“I used Martin & Co letting agents in Feb 2014 and was ......”
1 Star Review
Feb 12,2015
By:
'Mark'
Feb 12,2015
Branch: Manchester, 84 Bury Old Road
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £425
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: M26
Branch: Manchester, 84 Bury Old Road
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £425
Postcode: M26
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I used Martin & Co letting agents in Feb 2014 and was shocked at the level of service from them. The nightmare all started when my cooker handle broke on my oven after a couple of months, was a very old oven when I moved into the property and at the time of moving in I was assured that it would be replaced. So I rang up to ask if the handle could be fixed I was told by a lady called Shelly she would look into it but in the mean while if I used my oven gloves to open the door when i needed to use the oven. After a few weeks after not hearing anything I rang and asked for an update, she said because it was an old oven she was waiting for the part and again she advised me to carry on using oven gloves to open the door, as she explained that her oven did the same thing a few years back and she had used oven gloves herself. After about another month the toilet seat broke so again I rang to ask if this could be replaced and also chased up the oven handle. About a week or so later two guys came (who didn't look like they knew what they were doing?) they fixed the toilet seat and explained that they couldn't find a replacement handle so tried to glue it on! After the first time of using the oven it fell off so again. I rang up to let them know what had happened and they said since the glue didn't work they would ask the landlord to replace the oven. It finally got done in December (replaced the handle not a new oven) so from Feb-Dec I had to struggle to use the oven. This was just the start of my issues with Martin & Co!
After 8 weeks of moving in they did an inspection of the property, during this I raised concerns that the two full length glass doors were not shatter proof and I have two young lads 4 & 2 years old at the time, so was concerned if they ran into one of the doors they could seriously hurt themselves. She went on and explained it was my responsibility to sort this problem out and she couldn't do anything about it. At the time I didn't think this sounded right so I did some research and found out she had lied to me as it was the responsibility of the landlord/agents to make sure this was done. A few weeks later one of the glass doors (upstairs bedroom) began to crack as the door was stiff to open. (another issue I had raised with them) Again I rang to raise the issue with Martin & Co, again they tried to tell me it was up to me to sort out so I explained that I had looked into it and it was their responsibility to maintain the doors and make sure it is up to building standards. She seemed angry that I had looked into this and found the information out. She said she would look into this and get back to me and until it was fixed to not close the door, so I explained that my 4 year old Autistic son used this room when he stayed over 3 nights a week and that this was not an option for me. So she told me to explain to him that the door had to be open and he had to stay in his room. I explained he is severely Autistic and does not understand so this was not an option and it needed fixing asap. She said she would get some prices for the repairs and get back to me.
After almost a week and I had not heard anything (no email or call) I rang back and again explained the importance of this issue and that it needed fixing as it was very dangerous to be left how it was. She said she would ring me back in the next day or so and arrange for the repairs to be done. Another week went by and still no contact, so I decided to write a detailed email and sent it to her (shelly) and the office manager as I felt I was getting nowhere ringing her. The next day I had a voicemail left by shelly and when I listened to it I was shocked at what I heard from her. The voicemail started with her telling me she had just received my email and was disappointed that I had made a complaint as she was dealing with my issues? (reason I sent the email was due to nothing being done) she was screaming on this voicemail and was so unprofessional I was left shocked!! The way she was specking was like a mother telling off her son at one point on the recording she was saying how upset she was with me and how dare I write an email of this nature.
Also during all this one of the kitchen draws fell off and this was also going to be fixed when the doors got replaced. She told me on the voicemail that it took two days for the doors to come and she would get them fixed as soon as she could. Almost two weeks had passed and still no contact so i decided to send another email. On the reply email she stated that the doors were on order, so I sent a reply to ask why it was taken so long as she told me on the phone it would only take two days from when she put the order in? She confessed on the email she hadn't got any measurements so didn't now what size to order.
I was so angry that she had just left it for two weeks and at no point asked me for measurements. So i than had to wait another week for someone to come out and take the measurements for this.
Another issue I had been having was black mold and raising damp in the main bedroom which was growing at an alarming rate. It had got to the point were I had cleaned all the walls with bleach & hot water and 3 days later it had grown back! I raised the issue which I was told it was my fault for not having the window open 24 hours a day and it was just condensation from the windows. I explained it was 100% not and it was black mold, so they came out to look at it and still carried on saying it was my fault and that I must keep the bedroom window open at all times. I explained i kept the window open as much as possible but since it was October and very cold I could not have it open as I was losing all the heat and it was just to cold plus for security reasons I didn't feel safe leaving the property unattended while I was at work with the window open. It was getting to the point I was waking up in the mornings coughing & was getting a bad chest which I could only presume it was due to the black mold.
I went to my doctors and i explained the situation and he agreed that it did sound like it was effecting my health. Still they would not do anything about it and carried on blaming me also the doors at this point had not been fixed or replaced. I had finally had enough and decided the only thing I could now do was to move out of the property. I handed in my notice which at that point I was on a rolling 30 day lease as normal they where being awkward as they said I had to wait till the start of the next month until I could hand my 30 day notice in. (bare in mind it was only a few days into a new month) I just wanted to leave as I was concerned about my own health and my kids.
At this point I had raised concerns with the local council's environmental health department and they said they would get in touch with Martin & Co about this issue. A few days later I got a call from Shelly who explained she was suddenly to send some builders round to the property to fix the rendering on the back of the property as she had now decided it was black mold (after the council got involved) but it was going to cost a lot of money and time to do this and I should be very grateful that they were going to do this!!
As soon as I handed my notice in she emailed me to say she was no longer going to fix the doors as I was moving out anyways and didn't want to cause me any further hassle. The last week I was in the property I had cleaned up ready to move out but I got a call asking if it was ok to give access to the builders to fix the black mold. I said this wasn't an issue as I had pretty much moved out anyways and only had a few things left to pick up.
After the builders had finished I went back to get anything I had left and to arrange to hand the keys back, when I went into the property the builders had been using the kitchen sink to fill their buckets with water and use the toilet and also had made a mess of the front & back garden. As they had been coming in they had not been taken their boots off and had been walking dirt & mud all around the property, I sent an email explaining this and that I did give the property a full clean before I left, she sent an email back to confirm that when they did the check out report this would be taken into account and confirmed on the email she noticed the builders foot prints as well.
At the time of getting my deposit back I was informed I would only be getting £29 back?? Very confused I asked why? It was explained there was a £79 check out fee (which was fine) but the rest of the charges had been added for the cleaning of the property, carpet clean and to get the gardens straight again! There was a bit of candle wax on the side which I had forgot about which again I was fine with that cost & the check out but everything else I was disputing. After trying to argue my point with a very detailed email raising my concerns all I got back was one line which said
What agent could do to change your mind?
Still waiting for my deposit back!
Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Still waiting for my deposit back!
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