Castle Estates
Customer Reviews
Reviewed by jeremy clarkson on 27th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: JVR.JJF.EBQ.9IJ
Very very bad experience with Castle Estates Bletchely:
1.Brought moving in day forward for tenant without telling me, so she moved in when there was still furniture in the property, result was she backed out of the tenancy agreement and Castles gave the deposit back.Result for me lost 2 months rent, forced to drop rent to get new tenant in quickly.
2. Rude to me in the office, I have very thick skin so difficult to insult me but they succeeded. They dont understand that people are their customers.
3. Numerous mistakes with money, eg adding charges that were not due, missing payments, not passing on rent increase.
4. Not informing gas supplier of tenant moving in.
5. Finally they dis instructed themselves from managing the property leaving me and tenant in the lurch. Result for me lost one months rent and incurred bank charges.
6. The boiler was switched off after gas safety check leaving tenant without heating but they did not inform me just said it needed repairing, result tenant very unhappy at delays in fixing boiler.
They offer a Fully MIS-Managed Service, I recommend Lanes Rentals in Milton Keynes. Will see Castles in the County Court to recover my losses
Reviewed by dotty on 1st April 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QJ.JIX.JVJ.9EF
I used Castle Esates to rent a property for 6 months and the service was terrible. They kept ringing me accusing me of having kids in the flat when there was never once a child in the flat. The flat was absolutely disgusting when I moved in and when I complained they just laughed and the information they gave me signing the lease was completely false. The staff were also very rude and stuck up. This has put me off renting through another agent.
Reviewed by mkgirlie22 on 2nd February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9FR.ERF.9E3.9EQ
I originally rented my 2 bed flat with MK L&M which had amazing service, would reply to problems on the same day within 2 hours. Then they merged Castle Estates... Since that happened i have been desperate to move! and now finally, i am leaving within the next 2 weeks. Maintenance in the bathroom was left unfinished and is a safety hazard. Damp is spreading at a speedy rate, the overflow pipe does no longer work, Water is coming through the windows and mold is growing on the walls. I tried to contact castle numerous times about these problems and many more, with not a single reply! Unfortunatley I didnt think to keep proof that i contacted them, otherwise maybe I could have taken it further. They have left me and my now 3 year old son in a property which wasnt the best when I moved in but it was liveable! However now, it is a safety and health risk and they dont care. So we have been left in a position we couldnt get out of! I am suspecting they will try and hang onto every penny of my deposit to (just over £700). I urge all prospective Tenants to stay the hell away! Its been a nightmare for me and my son ever since MK L&M merged with these people.
Reviewed by AA on 3rd January 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.UTZ.T7U.UZU
Absolutely disgraceful! I was dealing with the Bletchley branch near Milton Keynes. They are all very friendly when you are a prospective tenant but as soon as you’ve signed things rapidly go downhill!
I had so many problems I can’t possibly cover them all in this review. There were numerous faults with the property when I moved in and they reassured me that they would be fixed ASAP, (they were never fixed during my tenancy).
I had an infestation of maggots. When I notified them of this they weren’t interested, eventually when they did come to address the problem, they sent out a guy with a vacuum cleaner and a bottle of bleach! After getting bleach on his shoes during his laughable efforts to vacuum up the maggots, he them trampled bleach all over the carpets. I ultimately had take time of work and go and sit in their office until they arranged for a professional pest control company to come out.
There was extensive damp throughout the property, but again they were disinterested; as long as they were getting my rent they couldn’t care less.
They were supposed to carry out periodic inspections of the property, but these didn’t happen (probably because of all the outstanding issues I had). I reported all the faults again and again but nothing ever happened. I have a folder full of emails and letters, explaining all of the problems I encountered.
And then due to a bank holiday my rent payment went out late and I immediately got a snotty letter of Castle Estates threatening me with solicitors if I didn’t pay.
I can’t convey the amount of frustration and dissatisfaction I’ve had with this company. Even on the very rare occasions when a contractor was sent out, even they had a very poor opinion of Castle Estates. When I came to move out certain employee’s lied through their teeth, just to get more money out of me!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider yourself warned. I would rather live in a cardboard box than rent another property off this company! They are a bunch of cowboys!
Reviewed by monkey2184 on 15th December 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: TUL.S7T.UGL.UGL
We used the Norwich branch. Appalling. The manager is rude, hangs up on you if he doesn't like what you're calling to tell him. Problems not rectified for weeks. We went without hot water for over a week! Noone knows what they're doing. Manager can't keep hold of staff unsuprisingly! STAY AWAY Do not use unless you want to be ripped off with fees tehy seem to make up on the spot!
Reviewed by greenockletting on 28th November 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QJ.JIB.J3B.9EQ
Castle Estates Greenock > What can I say but unprofessional, unprofessional, unprofessional!!
