Pocket Living Reviews 50

Pocket living provided us with an excellent and comprehensive service that helped us navigate our first time buying process in a stress-free way. All the staff were kind and helpful, with a special mention to
Jessica MacLeod and Andrew Brader!

Started living in one of these apartment for 2 month now (so haven’t been too long
So take this in consideration) I do love the concept of them. Compact and relative affordable and for 1 person they are doing the job. However if you’re a couple might be too small. The drawbacks would be if you like cooking as it only has a small fridge and mini-freezer, lack of worktop (no built in microwave so this will take most of that) no dishwasher… my tip would have some smarter usages of the space in the future developments to fully optimise it (sliding doors, built in solutions, multi-usage of spaces..just that little extra thought that is needed when it’s a small space)

A well organised and informative evening event which included the people you need to see at a housing development meeting. With hindsight, maybe an extra 30 mins would have been appreciated due to the number of questions asked/not asked.

The locks are defective, and the oven installation was not done properly. I reported these issues a week ago, but no one has contacted me at all to resolve them. I hope the Pocket Living team sees this and addresses the issue promptly.

We are renting a flat in pocket living. The flat is nice and issues have been resolved through our landlord, but pocket living told us to make an account through their website and since then we have had no contact from them. It would be nice to be able to access the online portal, especially as they are the ones who told us to make an account there.

Overall happy with my flat so far and my experience with Pocket.

However, it's simply not acceptable in 2024 - but it would not have been even 30 years ago! - to live in a building where you CANNOT use your intercom to let visitors and deliveries through, but you will physically have to go downstairs to open the doors to let them in. (There are 3 doors and the intercom will only let you open the first one).
"Secured by design" they call it, I'd rather use the word "frustrating". And it definitely does not feel "secure": what if you have a medical emergency or you are simply feeling unwell and you expect some food or medicines delivery?
I really hope they will sort it out.

I can highly recommend the Pocket team, and especially Jess; they were extremely communicative and explained every step of the purchase process very clearly and were willing to show every single flat option in the development during viewing and were able to answer all my many questions on the spot!

Jess was really helpful and engaged throughout our buying experience. Pocket were understanding and accommodating when there were delays.

Had a lovely time, and very happy with my new mint plant! :)

Great spacious living at an affordable price

So. Presale services. I'd give 20* out of 5*! Was about a year long experience to buy (they decided to sell one development to council, BUT offered us another, a bit more expensive one for same price or reimburse us for time spent and out of pocket expenses with a little bonus).

So in a year long experience only twice I struggled to get answers.
1. I still don't have a clue how much hot water will cost (3 months after moving in!!)
2. Some service charge explanation but that was semantics.

Everything else was top notch!

After sales? 3*.
Urgent issues seem to be resolved urgently. (Hot water was resolved next morning)

Non urgent ones on the other hand... Good luck getting answers out! For a not working usb plug we waited about a month!

Flat itself? Good location, GREAT insulation and ventilation! So far couple days weather was forecasted +3 at night when we moved in, but no need for heating!!! Moisture is about 40% so that's AMAZING in my book!

Lease is pretty nice. 999 years, no ground rent, all of us will own the company that owns the freehold. Can't exactly complain about that.

2 bad things.
1. Paint. Seems like we look at the wall wrong way and its scratched.
2. A bit noisy. We can clearly hear everyone on our wing entering and leaving their flats.

However it hasn't been full 3 month! So I literally can't give 5* there. :) 5* is 5 years from now if nothing major happens. For now 3.5 stars. A bit better than expected with unclear future.

As a first time buyer Pocket gave me a great standard of support and information.

I am a resident at the 30 Addiscombe Grove development and feel obliged to write this review to give a differing point of view on this building than other reviews on here.

Personally, the buying process was smooth and used the recommended solicitors and mortgage advisor for the £500 rebate. Before moving in, inspected the apartment and reported some snagging which was resolved by the time I moved in. Ever since, I have had no further issues with my flat.

