Countryside Homes Home Counties South estate agents in Paddock Wood and Dartford

★★★★★ 1/5

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Countryside flats - failed ESW1

Our five year old Countryside Properties block of flats Silverpoint N18 has just failed an EWS1 fire safety inspection - this means we cannot sell, cannot remortgage and are facing thousands of pounds in bills to put right fire safety issues that we had no say in designing or constructing.Countryside tell us they aren't responsible and the NHBC warranty is proving to be useless. We’ve had nothing but grief here, first we were caught up in doubling ground rents that we had to battle to resolve. And now we’re stuck in homes with balconies with unsafe cladding and face bills of around £10,000 each to put right. Buyer beware - despite all the shiny showrooms, reassuring words about how good new builds are and friendly salespeople, you could be in my shoes, five short years after the biggest purchase of your life.

Ms · 27 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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We bought a 2 bed flat from Countryside…

We bought a 2 bed flat from Countryside Properties in 2015 (N18 - Silverpoint North London) and during this time we've had issues with regards to doubling Ground Rents and now our building has failed an EWS1 fire safety inspection. It's one nightmare scenario after the other and now we face bills up to £10000 per flat to remedy our balconies which have been considered unsafe as per the inspections report. Countryside properties have distanced themselves from this issue and are not prepared to provide us with any financial support. We don't have enough savings to foot this bill and without this remedial work, we cannot sell or remortgage, so basically our property is of no value.We regret having invested our hard earned money buying this property. I would advise anyone who are looking at buying a property from Countryside properties to be very vigilant, they will entice you into buying and then within a couple of years you will find yourself in situations which you could not have foreseen and they will distance themselves from the issue, bearing in mind it's a property which they designed and built and it's not even safe to live in as per the fire inspection report. They are not even worth 1 star for this review, no stars for me. Be careful everyone.

Nikhilesh · 27 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Don’t touch with a barge pole - or you’ll pay the price like I am...

Where to begin. I was an eager first time buyer back in 2015. Eager and naive. A countryside salespersons’ dream - they saw me coming a mile off pressuring me that if I didn’t put the deposit down soon the apartment I wanted (and had mentally moved in to already) would get snapped up. They glossed over the issues around doubling ground rent that would bite me and my neighbours on the butt in years to come, and told me I had to use their approved solicitors and their approved mortgage lenders. The former of which failed to explain the ground rent situation. Huge conflict of interest of course, but I was blind. And now I’m paying the price. When we as a building realised that we were locked into unsellable homes (literally - mortgage lenders would not lend against our properties) because our ground rent would eventually cost home owners over £6,000 a YEAR, guess what? Countryside didn’t want to know. They’d already cashed out and sold our freehold on to a third party who was collecting ground rent, our hard earned money, year after year, and for nothing. Countryside were in fact exploiting loopholes in the law in order to sell the freehold on from under our noses. But they shrugged their shoulders and carried on selling leaseholds on other properties, fleecing hard working folks who just wanted a home to call their own. Getting us out of that situation took 18 months and thousands of pounds to resolve. Not to mention the stress. And Countryside? Washed their hands of the entire thing. And now? We’ve failed our fire safety certificate as a building - we have wooden balconies (surely it would be obvious that that wouldn’t be safe on a 7 storey building...?!) and once again, our homes are unsellable. And once again countryside don’t want to know. Again they have washed their hands of everything. They are too busy moving onto the next cash cow. Meanwhile we’re set to pay tens of thousands of pounds (per household) to fix another one of Countryside’s messes. Don’t go down the road we all did. Don’t fall for the marketing spin and the sales patter. Don’t be duped into thinking they care about you and helping you secure your dream home. It will soon become your living nightmare.

