Does anyone use Northwood Lettings

mlz1413

Has anyone had any dealings with Northwood Lettings? They are advertising heavily on the radio around here, Milton Keynes/Bedford (although they are all over England) as they do a guaranteed rental income scheme.

I recently signed up for this and have been bitterly disappointed with the reality. I have been mis-informed twice, they put me on the wrong scheme and then blamed my partner getting involved for the problems even though he has never spoken to him!

Just wondering if anyone else has had any good or bad experiences with them?

Sarahsaver

bump

hubby having ..let's say 'issues' with them.

pancreas

Slow and in-efficient in my opinion!

fflsh

I'm also interested in any opinions as I'm about to look for a letting agent to let a house. It's actually the fact that they say they do guaranteed monthly income that puts me off, it gets me thinking there's a catch somewhere!

mlz1413

They take your place on for 12 months but they have a get out clause at 9 months if the place is not rented or you refuse to sign a new term - you do not have any get out clause if you need / want out before 12 months you have to pay them.

They don't pay you for 6 weeks and then they pay by BACS so it's 2 to 3 days after you expect the money.

They will take your place on in December but be very careful as they consider something like 19th Dec to 10th Jan non marketable times and so don't pay for them.

I found that the details changed depending on who you spoke to and never did get a straight answer, even in writing, about who paid the bills if the property was empty, it finally worked out to be Northwood. I had only approached them as I wanted a stress free year and could cope with the low monthly rent in return for no hassle - what a idealist view that was!

Glad to be shot of them, only good thing was my place stayed empty the full 6 months they had it (yes I did get out early) so it was in excately the same condition when I got it back.

This business is franchised and so I'm sure it will vary countrywide. The idea is good and if you take your time get answers to your questions in writing (always go direct to the manager) I'm sure it can work - many other agents now do guaranteed schemes so the princple must work.

I would be interest to know others experiences and what other issues there are.

hellokitty08

Hi, I used to work for a branch of this company. You can always take your complaints to the head office, I think you might be able to get their details on the website.

As for the guranteed income, that worked like this, the property to rent would take lets say £650 a month on the market, Northwood would offer you £500 a month guraenteed, so regardless of whether the property was empty or not you would always get £500 a month. (this is a rough estimate)

As far as i know lots of other companies that offer guarented rentals do so through insurance schemes, or thats how it used to be anyway, so everytime the property is empty you claim on an insurance policy.

Sarahsaver

legal advice being sought!

Glaswegian

At my wits end with these folk.

Tell lies on the phone. Staff are rude. Don't reply to phonecalls. Maintenance is diabolical.

There's no telephone number for head office. Have no idea how a company can get away with being so bad.

adg1

If northwood take the tenancy in their name they can put any tenant in there they like as you'd have no control at all. They could use it for office parties without you knowing at all!

Also, if they pay you a guaranteed rent as HelloKitty08 puts it above (seems to tie in with their website) they can offer you way below market value for a year of peace, get a tenant paying market value to them, take a hefty cut and hence cover the costs of most void periods as well as making a profit.

They are operating heavily in this area with colourful cars, signboards but don't have many 'Let By' boards up.

Most other agents that offer rent guarantees do so via an insurance policy they employ.

Veda

Northwood took 6 weeks to replace a cracked bath after I'd instructed them to proceed, so the tenant was without a bath all this time because it was leaking into the flat below. The quality of workmanship was appalling, they'd cracked the wall tiles, the sealant was a mess, the bath panel didn't fit, they even managed to crack the new bath! Then to cap it all, they re-used the old taps and these later seized up so the water had to be turned off at the mains. It took them a further 7 months to rectify this. Their excuse? Landlords want cheap jobs not quality. I was fumin'. That's why I sacked them.

TwistedPsycho

WoW!

These guys sound like they should go into business with IRD Homes and Mr S Dhown!

Oh blast, I feel another retraction thread coming on.