The Bank - Birmingham

Sujit Jha

Highly not recommended, I’m saying from my experience as I’ve been living here for a while now. Although the building is located at a prime location but the the building has lots of issues including safety issues such as both the lifts being out of order frequently.

Water supply issue is a very normal thing here for example there have been a multiple instances in the last month when there was no water supply for more than 6 hours at a stretch.

There have been a number of instances when both the lifts were out of order and imagine the trouble the residents of 32 floor building have to go through.

The Property Managers here provide a poor quality of service and please don’t expect if they will do anything to resolve these issues.

If you have got good options please avoid this building, I’m sure you will thank me.

Penney Bell

Appalling support from My Property Host.
We booked this expensive apartment for two weeks while we worked as volunteers at Birmingham2022 Commonwealth Games.
Chosen for its location and amenities we were disappointed that many features shown in photos were either missing or damaged, i.e. no coffee table, no iron, no clothes airer unless you propped the broken one on your bed. Mould around shower, complementary toiletries for 2 weeks + two toilet rolls. Kitchenware was all non matching odds and ends and insufficient for 4 people.
Worst of all no second key (it wasn't returned by a previous client) so my colleague and I had to find a way of getting the key to whoever needed it meaning we had very little leisure time and often had wait up till almost midnight to let the other in. Replacement keys were promised repeatedly, each Co.ing from a different member of their team, never a phonecall or visit from their agent here in Birmingham.
No WiFi as password doesn't work, again 'we'll get it fixed'. Strange that WiFi wasn't mentioned by the agent but we found the faulty router in a utility cupboard! No WiFi meant no TV so our plans to watch live action from the event in our off duty time were ruined.
Need I go on?

Elam TRF

Speaking for '3rd floor one bedroom flat Tower 1 overlooking Brasshouse Language centre'

disadvantages :Don’t waste your money anything from 1st to 4th floor due to too much noise from the VELVET bar nearby, Rubbish collection day early in the morning, Construction noise nearby ----Neighbour stalking you from the opposite building overlooking Brasshouse Language centre due to being in lower floor ----Never be able to roll up your (floor to ceiling roller blind) due to neighbour stalking!

General feedbacks: Never Ever waste your time cleaning the flat on move out day , Anyway you will be charged anything from 100 to 300£ for ''professional cleaning fees'' -----Very costly and overcharge electricity bills with BULB ENERGY SUPPLIER (expect anything above 100£ monthly for one bedroom tower 1) ----Always have to go down to collect your food delivery (never be able to get your food on doorstep)---

General advantages: Very Fast resolution of Maintenance issues with NO COST- Very Helpful Employees on reception (Even helped with changing bulb)- very modern furnished flat with modern LOUNGE and Kitchen but small Gym-

lwk325

Finally, I had to write this review after my windows had cracked for nearly 3 YEARS!

The property manager said they were communicating with the construction company whenever we asked. We can't have curtains due to this situation cause no company is willing to set up for us. This means you can't watch television in the living room during the daytime for 3 years 🙂 Imagine if you want to rent or sell an apartment in this condition, which is impossible. A lot of residences have the same issue.

One of the two lifts was broken since 8Sep till now and there's always a long queue. Not sure when will be fixed. May be the same as the window situation mentioned above...

There's always been no water supply from an hour or to half a day once or twice a week for a few weeks. The problem seems to be solved now. Not sure when will it happen again.

Also, there are too many Airbnb guests living all over the building. The situation is getting worse. Today they even asked us where to pick up their Airbnb key... And the worst part is we don't have a security guard in tower 2! Strangers can follow us and get into the building easily. In July, someone tried to open our flat and the flat next to us. I had to shout at them to make them stop... And they just laugh and walk away with no explanation or apologies or consequences.

Residents can only complain to each other cause no one takes the situation seriously. You never know who will be living next to you every day.

Sohini thakor

I lived in the bank for 2 years and had several issues and do not recommend complete RPI.

- I was without hot water for 3 weeks during the winter (which is illegal). The company complete RPI and my landlord did not action this quickly at all. The landlord did not reply to the issue and would not approve the repairs. Complete RPI ignore the issue for weeks, make vague promises to call back and chase the landlord which was never done. I was given no compensation for this and was still made to pay the full rent despite a breach in contract.

- I had been frequently without any water or electricity for several hours (at least 5 times over the last 2 years) without a quick response to rectify this.

- The lifts keep breaking, in a 32 floor building.

- There is no parking which makes its expensive for the price of rent.

- The intercom system by the door does not work (it has never worked), therefore you cannot buzz people into your building.

- Very noisy in the evenings due to the bars and clubs on the street. The noise can be heard even from floor 32.

- Overall slow communication with complete RPI regarding moving out, frequent errors in their communication, and slow response to any flat maintenance issues

Lee Daniels

There were initially a lot of problems, some were due to the developer not checking contracts were complete before sign off such as no Internet infrastructure was in place coming to the building, the management company not listening to concerns (hence the early 1 star reviews as this was the only way to get some dialogue going) and the agents who were misselling the apartments by saying there would be a roof garden, apartments would have a dryer etc.

Over the years the management company KWB have been much better and have worked with residents to resolve all initial teething issues. They have 24 hour concierge who are more than happy to help with any issues or requests.

The community in the buildings is very good and was really highlighted during the early days of the pandemic where people were getting shopping and cooking for those who had to isolate.

I've seen people complain about the lack of parking but the building and all those new ones in the centre don't have parking, the city is moving to being a green city, there is however an agreement with Qpark for residents to park there.

Overall its a good place to live and absolutely ideal if you work in or near to the city centre.

Ahmed Mohamed

Living in the building for almost a year now. Unhappy about what I have paid for because of the following reasons:

- The intercom does not open the building front door so basically you cannot let someone in if they ring the bell but rather you have to walk down to the ground floor to open the door which is ridiculous especially when its a BRAND NEW TOWER BUILDING

- Elevators are not synced so each has its own button meaning that in the morning the lift would stop on literally every floor but there is no one coming in because they have got on the other lift two second ago.

- Internet was unavailable for the first 8 months due to incomplete infrastructure and when eventually made available the options are very limited and unpractical for the ones leaving within less than 6 months due to minimum internet contract period of 6 months.

- continuous breakdown of the elevator

- no 24 hour concierge despite advertisement of that

- Stone-age washing machine with no integrated dryer (where are we supposed to dry our clothes?)

- Loud noises from adjacent bars and clubs during the weekend despite having double glazed windows and being on the 20th floor.

Rental agencies refused to claim responsibility of the issues by justifying that they had no clue of them or they are simply not their responsibility

Save yourself the trouble and rent somewhere else 🙂

Nicholas Karakoullis

PROSPECTIVE BUYERS/TENANTS BEWARE!
I have been living in the Bank tower one for the last 3 months (move in date August 23rd) and as of yet there is still no internet infrastructure in the building. The developers have still not resolved the issue and one of the two lifts was out of service for the initial 2 months.
I would not recommend buying or renting here as the building management is beyond shocking. Internet should not be a luxury in 2018.