Sarah · 27 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Very disappointed with Countryside Properties

Below is a true account of what has happened to me.I completed on my first home with Countryside on 28th August 2020 at their South Oxhey Central development. I bought off-plan and went by all the details I was told in person by multiple people at the sales office as well as the sales brochure and builders drawings and I couldn't wait to move in and finally be on the property ladder. I was only allowed to see the property 3 days before completion (instead of 7 days), and I instantly could tell something didn’t look right. Upon measuring all rooms, each was narrower in width of between 5-10cm and this more than a ‘few’ millimetres legally allowed and overall I now have a flat that is few square feet less than advertised, but I let it go!To make matter worse, last week the parking lines were marked and it turns out my allocated bay is 2.25cm and the UK parking regulation authority advise on 2.4cm as a minimum meaning. What this means is when cars are parked side-by-side, there is no room to get in/out of the car. I have a small-medium sized car. The bay is therefore in violation of the consumer act law as it is not fit for purpose! I have had an email from Perdi from customer service at Countryside HQ, who has basically told me in WRITING it is okay to park on our outside the white lines of the bay and therefore inconvenience others. To add insult to injury, the two bays beside mine are considerable over compensated in size. One is 2.6m and the over 2.9m. All Countryside had to do is repaint the lines and distribute the bays evenly and that would be an end to the matter.I let the first issue go as there is nothing that can be done as an entire block of flats has now been built and to be fair, I really like it. I therefore gave Countryside the benefit of the doubt and gave them the opportunity to fix the issue regarding the size of the parking bay and they have failed to do so.I end by saying, I have no issues or grievances with the staff at the sales office at South Oxhey Central and rate the two people I have been working with on both matters very highly. Its just a shame decisions have to go over their heads and no suitable outcome was found as what I was asking for was fair and reasonable. Its clearly Countryside's way or no way!

R · 23 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Rhodri and Gavin were fantastic!

Rhodri and Gavin were fantastic, I have been informed and supported throughout the whole process.Really friendly and helpful.

Sian · 16 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Excellent Sales Staff Service

Rhodri, Gavin and Stuart have been brilliant members of the Countryside sales team. They helped advise us about when to put our property on the market and gave us regular updates about the plots we were interested in. When we were ready to reserve, they made the process simple and helped keep us informed on the build progress during lockdown and beyond. We had problems with our solicitors, but the three of them helped us at each turn, chasing people and keeping us in the loop. They've been a pleasure to work with.

Millie · 16 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Brilliant service

From start to finish the team at Countryside City Fields have been amazing and have made us feel at ease especially during the uncertain times we have faced during the coranvirus pandemic. We have had regular updates throughout the process and the team have always been more than happy to help with any queries/issues we have come across. We are so excited to see our new home and can't thank Gav & Rhodri enough for all of their help throughout the process.

CB · 16 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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A brilliant experience throughout the pandemic

After a truly stressful experience with another developer and the impact of Covid-19 on the industry and the help to buy scheme, we found Countryside in City Fields and instantly fell in love with the house types and the local area. We had an open conversation with Gavin one of the sales managers about our position and our options who quickly instilled enough confidence in us to proceed in pulling out of our contract to buy our previous plot, and we were so refreshed with the level of transparency and professionalism from him. We met Rhodri, the other sales manager, who was equally as professional and transparent and has taken us through most of our buying journey with countryside so far. The guys have really, really looked after us and at every step, reassured us on any doubts we had from our previous experiences and were happy to answer any and all queries, even when they were less important ones We are now due to exchange contracts to buy our amazing home and have an estimated legal completion date. We receive updates once the build reaches a new stage and photos when the chance is there for them to get on site. The spec includes all of the extras we had budgeted for from our previous developer and so we have been able to use our money on the more “non essential” changes. We really feel like we’ve struck gold and feel very lucky. Rhodri and Gavin are a credit to Countryside North and we genuinely can’t thank them enough so far. They seem to share the excitement of the buyers and never make you feel like something is too much to ask. Rhodri has been extremely accommodating with our options and extras in terms of answering questions remotely with zero pressure, sending photos if requested and being open about pricing. Nothing has felt pushed or pressured. In dealing with Stuart and the sales progression team, I’ve found them extremely personable and are genuinely committed to progressing the sale- liaising with the legal teams and adding the belts and braces to documentation and chasing of third parties.Thanks again guys and we really do look forward to continuing our journey with countryside because of the service we’ve received. I’d recommend to anyone.

