“Avoid Knight Frank At All Cost...”
1 Star Review
Oct 10,2019
By:
'Tom'
Oct 10,2019
Branch: London, Unit 49, 55 Baker Street
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £2500
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: N1
Branch: London, Unit 49, 55 Baker Street
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £2500
Postcode: N1
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people found
this helpful
Knight Frank is a very dodgy company.
The check-in/out was done by a so-called independent company appointed by KF. We were not allowed to select this company, but we did have to pay for them.
The check-in report was very light and some of the issues we raised were not included in the report. Some of the photos were very blurry. We were told not to worry about it, and frankly at that time our main concern was getting the two sets of keys that were missing even though we started paying rent already.
Two months before we vacated the apartment there was a mid-term check. As we kept the apartment very clean there were no remarks. Any remarks we had were left ignored.
Upon planning the check-out KF did everything they could to keep us from attending the check-out process, as they knew we would be leaving the UK. We got a strange feeling from this, but the apartment was professionally cleaned and without any damages so we handed over the keys and moved on.
At first they tried to withhold about 20% of the deposit for cleaning and damages. These items were outrageous, and ranged from 'a little bit of dust on the thermostat' to 'chips in the paint' for which the clerk had to get his biggest lens out in order to photograph it alongside the tip of a ball point pen. No blurry pictures this time. KF even tried to charge me for an item that was clearly marked as landlord responsibility.
After pushing back on these costs KF stopped responding for a long time. After chasing them they decided to drop most of these items, but were still overcharging in my opinion. For instance, I asked for a price specification for their cleaning costs of nearly 200 GBP while the check-out report clearly stated the apartment had been cleaned to professional standards. They never answered this question. They rarely pick up the phone and are slow to respond to emails.
It was only after I started the mediation process with the deposit scheme that things started moving. All of a sudden they accepted a settlement amount I proposed earlier, and they would call me within 2 days to verify my account details. They never did. It has been more than 2 months now and I still haven't received my deposit back.
After reading some similar stories on this website I regret not knowing about this earlier. As it seems they show this kind of behaviour often. Be very careful with this company.
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