I'd imagine for many people the appeal of using Northwood is because of the Guaranteed Rent service they provide. I myself used this service for 4 years and I'd like to share my experience to let others decide for themselves if it truly is worth it. The amount of money Northwood kept for themselves from the rent payments was on average around £200 a month, plus the massive £500 deducted every year at renewal (although they claim this is not a fee, it's a smaller initial payment). This totals a lot of cash over a 4 year period. As a result, you'd expect the service from them to be excellent when you're paying these huge sums of money, but unfortunately I could never say I found this. I have worked with other leasing agents, so can make a genuine comparison. The company I used in Edinburgh looked after my property for 12 years, I had a brilliant relationship with them with excellent service and regular updates. One of my experiences with Northwood that particularly stands out was when they emailed (because talking to someone in that office is an extremely rare occurrence once they have your business. No one wants to talk to you or return your calls) saying they wanted to send an emergency contractor out because the new tenant said the boiler wasn't working. I asked what the problem was, and was told they didn't know. I asked if they'd gone to check it themselves (standard practise as far as I was concerned based on experience with my other agent) and was told they don't do that. I asked them if I could go and have a look and when I arrived discovered the boiler hadn't been set to On". I could have been charged a huge sum of money because no one had bothered to make any effort to visit my property or even ask any basic questions. Similarly I was told an extractor fan wasn't working, which worked fine when I again had to go and check myself. Were I an overseas landlord or in another city I'd have had no way to check. As I mentioned earlier, communication is not their strong point. The whole point of Guaranteed Rent, is that your payments are guaranteed for a year (less any maintenance charges or council tax / gas & electric if no one is in your property). This has always been renewed at the same point every year. Until now. As the market is depressed at the moment, it is more of a struggle to get tenants in. Suddenly the goalposts have changed and no longer are you offered renewal at your renewal date. You're offered renewal from whenever someone decides to lease your property. This is not what I'd originally been sold by the previous Director Steven Mearns. Obviously surprised by this change, I decided to take Laura Mearns up on her offer to happily discuss any questions you may have" as written in her email. I called the same day, actually within a couple of hours, and 3 days before she was due to go on holiday. Yet despite several calls I was unable to speak with her. I eventually received an phone call from Matt Pullinger, who's managed to slide his way up to be the new Director, explaining she was now on holiday and unavailable to talk. How strange, seeing she had specifically written that wasn't going to be for another few days. Sadly, she is not the only one you're unable to actually talk to. It would appear the whole team, apart from the receptionist, is currently unavailable" or on annual leave", even when you've had enough of their dodging and turn up in person at their office. Also, their morality is something I have an issue with. When you hand your property over to them it must be in immaculate, clean condition. That's okay, I agree. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt, they'd come and run their fingers over everything to check, and we'd even had to take the oven door apart to clean a tiny mark that was between the two pieces of glass. A professional inventory is taken to assure you their claims of how it will be handed back in excellent condition subject to minor wear and tear, cleaned to the same specifications, are true (Matt even writes in a response to a review below that At the end of the tenancy on our guaranteed rent scheme we are liable to the landlord to return the property to the same condition with the exception of wear and tear") Yet I've had a huge battle with them, Matt being actively involved in the dismal offers of compensation, to get them to cover the cleaning, replacement bulbs, moving furniture back to its original position and damage to walls that they claim you don't have to worry about. Damage to furniture, fittings and missing items were dismissed as wear and tear, which would have been fair enough had they bothered to provide me with the Landlord wear and tear policy upfront. The first time I'd seen it was when they were disputing my claim. Were my contract direct with the tenant, this cost to cover the cleaning etc. would have come out of the deposit. Not Northwood. They have disputed the cleaning requirements over and over, despite the quote coming from their own contractor. I eventually settled on a figure that was less than they should have paid because I simply couldn't deal with them anymore. Perhaps that's their grand plan in the long run, be as awkward as possible and change the goalposts in the hope people will just walk away. Maybe I've been unlucky. Maybe Aberdeen is the one and only part of the franchise that is awful. Certainly, it's only fair that a small example what I've had to deal with is shared so others can make a more informed decision, rather than only receiving the sales patter so Northwood can keep ~20% of your rent, £500 at annual renewal and treat you terribly for the privilege. There are other agents in Aberdeen who charge less and have a far superior customer service ethic, so I've decided to use them instead.