Elliot · 16 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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The Fantastic Dutton Fields Sales Team

Annabel and Sian have been fantastic at the Countryside Dutton Fields site in North Wales. They go out of their way to be available and during a pandemic reassured me and was honest every step of the way. Unfortunately due to COVID I had complications in obtaining a mortgage offer like a lot of people but they went above and beyond in helping me to secure my dream home. I’d highly recommend anyone to visit this site as it’s A+ customer service, as well as beautiful properties!

Gemma · 15 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Wilson Chase Team

The Wilson Chase team have been so lovely and helpful during the home-buying process. They have been kind and understanding and have answered all our questions and queries so timely. We are receiving weekly updates from Anne and Tara and I know that in between now and our completion they would do their upmost best to ensure my partner and I are happy with our home! Couldn’t recommend them and Rachel enough.

Magan · 13 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Countryside Properties are currently under investigation by the CMA

PLEASE BEWARE! I bought an apartment from Countryside Properties which has doubling ground rent and may now be unmortgageable because of this. The freehold of the property was sold on without first offering it to the leaseholders - maybe a legal loophole (??) but, in my opinion, leaseholders should have been made aware this is what would happen before agreeing to purchase. The property lease has been drafted to benefit the freeholder rather than the leaseholder, on whom it may in fact have a negative impact and fail to provide the enduring value that Countryside Properties claims their developments have. The CMA is launching enforcement action involving Countryside Properties, a company which it believes may have "broken consumer protection law in relation to leasehold homes" (3 other developers are also under investigation). "The CMA uncovered troubling evidence of potentially unfair terms concerning ground rents in leasehold contracts and potential mis-selling." It is "concerned that leasehold homeowners may have been unfairly treated and that buyers may have been misled by this developer." (Quotes from the government press release). I appreciate developers are in the business of making profits but this should not be by using what may be considered as unfair practices and mis-selling.

MC · 12 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 4/5

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Wilson Chase

Cannot fault the staff at Wilson Chase Anne and Tara have been really helpful and made the process of reserving our house a very pleasant one in the end. They have always responded to any queries we have quickly and kept us up to date with the progress. Looking forward to getting our keys. Thanks again ladies!

Louise · 12 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Wilson Chase team

Wilson Chase is receiving a good review for a great customer service we have received from them. We are currently in the process of buying our first house a New Stamford. From the first day Tara has helped with information in regards to the house, really happy with the way she treated us as customers, always asking if we need assistance and keeping use updated with what she could. The best way to be treated by a company representative.

Cordas · 4 September 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Plot 86. Hollystone Bank

My sales consultant was Justine Eusebio and there isn't enough words to explain how amazing, charming and helpful she has been though out the whole experience of buying a house. This was mine and my boyfriends 1st house and we didn't understand a lot of the paperwork or the process and she didn't just explain it to us she made sure we understood it in simpler terms without making us feel dumb. Couldn't thank her enough for what she did for us.

Lawren · 31 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Wilson Chase team

Not one to write reviews usually but felt the need to give Wilson Chase a good review for there great customer service we have recieved from them. Currently in the process of buying our first house a New Ashbourne and couldnt fault them for the help and advice they have given us from the first day. Very helpful staff in the office who can’t do enough to guide you , special mention to Tara , Anne and Racheal who have all been brilliant from the start .

Joe · 27 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Countryside - such a disappointment!

Total disappointment. I live in a house built by Countryside Properties. Currently Countryside is progressing with a final phase of the same development on the back of my house. They've built an electrical substation 1m behind my fence in a straight line with my windows.To make it worse, they raised the ground floor level underneath the substation for more than 2m!!!! (higher than my fence) & on the top of it positioned almost 3m high & 4m wide substation house, creating approx. 5.2 high & 4m wide monstrosity!!!This has obviously got a huge impact on the value of my house, the aesthetic of the surroundings & the standard of my family life.Countryside have made series of mistakes linked with the substation location and are refusing to relocate it due to cheapness & their convenience. Myself - as local resident & furthermore, the owner of the house which Countryside built on their previous phase - wasn't completely taken into consideration during planning the final phase of the Development. Developer ignored me, knowing that it will be myself & my household suffering the consequences of their actions.I have been advised by local estate agents that the value of the house, with such a monstrosity on the back of it, dropped easily for around 30-35% (possibly more) and even though I can consider my house as almost unsaleable.... while I have paid the full market price (mortgage for 20 years!!)...My emails are constantly ignored...

