New tool: ask whether what you're experiencing is normal for East Village

East Village Hub has a new tool. It's called Is This Normal? and it does what the name says.

Type in something you're experiencing as a resident -  an ELE bill that seems high, a rent increase at renewal, a heating outage, a parcel gone missing - and it will tell you whether that's common in E20 or unusual.

It's not a generic chatbot. The answers are grounded in two things: what's actually known about how this estate operates, and what other residents have reported using the same tool. Every question submitted is anonymously recorded. The more residents use it, the more specific the answers get.

A few examples of what it's built for. Is a £180 monthly ELE bill high? Is a 28% rent increase at renewal normal for GetLiving? Has anyone else had their MVHR motor fail? Is three weeks without a maintenance response typical? These are questions residents ask in WhatsApp groups every week. They get partial answers from whoever happens to be online. This gives a more systematic one.

The tool is live on the homepage and at eastvillagehub.co.uk/living-here/is-this-normal.

A few things it won't do. It won't give legal or financial advice. It won't name other residents. And in the early weeks, when submission numbers are still low in some categories, it will say so plainly rather than bluff confidence it hasn't earned.

Questions are anonymous. No login required. You can ask up to five per day.

If something in E20 doesn't feel right, it's worth checking whether you're alone in thinking that. Often you're not.