Affinity Living Riverside

"The reception and building staff are friendly and helpful if you need any help. However, if you value privacy, affinity living riverside is not the place to rent. There have been 3 instances which staff members or maintenance staff holding onto the master key have entered my apartment without permission. In the first instance, a staff member entered my apartment without any knocking and warning. I believe that it was a mistake on the staff's part as she left immediately when she realized that there was someone in the apartment. In the second instance, staff members required access to my apartment for MHVR water servicing. At that point of time, I was home for the summer. Before my 2 months long trip back home (i'm an international sutdent), I had inform the staff that I would be away and there was no notice that they would enter my apartment. Had I known ahead of time that someone would enter my apartment when I'm away, I would have kept all my belongings or store them with a friend. However, that did not happen and I've only received an email when I'm back home, stating that there is no way to postpone the water servicing and that staff HAD to enter my apartment. Although I can understand the need to enter my apartment for water servicing, I find it irresponsible that no information was given to me despite staff claiming that it is an ANNUAL check. Furthermore, the staff claim that they would send a video to show that they have entered and exited the apartment, to show that the apartment is left in the same state as when they had arrived. The video sent to me is literally a 5 seconds video showing the door opening and closing, which indicated nothing regarding the work done in my apartment, or what have been moved etc. In the third instance, which happened yesterday from the time of wrirting this review, an external maintenance contractor holding a master key entered my apartment. I've heard a knocking on my door at 11am (I was still sleeping) and woke up. I answered with "I'm coming" before rushing out of my room. To my surprise, the contractor had a master key and opened the door to my apartment after responding that he was here for the MHVR water servicing. Although he was polite and explained that he was here to service my water (yes AGAIN), I had already informed the building staff via email that I would not be home yesterday. I assumed (logically) that there would be no work done on my apartment since I had informed affinity staff that I wouldn't be around and to schedule for a new date and time for the servicing. Had I not been around at home ( I was supposed to be in school but was sick), would the contract enter my apartment without my knowledge and permission to carry out his work? Furthermore, what if I had just came out of the shower? Isn't the point of knocking to wait for someone to open the door for you? TDLR; staff and contracts have no regard for privacy and would enter your apartment as long as there is work to be done. I find this rude and a threat to privacy."

"AVOID this place, and the management company who also run Affinity Living Riverview and Vita Living, at all costs. When you move in, you'll use Community Utilities for your electricity and water. Affinity has a contract with this unregulated company to provide these utilities at their apartments, obviously picking up some kind of commission. They'll use this to wash their hands of any issues ("Sorry, it's not us"), but when you're forcing a utility company onto your residents because of a contract you've signed, that's on you to take accountability. Community Utilities are notorious for charging obscene amounts in the hopes that nobody checks their bills or takes regular meter readings, which nobody wants to do. I moved into Affinity in August 2021. When I moved in, I was told that they'd teamed up with Community Utilities to get the best possible rate on the market (haha) and that I'd get an email to register with them soon. Nothing. Spoke to multiple members of staff at the front desk and was told it can take some time. Nothing. Months passed and I was told that they're busy but it will come through eventually, just that COVID was causing problems. April 2022. Affinity send out an email 'Delayed Utility Bills at Riverside' where they talk about Community Utilities delaying billing as they're trying to find good prices during the global energy prices, but they've been unable to do so. They then said that a backdated agreement will be sorted within the coming weeks. Still nothing. I moved out in July 2022 and I still hadn't heard anything back from Community Utilities. I emailed them to query what was going on and my email was ignored, like everyone else's. A couple of months passed and I finally got an email from Affinity in September 2022 who forwarded on an email that they'd got from Community Utilities about my outstanding bill. I spoke back and forth with the company and asked to make payment for what's due. The advisor told me that he'd need to speak to the billing team and would be back in touch with me once he knew how much I needed to pay. I was never told the outstanding amount, my billing account details or how I could make payment. I still hadn't heard back from Community Utilities in October 2022, so I emailed the customer support team and asked for an update. Nothing. December 2022, still nothing, so I sent another email to chase. Another chase email this month. Never heard anything back from a member of the team. I tried to call multiple times and their phone lines didn't ring - there's a notice on their website to say that their lines are intermittently down. Today, I got an email from Giles Beswick, the director of Affinity, to say it was my 'final warning' and sending out threats with court proceedings and debt collectors as Community Utilities had chased them, as the landlords. He said that failure to act within a couple weeks will leave them with no choice but to take legal action and the only resolution was to pay Community Utilities using a bill that I've never received. The threatening tone of this email really shows how little the company cares about the situation their own contract with an incapable company put their residents in. Just avoid. Go with another company who isn't linked with utility providers who are senseless and charge you above the market rate - Affinity have now encouraged residents to move away, but they let this go on for years while they were charging people incorrectly and providing no support."

"We moved to Riverside in May this year and our experience has really been nothing but positive. I’ve lived in a few places in and around central Manchester and Riverside is by far the best in terms of location, staff, community, and all round positive vibes. Our apartment is lovely, with amazing light and plenty of room. The utilities are top notch and the couple of times we’ve had to have maintenance in to repair something, they’ve been really friendly and efficient. For me, the desk staff absolutely make this place. The desk is almost always manned 24/7, and if someone’s not at the desk they’re just a Whatsapp message away. Every single member of staff I’ve spoken to has been so lovely, really helpful and can’t do enough for you. My partner and I (and our cat!) really do see our apartment here as a home."

"If you’re thinking about moving here just don’t. They recently changed management and have been nothing but bad attitude since, on more than one instance. Constantly spoken to so rude when asking for parcels at reception. On one occasion when I had a delivery message to say the parcel was here, I was told repeatedly nothing had be delivered when ringing. Decided I’d go down and check to see and there was a big bag of Royal Mail parcels! when asked why they told me it wasn’t here I got an eye roll and a huff and then almost threw my parcel at me. I was gob smacked!! Apartments are well overpriced for the little space you have. Had problems when we moved in and after months still haven’t been rectified. I’ve lived in the city for a good couple of years and can say this is by far the worst. It looks all glam when you first move in but the novelty soon wears away and you see it for what it is. Wouldn’t recommend here at all."

"Would like to say a huge thank you to May for helping me get my car into the underground car park when I was visiting one of the residents at Affinity recently. She allowed me to park temporarily whilst we loaded and unloaded over the course of a morning. Excellent service, very helpful team member!"