Anchor's Hethersett Rowan Gardens retirement homes slammed

Carpenter Steven Swailes, 71, has lived in Rowan Gardens in Hethersett since 2017 with his wife, June.

The couple moved into the retirement village having lived in France for 12 years.

Steven Swailes has lived in Rowan Gardens since 2017 (Image: Steven Swailes)

"We chose to live in a retirement village as we didn't want to worry about a big garden or any maintenance work," explained Steven.

"We didn't see the property before we moved back from France, but the welcome brochure looked really good, with Anchor promising to maintain the exterior of the property and the communal areas every five years."

However, what initially seemed like a hassle-free lifestyle slowly turned into a nightmare as Steven realised that some of these promises might have been false.

The paint is damaged as peeling on the properties (Image: Sonya Duncan)

"The exterior of our home hasn't been touched in the last seven years," said Steven.

"It is a disgrace and a shambles.

"The paint is peeling and it really needs redecorating.

"We live by others who are housebound and unable to do the work themselves."

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Steven has contacted Anchor numerous times to complain after chatting with other homeowners, who said that they couldn't remember the last time the exterior of the buildings had work done to them.

Rowan Gardens is a retirment close managed by Anchor (Image: Sonya Duncan)

"At the start of 2023, I was promised that the work would be done in the autumn," he added. 

"In the autumn I was told that it would be finished in the spring.

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"Now they won't respond to me at all, and the work still hasn't been done."

The houses need varying amounts of maintenance work (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Mel Osborn, Anchor's area manager for Rowan Gardens, said: "The wellbeing of our residents is a key priority, as well as the maintenance of Rowan Gardens.

"Extensive works to upgrade the exterior of buildings are being prioritised by our special projects team and surveying work is expected to begin in two weeks.

"In addition to this, our ongoing maintenance programme continues and a further 11 responsive repairs have been completed in the past year, including to communal lighting, drainage, fence panel and gate post repairs. We also have contracts in place for window cleaning and gardening."