Warning: 'Property Guardian' schemes (sorry, long post!)

high5mel

These schemes sound great on paper (they're a cheap alternative to renting): stay in an unusual property for just £270 pcm (all bills incl.)!!

The property company charges you (the ‘guardian’) to stay in a vacant building (old people’s home, pub, office, residential, etc) in order to deter squatters and thieves on behalf of the building owners, who the property company also charge for ‘managing’ the property. So becoming a ‘property guardian’ means they’re effectively charging you for acting as security for the building! - but you get carried away with all that rent you’ll be saving so the premise (right word?) of the business didn’t bother me.

I stayed in a property ‘managed’ by one of these companies after seeing it advertised on a rental site. Thought it would be fine for a month or two whilst I carried on looking for a houseshare. So the fact the property company makes random inspections (so little privacy), you can’t leave for long periods of time without permission, having people over is a bit of an issue and they only need to give you 2 weeks notice to quit the accommodation - wasn't a huge problem for me as I only planned to do it on a short-term basis.

I knew it would need a clean but when I moved in found the place to be really revolting (I hadn’t been shown around properly as wanted to move in quickly). The state of the bathrooms, toilets and kitchens were pretty disgusting. There was carpet in some of the bathrooms which was sodden around the base of the toilet, the toilets and sinks were stained and filthy with unidentified matter (though didn’t appear to be urine or faeces at least) on or around them and the kitchens had lots of old food in them (as in dishes, bowls and cooking trays with old food matter encrusted on them and numerous old egg shells), floors covered in dead wasps, old rubbish inside and outside the front door (when decided to move it to the bin I found it contained pungent rotting food – cue retching). I'm not precious at all and was happy to roll my sleeves up but the place was honestly vile. I couldn’t bring myself to use the sinks to brush my teeth (even after dousing with bleach!). During the first night staying there I felt really ill and had to move out the following day. Luckily I could go and camp out at my mum’s nearby.

When I finally spoke to employees at the office they were less than pleasant – pretty bullying in manner. So I made a fuss and they offered me a partial refund – though said I’d have to wait 6-8 weeks for all of it, called it a 'goodwill' gesture and gave me a deadline of 5pm the same day to accept it or I'd loose it. I got some advice at the solicitors I work at and eventually got most of the rent ('license fee') back and the deposit (not reg. fee). They’re still charging me for a fire kit I had to buy but which they didn’t give me – they claim they did. I’m still pursuing that one…..

Because these companies call it a ‘License’ rather than a ‘Tenancy’ they seem to have no obligation to ensure the premises are sanitary and fit for human habitation. You have all the responsibilities of a tenant – and a lot of additional drawbacks – but none of the rights.

If you haven’t got somewhere else to move in to at short notice, if you’re not prepared to seek legal advice and make a fuss about a refund if/when things go wrong, if you don’t have money for the initial outlay (it all added up to over £700 – not so cheap) and if you’re not happy to live in filth, you should maybe think carefully before becoming a ‘property guardian’

My grumble isn't actually with all the drawbacks I was made aware of (dodgy though the whole thing is) - but the fact they're letting out properties that need industrial cleaning/make you ill/are not fit for pigs to live in. How can that be right - low rent or not? And they way they treat you if you're not happy with it - basic consumer rights anyone?? They were bullyboys, accused me of 'trying to deceive' them, were downright awful!

Instead of saving money it ended costing me over £100. That was one expensive overnight stay!

getsatisfaction.com/camelot_property_management_ltd/topics/stealing_my_deposit
vimeo.com/9649993
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jul/09/housing-property-guardians-squatters-rights

I used the lesser-mentioned one. There’s also a lot of articles on-line about what ‘jolly good fun’ it is – and I'm sure it can work out brilliantly for some.. but I would just advise caution if you're considering it

high5mel

Still having (further) problems with this awful company, Ad Hoc Property Management. Really wished I'd had nothing to do with them in the first place. 'Letter before action' on it's way to them...!