When the first residents moved into a luxury apartment block near the Shard last summer, they were anticipating its amenities: a cinema, rooftop pool, orangery, gym and sauna. What they were not expecting: all the rules for living there. Current and former tenants say that London's Shard Place — where a one-bedroom flat costs £4,300 a month — has delivered on its promises of high-end finishes and astonishing views.

But they say they also assumed their money would buy greater convenience. Instead, the building's managers stopped food delivery drivers from entering the building and limited guests to staying no longer than 14 days in a 90-day period. Tenants also found themselves in disputes over the prices for internet access and charges for gym induction.

I feel like I am fighting about something new every week, one tenant wrote in a text message last August, calling the state of affairs so draining. In October, the same tenant wrote: Why am I paying so much to feel like an imposition and not get services I get in comparable buildings. The 27-storey tower had been hotly awaited.

Located near the Shard in London Bridge, it was completed five years behind schedule and ran more than £200mn over budget, according to accounts filed with Companies House. Like a small but growing minority of London housing, Shard Place is build-to-rent: none of its 176 flats is available for sale. Even in the tightly managed world of build-to-rent, its rules have made it an outlier.

Some buildings have loosened their rules in the wake of the Renters' Rights Act, such as no longer charging fees to have pets, said Karen Standing, who oversees the build-to-rent segment at estate agency Hamptons. Shard Place does not allow pets, except for guide dogs. Under the Renters' Rights Act, the Labour government's flagship effort to help renters, landlords cannot have a blanket ban on pets.

Shard Place was built by the same firm that constructed the Shard and the next-door News Building, and is managed by Qatari state-owned Real Estate Management (UK). This is the company's first major foray into build-to-rent housing. Build-to-rent landlords say the arrangement offers benefits, including increased security.

The trade-off, however, is less control. Tenants began moving in June 2025. They could choose from light and dark colour palettes with pre-selected furniture.

Shard Place pledged to make living in central London an effortless experience. Instead, almost immediately, tenants encountered snags. Rubbish could only be placed in the building's chutes before 5pm, when tenants were often at work.

The pool had to be booked and was often unavailable. Food-delivery drivers were barred from entering the building or leaving items with the concierge. Guests had to be fetched from reception and were not permitted to use the pool.

In contrast, Greystar, a landlord that owns nearly 22,000 build-to-rent properties across the UK, allows collection points for food deliveries and guests to use amenities, said a person familiar with the matter. For some Shard Place tenants, the most concerning restriction has been the limit on guests' stays to 14 days in a three-month period without permission from management. The policy, which had not been outlined in the tenancy agreement, said anyone staying beyond the permitted guest period may be considered as residing in the apartment and will require a Right to Rent check, in line with UK immigration law, according to a copy reviewed by the FT.

Home Office guidance says house guests such as friends or family would not ordinarily be treated as occupiers for the purposes of such checks. The landlord can only limit guest stays if the lease allows it, and it would be quite unusual, said James Naylor, a solicitor specialising in property disputes. I have very rarely seen leases that specified something like that in 25 years of practising law.

I'm not aware of any statutory obligation or requirement that entitles them to do this.