Ravens House Sapphire Apartments

We were grateful to have a roof over our heads after having to leave our flat because of fire cladding issues, but this apartment was dirty and damaged despite being advertised as ready to use and having everything we’d need. We paid a huge amount for it, and the advert was misleading. Getting in was a problem from the start. The entry code we’d been given was wrong, and our contact wouldn’t answer the phone. It took nearly an hour to hear back. A neighbour luckily helped us get into the building. When we complained the morning after our first night, a cleaner was sent, but as far as we could tell they only cleaned the washing machine drawer. Later we were told the carpets were meant to be replaced over the summer. We were also told they’d probably say the same to the next guest, and that the owners’ other properties were the same. The carpet was screwed down and had extensive stains. Rugs had been placed over some of them, but didn’t cover everything, and it felt grubby enough that I put blankets everywhere we sat. The vacuum cleaner made the whole place smell disgusting. There was rubbish, including food, at the bottom of the kitchen bin, and no bin bag. The kitchen was advertised as ready to use, but everything was sticky and greasy, so I had to wash it all before using it. While I was cooking, grease from the dirty extractor fan dripped into the food. Cleaners told me the fan and hood were supposed to have been replaced. There were clothes and tobacco in the master bedroom drawers, handles missing or loose in several places, and a kitchen cupboard door nearly coming off its hinges. Other things were broken or dirty too. The freezer had so much ice build-up that only two thirds of the compartments could be used. The washing machine drawer had a huge build-up of detergent and black mould. Kitchen and main bathroom floor tiles were cracked, and covers over access points in the kitchen were taped to the tiles, with one having fallen down. The sofa bed in the room with two single beds was torn and broken. My six year old sat on it and it collapsed. The main bathroom had five light bulbs, but only one worked. When that one went out, I didn’t feel safe changing it because of the state of the fitting. A handyman came and said, “these lights always go.” I asked whether it was the right fitting for a bathroom, and he wasn’t sure. He replaced three bulbs, and two stopped working the same day. There was black mould in the main bathroom silicone, and both bathrooms smelled of urine. The en-suite just seemed dirty. On 5/7 I asked how to use the showers because the temperature was hugely inconsistent, staying hot for only two minutes at a time. Filling a bath took nearly an hour. The kitchen hot water was intermittent and could suddenly become scalding. I repeatedly chased our contact, but my message about the plumber on 16/7 didn’t get a response until 31/7. We didn’t get clean bedding until someone came on 31/7, even though we’d been told it was a serviced apartment. We had no way to try the full bedding sets within a day, so we were relying on that service. A plumber finally came on 19/8 and called a boiler engineer, who put an “at risk, do not use” warning on the boiler.