Luckily I never signed a contact so I did not end up in a bad position, However, I do feel sorry for the prospective tenants. I received the contract the day before they tenants were meant to move in. When I queried the fact that I did not want full management, the bill doubled. Phoned to resolve issue but manager hung up and refused to deal with me as it appears "I was annoying him", by refusing to pay this inflated fee. I could go on and on about the lack of a contract, amended terms etc, but my best advice is do not use. I would advise this for landlords and tenants alike, as the tenants in my case were severely compromised, I wonder what web was spun to them
To sum up unprofessional, unprofessional, unprofessional!!
Reviewed by CC on 19th November 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UZD.U9G.S9N.UGM
Completely uselss! (Stony Branch). Terrible communications on move out - property in disrepair on move in. Moving out tomorrow (fingers crossed we wont be charged obscene amounts of money). One employee in particular (a lettings negotiator) was extremely useless!
They accused me of lying - we asked about the underwriting scheme to take over the tenency after a "company let" had it all verbally aggreed by negotiator named above. A day before the tenency was to be signed over, they decided against the underwriting scheme, and told us we needed to pay them nearly £1000 for deposit and reference checks for a small 2 bedroom house.
Since then, I have been sent emails to an account they know I have limited access to, telling me about viewings happening that day. Instead of letting me "allowing" them access they tell me when they are coming, and do not prepare for the house to be "unavailable" for them on certain days.
They are now dictating to me that they must show a couple around when we are in the middle of moving out! How stupid can they be!
DO NOT USE CASTLE ESTATES!
Reviewed by Cov1 on 25th April 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: EJV.JRX.J3J.9B3
My list of complaints about Pettifer (Castle Estates Coventry) is endless....They constantly made mistakes, LOST the rent on 2 occasions, accused my tenant of not paying and made her pay twice when THEY had lost the money. Forgetting to pay me, paying me in Euros (!!!!), not notifying me when they spend large amounts of money on repairs. In 2 years, there has rarely been a month when I haven't had a problem. Not only do they constantly make mistakes but they never even pick up on them until we point them out. I feel I have been paying them a lot of money to do absolutely nothing. They seem to have forgotten that they have to provide both myself and my tenant with a service rather than just raking in their share of the profit and sitting back.
They have just had the nerve to say that we bother them too much with problems - I had to point out that I am also sick to death of bothering them about the problems, which are in themselves indicative of the non-existent service they are providing. I have actually paid to get out of the contract with them now, and am using another agent.
Would NEVER consider dealing with them again. If you want to pay for the priviledge of being stressed out by a company who are clearly more concerned by their profit margin than with providing you with any of the services that they supposedly offer, then Pettifers are for you!
Reviewed by sooze on 3rd January 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 7DD.357.I30.440
Absolutely brilliant, best letting agent I have every used. They know what they are talking about, don't overcharge landlords and just as important don't overcharge tenants.
Commented by el lobo on the 12th January 2008
are we still refering to Salisbury in Wiltshire, as these are all franchises and I am sure there are some very good ones out there
Commented by el lobo on the 12th January 2008
you do not say where you rented out, this is important as they are franchises, my experience was with Salisbury
Reviewed by lizziehug on 3rd January 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: NB3.3B5.MI6.5NB
I used Castle Estates in Exeter and would recommend them to anyone. They took on a lot of additional work in getting rid of a very troublesome tenant and didn't charge me a single extra penny! Long may they reign.
Reviewed by Ravi on 17th November 2007
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 00X.BTM.R00.0XB
Lived for 6 months in a Nottingham Flat. Horrible service. Did not have basic services when I moved in fully furnished flat like vaccum cleaner, duvets pillows although was supposed to be there according to iternary.
I was blackmailed to pay more rent when I moved in than previously agreed as I signed papers on the day of moving. Broken furnitures were not replaced for 5 months despite reporting.
They even charged me from deposit to clean carpets, kitchen, etc when I left the flat in a near normal state. Please please never deal with Castle Estates.
Ravi T P
Commented by EL LOBO on the 29th November 2007
I agree with Ravi they are a disgrace.personal experience.
Commented by Jay Johnston on the 6th December 2007
Yeah. They (Bristol) put my rent up as well: £420 to £450 and when I left the flat I cleaned it thoroughly and they expect me to pay for it to be cleaned again! Cheeky f .....
