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		<title>AllAgents - Reviews of  life-residential</title> 
        <link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/rss/Life Residential</link> 
        <description>Life residential, the modern property specialists, are a lettings, sales & management company. Established in 1999 by a team of London property professionals, with years of experience in the residential property market. Our main aim is to provide the most efficient service to clients worldwide that own high quality property in major UK cities with our main focus on London.</description><item>
		<title><![CDATA[11/2/2012 - curic4 rated Life Residential 2 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/life-residential/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I am afraid i can not avoid but to join this group of disappointing experiences. I’m about to rent a property with Life Residential and i am not even moved in the new flat that i am already not satisfied. A part from a few delays in replies and flat-viewing, they managed to put in the contract the wrong address of the property i am about to rent (wrong street name and post code). The bank noticed it, they never bothered to double check the address apparently. I had a delivery booked with ikea and BT and i had to call them back, modify the delivery address that forced me to cancel orders and rebook all the delivery. This caused a delay in the delivery dates. I was meant to receive all the furniture within the first week of rent, and now i’ll have to live in an empty flat for at least 10days!
I am sincerely wondering: is it normal for an estate agent to put the wrong address in a tenancy contract without checking if the address of the property you are renting is the right one?<br />This person would not use Life Residential again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[11/2/2012 - Complaint Resolved rated Life Residential 5 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/life-residential/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The message below headed by &quot;Totally Unreliable&quot; is from myself in January 2012

This is a follow up message today in February 2012 to let you know what the outcome was of my complaint.

As you can see - I have given them 5 stars. I believe that is fair because the average will balance out to be 3 stars (due to my 1 star last time). That is fair because the situation did happen (bad) and they have now resolved it (good). So overall, from me, an average result will contribute to the board.

I probably sound like I complain a lot. Trust me - I don't - but this incident got right on my back and so I was always going to take it further.

I was phoned by a nice man called Nigel after I made my complaint. He assured me the situation with the estate agent in question (not named here as you can only name good people) was more of a “one off” situation, and fell below the standard usually expected of estate agents at Life Residential.

I took him at his word on this. But simply an apology I felt was not good enough because anyone these days can utter the words “I apologise”. It is just used too often these days. You know the kind, “TFL apologies for the late running of this train. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused”. One wonders what would happen if TFL had to pay everyone 2 for the inconvenience each time. It should be possible in today’s modern world. We could all just tap the oysters at the offending station as they could be switched on to give back a few quid!

LOL I digress!

My point being that I felt that providing some compensation in this case was appropriate. Yes it may have been a “one off” but it was me who felt the (cold) effects of this “one off”. If it is not going to happen again, then compensation to me should be generously given and the company will not have to worry about other customers asking for compensation all the time, because this was a “one off” right?

That is the way I felt anyway. I explained my reasons and like a reasonable man Nigel listened and was understanding. He later e-mailed to give a final apology and said that although they wouldn’t give cash, they would give some vouchers. At first he offered M+S but as I don’t shop there I asked if he wouldn’t mind and Amazon gift certificate instead. He kindly agreed.

I want to be clear. At NO TIME did Nigel ask me to write this positive review in order to receive the certificate. I know some of you could be thinking that at this point and so that is why I mention it. I know I would be thinking that. So, to be clear, the Amazon certificate of 20 was agreed BEFORE I let Nigel know I would be happy to write a follow up positive review on my experiences from the complaint onwards.

Thank you again Nigel for your understanding. I have not been permanently put off Life Residential as Nigel could see my logic and responded appropriately for my time and inconvenience. I can get a good DVD with the money. I may even come back one day and use their services. I have found a place now, so cannot this time. But I feel that also says something that they gave this. It is easy to give to a potential customer where you get the business, but he knew I had already had found somewhere – so that says a lot. Thanks again.

This matter is now resolved.<br />This person would use Life Residential again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[15/1/2012 - Totally Unreliable rated Life Residential 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/life-residential/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Tenants and Landlords,

The below is my review of this agent based on my own experiences in January 2012

Key Points:
1. They seem to have a lot of problems with their current tenants which was obvious from the experiences I had when trying to arrange a viewing
2. The agent did not show up to my viewing and left me waiting in the cold for him  from the end of my pervious viewing. A total of almost 40 minutes. When I phoned him, he was still sitting in his office. Excuses were made but it was clear that he had arranged other appointments at the location and when they were cancelled due to problems, it was clear he couldn’t be bothered turning up to see me as I was just one person and it was a 20 minute drive. 
3. I was not informed earlier that morning by call or text that the viewing was off.
4. If I were to put money down now, I believe I would be dealing with an agency where when you have made all your move preparations and given your notice to your current landlord, you would find something “goes wrong” and then leave you with no end of problems near move day to find somewhere else. 

Full Details:
I used Life Residential recently with the aim of building up a relationship with an estate agents that seemed reliable. For this reliability I believed that you pay a price. They have check-in fees when you move into a property, check-out fees when you move out a property, and if you stay after a year, then you have a renewal fee as they want you to sign another contract. They don’t wish it to become a month to month periodic tenancy as it would do after 1 year, so they can get another fee from you. They also want 6 weeks deposit from you rather than the more usual 4 weeks deposit. 

All of this was not ideal, but I figured that I could stay with this estate agency and get to know them in my moves each year or two and get some nice places as they seemed very professional in their dealings when you first meet them.

They have apartments in Barking with their main competitors being Chase Evans based in Canary Wharf. Life Residential itself is based in the Excel Docklands area.

