Category: Agencies

Letting and Estate agents

2let2

mouldy ice box, thx 2let2 xoxox

m8 am living in a shithole, was put in a shit situation in the first year and had to just choose people to live with this year. I’ve essentially moved in with strangers who refused to come back to Cardiff after April last year, so I don’t know anything about them. I got shafted with the smallest box room as I was the last tenant to move in, and we had no agreed way to designate rooms (my mistake).


I live a lot further away than them to Cardiff and so can’t afford to be going home a lot, and I work in Cardiff as well as study. I’m often in the house alone, the house is small, and being given the smallest room is bad for my mental health. The room I was given is covered in mould and I continually have to spray mould remover and have my window open (which only makes my room freezing). My curtains are covered in mould as well. I have had 4 chest infections since moving in, once it developed into bronchitis. I understand that mould is a tenant problem to solve, but I have contacted 2let2 multiple times to replace my curtains and put a dehumidifier into the room. They argued there was no use in a dehumidifier and the curtains weren’t that bad… the curtains are meant to be a white fabric on the inside, but are a murky grey colour, with patches of black from the mould.

For my mental and physical health, I’m now having to move out and find another house. 2let2 in my opinion are bad, I would never go with them again

Rent: £365
Deposit Returned?: Still living at the hole in question

Horizon

The only thing over the Horizon is an NDA!

We luckily didn’t end up living in a horizons house because of all the red flags we had with the tenancy agreement, but still thought it was worth giving a review. To start with the agreement was FULL of spelling mistakes, they wanted us to sign a non-disclosure agreement when seems extremely problematic, they mentioned specifically that they refuse to cover certain damages like rats and fence breaking and telling us our initial deposit was part of the rent and then not refunding us when we didn’t sign the agreement.

[If your landlord or agency trying to get you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, I’d STRONGLY recommend reaching out to ACORN Cardiff for support!]


They were also really condescending to us especially once we told them it was our first time house hunting, and responded to our questions really indirectly. When our guarantors checked over the agreement they managed to point out problems with almost every point and when we pointed out some of these issues to horizon they told us it was straightforward and transparent and they weren’t going to change it and just generally seemed dodgy and rude x

Condor Properties

Did you know Condor allows parties during lockdown? Well, at least at the property below.

I have rented a room for the academic year 2020-2021. The misfortune of being under lockdown conditions triggered a series of events that should have never happened, especially with the current legislation. The house was constantly on completely mess and chaos, it was constantly reported to the location manager who never did anything to prevail it. The police was actively involved, yet the management never did anything to ensure the health and well-being of all tenants on the location.

  • A picture containing indoor, cluttered, items, messy
  • A picture containing wall, indoor, floor, furniture. Dininga table and messy living room
  • A room with a table and chair, slightly messy, beer vottles every where

I have moved way before the tenancy contract termination yet paid full amount of money and no deposit was returned. I wish no one should go through the same traumatic experience, as it prevailed me for completing my studies and put me in a hardship that I’m still struggling to overcome. Constant parties, dirt and bullying is something that no one wants to go through, especially in the pandemic situation, with no other place to live in, no family nor friends close to get support from. At the end of the day, the business is for people, and when it takes just the advantage and no offering anything in return is condemnable.

Rent: £400
Deposit Returned?: No

Seraph Management

Seraph: Cold-blooded criminals who will relish in your misery for the prospect of a few pence.

There were several risks to life in the Seraph property I resided in.

  1. The winding stairs.
  2. The electric cooker
  3. Bell wire across the top of the primary stairs entering the building.
  4. The primary stairs itself.
  5. The hole in the 1st-floor landing top of the primary stair.
  6. Rotten windows.
  7. Carbon monoxide ingress.

One person broke their neck on a dangerous stair. Another fell sustaining an injury to his leg, whilst I myself sustained 2-years monoxide positioning, which damaged my blood for life and made me dependent on tablets.

They refused to resolve issues, were, rude, biased towards the criminal landlord, endangered lives & are very clever in getting away with it. Their own maintenance manager in the last inspection stated “I should blow the place up”.

Environmental health did attend, however, their own employee failed to make reports and was dismissed.

