Bike Shifting in Cottonpet

Cottonpet and the streets around it have new buildings going up between old ones, and families are taking possession of flats bought off plan. The advice they get is sensible: don't move in on possession day, use the gap to walk the flat with a snag list, and get the builder to fix things before the furniture arrives. Cracked tiles, leaking taps, doors that don't close.

The parking almost never gets the same attention. It is downstairs, it is shared, and it feels like the builder's or the association's problem. But your bike will live there every night, and its snags affect you directly.

Here is what to walk and check, with the bike in mind. Take a torch, a phone for photographs and, if you can, the bike's key, so you can picture it standing in each spot.

The ramp. Is the edge at the top finished, or is there a raised lip or a gap where it meets the road? A sharp lip jolts a bike's suspension and catches a scooter's floorboard every day. Is the surface grooved for grip, or smooth and slippery when wet?

The drain. Is there a drain at the bottom of the ramp, and does it actually take water? Pour a bucket down the ramp and watch. A blocked drain means your bike stands in water after every heavy rain.

The lights. Does every light in the parking work, including at your bay? Walk it after dark if you can. A bay in darkness is a bay where you scratch the bike against a pillar.

The bay itself. Is it marked and numbered, and is it the one in your sale agreement? Is there a pillar or pipe that will catch handlebars? Is the floor level, or sloping toward the drain?

The socket, if you ride an EV. Is there one, does it work, and whose meter is it on?

Security is worth a line on the list too. Is there a guard at the basement entrance yet, or a working boom barrier? Are there CCTV cameras, and are they recording? In a building where half the flats are still empty, a basement with no guard and no cameras is an easy target for anyone walking in. If security isn't in place yet, keep the bike at ground level near the gate for the first few weeks.

Photograph every snag, and send the list to the builder with the flat's snags, in writing. Builders are far more responsive before handover is fully complete.

Then plan the bike's arrival for after the worst snags are fixed, especially the drain and the lights. A builder who has promised to fix them 'next week' should be held to a date in writing.

The Cottonpet packers page explains builder handover and the snag list for the flat. This page adds the parking.

For an electric scooter, add the socket to your snag list: does it exist, does it work, and is it on your meter? A socket that isn't connected yet is a snag the builder should fix. At booking, name the manufacturer and the battery type.