On Tuesday I was told there was a 1 bed I could see with a tenant in. I would see it this Sat. I couldn’t loose it to someone else because it was not on the market yet I was told. On Wed I was told there was problem with the tenant and it was “problematic” so he had arranged two other 1 bed and a 2 bed for me to see Sat. Ok – fair enough – still sounds good.

On Thursday I was told one of the 1 beds had now gone. Knowing I was viewing on Sat and wanted a 1 bed, he had just gone and let it to someone else. Ok – that’s the market and all agents tend to do it so a shame but I still had the other 1 bed and the 2 bed to see. But clearly no loyalty to people he has arranged viewing with. They will just let behind you back. But many do that – so ok, still not unforgivable at this point.

On Friday night I noticed a 1 bed on RightMove from Life Residential that was put on the site 1 day earlier. I texted and he said this was the one that had gone. On Sat he was still to meet me to see the 1 bed and the 2 bed the next day. 30 minutes later I saw another 1 bed be put on just moments ago. I texted about this but received no response that night or the next morning about it. (Later he told me that this lack of response now mean that the viewing of the others was cancelled and I should have worked this out! Pitiful excuse! A viewing is cancelled if I receive a phone or text to confirm it is not going ahead.

After my appointment with another agent at 11am in the morning I waited for 40 minutes in the cold for his appointment at 12pm. At 12:10 I phoned him and he was still in the office. He said the new 1 bed from last night was not right as there was some kind of problem with it. I asked about the other arranged 1 bed and what about the 2 bed. I sort of missed what the excuse was about the 1 bed but there was some problem with the tenants refusing to leave on the 2 bed. He was even cancelling his other appointments that day as he had told me he was due to be in Barking but now as not due to tenant issues.

They seem to have a lot of tenant problems. Fees are way to high and they are unreliable as an agency so fees this high are not justified. I’m sure that they will continue to do business and will not go under because I am pulling out of using their services due to all this messing around. But I think from an outfit that comes across as very professional at the start and the high fees due to this, they are actually very disappointing. A relationship lost that could have been good and profitable for the agency for a number of years. Why, when you know someone wants a place, do you let it to someone else and basically ignore that person. Wouldn’t you try and arrange another place for them to keep them sweet? It is like very one track minded of one place at a time! No business sense at all. But if that is the way they want to do business, then they will for the next few years, but I would say unlikely in the long term. 

So watch out and ensure you protect your holding deposits incase they go under when you are tenanted!!!!

Further Action:
I can’t mention the specific agent's name here as the website doesn’t allow individuals names to be mentioned but I plan to send a copy of this letter to the agency and mention the agents name there. I know what your thinking – they won’t care and they will just ignore it. They are not like proper companies that take complains seriously.

So that’s not all – I am also sending copies of this letter to Life Residential’s main competitors in the local area. Perhaps they will be able to improve their own services by knowing what the main issues with the current competition are and be able to take some of their business. It is clear by searching this site which one is the best to use if you are looking to use one of the 4 in the Excel/Docklands area from the following: 

Outlook
Chase Evans – their main competitor in the Barking area!
Madison Brooke
Oxygen

Naturally, one suspects a few positive reviews on here are from the agents themselves and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “great review” on this site from someone shortly after my negative review is posted for this agent. Currently there are 2 other negative reviews and no positive for this agent as I write this. But the more people who review, the better the genuine quality of the answers – so please get reviewing!

I wish I had known about this site sooner before this experience as it would then be clear who I should build the relationship with. It is certainly clear now and I shall take my custom there. But at least some good may come of this experience for other people.

I am going to steer clear of this agent. I made a mistake but was lucky and didn’t loose any money from it. I am glad I never put any money down. But please make your own decisions and be careful if you do trust them with your money, especially deposits and such agencies come and go. If you don’t treat your customers right, then you have no customers and hence no business.

Thank you and Goodbye!<br />This person would not use Life Residential again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[13/10/2011 - Tenant rated Life Residential 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/life-residential/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The property management service provide by Life Residential is abysmal.  I moved into a dirty flat, light bulbs had blown and I later discovered bedbugs in the mattress.  They did not have a proper detailed check in and then had an extremely detailed check out (paid for by me, the tenant) and tried to charge me for ordinary wear and tear in addition to damage, changes that were made by previous tenants.  I was without heating in most of the flat for almost two weeks during the severe weather last winter and they refused to treat it as an emergency because the heater in the bedroom was not working.  The property manaer whom I dealt with was their fromer receptionist who was clearly inexperienced and had received any training.  She was rude, defensive and unprofessional and clearly did not care if the tenants froze to death.  I was only given one set of keys although I needed two.  I had to pay them 40 for an extra fob key to the building which they refused to reimburse me for when I moved out.  It is clear that Life Residential do everything on the cheap and then try to make the tenant pay at the end of the day.<br />This person would not use Life Residential again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[28/11/2010 - Bad_letting_agency rated Life Residential 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/life-residential/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Worst Letting agency ever.

The sales pitch was nice and dandy but had a hard time afterwards with customer service and hassles upon checking out.

The check-in inventory & check-out inventory list was completed based on 2 separate standards. The flat came with decent furniture, natural but worn in. Upon moving out, the letting agency hired another inventory company and basically striped the whole flat apart even though I got it professionally cleaned already.

In all, had to pay for check-in & check-out fee, also had to pay substantially toward check-out cleaning and "broken" pieces of furnishings.

Would not recommend this company to anyone.

Seems like a good deal, but not worth it in the long run.

<br />This person would not use Life Residential again.]]></description></item>
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