Rent: £400

Deposit Returned?: Yes

Keylet

Key Letting Us Down

I signed with Keylet. Moved in, arranged inventory inspection. Booked the morning off work, waited half hour after booked time for the inspection. Called them – nothing in the diary, the person that does it is off sick. I completed one independently and took images (luckily), sent this to them via email and dropped it off to the office.

I reported 18 repairs using their app. Only two of these were actually dealt with (damp – painted over and bathroom door). Things I reported included: mould, damp, oven broken, leak under the sink, mice, rubbish and unclean when I moved in to the property, bathroom door did not close.
– There was someone’s lunch and other rubbish as well as it being unclean throughout the flat when I moved in. Said they would get someone to come and clean it but never did.

Asked them 3 times to send me updated version of the inventory I conducted, never received it.

Moving out: the costs for what they had found on the inspection conveniently totalled up to the total deposit I paid £575. Including charges for a broken sofa (was not damaged), removal of rubbish (nothing left in there apart from furniture they provided & as if they remove rubbish anyway considering the state it was in when I moved in), painting (nothing wrong with the painting whatsoever) and so on. It was all ridiculous and completely false. Conveniently they also could not find the inventory I did and had one on their file which was incorrect.


Luckily I took photos and had the email I sent. They ended up only taking £100. Still not great but I decided to take the hit. It took about 5/6 months to resolve. They stated in emails they would respond within 10 working days but would take weeks.

I have spoke to other people who have rented from them who have faced the same problems and them trying to rip them off.

I am so relieved to not have anything to do with Keylet. They are SHOCKING and I would AVOID them at all costs!!!

Rent: £575

Deposit Returned?: Partially

The Living Room

Living in style with The Living Room

The Living Room are fantastic! Have been with them for two years and had any issues fixed within a week if not the same day. The staff are all so lovely especially Polly and will always get back to you very quickly. We have had plenty of warning about viewings and they have bought us mirrors and curtain poles and installed them just because we wanted them! We fucking love them! Honestly couldn’t recommend enough.

Rent: 340

Deposit Returned? Yes

Horizon

Damp Horizon 2: Electric Boogaloo

Horizon
To sum the whole experience up in 5 bullet points:

  • Extremely rude/unprofessional
  • Mold mold mold + filthy when moved in
  • No heating in lounge/kitchen (-2 at one point)
  • illegal entry of staff + handymen (broken property) and viewings without notice
  • Weren’t allowed to enter the property when tenancy started. Ongoing ‘maintenance’ which they didn’t do but was set out in tenancy agreement.

Rent: £325

Deposit Returned? Didn’t have one

Kingstons

Sorry, that spider wasn’t paying rent so you have to cover it

We’ve had an update from the poor folks who were having to live with Kingstons mould, poison, flooding and mice house!

Just a follow up from my last submission regarding the deposit.
They tried to take over £100 from each of our deposits (there was 6 of us) for completely unjustified reasons such as stains on mattress and cracks in bathroom tiles (which were there when we moved in and luckily had proof of). They sent us an inventory with ridiculous arguments such as the kitchen wasn’t clean as there was a spider in the sink.

We managed to dispute their claims and ended up getting the majority of the deposit back but not all of it as they claimed they ‘couldn’t reduce the cleaning charge’ implying there was always going to be a cleaning charge regardless of it we had cleaned the property. Surely this should have been in the contract or they should have given us the option to hire our own cleaners which would have cost us less. They are such scammers and try their best to take advantage of students but we were lucky as we took pictures of every room when we moved in. If you sign with them TAKE PICTURES OF EVERY ITEM IN EVERY ROOM. It’s the only way you’ll get the majority of your deposit back from them, and don’t be afraid to dispute everything they say.

Rent: £310

Deposit Returned?: Partially

Abraham Estates

Abraham Estates! They do the bare minimum! Yay!

On the whole a good landlord. They responded quickly to things that needed fixing (generally that day or the following day) And the flat was in good condition. There was pressure at the end for me to get out when I didn’t have anywhere to go, and pressure to go into emergency accommodation (!) even though there was no court order forcing me out. Apart from that, I would “recommend” this landlord insofar as any landlord can be recommended. They returned my entire deposit.

Rent: £675
Deposit Returned?: Yes