Sovereign Reviews 266

I have been with Sovereign Housing as a live in carer initially for one of there tenants from 2005 until 2009 (moved to London with said Tenant and then back again) and then October 2018 to April 2022 (due to death of there tenant they allowed me to stay on at the property I was in until I found my own place, I was caring for there tenant for 17 years and 8 months in total). Due to not having my own tenancy Sovereign helped me find my own property through the local council. I am now happily settled in my new home with my cat in a lovely 1 bedroom 2nd floor flat (since November 2022 to Present) and I managed to stay in the area I have been living in since 2018 because I got myself a job locally as well.

I am very pleased to be a Sovereign Housing tenant, they have looked after me. Thank you

I’m supposed to be moving into a sovereign property on 6th January, I’m already having 2nd thoughts, as there are multiple problems, guttering hanging down above the bedroom window, an overgrown mess of a garden with a coal bunker left full of coal in it. I opened a kitchen cupboard and the door fell off, there are 2 electric sockets that have gaping holes in them, the fire place has been shoddily closed up and has left the fire surround coming away from the wall, I cannot find where the tv aerial is supposed to be…..it’s an awful response that I got, my queries have been passed on by email to someone by the name of David Hallahan and he hasn’t even acknowledged or responded to me.
After reading a lot of the reviews I’m starting to have serious doubts and hope I haven’t done the wrong thing by transferring from one awful housing association (Muir Group) to having repair issues with another, (sovereign) 😡😡🤬

On November 22nd I had to call sovereign housing on behalf of a tenant who was going through a challenging and somewhat distressing situation and I spoke with an advisor whose name was Alan Spencer and I simply cannot speak highly enough of this man and the patience and time he gave us. The situation has made the tenant seriously ill and distressed yet Alan showed compassion and sympathy throughout the call and went above and beyond his job. Sovereign have been nothing short of supportive and helpful throughout this extremely distressing time. Thank you Alan Spencer and thank you sovereign.

A few weeks ago I received a telephone out of the blue asking to make an appointment for an asbestos survey prior to a re wire of my flat from a third Party contractor called ACE , I knew nothing about a re wire or asbestos surveys and told the caller who said she would contact Sovereign . A few weeks later same call but with a male caller same story and he replied that he would get Sovereign to call me . Heard nothing more and assumed they had been given the wrong number . Thursday of last week recieved a letter from a Company , Ecosafe , to come and do a survey to check wiring prior to a possible re wire . Still nothing from my Landlord . Friday morning I received a text message on my phone : MESSAGE FROM SOVEREIGN , We have started the Legal Process to gain access to your home This is because you have failed to let us in on two previous occasions . In order to stop this legal process you must call XXXX XXXXXX to make an urgent appt for us to carry out these important ASBESTOS checks . Court action will incur costs which you will be responsible for and this process will only stop once confirmation has been made that access has been granted. ".. I have been a Tenant for 16 years and have NEVER denied access to anybody from or working on behalf of Sovereign ! I had no prior knowledge of works to be done at my property and told both callers so at the time . I made contact with our Concierge who passed the message on to the Area Electrical Manager for Sovereign who was very helpful and apologised for the mis communication and said he would stop the legal process BUT it was NOT Sovereign that had issued the Legal Notice !! It transpires that a third Party i.e ACE consultants are issuing Legal Notices threatening action against Sovereign Tenants , how the hell has that been allowed to happen ?? Appts were made and I assumed after the Contact with the Sovereign staff that the matter could be put to one side but .....in this mornings post is an Official Solicitors letter threatening more legal action to gain access TWO hours before the operative is due to call to conduct the survey ! This is the best example yet of the gross inefficiency of Sovereign and its Contractors and NOBODY should be recieving letters like that from a third party !

I've been living with Sovereign for 14 years. Never had any complains made against me, always paid rent on time.

