovereign knew and did nothing.
Our communal gardens are used as a cut through by other people on our estate and we are expected to pay for the maintenance of this property that we have no exclusivity over, further to that our gardeners don’t use lawn mowers any more and have ruined the grass area by leaving heaps of strummed grass after cutting it. Our cleaners literally don’t clean - they just vacuum the floor, a cost that is about to rise to £100 per visit. £100 to vacuum our stairs for 30 minutes. £200 per hour that works out at - sovereign won’t do anything about that either.
My mental health has been badly affected for years now - again something Sovereign are aware of and will do nothing about.
In summary Sovereign Housing are hopeless, full of good intent but devoid of all action.
The management have lied to me and covered their nonsense up. I’m stuck here until my health fails enough to get a move.
Stay away from Sovereign they really are a useless organisation.

UPDATE 22/03/2022

Further to your contact I forwarded the required information to you and was contacted by one of your agents asking about a dangerous dog? No mention of a dangerous dog here! Also another agent was coming here to inspect the cleaning and talk to me - that didn’t happen (totally expected) Please stop proving how useless you are and try doing your jobs for once!

If you live in a shared ownership property you will have to try and deal Home Ownership Team. What a nightmare! Any problems are fobbed off, batted away, managers never call back. E-mail them, they are supposed to respond in 14 days but they just ignore them. Put in a complaint, they are supposed to respond in 5 days but they just ignore that. When you do get a response they don't say "sorry you are disappointed...however" they don't say "sorry we didn't get back to you in the time frame we should have done.." Unprofessional managers with no accountability. Their website is full of flowery statements about "heart of the community.." and how they care. They don't.

Disgusting seriously I've never ever seen such a Vile company, its all about them they can do do wrong. Not obey the contract they make you sign. So if you have any problems with your property its nothing to do with them, when it 100% has everything to do with them but they dont care as long as the rent is paid. If you miss that your in trouble but they wont fix, repair, improve on any off your complaints, you can have no front door, window smashed in, been burgled due to lack off secure building a few times but will Soverign do anything NO.
Honest to god don't move into a Soverign property take anything else and then find another property it will save you so much hassle, stress, loss off money than it would moving into one off theres.

We have lived in a Sovereign property for 6 years and like everyone else on here has commented all they want is their rent
They have no interest if things go wrong with the property or bad neighbours, they are just terrible.
We have neighbours from hell, we have had TV cameras filming them when we first moved in for owing money.
There is 7 children in a 3 bedroom house with more noise than anyone else around here.
The mother screams and shouts all day long at the children and you can hear her inside your house with the windows closed.
They have an oversized trampoline in the small back garden with broken toys everywhere
An old settee dumped for months, previously an oversized paddling pool with stagnant water left for a year, the smell was awful.
We now have problems with rodents as they live in rubbish like this we have been told
Can we get Sovereign to do anything ????
No they don’t want to know !!
They are the worst housing association going
A charity 🤬
An absolute bloody nightmare 🤬
It’s no good you saying you have inboxed me because you won’t do anything as usual

Why does sovereign housing have such bad reviews? I am waiting on a kitchen an bathroom upgrade but is it going to happen? My kitchen and bathroom are in a poor state and really needs to be upgraded from the 1980's or early 1990's. Also has really bad insulation as my radiators are flat out but cannot get warm.

I have lived in a Sovereign Market Rent property in Branksome Poole for the last few years. It’s a great property but Sovereign management really needs an overhaul.

We have been having major issues with the car park recently. It’s supposed to be permit holders only. However the car park ticket company never patrols our car park. I know my neighbours have been in talks with the car park management & Sovereign and nothing ever happens. It’s been going on over 12 months now. Sovereign just don’t care that there tenants cant park in there car park when they return home from work. (There is no free parking near by).

The latest update from my neighbours is there is now no contract with the car park company. They have asked when this will be sorted and the management just don’t respond or just pass the reply “It’s now with another department” (Very unhelpful - Just pass the issue)

The major issue is Sovereign just can’t cope / and has an un personal customer service way about then. Personally i cant me bothered like my neighbours to keep calling them. (But thank god we have neighbours who care) Sovereign don’t care. Be warned if you are thinking about renting with them. Hopefully this will get sorted soon.