Paul · 26 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Abbotsfield St Helens

Abbotsfield St Helens. My partner and I looked at a few developments around Warrington and where very unimpressed with what was on offer and the prices being asked. Abbotsfield looks to be being completed to a high standard and features some of countrysides gorgeous home designs.Lisa B has been excellent and we are extremely excited to move into our property. Some reviews here mention snags not being done right away, this is often on purpose so that the house can settle. I'd hope to have our snag list fully resolved within the first 2 years, excluding urgent matters, which should be seen to ASAP. Will update the review when we move in and will continue to do so over the next couple of years.

BENJAMIN · 25 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Avoid!

Highly unprofessional and deliver poor quality.

Anon · 20 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Wards Keep - poor customer service after handed the keys

The design of the house is lovely. The sales staff are amazing. It’s such a shame that after you are handed the keys to your property the customer service team is lacking in providing good customer experience. The property was handed over to us with visible defects noted by them but there was no urgency to get the issues resolved. We sent a snag list with more than 250 defects and it took more than 3 months after issuing the list for the snags to be looked at. This was prompted by a claim raised with the NHBC due to the constant delays and attention our emails received. After requesting a subject access of all emails and documents that hold our personal information it was discovered that they spoke about us the customer in an unkind way. By even telling subcontractors that we were difficult and to proceed with caution. We aren’t difficult we are fed up of emails going weeks without reply’s and for apologies for the ball being dropped on more than one occasion. We have tried to be patient and have escalated our concerns but with no resolve even after countryside agreed in emails they dropped the ball. We have complained to the head of customer service, the Customer Director and a Countryside Executive but 6 Business days have passed regarding our last email complaint and we have received no response. This shows how little regard countryside has with their customer service experience provided because they have sold the property and have no further need to impress us.

Nicole · 20 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Terrible Customer Service Post Sale

Beautiful houses in terms of the spec, skylights, downlights, flooring, chrome sockets etc. all included, but the detail of the finish left a bit to be desired, however, that isn't anything that should have been unfixable. The customer service once you have moved in is abysmal. Not only do they take weeks/months to get back to you (this was before COVID), they can be rude, inflexible and unresponsive.To give you the full timeline of all of the issues, the base lack of experience of the staff and the behaviour of the staff would mean me writing a small novel. No organisation, no project management skills, and once you have paid them the hundreds of thousands of pounds, they have very little interest in getting things sorted. We have essentially had to project manage the snagging process personally and with around 300 total snags, this is no mean feat. Suppliers are given no information regarding the work that is required although the people who come in to do the fixes are always great, customer service lie about the information they have passed on and when you escalate the issue, nothing changes.Essentially, some people seem to see their main priority is to protect their own reputations internally rather than solve customer problems and provide adequate compensation where relevant. They refuse to admit any fault, regardless of the evidence placed in front of them and 12 months after moving in, we are still waiting for our snagging to be finished.Our home is undeniably a great place to live, but on their customer service and post-sales support alone, I cannot recommend them.

L · 12 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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Misleading advertising. Part exchange is not an option.

Shouldn’t advertise their ‘part exchange’ option on their website. I was told that this isn’t offered in the North West despite this showing on the webpages for properties in the North West.

Jen · 6 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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A lucky Escape.