I would like to comment on the boiler issue which has been the main subject of many negative reviews. This situation wasn't ideal at the time as the problem took longer than expected to be fixed. However, throughout this time Pocket provided regular updates and provided fair compensation for each day hot water wasn't available. They also offered to pay for a hotel each night if preferred but I opted for the monetary comp instead. The issue has also been resolved for over a year with no further problems.

As a first time buyer, I am really happy with my pocket flat and would recommend to others that want guidance during the process and a modern new build for their first purchase.

Made the whole process stress free and easy!

really responsive, Shivon sorted my issue really quickly and showed great empathy!

BUZZ FLAT 1, I am happy to show you around, there are far to be the dream homes, this building is a scam .

We have contacted even the mayor of london's office for help. But they are still selling this building. SHAME!!!!

PLEASE RENTERS, BUYERS, come buzz several flats and we will give you the reality and transparency we would have hope to have before purchasing this trap(I mean it, intercom doesn’t release all doors, you are required to go down waiting long minutes at the lift for any instances and wait 10min to take the lift with the fob system to be added to the lifts even more, and building is only half occupied), hope and pray no medical emergency will be required, otherwise hope for the worst.

Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately, all the information you reported is incorrect, so a reply here is essential. Trustpilot doesn't allow me to share pictures and documentation to prove you wrong.
The meeting you offered was long ago regarding many other problems I haven’t underlined in the previous review.
I met another team member a few months ago, but this informal meeting didn't take me anywhere. The customer service quality has dropped daily, with many emails and tickets being ignored and the team confused.
You said that you care about safety, happiness and wellbeing.
You hadn't offered an alternative bathroom when I needed it, and when you did, you pretended the keys before work was finished; we had no water on my floor because it was closed by the Fire Brigade due to a considerable leak (certificated as a building defect) that could have provoked short circuit as bad it was at a certain point. Our safety was at risk, and I called the emergency service because immediate action was required. The water was off from 6 pm on Sunday, the 3rd of September, to Monday, the 4th, at noon), and you didn't offer an alternative hotel and refused to reimburse the dinner. A family with kids was on the floor, and I felt so sorry for them.
In addition, the leak was in a communal area, and It was not my job to look after it. Still, it was affecting my flat (my door had been damaged and needed to be replaced), and I didn't have an alternative because you didn't ask even the security support and ignored my email where I requested help. I was awake in the middle of the night and cancelled my weekend plans to look after a leak.
All this, wouldn't have happened if work in Addiscombe Grove had been done correctly, with a proper quality check, on this occasion and all the others.
Also, we are in the middle of a mice infestation, and I'm terrified, and it's not only me to feel this way. You rejected the request to check all the flats not yet involved to prevent and cover all the gaps between the pipe and walls. It's not a question to send you pictures. We need a contractor that checks flat by flat and spots the defects.
Looking at the guidelines of Premiere Guarantee, the gaps found can be classified as building defects. Also, how can we have an infestation in a new building and still, after months, the situation, instead of improving, is getting worse?
In the bathroom, the grouting issue is far from being resolved. The last investigation was done on the 13th of October, and I am still awaiting your update. Still, I got a little more information from the contractor. I don't need to go into details as you know the situation well.
Also, as the bathroom tiles have been installed directly on the floor without waterproof layers, this gives you a clear idea of the superficiality and negligence in the construction process. Mine has been fixed now, but I guess 130 bathrooms will still be repaired.
Many walls need to be opened (including mine) because of the lack of pipe insulation. What else has to be discovered yet?
Indeed, I've not been affected by the leak that involved the columns of flats (they should be 20), but this doesn't mean I'm not concerned about the building and feel sympathy with the people affected who had to see their walls opened and still living in the bathroom with damages floors and no ETA. The root cause has been identified. However, you refuse to provide a report with complete visibility of what has happened.
Water has been trapped in the walls for weeks and moved through 20 floors; I leave it to the people reading my review to think about what happened and what has happened inside, but it is not yet visible.
Fires doors: I first reported this in November 2022, one year ago. An official report was done at the beginning of 2023, and the work has still not been completed. The concept of immediate action here is very relative. I have a chain of emails that can prove my points in total. However, why were the doors not checked before the sign-off? Their quality is so poor. Saving against safety.
Soundproofing: You have received reports of people complaining about this, and substantial evidence has been provided.
All the problems we had have and will have been so invasive and affected our lives in total.
I feel the duty and the responsibility to inform possible new buyers of the risks and problems that occur by buying/ renting a property in Addiscombe Grove.
All decisions have to be made with full awareness and consciousness. Dreams have to be protected. Same as money, all life sacrifices.

