Letting and Estate agents
Best landlord going. Any issues were fixed the same day for free. Gas and electricity were setup for us. Easy communication with the agent and the maintenance manager. Stayed for two years and absolutely loved it. Will miss the house dearly.
Rent: £360
Deposit Returned?: Didn’t have one
Move-in day:
House Viewings:
House condition:
2/10 do not recommend to a friend.
Rent: £315
Deposit Returned?: Still living at the hole in question
Had to submit a review for the best letting agency I’ve ever come across! Have had direct contact with the landlord, Justin Morris, all year, he’s a lovely man who responds to any texts/emails within the hour, for example when the ceiling of our lounge was leaking during a storm he had someone come the next morning and fix the problem. Lovely house with no mold and no problems all year ! Would highly recommend, be quick though as all their houses go by December 🙂
Rent: £340
Deposit Returned?: Didn’t have one
Ian was a lovely landlord whom we rented from in 2016/17. When I went to pick up the keys in July I noticed some minor damage to one of the cupboards and to part of my wall. both were fixed before I moved my stuff in. When we moved in he gave us his phone number and would be over without fail on the same day if there was an issue. When the lock to my bedroom door broke he got a locksmith within the hour and was always helpful.
When CPS homes, who were doing renovations next door put up scaffolding over our house and damaged our roof (being naive second years we did not realise this was illegal) he was quick to get it taken down and get the damage fixed, checking up with us that they were not causing any more trouble. The house was not a palace but perfect for second years and the rent was affordable and any repairs were fixed almost immediately. Genuine nice bloke.
Rent: £290
Deposit Returned?: Yes
Very poor service. Didn’t clean the property before we moved in. Had no communication with the landlord and blamed it on the tenants. Tried to charge £25 for sending an automated email. Only took the male tenants seriously. Dead named and misgendered a trans tenant constantly despite knowing from day one they were trans. Refused to fit a new toilet, instead we had a plumber come over every time it broke, which was every week, and fix it to work for another few days. He told us we needed a new system but Umbrella were refusing to pay. Tried to refuse giving us a new oven when ours became dangerous, despite the contractor who viewed it saying we needed a new one. On more than one occasion argued with tenants about the lay out of the house that we lived in.
Admitted they didn’t know how to deal with non-students when we challenged bills and charges. They want tenants they can charge for anything. During the deposit system they refused to take tenants seriously, refused to allow us to join them on the inventory, accused a tenant of lying (by shouting in their face). They then tried to charged us £40 for blu-tack on a varnished door and removing a carrier bag from a room. Refused to answer emails, constantly lied to make us concede to the charges. They also refused to give us redress information to complain. They don’t treat tenants like paying clients they treat them like pests in their properties.
If I could give them zero stars I would. I would highly recommend avoiding this company like the plague.
Rent: £300
Deposit Returned?: Partially
My landlord was Daisy/Peter Souto. Poor quality housing, full of mold, no hot water/heating for 2 months, locks so cheap the locksmith won’t cut a copy because you don’t even need the keys.
These landlords rent out their properties through the letting agency 4let.co.uk, they have a massive portfolio of properties that they let to students almost exclusively. Avoid these landlords if you expect the property to be cared for in the slightest.
Rent: £320
Deposit Returned?: Yes
Pinnacle Lettings Agents are by far one of the worst companies I have dealt with in any capacity.
It would take me an age to describe all the things that have happened in our dealings with them, and you would most likely fall asleep or fall ill before you have finished reading it, so I am going to summarise slightly.
When we first went to move in to the house, moving truck and all, we arrived on the doorstep on the agreed move in date to a house with very few floorboards and full of builders, and were then told the house is not ready to move in yet. (no call or text or forewarning.) They put us up in a hotel for a few days (as per an agreement we put in to the contract because it was getting a bit sketch) and ultimately when the work was hurried finished we were moved in when they told us the house was ‘habitable’ as we could cook (just one microwave) and there was running water (the shower didn’t work, so wasn’t actually habitable) ((we had to pay for the hotel, it took them two months to refund us))
All the rooms were covered in dust and plaster and the house in general seemed previously derelict.
Despite weekly ( and sometimes daily ) emails from us (bare in mind the house was empty for over a year before this, they had a lot of time to do this)
The downstairs toilet had backed up sewage for the first month or two (full to the brim), god knows how long it was like that before we moved in. It was cleared but never cleaned, toilet was unusable and smelled of sewage, it was never cleaned, just cleared. Never functional, they said it was okay because of the amount of us we only needed one toilet.
