“I am writing this review after having moved into said ......”
1 Star Review
Oct 08,2015
By:
'Student'
Oct 08,2015
Branch: Oxford, 31 Woodins Way
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £800
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: OX1
Branch: Oxford, 31 Woodins Way
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £800
Postcode: OX1
41
people found
this helpful
I am writing this review after having moved into said one-bedroom flat in Oxford with my partner, let by Martin & Co, four months ago in June 2015. Me and my partner are from another country in Europe and had just moved to England then.
We both visited the property beforehand and noted certain issues with the flat that we addressed at the viewing. The issues included mould spotting all over the flat, old and stained carpeting in the lounge, as well as single-glazed windows on the street side of the flat. The letting agents agreed to consult with the landlord and after a while, confirmed that the landlord would carry out the necessary renovations prior to our tenancy. These renovations were included in the contract, everything seemed serious and reliable to us because we had in writing what would be done before signing the contract.
On the day that we moved in, we were stunned to find that none of the mould had been removed, even though there was a clause in our contract stating that this would be taken care of prior to our tenancy. We reported the breach of contract to Martin & Co immediately who then ordered a handyman to clean down the mould with sugar soap and paint over it. This did not happen until week 3 of our tenancy. It took the handyman several days to complete this job which was a big inconvenience for us and we did not feel that this was a proper way of taking care of long-term mould removal.
We spoke to our upstairs neighbor who has been living in her flat for 12 years and who also has ongoing issues with Martin & Co concerning her flat. She told us that the house is poorly insulated, that it suffered from excessive dampness (which we had noticed during the first weeks as our laundry would not dry and there was lots of condensation on the windows) and that many tenants before us moved out for this reason. We now had the confirmation that we had been tricked into renting a flat that was in disrepair, poorly maintained and very prone to mould.
We then went ahead and consulted local authorities in Oxford, including the CAB, the Council and Shelter, who referred us to the Environmental Health department. An officer from this department came by our house and inspected the flat, noting all the issues we had with it and finding even more issues that we were not aware of as rather inexperienced tenants. The officer wrote a report to the letting agents/landlord and asked them to rectify these issues within three months. The mould had already been removed by then so we could not prove the mould issue to him at this point (although we had pictures).
During these three months of us waiting for the corrective works to be carried out, which are coming to an end now, we have continuously expressed our discontent with the dampness issue, the fact that we have to take our laundry to the laundrette to dry it and reported that we were seeing some mould growing back in the bathroom and the bedroom. Obviously so, because sugar soap and a paint job do not take care of the actual issue causing the mould to come back. We knew this would happen eventually. When we reported the new mould, we were blamed because the mould must have apparently been 'induced by our lifestyle' (not ventilating, heating properly). This is a common practice of letting agents in cases like this and we did not let this impress us in any way. They knew that the house has had issues for years and the Environmental Health department confirmed this in their report. The agents have probably played the blame game with any tenant before us as well. Overall, their service was poor even apart from this audacity. We continuously followed up with them to make sure the proposed works by the EH department would be carried out soon. We have now waited for almost three months, and the works have not been carried out yet. It is autumn now and the conditions in our flat have worsened. They simply kept on putting us off and urged us to wait until they heard back from the landlord in order to proceed with making an appointment with contractors.
A week ago, a radiator in our kitchen started leaking. For about a week after reporting the issue, our mails were ignored until we threatened going to Shelter or the CAB again. Robert Tupman, our property manager then told us he would send a contractor over on a Saturday at a certain time. We waited, but no one showed up as this matter was quite urgent to us. Mr. Tupman then steered clear of all guilt saying that he did not have our phone number (which is a lie obviously).
We continued to write him emails about the issue, asking when someone could come over to fix it. Today (which is part of the reason why I am writing this review today) he wrote us an email saying that contractors were on their way to the property right now. Me and my partner were at work and we had expressed to Martin & Co plenty of times before today that we do not wish anyone to enter the property without us being there. What they as letting agents do is simply hand out keys to someone's flat to their contractors who can then trespass without the tenant's consent. Where I come from, this is absolutely illegal. From what I gathered in online research, a letting agent or landlord has to give the tenant a 24-hour notice before accessing the property in England.
Martin & Co clearly do not respect tenant's rights, have clearly assaulted us by failing to ask for our consent to let contractors enter our home and have invaded our privacy in every way possible. Not only have they rented out a property in disrepair with serious mould and dampness issues, they have also let third parties enter our flat without consulting us first and asking for permission. This case was not an emergency, the house was not on fire, nor was it flooded.
I strongly advise any person looking to rent or buy a property with Martin & Co in Oxford not to do any business with them. We were not treated fairly, we were disrespected, our privacy was invaded, they breached the tenancy contract and the only way we can sum this experience up is that we received the shittiest service from them we have ever experienced in letting a flat.
We will now consider taking legal action against them for their actions and hope that this review is helping someone out there not to get fooled by them as we did.
Comment on agent fees
For the amount of inconveniences the agents have caused us we should have been reimbursed any fees aver paid out to them. This never happened.
41
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Was this helpful?
Yes
We understand that before you moved in to the property, a mould issue was highlighted which needed to be addressed and quite rightly so therefore we ensured that this was made part of the agreement between you and the landlord and a professional clean carried out before you moved in. It only became evident after numerous attempts to rectify the issue that there were underlying causes that required repairs to the property.
Environmental health identified the following issues contributing to damp and mould;
- There is mould growth to the upper reveal of the kitchen window.
- There is mould growth within the kitchen cupboard under the stairs leading to the first floor.
- There is mould growth to the grouting on the upper reveal of the window above the bath within the groundfloor bathroom.
- The window on the right hand wall of the bathroom is difficult to open and close.
- There is water penetrating the external facing wall within the subfloor space below the kitchen. This penetrating water is adjacent a drain serving the kitchen located in the footpath to the left hand side of the building.
The most serious cause was the drain outside the front of the property which had been leaking underground, the landlord was informed and this job completed with a matter of urgency and was resolved swiftly.
The mould growth was also dealt with swiftly by a trusted contractor who attended and treated the mould in the kitchen and in the bathroom.
The issue that remains is the bathroom window which is one of two windows and is currently difficult to open and close. This is due to be fixed along with the remaining works proposed by the council.
I also understand that you have been concerned about people entering the property without you being present which is why we have always liaises with you about suitable times to enter the property to assess and fix any problems. Whilst we have been able to do this on all but one occasion, when an emergency leak arose which could potentially cause damp and mould for you, we acted with your best intentions at heart to fix this leak within 24 hours and were able to do so.
Although we understand your concerns regarding your home, we as an agent pride ourselves on the contractors that we use and would trust them in our own homes and want to ensure that ultimately the property is looked after, after all it is your home and we want you to be able to live their comfortably.
It is unfortunate that there have been so many issues that have arisen during your tenancy however we hope that we can continue to work with you and the landlord in resolving these last few that are outstanding.