London Estate Agency to avoid - CRESTONS

Emjonrm

Statement relating to Crestons Estate Agency, Caledonian Road, London

I am writing this statement to make people aware of my experience with Crestons.
I am the landlord of a property in Kings Cross let and managed by Crestons.
I have previously practiced for 10 years as a commercial property solicitor in London and for a number of years have owned a portfolio of
properties in the UK and overseas. In my experience I have never come across an estate agency who have behaved as unprofessionally and unethically as Crestons.
As a brief summary, I signed terms and conditions with Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons this year which provides for them in the normal way to pay me net rent received as managing agents from the current tenants of my property. The tenancy agreement commenced in February and I have yet to receive any rent from Crestons.
I have chased them repeatedly by phone and email over the last 5months but they continue to not make payment for no good reason and ignore my communications. I have therefore had to arrange for the rent to be paid direct to me from the tenants and to issue court proceedings against Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons for the unpaid rent (the tenants have provided me with clear evidence of bank transfers showing all of the payments). I have recently received a county court judgement against Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons for the full amount of the unpaid rent (circa £7k including court fees and accruing interest). However, they still do not respond to my communications and have to date not made payment.
I have been informed from a third party that there are 8 county court judgements against Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons totally over £30,000 and companies house records indicate that this company is in the process of being wound up and dissolved which means that the various creditors including myself will not be paid. For me this means the rent paid by my tenants to Crestons has simply vanished. Notwithstanding this, Crestons continue to trade from their various London offices and in particular to use the name Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons which I believe to be fraudulent activity.
A search on social media reveals a plethora of complaints against Crestons involving allegations of extortionate fees, malpractice and unprofessional behaviour.
My main point of contact at Crestons is Mr Syed Ahmed who is based at the Caledonian Road branch. He continues to assure me that the rent Crestons have received will be paid to me but as has been the case over the last 5 months no monies have been received. I believe Crestons have no intention of paying me the rent they are holding onto.
I am concerned that Crestons continue to trade as an estate agency business with a shop front on the Caledonian Road and other London offices. I would not want other customers to have the same experience whereby tenants rent is unlawfully kept by Crestons. I shall be making a full report to Trading Standards, the Property Ombudsman and other relevant bodies.

G_M

Good to hear a warning as they sound like a company LLs should avoid.

I read your post carefully & couldn't see anything which might lay you open to a libel claim, given that there are judgements against them. I'm sure as a solicitor that was in your mind as you wrote.

Good luck getting your money back......

For the benefit of other landlords:

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

[Deleted User]

Depending on whether your judgement was made out to both the company and directors., you might have some luck getting some money back if you employ County Court Sheriffs rather than bailiffs. They seem to have more powers.

Emjonrm

Thank you for your comments. I shall also be writing to local businesses, property agents and professionals and the local MP to make them aware of my (and others) experience of Crestons. My intention is that they are properly and fully investigated.

ReadingTim

Sorry to hear of your troubles, especially if none of these facts came to light in the due diligence you undertook on Crestons / Sirs London Ltd prior to signing the contract with them.

You did do that due diligence didn't you?

Emjonrm

Thanks for raising the important point of due diligence.We did do some due diligence but primarily Crestons were well known in the area/highly visible and from memory there name was mentioned to us. With the benefit of hindsight we should have looked into them more thoroughly. Having said that I wouldn't expect an agent to behave in the way they have and withhold rent from us. They are also a member of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) which we thought would give us some protection. One of the key reasons for posting a review on this forum and other websites is to encourage people to think about whether they would instruct Crestons given the experience we are having with them.

Emjonrm

I should also just add that according to a third party source (debt collection agency) the judgements against Sirs London Ltd trading as Crestons post date when we formally instructed them and therefore would not have been picked up in due diligence. Hope this is helpful.

G_M

Emjonrm wrote: »

Thanks for raising the important point of due diligence.We did do some due diligence but......

Note that both ARLA and the NAEA have Client Money Protection schemes in case a member agent goes bankrupt. eg

The ARLA have the ability to make discretionary grants (up to pre-set limits) if you suffer financial loss due to the bankruptcy or dishonesty of the member and/or their firm...
If in doubt you can check an agent is a genuine member on the relevant website.

Emjonrm

Thank you - really appreciate the advice. We'll look into this.

Emjonrm

By way of an update, Mr Syed Ahmed of Crestons has been in touch with us by telephone assuring us that payment is on its way. But of course no payment has been received. It seems like a ploy to persuade us to take off negative reviews from the web about Crestons.


They are a dishonest, unethical and unprofessional estate agency business which I hope trading standards will close.


Avoid at all costs unless you want your money stolen by them! Sorry to put it in such stark terms but that's simply the reality of our experience with them.

Emjonrm

I have this afternoon spoken to the Citizens Advice Consumer Hotline who have decided to refer this case to Trading Standards (referral is not automatic). They see a potential case for fraudulent trading.


The intention is that Trading Standards will investigate Crestons and stop them trading so that other consumers do not also lose their money.