Before we moved in the house was not cleaned to any standard, we had to attempt to transform it from a building site into a home.
The loft bedroom was not insulated well (some fancy people came round and investigated) so it was always melting hot or freezing cold.
Garden was never cleared and uninhabitable from last tenants. (they sent a contractor round but only paid him to sorta look at it and start bagging it)
When we moved in the freezer was not functional, we had to wait two months to get one.
When we moved in the oven was not working for six weeks. (they said it wasn’t a problem as we had a microwave)
[Editors note: If the inventory list has an oven on it, it’s under the assumption it’s working, your landlord has responsibility to make sure these things are working before you move in.]
When we (like the fools we are) resigned for a second year, we had to pay £100 resigning fee each, in which we resigned the literal first contracts again, dates were not changed at all – paid £500 for photocopier use.
Severe damp on some of the rooms, bed bugs, closets filled with the rubble, them not sending contractors to fix things, or sending people without giving us any warning at all.
There are so many more, these are just the ones that come to mind. Some of this is also the fault of Felix De Giles, the person who owned the property – in which I will do a separate post for.
[Editors note: if the house was rented and marketed to you on the basis it had 2 bathrooms, both bathrooms should be working. Your house should be in habitable condition before you move in. Its your landlords responsibilty to repair these things. If this isn’t adhered to, this is cause enough to exit your tenancy agreement]
Rent: £270
Deposit Returned?: Yes
Wasn’t too bad all year, bar the landlord shoddily fixing the damaged fence between our property and another with ropes, until it was time to get our deposit back. Took at least a month from what I recall and had ridiculous charges like £70 for Blu-tack marks in one room and £30 for a mattress that was already stained when we moved in. This is alongside £70 to have the house “professionally cleaned” despite us having left the house clean. Classic letting agent deposit scamming, wish I’d kicked up more of a fuss now (was my second year house and I’m now at the end of third year). All round though 2let2 were not that bad, a couple of ignored complaints here or there but if you’re persistent I’m sure you’ll be fine! Not the worst of all the letting agencies
Rent: £315
Deposit Returned?: Partially
Felix De Giles is a property owner in Cardiff. He at the time of us dealing with him he rented to Pinnacle Lettings Agency but when we left I think he has transferred some, or possibly all, to Cardiff Student Lettings.
I have written another post about Pinnacle Lettings Agency, Felix was nothing to do with our time in the tenancy, supposedly, he was not managing the tenancy, just the owner – read the below with this in mind.
This man knows absolutely nothing about being a landlord. He would frequently break both the law and general practice, some examples;
There is plenty more information about this if people are dealing with him, or want more knowledge.
I think when we left the council was investigating.
Rent: £270
Deposit Returned?: Yes
When I lived at 44 Diana street, I had a terrible time with the agency from the very moment they decided to put the house on sale. Now the agency had corresponded with every single tenant in this house up until that point when it suddenly became a problem to give notice for viewings. The first time, they had turned up unannounced but told me they had corresponded with my one housemate so I let them in to view. Only to find out that there was no previous correspondence to anyone in the house myself included, so they literally just turned up claiming false information. We tried to look through our emails and texts and there was nothing. [Editors note: what Jeffrey Ross did here is illegal, 24h notice must be given!]
The second time this happened, I was naked in bed, depressed, feeling like absolute shit from the night before where I had a breakdown and destroyed my belongings. A woman comes into my room straight after knocking (not waiting for the hello) and catches me with my boob out. She instantly closed the door and asked me if I had not had notice. I said no. She replied with “well don’t you and your housemates communicate?”.. I said that it was their job and that we all work and have lives and do not see a lot of each other. We later found out that there was no correspondence again. I rang the agency the third time when this happened and asked them what was going on, and they made out like I was the problem!! “Well we can’t keep rearranging the viewings” she said. Even though it was literally down to THEIR job to give US THE NOTICE.
Finally, they refused to give our deposit back because of the “state of the oven” which we had CLEANED to look BETTER SINCE MOVING IN, so I got up every single screenshot and apology email that I had from the agents where I had complained about them walking into my house unannounced and had to threaten to take this further. Needless to say I got the deposit back. But 0/10 for Jeffrey Ross and their entitled attitude towards tenants.
Rent: £180
Deposit Returned?: Yes
