Muse Developments Reviews 4

Muse Developments is everything that is wrong with the building industry in one company.

Without naming the location so as not to alienate owners of the flats, Muse is a low quality builder, who uses cheap materials not fit for purpose.
These include lifts not meeting the requirements for the number of floors it serves and constantly breaking down.

They used some cheap, low rate window manufacturer for the windows, many of which have shattered and the leaseholders have to go via the warranty provider.

And finally, the warranty provider - Premier Warranty, used a low rate underwriter - AMTrust in order to win the business and now there is clear evidence that the warranty only exists on paper and was never meant to pay out.

Builders like Muse, try to cut corners at EVERY stage of the process, from material selection, contracts to warranty provider - always opting for the cheapest option available.

Will update if the warranty situation changes

First of all Muse Developments use multiple generic email address, continue to change them and not tell residents. This complaint is regard Waterside places, one of their developments in London.

I wrote the following complaint in Sept 2023 and still in 2025, the same issues occur.

Communication
This is not the first time I have had to complain about the management of XXX car park. In the past I was directed to email XXX. I have copied this email address into various email chains and received no response. Can you please confirm if this email address is no longer used and if so when were you going to inform leaseholders?

With the issues highlighted below in my complaint I have been made aware that the managing agent for XXX Car park changed in June of this year yet leaseholders and indeed Propert Management Company (PMC) have not been informed of this change. The signage in the car park does not reflect the change of managing agent. As landlord you have a duty to inform residents when the managing agent is replaced.

Performance of Managing Agents
Since I purchased the underlease in 2016, I have had nothing but problems with the space. The drains have overflowed twice leaving human sewage lying in the bottom of the car park. It is unacceptable and unhygienic.

There have been numerous occasions where other cars have parked in my space trespassing. Very rarely have these cars been ticketed and there is usually a reluctance to enforce the car park rules by the managing agent. There is no deterrent. I am now in the position of not having the quiet enjoyment of my space as a landrover car reg SXX XXP using car parking pass A16372 has used my space for the last week. Indeed the vehicle is parked over the lines taking up two spaces. In no way is this acceptable. The vehicle was only ticketed today after constant badgering of the managing agent. 7 days for a ticket to be raised.

Billing
Billing again has been a complete shambles from day one when taking on the underlease. Despite the costs being agreed with our lawyer, and paying the first year costs pro rata we did not receive a further bill until December 2019. At this point Emma CXXXX and James SXXXX got involved and quite frankly had a very poor understanding of the brief. At this point one would think a procedure would be put in place to manage the billing for maintenance and not let this reoccur.

As of today we still have not received a bill for 2022. I have chased you, PMC, our managing agent for the estate, Emma and James for the bill. PMC reports they are struggling to get anything meaningful from the previous agent and the new one says they cannot help. This has all occurred as there are no performance mechanisms in the contract with the agent. The landlord, managing agent relationship is not something the tenant can influence. We are now in a position of potentially having a section 20B notice raised because of these failings.

Resolution
Clearly as landlord you have a duty to inform the tenants of changes both in your complaints procedure which is extremely weak (just email a generic email address) and who is managing the car park. If nothing else it is common courtesy.

As I have not had the use of my car parking space for a week now I would expect a reduction in my maintenance costs when they are finally billed pro rata for the time the vehicle has trespassed. In addition I have spent far too much time on this issue chasing managing agents to raise invoices, ticket vehicles etc, check my own car is safe. Compensation of £100 would be agreeable.

All of the above is avoidable with robust contract mechanics with your managing agents. There clearly has been no contractual review until the service deteriorated to such a state when sacking them was the only resolution. It's very disappointing for a company like Waterside Places to react with such apathy over the last 7 years.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

I am the landlord of Lock 17 apartment, all ceiling LED lights of my apartment were sealed and are not replaceable.
After waiting for one and half year, they finally sent contractor to check the light installation and have agreed to fix it.
Unfortunately, I have been waiting for another one and half month, they still didn't arrange the contractors to fix the ceiling lights.
I did try to reach their customer service and it doesn't help at all.

I purchased a property from them in Salford and their customer service post completion has been poor, at best.

Two years after purchasing the property, it is still not registered at the Land Registry. The cause of the delay is due to equally poor service from Land Registry. No doubt working from home in their slippers. However, following two complaints and two attempts at expediting this, Land Registry eventually told us that they couldn't register the property due to an outstanding DS3 form from the developer / their solicitors. Despite explaining the urgency to Muse and requesting their assistance and chasing them, they've done nothing more than ignore me.. I’m not sure what happens to emails once you send them to their Salford offices

Next issue... The residents have been pushing for the handover of the Management Company to the residents. The development was completed almost two years ago and this still hasn't happened, with no reason why from Muse. They hide behind their nominated Managing Agents. We believe that we're being ripped off, due to the lack of service, oversight and our involvement in budget setting and auditing. Muse still have complete control over this. Despite numerous issues being raised about the quality of the initial handover and the ongoing maintenance.

Next issue... When initially purchasing the property, enquiries were raised regarding the development of the adjacent land, as this caused people concern. The responses from Muse were that they planned to submit planning the following spring. Over two years later and they still haven't submitted planning and finding anything out about it is almost impossible (we intend to, we plan to, we anticipate that)
We don't believe you!!

They’ve clearly bitten off more than they can chew and have no strategy for their completed developments and handover of Management Companies.. They appear just enjoy patting themselves on the back in their usual property developer way

And no doubt they’ll try to argue that we actually purchased from English Cities Fund (ECF), but we deal with Muse, at the Muse Salford office… and review is regarding Muse