Reviewed by Rob Hall on 29th August 2007
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 0DT.M0N.NW7.7J0
I rented out my bungalow through Castle Estates' Salisbury branch for 6 years of which the agent received a very good commission, but gradually towards the end he let the bungalow go into decline. The crux of the matter is that at the end of the contract, he has refused to pay me the money owed, ie rent damages and costs incurred amounting to over 1 thousand pounds. He refuses to contact me and has absolutely closed the door on us even though he had two solicitors letters which he also ignored. This is over 18 months ago and we are still waiting. We complained to head office and they passed us over to another agent in Southampton, who was most unhelpful. He threatened us to take no further action.
There is a lot more to this tale, whether you are interested remains to be seen. As far as I am concerned Joe O Neill is a liar and a fraudster.
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Estate Agent Information
Castle Estates
Castle Estates are a respected and well-established force in the Residential Property Management market.
Offices / Branches
- Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire)
- Barnet (London)
- Bath (Somerset)
- Battle (East Sussex)
- Bletchley (Buckinghamshire)
- Buckingham (Buckinghamshire)
- Chipping Ongar (Essex)
- Clifton (Bristol)
- Coggeshall (Essex)
- Coventry (Warwickshire)
- Dartford (Kent)
- Derby (Derbyshire)
- Dronfield (Derbyshire)
- Eastbourne (East Sussex)
- Exeter (Devon)
- Gillingham (Kent)
- Glastonbury (Somerset)
- Greenock (Inverclyde)
- Groes Faen (Cardiff)
- Hounslow (London)
- Liverpool (Merseyside)
- Lytham St Annes (Lancashire)
- Middlewich (Cheshire)
- Norwich (Norfolk)
- Nottingham (Nottinghamshire)
- Penistone (South Yorkshire)
- Pocklington (East Yorkshire)
- Salisbury (Wiltshire)
- Solihull (West Midlands)
- Southend on Sea (Essex)
- Stafford (Staffordshire)
- Stockport (Cheshire)
- Stony Stratford (Buckinghamshire)
- Sunbury-On-Thames (Surrey)
- Tamworth (Staffordshire)
- Taunton (Somerset)
- Usk (Monmouthshire)
- Wakefield (West Yorkshire)
- Wandsworth (London)
- West Malling (Kent)
- Windsor (Berkshire)
- Woking (Surrey)
- York (North Yorkshire)
Services
- Sales
- Lettings
Commented by Roadrunner 2 on the 14th June 2008
We had the same problems, too quick to spend our money without consultation. Once they spent £500 on repairing a 26 year old boiler without asking us, we would have replaced it, also £90 on repairing a tap washer in the kitchen. We also found that the guy in Salisbury (O Neil) did not return the tenants deposit or pay us for the agreed damages by the tenant, and in 2 years never inspected the property. The outgoing tenant said it was filthy when he moved in and had to get a cleaner.
We also now have an excellent agent I would be happy to recomend to anyone in the Salisbury area.
Commented by Castle-Estates on the 24th June 2008
I am unsure who this landlord is as I do not recognise the situation and he/she has hidden behind anonymity and not had the courage to sign their name.
This webite is managed by Mr Dravecky, who tells me the website is based in Slovakia, outside the jurisdiction of British courts.
Therefore anybody can say what they want about an agent anonymously and it may be true or it may not be. Mr Dravecky knows nobody can chase him or his site because it is a fair bet Slovakia does not have the same laws as the UK. So, there is little possibility of any comeback against Mr Dravecky.
I doubt if Mr Dravecky checks the facts of any of the comments made on his website and if he doesn't then he should do, otherwise he is in danger of breaking the British libel laws.
Ftom time to time things go wrong with tenancies and most agents will do their best to put them right, but what landlords often don't recognise is if tenants don't pay the rent, then they cannot be paid money the agent does not have.
If arrears build up, the agent can send letters to the tenant, but if he/she does not pay, then unless the landlord has an insurnace policy for rent arrears, there is little the agent can do because the laws allow tenants to stay in a house until eviction notices are obtained and this can take several months.
We have done one eviction in 12 years and because we had a gurantor the landlord is getting the rent arrears each month, although it will take afew years fro it all to be paid off.
That is not a bad record.
Regards
Paul Crisford of Pettifer
Commented by J Dravecky on the 24th June 2008
To Mr Crisford:
I can't see anything wrong with a Slovakian web company expanding their business abroad, same as there is nothing wrong with Ebay.co.uk being registered in Luxemburg, Amazon in the USA, etc.
Slovakia is a part of the European Union and the European law applies there, too.
All reviewers must confirm their email address when they exprees their opinion. We promise to never give their personal details to third parties - that includes estate agents; the data protection act applies to Slovakia as well.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and everyone has a right to express it, no matter if you, Mr Crisford, like it or not.
As I told you, we double checked all reviews of your company and deleted one which we suspected wasn't genuine. We will not remove the others, sorry.
Any firther conversation on this subject will be deleted. This is not the right place. You are welcome to comment on reviews though.
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