To me, the fundamental problems which no Government ever has or ever will challenge in both national policies or associated regulations, such as the planning system, are :1) Unchecked population growth.2) Constantly focusing growth to existing cities, primarily London of course. So in the outer suburbs instead of developments providing jobs etc. for new occupants, it's a case of just providing homes and the occupants commuting to/from cities for work, putting more pressure/stress on infrastructure that simply can't cope and can't be improved enough to keep up with demand.3) The social emphasis placed upon the importance of owning your own home, even if it's a glorified shoebox. I'm a long-term tenant, simply because there's nothing we could afford to buy in London where we'd be happy living, and we're in the fortunate position where we have a very good landlord who only ever increases our rent to cover any service charge increase - we are easily paying over £500 pcm less than the current market rate. I made a mistake when I was 25 and could have bought somewhere but decided I didn't want to scrimp and save to own a small property in a location that would have involved considerable commuting. It was a mistake because of course the value of that property has increased enormously since then, but so be it.But when I say I'm as tenant, you can always tell people think "you're in your early 40's and you're a tenant, how come ?". In my case the dark reality is that I'll be able to buy somewhere when my parents die, as my Mum always says I won't be poor, but it's awful that it should be like that.3) Employers/employees not supporting flexible working practices enough, including working from home.4) Over-reliance on the private car (in part as a consequence of points 2 and 3).As Vanessa says, I don't believe there's genuine community cohesion in flat-led developments. We have a residents association and committee within the development where I live, and until recently I was a long-term member of that committee. But it's always the same small group of residents that take the lead, that are 'bothered' - over the last 16 years here I've seen a big increase in the proportion of short-term tenants, and/or owners who have very little interest in the development etc., apart from kicking off when they get their annual service charge invoice.And I totally agree with Vanessa about more ASB etc., it staggers me how inconsiderate some people here can be. Be it loud conversations outside at 2am, cars arriving at all hours playing loud music or noisy bold bangers being driven by maniacs, people just dumping litter in communal areas or leaving Mobikes in the middle of walkways. It's very low level ASB, but when, as it often does, it all comes together, it doesn't make for a pleasant environment.Jennifer, in big development the things you mentioned are covered by the service charge which all owners pay. As we have found recently, typically the service charge is kept artificially low in the early years of the lifespan of a development, when there's little that needs to be spent, but the problems come once a development gets over 10-15 years old and the lifts have to be replaced etc. Then if the freeholders/their managing agents haven't accrued decent reserve funds in the early years of the development (which most of the time they won't have done to attract people to buy places in a new development) the poor sods who are living in the development when it is 10-15 years old suddenly find their service charge increasing by a huge amount and staying at that higher level for years to come.
Adam Beamish ● 2718d