Reeds Rains
Canterbury, Cantebury, CT1
3/5, 2 reviews
50% recommended
100% lettings valuation accuracy
50% lettings fee satisfaction



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“My fears over the legitimacy and reliability of reeds rains ......”

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Aug 18,2014
Minithumbdown
By: 'reedspains'
Aug 18,2014
3 people found
this helpful
My fears over the legitimacy and reliability of reeds rains were first aroused around the time we had chosen a house of theirs we wanted to rent. We went and viewed about 5 prospective properties, and picked our favourite, and everything seemed in order. We were informed that there was a £200 deposit, which we did not question, as this is usually the case when renting a property, we were then informed that all 5 of us were required to pay a further £200 non-refundable 'admin' fee, this cannot have been a finders fee, as it was their property, and the only explanation they could provide was that it was for 'inventory' and the drawing up of the tenancy agreement. Though slightly taken aback, we obliged and continued with the process of trying to rent this property. The next obstacle came when they could not produce on demand an electronic copy of the tenancy agreement to email to me, and I am still to this day not sure why, I had to go in and look at it myself, but could not remove it from the building, as everyone hadn't signed it. When looking through everything appeared to be standard, it is common knowledge that you are pretty much liable for anything that goes wrong in a rented house, and this was no different. However, I did notice that the payment plan section had not been filled in, and had been advertised to us as monthly, so I just blindly assumed that this would be filled in in due course, and we all went ahead and signed the papers. This was in February, when we were due to move in in July of the same year. We then heard nothing from them until just under a week before the tenancy was due to start. The email was an invoice charging each of us £1384 for the 'first quarter' of the rent. The email went on to claim that no one could move in, and no keys would be released until this amount had been paid in full. We were all flabbergasted and extremely confused, as this had been advertised monthly, and who has £1384 sitting around? And 5 students at that! We all exclaimed our confusion about this, and asked if we could pay monthly as advertised, or even just a large portion of the money owed, so we could move in, or if there could be any leeway as this clearly was not how the property was advertised to us. They said no to everything and upheld that they required the full amount from everyone in order for any keys to be released. All of us had to borrow money from different places to scrape this together, absolutely crippling us financially, all due to Reeds Rains not telling us that we were on a plan wherein we would pay rent by the quarter, and not the month (refer to my confusion when reading through the tenancy agreement about the payment plan section). This means that already signed paperwork was clearly doctored in order to make us pay more, quicker. Upon moving in, after all the stress, there were more problems concerning the beds. We had been promised double beds in every room that could facilitate them, yet only 2 out of 4 potential bedrooms contained one. In Reeds Rains defense they did sort this out, and new beds were delivered about a month or so after we raised the issue. However, the people that delivered the new beds were not instructed to remove the old ones, thus we had 2 single beds lying around the house, that Reeds Rains ensured us were being collected. I can't even remember how long it took, but it was a matter of months before these beds were removed, despite constant reassurance that it was being taken care of. Furthermore, we were promised a gardening service that would come and tame the back garden to prevent it from getting out of hand. In our year long tenancy, a gardener came on 2 occasions. On the first occasion, the job was left severely unfinished, and the second was 2 weeks before we were due to move out, and surprise surprise, he did a lovely job and it looked the best it had ever looked. Further unresolved problems included damp on several walls and the conservatory ceiling, a broken boiler/thermostat and a fridge/freezer that turned itself on and off at its own convenience. These problems were never tended to by Reeds Rains. The downstairs toilet would not flush, this was reported, and it took over a month to resolve, before it broke again, then they never sorted it out. We were threatened with the loss of our deposit and the involving of our guarantors as the house was a mess when they came unannounced to do a viewing for a potential suitor. I understand that the house should not have been kept in a poor condition, but if notice were given, we would have made it look presentable, as we had done before. This all became elementary however when we received the end of tenancy report, and the 'damages' added up to a total of over £900, and the email claiming that our cleaning effort was the worst out of any of their properties. Perhaps if we had been treated better by Reeds Rains, we would have treated the house with more respect. It may be unhealthy to be reactionary, but it is hard to respect the rules of people who clearly have no regard for you. I am sure I have left out a lot of stuff, but my lasting advice to anyone reading this is to steer clear of Reeds Rains, as you will regret the day you choose them as your landlord.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Been a good landlord, who didn't lie, and actually sorted out problems.
Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Extortion for what we got.
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Opening Hours
Address

Reeds Rains
4 Castle Street
Cantebury
Kent
CT1 2BY
01227469089

Performance statistics
Services Valuation Accuracy Fees Satisfaction Min Price of property reviewed Max Price of property reviewed
Lettings 100% 50% £480 £1,350
Review statistics
From Landlords From Tenants From Vendors From Buyers Other
1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Areas covered
Services offered
  • Sales
  • Lettings
  • Block Management
  • Surveys
  • Conveyancing
  • Mortgage Advice
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Apr 29,2015
Minithumbup
By: 'Bren'
Apr 29,2015
0 people found
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Helen contacted 2 tradesmen and obtained estimates for me. She kept me informed and took an interest in the outcome. A very pleasant person to deal with....
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“My fears over the legitimacy and reliability of reeds rains ......”

Share on :
Aug 18,2014
Minithumbdown
By: 'reedspains'
Aug 18,2014
3 people found
this helpful
My fears over the legitimacy and reliability of reeds rains were first aroused around the time we had chosen a house of theirs we wanted to rent. We went and viewed about 5 prospective properties, and picked our favourite, and everything seemed in order. We were ...
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Been a good landlord, who didn't lie, and actually sorted out problems.
Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Extortion for what we got.
Was this helpful? Yes
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.

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