I have requested a simple Landlords Reference from them 5 days ago. They promised to have it to me by today and I've heard nothing. The lives and careers of myself and the people I'm living with are relying on this reference which you promised to have for us by today. If we don't get this reference, we likely loose our future house, our deposit, and our jobs.

And now I have been told by Sovereign that because I am not the main tenant in the contract but ONLY a registered occupant, they cannot give me a reference in my name. Great, thanks! Only took you 5 days to tell me that. And now I've most likely lost my future house and the job with it as I'm unable to prove to anyone that I've actually lived anywhere for the past 14 years. This should be illegal.

EDIT:
You claim in your response to have messaged me but I have received no message. In either case, it's too late now.

If this seems like a petty thing to complain about you need to remember that literally every housing agency in the country REQUIRES a Landlords reference and proof of rent paid otherwise they'll simply reject you immediately. How are any of your 'occupants' supposed to move house or find anywhere to live when you won't give them a reference? What are they supposed to do? I've never heard anything like it. It's absurd.

Don't move into a Sovereign property. They treat people with contempt. We have dangerous cladding on our building and a faulty fire alarm that keeps going off and has not been repaired despite many, many notifications that it's a problem. It absolutely beggars belief that in a building that has flammable cladding, a faulty fire alarm is not fixed. There has been a steadily growing damp patch in the foyer of my building. It has now spread to all four walls of the foyer and gone black. I contacted Sovereign about this in July and nothing has been done and nobody has been informed of what action is being taken. There is also a fault with the carpark gate in my building that is making the most excruciating grating noise and keeping me awake at night. Nothing has been done about this either, despite numerous complaints about it. I cannot wait to get out of this property. I have never experienced such shocking and contemptuous customer service in my life. Avoid them at all costs.

They charge a maintenance fee and have done nothing for it. The car park has furniture fly tipped and they just leave it there. Then have the audacity to charge £80 extra as costs were higher than expected. I tried to contact them and they've ignored me and even taken down their complaints from on their website. Poor customer service.

Open market home purchase.

This organisation is also selling a small number of properties outright on the open market. Poor and at times quite strange customer service/care experience post sale. Those wishing to buy a new build property on the open market are likely to have a number of options and choices. Research and choose wisely.

DO NOT ever get a house with Sovereign, they have the WORST customer service, they never response to emails or save anything to your files. It’s disgusting how they treat their clients… we are like dirt on their shoe

NEVER buy a shared ownership with these. The neighbors will force you out, and they will never hear your side of the story. Property currently abandoned, costing me 1k per month, not their problem! Clowns.

If you looking for a nice place to live avoid Sovereign. Their estate which borders our area is dirty, unkempt and anti-social residents aren't dealt with. Piles of rubbish are accumulated by many residents in front of their homes and they are never told to clean up. Plastic cables are burnt to retrieve copper. Others dump their sofas or tyres in the nice otherwise playground. Green areas are not looked after, dangerous dogs are permitted... Drug dealing. The management not only don't manage the issues and ignores complaints. Trying to get out as soon as I can from this area.
...PS unable to respond to your message but will upload some pictures for you here on Trust Pilot.

Update: I have contacted Sovereign and they are dealing with any future issues I have with my neighbours. I wished I contacted them before.

Original review: I live surrounded by 11 of their houses. It is the most hostile street ever. The council will tell you that they don't deal with complaints from their houses. All I want is to live as far as I can from this street. The constant noise and bullying from the 2 of the houses in the front are just unbelievable. There is nothing you can do. Don't buy a house next to a housing association, you will regret it. Do you research the street before buying the house? Usually, the title in the register comes in bulk which is a sign of a house association. Also, they sell them for 100k less than the rest of the street. Bullied by the people that don't own houses. We pay £300-500k on a house. They might pay a small rent or nothing and they dominate with noise. Regular police complaints. What looks like a beautiful street is in fact a nightmare. People are not friendly either on this street. They don't know how to socialise, they rarely say hi. Why do you buy 11 houses on the same street? Do you not think about the happiness of others?

