“Lying, manipulative, bullying, out of touch – Avoid at all costs!...”
1 Star Review
Aug 27,2020
By:
'Robin'
Aug 27,2020
Branch: Wokingham, 15-17 Broad Street
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Rent PCM: £1200
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: RG12
Branch: Wokingham, 15-17 Broad Street
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Rent PCM: £1200
Postcode: RG12
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Lying, manipulative, bullying, out of touch – avoid at all costs!
We were paying Northwoods almost 30% commission to be on the guaranteed rent scheme which was sold very well to us initially by Denis. He's a very good salesman, I'll give him that. However, now I can't believe a word that he has said. You can actually buy guaranteed rent insurance for around £150 a year, which covers you just as well as this scheme does. Anyway, we wanted to move on to the Fully Managed service which costs 15% commission. I broached the subject with Denis and was immediately met with abrupt emails about it being impossible to do unless we serve notice on the tenant. Obviously, that's something we didn't want to do, and we made that clear straight away. Northwoods used this to try and blackmail us in to staying. Here are some highlights from the whole process:
- Denis bringing my family in to it to emotionally blackmail me into staying with Northwoods. (Northwoods said that they were just being friendly, but in the two years that we had been with them, they not once asked about my family).
- Blackmailing us in to staying by forcing our hand in evicting the current tenants. (Northwoods said that this was in their contract and they were entitled to do it. But, they knew that we wouldn't budge on this point and so used it maliciously. They could have quite easily kept the tenants in there and in the end, they did offer us this, but too much had passed for us to accept).
- Lying about the fact the tenants had to be kicked out, giving us false information. (Northwoods said that it's in their contract. However, it is not the law, you cannot force tenants to leave in this situation. They lied to us and still continue to do so. So this point I will be taking up with Property Ombudsman as they are giving out false information).
- Refusing to do viewings for new tenants (Northwoods stated that this was the tenants decision, but from what I now know about Northwoods, I think their hand was heavily pushed in to this decision).
- Refusing to tell us that you had found the tenants a new house until the last minute, giving us very little time to fill the house (Northwoods knew we struggling with money and yet they went out of their way to ensure that we would lose money). Northwoods actually used this time to find the tenants a new house to stay with them. Again, they did this all without telling me that they were doing it.
- Asking us for the ridiculous sum of £1,140 to change service when they knew the reason we wanted to change was because we were struggling financially. (Northwoods claim that this sum was calculated as 6 months compensation to them, which is ridiculous in itself, but they claim they were entitled to it. We had just paid 30% to them over two years and now they wanted to rinse us more).
- Lying to me about the tenants insisting I take a new 3 year contract with Northwoods. (Northwoods still claim the tenant insisted on this, which, after speaking to the tenant myself, there is no way they 'insisted' on it. The tenant actually asked me to cut Northwoods out of the whole thing and rent the house to them independently.)
- Finally, Northwoods offered me the change of service for no fee after everything had happened and after we had decided to move Estate Agents. They knew they could do this and it would look good on their part, even after the tenant had decided to move to one of their other homes and after we had moved Estate Agent.
- Making things even more difficult for the new tenants by leaving the house uncleaned and damaged and refusing to clean the carpets or pay for the damaged decking. (Northwoods said that Denis went out to inspect the house and then they got the clean done properly. They think they did the right thing and were helpful by sending Denis out, but what it actually looks like is that Northwoods didn't believe the new tenant and wanted to see for themselves. What would have been helpful would have been Northwoods agreeing with the picture evidence that was sent to them and getting the house cleaned properly, and also paying for the damages left by the previous tenant.
Thankfully we are now safely with Martin and Co with a new tenant in the house and are very happy with them. I cannot recommend Northwoods at all to anyone looking for an estate agent as they seem to lie through their teeth and have no remorse about it. I did ask Northwoods for an apology and got a stern reply back and no apology forthcoming.
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