Tag: deposit issues

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

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

CPS

Is that rotten eggs I smell, or just CPS homes again?

CPS are honestly the worst agency I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Me and 4 others lived at 76 Colum road in Cardiff, a seemingly lovely refurbished new house, no contact with the landlord and all problems to be dealt with CPS directly. (Using Rent Smart Wales we found our their landlords were Andrew Winsor and Gaynor Grace Winsor.)

Where to start?… well how about the start! The end of our first week of moving in I noticed the smell of gas coming from the kitchen, upon ringing cps and a gas man coming to deal with it he told us the leak on the ground floor was strong enough that if someone was living in the downstairs bedroom there’s a chance they may have died, it was a potentially lethal gas leak.

In our first month in the house, we noticed multiple problems, the downstairs bathroom having a pipe that leaked whenever the toilet was used, the kitchen oven was lodged out of place and rattled whenever being used, mould all over the front room wall behind the sofas, a window frame in the upstairs front bedroom that couldn’t close and a long list of smaller problems.

Obviously we reported all of these problems to CPS and the only one that was sorted was the leaking pipe in the bathroom.

Here we are 12 months later, having moved out 2 months ago, still without our deposit back and we’re being charged for all the things listed above and more. £101 for a cleaner to do 2 hours of cleaning in the house? What was £359 off our deposit has now become £399? Half of which is the problems that we had already told them about and they did nothing to sort out, now we have to pay?!?

Their an absolute joke and unfortunately own the monopoly on Cardiff’s student housing but I pray that one day they get put in their place and sort it out!

Rent: 350

Deposit Returned?: No

Uncategorized

Yazi doesn’t use protection! (the deposit kind that is)

We had the unfortunate pleasure of renting with Yazi Kayhanian, the house had recently been refurbished so we were pretty happy with the find. However this man is a nightmare to deal with, he doesn’t provide you with deposit protection details (probably because he doesn’t protect them) and is elusive when you need to contact him for any repairs and especially so at the end of the tenancy. Having now googled him I think we got off lightly, we got a partial refund of our deposit but that was after months of chasing him around the city.

Rent: £350
Deposit Returned?: Partially

Orinoco

Drugs, Mould and Rock and Roll

We rented with Orinoco. When we moved in the fridge was full of maggots (initially they denied all responsibility and refused to clean), there were rats inside the house, mould on the walls, chewing gum on the floors, drug residue in the draws (burnt spoons, ripped foil, needles) and the whole house was dirty and had a musky smell. Throughout the tenancy we transformed the house, we deep cleaned it ourselves on move in, then again when Orinoco wanted to take photos for their website, for all their viewings and finally on move out (the place was spotless). During one of the deep cleans we took off the extractor fan chimneys to find that they weren’t connected to an external source, instead the smoke and steam was pumped straight back into the room. Not to mention the fact that throughout lockdown I transformed the garden from an overgrown skip to clean, tidy, presentable garden.

On move out the agent attended the property and commented on how clean it was and stated they would only charge for a burnt window sill in one of the rooms (fair enough). I was then shocked to receive a list of charges (mainly cleaning) worth £340. To top off the negligence and disgraceful nature of this company when trying to dispute their charges they took days to respond to every email. After numerous emails I managed to get the charges down to £140 (still £110 too much). At this point they said to accept it or consult a deposit agency where they threatened to charge the full £340. Not happy, will not rent with them again and would not recommend them to anyone! Avoid at all costs!!

Rent: £340

Deposit Returned?: Partially

Interlet

Interlet loves their place to get wet. Like permanent damage kind of wet.

Rented from Interlet during 17-18 academic year and we’re very disappointed. I shared with 5 other people and ended up in a damp, dirty and poorly finished house.

Moving in, the rooms were not cleaned, not just dust from the summer, but the previous tenant had left belongings in the room (you might get away with a duvet bit neuroscience notes are a bit far). The house was damp and included a special little door leading to a tiny, flooded courtyard approx. 1x1m. In which the sink and washing machine drained to. The courtyard drain was blocked and nothing was done about it for the entire year despite complaints.

The heating system was entirely manually controlled, so no timers could be set and frequently malfunctioned. The smoke alarms didn’t work as we had people burning food and eventually (very rarely) smoking in the house as they knew the alarm wouldn’t go off.

We had leak in the bathroom that had several emails sent about it and each was ignored with no response, it wasn’t until I stamped my feet after 3 months in the office it was fixed. I had to look them in the eye, tell them the floor was “spongey”, and was going to cause permanent, expensive damage that they acted. We had mold and a broken window that were not fixed for an entire year. After our tenancy finished we were charged for repainting a damp area, the same damp area we had told them about.

Interlet were so incompetent that they had the deposit amount wrong, despite “deductions” the entire deposit was returned (maybe they deducted it from an increased rent for the new year?). I would never rent from Interlet again. I would advise others to steer clear unless they want to go head to head in person with them on every issue!

Rent: £320

Deposit returned?: Partially

CPS

Oh CPS, Your Eagles preying on the vulnerable!

