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Looking to rent a house?? Do you check out the agencies?
Markeiboi
Posts: 3 Newbie
After desperately needing somewhere to live following the end of the agreement on my flat, I began the search – endless viewings to find ‘the perfect flat’, at least for my budget. Some too far from the city centre, some over-budget until I found that one that’s just perfect.
Perfect flat found, and away I go – signing documents and arranging monies, like everybody else. One thing I failed to do is research the company online – after all, why should I? I’m sure they’re a professional enough company and the person showing me around the flat seems nice, plus, it’s such an amazing flat!
Unfortunately for me, I learned to do this the hard way. After finding a nice flat in Bristol with Allen & Harris letting agents I went straight ahead, not concerned with the company, simply infatuated with the flat. We got told that the flat was something to do with the commercial lettings side but we didn’t see how this would affect us, so we just agreed and continued.
I now know that the ‘commercial lettings’ side is actually their ‘umbrella company’ going by the name of Sequence UK. With a quick Google search, I would have known to never step foot near to Sequence UK or their local offices. With reviews of between 0.2 and 1 out of 5, it’s pretty clear to see now that it wasn’t just us that experienced problems with these people.
Without going in to too much detail, the general theme for Sequence UK is: liars, money grabbers, slow, inefficient, unprofessional, useless, unhelpful, ignorant – the list continues and I can only agree (all of which you can see for yourself with a quick Google search). We’re now £700 down with nothing to show, along side having to pay 6 months up front to avoid homelessness.
After months of emailing and mailing documents across the country, hundreds of pounds spent, lectures missed, essays disrupted and not to mention the stress of it all, on top of the usual ‘moving house stress’ and preparation for exams we finally move in. I then decided to complain to their head office to try and at least claim back some of the money that we had lost. Alas, their reply was little more than telling me that I have no chance, that they have my money and that I won’t be getting anything back.
I’m now in the process of complaining to the powers that be and trying to recall money through the OFT. I can, therefore, say with absolute certainty that in the future, before even arranging a, viewing of a property I will be Googling that company’s name that the property is listed with and finding out the truth. It will save lots of money, stress and time in the long run!
Perfect flat found, and away I go – signing documents and arranging monies, like everybody else. One thing I failed to do is research the company online – after all, why should I? I’m sure they’re a professional enough company and the person showing me around the flat seems nice, plus, it’s such an amazing flat!
Unfortunately for me, I learned to do this the hard way. After finding a nice flat in Bristol with Allen & Harris letting agents I went straight ahead, not concerned with the company, simply infatuated with the flat. We got told that the flat was something to do with the commercial lettings side but we didn’t see how this would affect us, so we just agreed and continued.
I now know that the ‘commercial lettings’ side is actually their ‘umbrella company’ going by the name of Sequence UK. With a quick Google search, I would have known to never step foot near to Sequence UK or their local offices. With reviews of between 0.2 and 1 out of 5, it’s pretty clear to see now that it wasn’t just us that experienced problems with these people.
Without going in to too much detail, the general theme for Sequence UK is: liars, money grabbers, slow, inefficient, unprofessional, useless, unhelpful, ignorant – the list continues and I can only agree (all of which you can see for yourself with a quick Google search). We’re now £700 down with nothing to show, along side having to pay 6 months up front to avoid homelessness.
After months of emailing and mailing documents across the country, hundreds of pounds spent, lectures missed, essays disrupted and not to mention the stress of it all, on top of the usual ‘moving house stress’ and preparation for exams we finally move in. I then decided to complain to their head office to try and at least claim back some of the money that we had lost. Alas, their reply was little more than telling me that I have no chance, that they have my money and that I won’t be getting anything back.
I’m now in the process of complaining to the powers that be and trying to recall money through the OFT. I can, therefore, say with absolute certainty that in the future, before even arranging a, viewing of a property I will be Googling that company’s name that the property is listed with and finding out the truth. It will save lots of money, stress and time in the long run!
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Comments
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Sounds like a nightmare, hope you get it sorted!
As with all 'services' always best, if possible, to use someone that has been personally recommended - not always possible I appreciate but nonetheless.0 -
Nice long first post, unfortunately you haven't told us anything.It's someone else's fault.0
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My overall point was, check out the agencies BEFORE you even go for a viewing with them. To save time, money, stress etc.0
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If people checked out agencies, there'd be no agencies left in business.
My experience has been that they don't tell you about their fees on their websites, they don't get back to you when you contact them about places, if they do get back to you they can't do a viewing for 2-3-4 weeks, then a viewing can't happen for some other reason, then it's already taken. And if you're the "lucky winner", then you can look forward to big fees for stuff you never knew existed before.0 -
There are a few that are alright - or at least not as bad as others. The thing that really annoyed me was that when I did have a look at the reviews they were all terrible. I just wish I did it before hand.
The agency I dealt with before hand, while not perfect, were MUCH better. Gives me at least a little faith that they're not all AS bad as eachother.0 -
To be fair I'm not sure I've ever seen a good review for any letting agency, except ones that are a bit dubious, e.g. 3 good reviews in the space of 2 days and 10 negative reviews spaced out over the rest of the year.
While I'd rather rent privately from a good landlord, they are hard to find - and you won't see any reviews at-all for private landlords. I'm sure there are plenty of good or at least ok experiences with letting agencies - but nobody goes to the effort of posting those on review sites.
Researching only really gives a balanced picture where the company turns out to be a complete scam with no actual property0
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