“Please avoid them at all costs for the following reasons ......”
1 Star Review
Feb 23,2012
By:
'RAOC71'
Feb 23,2012
Branch: London, 316-318 Kentish Town Road
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode:
Branch: London, 316-318 Kentish Town Road
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Postcode:
26
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Please avoid them at all costs for the following reasons which we experienced:
- They constantly pushed 18 month or longer contracts at us (claiming these are the norm and that tenants were requesting them) whilst advising tenants that I as the Landlord was only accepting long term contracts and that in any event it would be very difficult to find one. I have written statements from tenants to this effect despite having put clearly in writing to Keatons that we didn't want contract longer than 12 months. We only realised why Keatons were doing this when they wanted their commission paid...all upfront!
- We also have statements from the tenants advising that Keatons pressured them into a quick decisions on the basis another prospective tenant had made an offer. This was entirely untrue, we had no alternative at that time.
- When an offer had been made it took several days to put in writing
- Keatons took a deposit without asking us and only obtained 4 rather than the 6 weeks we had always done prior to appointing them. Having told them we would use out own contract with the tenants they used their own so we had to oblige them to have the tenants sign our contract.
- We expressly negotiated with Keatons in our contract with them a return of pro-rata commission in the event the contract was cancelled. Having cancelled the contract they did not do so claiming that they were due introduction commission in full.
- Having told us they were not like Foxtons (i.e. overvaluing a property and failing to rent it for weeks) and suggested a reasonable price that would get it snapped up in 2/3 week to a family they subsequently took several weeks to rent the property and were trying to knock down the price at every opportunity. After several weeks we ended up being pushed into a contract with first time jobbers just out of university.
- Partial references were only provided a few days prior to the tenancy, one several days after the commencement and we were told that this was usual agency practice by Keatons
- As soon as the contract was singed the sales team moved onto their next deal and passed handling onto their centralised admin team. Teething issues were not solved fast enough, poor service and lack of trust/confidence meant that issues rapidly developed into big problems with the tenants and having contacted tenants with Keatosn consent to speed up issues it became apparent what Keatons had been saying to them and how th eprocess was handled form the other side.
- We did not then hesitate to cancel their appointment.
In summary an absolute disaster. To this day we regret ever having appointed them (or even wasted our breath). You are certainly better off handling the entire letting process yourself especially if you are resident in London. A complete lack of honesty and integrity. No professionalism whatsoever.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Nothing in the end. They should not be allowed to trade.
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