anyone rented through Flatland in London?

Yaho

Flatland
In general you will find what you are looking for quite quickly and the service is very cheap. They had a huge range of flats, rooms, and studios of a varaiety of prices and dimensions. There are some problems since the staff is really few and there is always hours of queue. But overall all staff memebers are very usefull and polite. Sometimes instead of giving you landlords contact detailes they sent you directly to see the flat that most of the times is not the ones you were looking for and comes with an other agency in which you have to pay extra fees. This was the worst thing I experienced with Flatland, but for the rest I can say it was cheap, usefull and quick so if you are really in trouble and you need to find a flat as soon as possoble I suggest you at least to try them!

Andrew_Lejeune

All brill. Agent could customise my requirements and point me in the right direction. Given that I didn't know the ins and outs, I was done within 24 hours!

hairymen

Hi guys, I suggest this fantastic agent in central London because I am very passive. So, if you don't want to waste your time, just go to Flatland, they will help you to meet your expectation in flat searching.

New_to_London

Flatland was the third flat letting agency that I investigated and the one I choose to use in my search for a flat in central London. All the agencies were about the same price and Flatland had the most properties for me to go view. The agent I dealt with was very nice and set-up as many properties as he could find for me to view. All the properties are reasonable and I was able to choose a place to live by the second day of my search. My only comment for improvement to Flatland was that they were very busy both days I went to their office and I had to wait over an hour in their waiting room to speak to an agent in person. Phoning in once you were an client did help, but I found I got more options and better listings by going in person. It was a good sign that they were that busy - had lots of people looking and lots of properties, so the wait was worth it. I would recommend Flatland to someone looking for a flat. Just looking at online ads was worthless.

nitzachicks

Flatland are a efficient and professional team. Their fees were way competitive to other agents in London and the service was helpful and thoughtful. This was my second time using their service after 5 years of residential bliss. Initially I was looking to remain living in the south west of London, but as I had to keep a tight budget I began looking in other areas. With a month's worth of time to find my new home, Flatland have plenty of properties to view whether you need to move urgently or take your time finding the right place. It's good to be organised with a notebook to note all the places you need to view as I booked my viewings everyday over their phone hotline. It has been a good experience, taking out a little of the stress of moving home. I would highly recommend.

mcaceres

I was at the Flatland Office by 10am and asked for a few viewings. I checked out some houses and at 4pm I called Flatland to get more viewing since I needed a house that day. I got two more viewing on the phone, so in total I saw 5 houses that day. I got the last one I viewed at 7pm. I loved how quickly Flatland helped me out finding a house and how they actually look for something according to your preferences. And I've already recommended it to a couple of friends!

AM666

I recently used Flatland and found them useful, they are cheaper then other companies offering the same service.

liciageno

I used Flatland to find my semi-studio. I don't how I would have done without them. They send you a list of properties everyday and if you call them, they update you with the latest studios around.
I found the service not too expensive and helpful.

Szivia

Dear Everybody!

I had got a really good experience with Flatland recently. I was in a really bad situation,my life and my heart was broken and I just wanted to escape from that place as soon as possible.
I went to Flatland and Mike found the best place for me in two days for my budget.
I had got a really friendly and good service for the agency fee in a really short time.
Thanks for Flatland and for Mike!
Highly recommended fro anybody who looking for a friendly and fast solution .
Szilvia

victor_g

I am writing this so at least others don't fall victims to these crooks. I will not even attempt to recover my loss, because technically they are covered, so the Police can't touch them, only public awareness can get them out of business.

They definitely prey on poor migrant workers and students who are looking for bargain price accommodation. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones doing it. Flatland and others as well simply flood Gumtree with ads of places that sound almost too good to be true or plausible good offers.

Beware, they don't have those flats, they are not the agents for them. They only claim to offer appointments to meet the landlords. Usually, you will get another agency there, or somebody who plays the landlord.

For this they charge a tax of 100 pounds - and, what a surprise, we have a discount today, you only have to pay 60 pounds. So basically get 60 pounds from each sucker and give him addresses to go to at a certain hours. They can give loads of such appointments.

I only went at one and it was enough. At the viewing there were almost ten other people who have paid the same tax for the promise of meeting real landlords with real rooms to rent. Obviously it was not the case and it looks like a profitable business to get the equivalent of a month's rent in one day from a bunch of people who just see the place for 2 minutes.

At the given address we were all given flyers with the terms in which the room could be rented. None of the "candidate" tenants was asked anything about himself, like if he has a job or references. Which totally unusual for a landlord who would have been genuinely interested in renting. I asked if it is possible to pay for the place and the person who played the landlord said it is not possible, that I have to phone next day and continue from there.


Than I discovered the rest of conditions - on top of the usual one month rent plus one month deposit, and of the less usual extra tax of 100 pounds. Among other things, the tenant was asked to provide a guarantor, someone who would pay the rent if he fails to do so, a person who had to be a UK citizen with a property in the country. This is the kind of condition posed when you make a mortgage. They are fully aware they deal with migrants - they offer service in other languages - who would not have such connections. And who would risk his property in a contract with a dodgy agent!?

I was not warned that another person would be involved, I mean that you have to have a person with a property in UK to sign for you. Along with other conditions like official letters from employer, not just references.

It's clear the guy who was playing the landlord had no intention of renting what he was showing. Days after that the studio was still advertised as available. If they wanted to rent, out of ten candidates at each appointment, they would have found easily a serious tenant.

I was mislead by the serious looks of the people in the Flatland office - Myra, a middle-aged trustworthy woman, and the other guys in the agency. But don't be fooled, they are all crooks and know perfectly well what they are doing and that they lie for a living.

I guess from the numerous listings they have, they could find you a place that was real and available - but that would be at a much higher price, above what you can find from ads posted by landlords themselves. Most of the ads with interesting deals are just to lure the suckers in and convince them to pay a ridiculous sum for lousy rooms, because you are lead to believe there are no other options.

So stay away from the agency in Gloucester Road and of all scammers who ask for an upfront tax and don't have the actual places.