ASRA/Pure Lake Development

I had the worst experience in my recent purchase of a new home (100% share) in Greenwich from ASRA Greater London Housing Association developed by The PureLake Group. A total of 42 snagging items were found of which around 10 were serious - such as leaking gutters, rotten windows, leaking pipes, badly installed electrics etc. The worst of which is the unlevel subfloor which varies from 10mm to 25mm for a standard door of 740mm coupled with an undulation of up to 10mm per metre straight edge. As such, none of my furnishings will stand properly. The Seller (ASRA) and developer both denied responsibility and have been using the Lease and Contract as a means to avoid making good the subfloor. I have made a claim to Zurich and waiting to hear from them.

The services provided by ASRA is extremely poor despite paying all the maintenance fees. There are hardly any maintenance, none of the common lighting works and no actions were taken after reporting them. Instead of taking proactive actions to rectify problems, time were spent on wriggling themselves out of their responsibilities.

Be very careful if you are buying a property sold by ASRA (either 100% or part buy/part rent). Go for a full structural survey, check for any unreasonable covenants of which there are plenty (you need a solicitor who will argue for your case) and if you don't feel right, pull out immediately or, like myself, you will truly regret the decision. BE WARNED of ASRA Greater London Housing Association.