Unfortunately a dream to own your own have become an absolute nightmare and dealing with pocket and the level of quality is so low that’s it’s shocking.

We have not have had a fully functioning bathroom for over a year and our bathroom flooring have been taken up 6-7 times and we are awaiting another round to have it done correctly as pocket or their contractor don’t have the capability to do a good job, we agreed on a drain that would go from wall to wall however the contractor with pocket then decided to install one that goes under the tiles end both ends leaving the finishing work look poorly. They don’t know how to tilt the tiles so the water can go fully away into the drain, the shocking part was they did an “temporary” solution and took up some of the tiles that all are now chipped, they are not straight and the water is not going away as it should. Also they got the nerve to think they can quick fix this plus tiles are now not level with the remaining meaning we have a huge increase on one side and they think we are ok with this. We were told this was only a temporary solution but now due to this incompetent management from both the contractor and pocket have resolved in we still cannot use a full function bathroom and are awaiting ones again to have it redone. After my latest complaint per email I told them this cannot be acceptable they often choose to ignore you and down prioritise. It’s disappointing to see they are not capable of solve an issue and actually make the bathroom look as promised, now pocket expect we should just accept a sloppy work, that fact they don’t understand you bought a flat to a certain standard it a joke. While having a shower you can also hear squeaking while standing under the shower!

The other main issue is the flooring in the entire flat, it is bumpy and squeaking to such an extreme level, pocket keep insist that it’s within tolerance however I have never seen such a big issue like ours. We have also asked pocket numerous times for a report or an explanation on how they use the tolerance level. It’s fair to say in this building we have floating floors (why they choose this is another incompetent choice) with this type of floor a bit of noise is acceptable however not to this level that you wake up your partner if you need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Reading some of my neighbours post here and see the reply from pocket makes its very disappointing and ones again give the impression on they say something in public and ones you deal with them it’s another story.
Having flooring that after our own opinion is not done correct and a bathroom that keeps getting worse and worse make us regret buying from pocket.

Unfortunately our experience is not a single case and we feel sorry for other first time buyers that dealing with them, we where promised a great community however due to they where not able to sell enough flats they have chosen to rent out a big chunk and the promised of a community where people know each other have turned into a place with some of their renters that don’t care about the building.

Other things to be aware of:
- mice issues with some flats due to pocket haven’t sealed all pipes properly around them
- Fire safety, lots of doors are not made ready and for the fire stairs the doors are till to be corrected to close properly, this was mentioned more than half a year ago, and it looks they have changed some of them there is still a bit to go. The timeframe is still a mystery to me.
- Fire system, don’t work, they keep saying it’s working however our trust with them is not existing, I’m sure they will make a comment that this is “working” we had the fire alarm system going on some floors a while ago and no one was alarmed.

We were so excited to get our own place but the amount of energy it takes to deal with them and that they don’t fix things to a normal standard is hugely disappointing and I hope no other have to go through the same as we had to. Reading the other comments from pocket just ones again confirm for us that they don’t do things as they should.

Madu is very efficient with her emails. She gets her task done and will respond back to you within the deadline.