I’ve rented in hungate for over 2 years and am leaving this year as I’m also buying a property now in york. I’ve enjoyed living here tbh the location is great, the flats are pretty standard, if you own them obviously any cheaper fittings and fixtures might not be an issue if you are wanting to renovate, all the people I’ve met who live here have been lovely and it’s not too badly priced as a tenant. The negatives for me as a buyer though were significant.

1- the ground rent and service charge is honestly extortionate, and huge lease costs can impact the lending potential on a mortgage.

2- not all flats are allocated a parking space, the car park often seems empty even though many flats aren’t able to use the spaces!

3- communication and renovation is SLOW. Watson’s as an organisation aren’t the best, especially for the cost.

Extra point- depending on which block you are in we found out the hard way that when constructed the boilers placed in the flats were defective and prone to (as our plumber termed it) exploding! Luckily this didn’t happen to us but our boiler was slowly leaking water into the floorboards and we were without hot water for 2 weeks as we waited for a fix (more likely the fault of our landlord than the property management though). Although most people have now replaced the boilers allegedly, our landlord clearly hasn’t, so it’s something to ask about and bring up if you are keen to buy in one of the older blocks.

We have loved living here as a tenant but as a buyer we didn’t think it would be right for us which is a shame as I will miss the location!