Two of the houses keep destroying the trees on the street, revving their engine, and letting their dogs bark for hours. Their kids run and screen at 11 in the night. They become aggressive when we approach them and keep telling us that no one likes us on the street. They show their finger.

If you care about your money and mental health do a good check on the street you move in. People that work to pay for their houses are less likely to be bad people like my neighbours. They might have a routine, a job that requires them to work hard and have more values than these people. You lose faith in your neighbours and people. It makes you hostile and unhappy being surrounded by people by don't care about other people.

I can't wait to move from here and never move on my street.

I have been inquiring about a property in Plymouth and I’ve followed all the steps correctly as outlined on marketing material. I’ve also been messed around by this company quite a lot this week. I registered interest, viewed a property, and completed a financial assessment. Someone else hasn’t completed the step of viewing the property inspite of the marketing material and now they’re ahead of me? The staff I spoke too at soverign also said to me that the person ahead of me had until 4:30pm 19th August to show they’ve viewed. The seller of the property has now said an extension has been granted to view this apartment even though they need to have completed this before a financial assessment.

Something doesn’t feel quite right with this and I’m waiting for a response as to how:

1. How this person got ahead of me even though I registered interest first
2. How they’re now able to complete a financial assessment ahead of viewing?

Even one of their team confirmed this back to me, on email.

Had a few issues getting a repair fixed a couple of years ago, normally only comment online when not happy, but credit where credit due they were much better with recent repair.

As usual, any communal issue, no matter how simple, takes months even years to resolve. I've had this twice now, over a communal bin issue and outside dryer.

The housing officers are almost never available and are very reluctant to do estate visits. The call centre does its best but often log calls in a confused and partial way.

When it comes to repairs it takes so long to get anything done. I have reported cracking in walls had workperson look, take photo's, send it to office, only thing told will be outsourced as more than 4 hours work!! hear nothing back ring to check whats happening (staff themselves are great on the whole - i believe this is a company issue), ah the person dealing with this has left the company so we'll rebook (another 2 months for this) It's not good not good at all. Also fencing fell down through the storms was meant to be this month (July) i believe, then gets put back to October!!! No privacy all summer (which is the majority of spending time in the garden) as all panels have come away. No confidence with them, the only things they keep on top of is the legal requirements i.e., gas check ups and low and behold if you miss them because you didn't know they were booked in!!

I have recently moved into Sovereign housing in Cheltenham. The booking and payments for the room was very quick and simple. The room itself was very clean, tidy, modern and a good size. I was even left some complimentary tea and coffee + milk. The booking team are very kind and knowledgeable.

Recommendations: replace lightbulbs with LED for simple ROI.

They had our flats insulated but I knew that Dysons of Portsmouth didnt insulate most of my flat because I was here when they were suoposed to do it. Phoned the housing officer nothing done.
16 th December 2020 we were in lockdown whilst I was in bed they towed my fild down caravan away. I coukdnt move it any where . Then last week they put new double glazing in did every onrs except mine. Over two months ago I asked them to replace my patio doors and replace with french doors which are cheaper to install. Phoned them last week I now cannot open my patio doors. It is stifling in my lounge. Asked for them to come out. I phoned them on 11th July they say every thing you say over the phone is.recorded. No phone call no email. I wish they had never taken over they are vindictive and spiteful. Never have I ever had so much trouble where I live . I always keep myself to myself. And I am 70 years old they are not going to drive me out of my home. If I dont get some action will contact the Housing ombudsman. Dont ever have a property through this mean spirited company.

Moved out from a Sovereign property. Rent account was in credit of £187.
Was told it would be refunded: still have not received the refund!! They are quick to take my money but certainly taking their time to refund our money!!

Absolutely a joke of a company I have had a broken back door since Christmas and broken tiles in my bathroom and they have cancelled 4 times on me and I have lost over £400 of my hard earned money waiting in for the workers to turn up and they have not
.......so quick to take you rent or email you if you are behind but Absolutely don't care about there tenants