“Avoid these jokers like the plague. They will try and ......”
1 Star Review
Apr 27,2015
By:
'Tenant'
Apr 27,2015
Branch: Worcester, 15 - 17 St. Johns
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £695
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: WR2
Branch: Worcester, 15 - 17 St. Johns
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £695
Postcode: WR2
2
people found
this helpful
Avoid these jokers like the plague. They will try and screw every penny that they can out of you. Their house inspections are a farce, they make claims and provide no evidence. I went to the DPS and Arbitration to challenge them and they made false claims, lost the Move In Inventory and submitted false claims/bills for work that was not done. They also dragged out the deposit over four or so months. Avoid this firm at all costs.
DPS & Arbitration found that they had over-claimed by hundreds of pounds and basically halved everything as a compromise. The report said that they were overcharging, claiming for work not done, not providing bills and had also made false claims about paperwork. These guys are to be avoided. When asked to prove that they had recorded all of these claims on inspection reports they said we do not have to. If you do rent from them take your own photos of the house and demand that they take photos during any inspection.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Been honest, returned emails or phone calls, been consistent.
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Your comments are interesting in that they highlight common misconceptions about the agents role and the process.
- All deposits have to be protected by landlord or agent and have a prescribed dispute procedure.
- Platinum uses the DPS custodial service which means the money is held by the DPS directly and can only be released when both sides agree. This is the most secure method for the tenant as the alternative insured methods are open to abuse as the landlord and agent could still access the money without the tenants knowledge. The tenant in these circumstance would have a long winded process to claim on the insurance.
- The custodial system however is slow to process and go to arbitration which is independent and evidence based. A 4 month delay is not uncommon.
- Where landlords complete works themselves to avoid contractors charges it is common not to have receipts which can leave landlords out of pocket when making a claim.
- A claim is based on the cost of returning the property to the original condition the landlord does not have to complete the works. EG If a shelf is damaged by a tenant there is no requirement for the shelf to be replaced for the next tenant the landlord could decide not to provide one for the next tenant but he has still lost a shelf. So his claim is valid.
- Agents work on behalf of the landlord protecting their investment and will act in the interests which includes advising them what is reasonable to claim.
Please note Platinum does not charge for the additional work for handling disputes so any time spent is lost. Unlike many other agents we do not ask our contractors for kick back commission so tenants are only charged the genuine cost not an inflated figure.
In this case we offered the tenant a settlement figure which was rejected and received more than double back from the DPS back for our landlord based on the evidence including start pictures, regular inspections and warnings and check out report.
We manage over 700 tenancies and can count the disputes on one hand. Obviously we can always do better and revised documentation and procedures for 2015 should help.
Apologies again for your inconvenience