Rooms in the house with good mattresses and others with springs that literally poked through and made noises. When this issue was raised the landlord, who claimed the bed was fine. Windows with the glass blown in the middle which was quoted for but never sorted as it was ‘too expensive’. Landlord turned up unannounced on multiple occasions. [Editors note: Very illegal! If this ever happens, threaten to call the police.]

We took some things to the house to store between summer and September (we were told this was fine) & the landlord threw out our ironing board, which she did replace in the end. [Yikes]

When we moved into the house there was around 10 bulbs out – multiple tenants sent emails about this and it took a very long time to get a proper response. When we finally were sent new bulbs but we were sent the incorrect bulbs. When we informed her of this she came to the house to check they were wrong as she did not believe us. She then promised to send us the correct bulbs, which did not turn up for months. We had been in contact with both the landlord and CPS on multiple occasions about these bulbs. At our final CPS inspection, CPS promised we would not be charged for replacement lights at the end of tenancy due to all the problems we had faced (e.g. not having bulbs for at least 3 months, never having them when we moved in).

This never happened – we were charged to replace all the lights – I doubt they were replaced based on our experience moving into the property (10 bulbs out, kitchen cabinet half attached, left items from previous tenants). They also tried to charge us for things that were broken prior to us moving in the property, luckily we had photo proof of this, and were able to fight those charges.

As we had trouble with getting our deposits back before, we made a huge effort to clean the house to avoid cleaning charges. However, the day the last tenant was leaving (before the final inspection) the landlord turned up with a builder, who proceeded to create dust and mess in the house, despite our efforts to clean. When we were then changed for cleaning which we had to fight. The whole tenancy felt stressful, the landlord and CPS did not act responsibly, and did not care about our welfare.

Rent: £330

Deposit Returned?: Partially

CPS

Wish someone would pay me £40 for cleaning up my housemates coffee stains

From 2018 to 2019, I stayed in a 7 bedroom house. Good size for what it cost but there were some evident issues that needed fixing; namely the backgarden was covered in weeds, the front porch step was broken and coming loose and various patches of mould around the house which we asked to be sorted before we moved in. Only the weeds were sorted, the front porch step was fixed multiple months later after a complaint of the wobbly slab and to my knowledge they’ve never sorted the mould problem despite one of the tenants being asthmatic. Other than that, we were happy to move in despite the general bumps, scratches, dents and stains to be expected when we moved in that were not caused by us.

The issues arose later. I’ll even say, we did require some deductions. One of the tenants put a hole in the kitchen wall but no one admitted to it. Some bin bags were left in the front garden after moving out due to excess waste we weren’t able to get rid of. And there were some little things here in there that were just not able to organise. So a reasonable deduction we expected.
CPS tried to take us for more than half of the deposit. Some of which were the reasonable deductions expected. The rest were either grossly inflated (like £40 to remove a coffee stain from a desk) or outright not caused by us.
They were unable to produce an invoices for more than £800 of the £1500 they tried to take. We had to fight tooth and nail for our deposit back through the deposit protection service, managing to claim a portion of the deposit back.

CPS takes advantage of ignorant students.

Rent: £360

Deposit Returned?: Partially

Keylet

🎵 5 Taps leaking, and 4 fucked radiators, 3 unhappy tenants, 2 toilets leaking and a Completely broken bed!!! 🎵

Keylet’s motto is ‘let’s open doors together’ but what they don’t tell you is, they’ll also slam them right back in your face and jam your fingers in them while they’re at it.

We moved into our property with the sofa having rips in it, marks on the walls and carpet, but overall the flat seemed lovely..for now.

5 taps a leaking, 4 fucked radiators, 3 unhappy tennants, 2 toilets leaking and one completely broken beeeeeeeed ( as well as the door dropping from the hatch). And we’d had enough. Called them up, only to be told you absolutely HAD to send it through fixflo ( oh but don’t forget, you can ONLY submit once otherwise the staff get confused…you have to question their intelligence level if THAT confuses them)

When we moved out, these problems still were not fixed and we actually now ALSO had a broken window. You love to see it.

The place was SPOTLESS. And I mean there was not a sign of dust anywhere…so with a spotless flat but multiple problems reported to Keylet that they did not fix. We didn’t expect the whole deposit back knowing their track record.

Please enlighten me as to how we got charged for none of these problems, despite them not being fixed. But had over £500 removed from our deposit in ‘general cleaning’ and ‘paint retouching’ when we provided proof the wall markings were there when we moved in? £300 to paint tiny marks? Are you hiring someone to paint one stroke a day? Will they be flying from Antarctica to do this paint job? Are you reincarnating Van Gogh for this? The marks were barely noticeable!!!!

In addition to this, we didn’t even see our deposit for 2 months and were repeatedly ignored in emails and rudely spoken to when we called to chase up on it.

For your own sanity, don’t rent with Keylet.

P.S. They walked into our flat unannounced on numerous occasions and once we were all asleep in our rooms and they still came in x

[Editors note: Creepy and illegal by Keylet]

Rent: £370

Deposit Returned?: Partially

Jeffrey Ross

Jeffrey Ross communicates when they have viewings via telepathy! No such thing as phone calls or emails!

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