After viewing the Ellesmere house type, on the Stone field Edge development in Bilston, we where told that there where some available and were advised to put our own house on the market, have proof of sale and come and reserve a plot.Having done so three weeks later, we made an appointment to see someone to do this. Has we where using the sale of our house and some savings we where told we needed to arrange a small mortgage with their adviser. So we rang on the morning of the appointment to be told that they where in a meeting. when they rang back it was about an hour and a half before we had to leave for appointment and that we needed to email over to them details of Bank statements Wage slips etc and that he'd send the email address to do so in about fifteen minutes. About an hour later the email address came through giving us approx' twenty minutes to do all that before we had to leave for our appointment. We rang and said there was no time to do that now and would it still be worth going over without this being done. However that call wasn't returned so we went over anyway.When we got there the sales assistant said can i help as if she wasn't even aware of the appointment. We explained the situation to and they said that yes this would have to be completed before the order could be processed.But on asking when the house would be ready we where told that it would be seven months. Just impossible to expect the other people in the chain to wait this length of time. We where then told of another house type that would be ready in September as this was a cancellation and as such would be subject to a five percent discount. Upon viewing said property we really liked it. They said they would hold it till tomorrow so we could get all the relevant paperwork done. When we got home they rang and said sorry that property was sold by the manager the night before. Amazingly the Manager had failed to inform his sales staff of this important fact. But on reading some of the reviews on your website and some of the dreadful problems that people have had with this company i think that we have dodged a bullet.

KEF · 2 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 5/5

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Belmont Place, we’re finally in!

Myself and the wife had been looking at new developments for around 18 months before we fell in love with the Dunham at Countryside. Amazing kitchen with skylights, bay window in the living you and the master bedroom is out of this world. We purchased our new home in November 2019 with the original completion date in April 2020. In December we were told the good news that our house would be available early in March. We handed our notice in with our landlord (renting at the time) but 10 days before moving in we were told that due to the weather there would be a 4 week delay. Unfortunately we can’t control the weather. We had a new completion date in April and managed to get our landlords to extend our stay. Then the pandemic hit!!!!We finally got the keys to our new home in July! We’ve now been in a week and it’s been amazing. There are snags which you’d get with any development but nothing serious, our friends are having to have their roof replaced with another development!!! I can’t comment on how quickly the snags are completed yet as we’ve only just sent the list off. Countryside have been great - Rachel, Penny, Billie and the team have looked after us. The communication has been great even with informing us of the delays. Our home is fantastic and we couldn’t be happier. It’s been a crazy year but we’re in!!!

Jon · 1 August 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood

★★★★★ 1/5

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I went to Atelier Marketing Suite in…

I went to Atelier Marketing Suite in Harlow to view their new builds, saw the 3 bedroom show home and 2 bedroom show home and also the 4 bed home. I liked the 3 bed best and was told it maybe coming back on the market and they original buyer had until Saturday to sell his own property, So I rebooked with Graham to come down and with my partner in the hope I would get this property on the Saturday. I called on Wednesday to check if any progress was made and Graham told me their had not been he also advised he will be off for the next 2 days because I said I will keep trying to call every day to check the progress in case they original buyer could go ahead! On the Thursday David disappointed and told me someone walked in off the street and has just put a deposit done on the property which was really upsetting and devastating as I was told Saturday and this is what I was holding out for!I still came on the Saturday with a heavy heart to see the 2 bed they had left and then visited the 4 bed that was remaining but knew in my heart of heart I could not live in the 2 bed which was right next door to the 3 bed I desired and I did not feel the 4 bed was worth the money as the Square Ft was identical to the 3 bed and they just cut a room in half. After feeling defeated on Saturday I carried on the Sunday and I put a deposit down at another place with another developer and then to my surprise I got called by Countryside that the person that reserved Thursday is having Second thoughts and I will know on Tuesday lunch time of the outcome, you can imagine the anxiety. Tuesday finally came and I was told that the original buyer had backed out on my dream home and I had deposited elsewhere! We then then decided to go on a third visit just to make sure we felt okay to continue due to the mess around and the fact the other development was offering an amazing deal. We offered £374k and legal fees to be paid! thought it’s the least they could do as I was messed around so much and me being a key worker for the NHS which the other developers took into consideration ! wait for it... The normal selling price for these was £375k but because this was the show home the wanted extra for the fixtures and fittings lamp shades and Curtains and blinds and some garden plants basically and the asking price was £380k! They declined my offer and only offered to pay legal fees and they won’t budge from £380k which was no more than what the last buyer was getting and done without the torment and constant anxiety and to add all the hire cars I kept on using for viewings! Also when I last checked I didn’t realise that curtains and plants added any value to a property so they are basically trying to charge me “the customer” extra for the decor they used to sell to other purchasers! So thank you Mr Director & Countryside

Customer · 29 July 2020 · Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood