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Nov 02,2020
Nov 02,2020
5
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I don’t complain about things often, and deal with a lot of companies every day, and have had other successful tenancy’s, but I can confidently say Albany Lettings are the worst company I have ever dealt with.
We are now at the point we are taking legal action against Albany, due to their absolute greed and disrespect for tenants.
For the last 6 months of our tenancy, the shower did not work, nor did the hot tap in the bath. We requested this was fixed multiple times, and it is even documented in our inspection report, but Albany ignored every request to repair it. Jamie More at Albany has blamed the property manager that carried out our inspection, and a whole host of other things. There were multiple other maintenance issues, however in all our complaints we have focussed on the above, as they are a basic human right which they are not providing, despite us paying close to £10,000 a year for the flat.
I asked Jamie who I could escalate this to, and he told me he was the manager, so I couldn’t take It any further. It turns out this isn’t true, and we have submitted a formal complaint to the management based in Ireland, which they have acknowledged, and now completely ignored despite me following up with them to ask for a reply. They are still withholding our deposit, and refusing to comment on why they didn’t carry out any of the maintenance that was required. We are now over a month, and they are refusing to share the findings of the investigation.
Further to this, when we moved out of the property they took 3 weeks to send us a report, and have presented us with extraordinarily high deposit deductions.
A few examples of this are
- Jamie stabbed a knife in to the worktop, to show the worktop was damp, in order for us to pay for the repair/replacement. However on the initial move in document, the worktops are noted as water damaged, because they have used untreated wood around a kitchen sink. Albany have acknowledge the damage in the initial inspection before we moved in , and then attempted to blame us to extort money from our deposit to repair it.
- Charged us £176 for cleaning, despite the property being cleaned before we moved out. The evidence of this is some photos of some dust on top of a lightshade and bookcase, which we now admit we missed and apologised for. Jamie claims we are being charged £16 per hour, for 11 hours of cleaning. This is a tiny 1 bed flat that was cleaned by us, a cleaning company could absolutely not have spent 11 hours in there, as there would potentially have been 1 hour max to do. (£176 would normally cover a full tenancy clean, however on this occasion it was just some surfaces) I have requested the invoice from the cleaning company, but Albany will not provide it. Almost certainty because the work was never done, because the need for the work never existed.
- £220 to repair some damage to walls and poorly filled holes. Jamie blamed me for trying to put an extra shelf up in the bathroom – but has now conceded that actually I didn’t, and the shelf fell off the bathroom wall because the walls are soaked inside. I tried to fill the holes to make it look better for the incoming tenants, and he has decided to charge us for this work? He promised to look in to this, and reduce it from the deposit deductions, but needless to say he hasn’t done it.
- Jamie promised me further images he had of the property before had to demonstrate his case, Jamie has said twice he will send them over, he has not done it despite multiple reminders.
- Refused to provide any invoices of the work being carried out at our expense, presumably because it hasn’t been done.
There are endless amounts of other complaints about a company who treat tenants with utter contempt.
Moving from Albany has been the best thing we have ever done, and I look forward to presenting all the evidence of their greed to the Housing & Property Chamber. My advice would be to use any other letting agent in Edinburgh before considering Albany.
We are now at the point we are taking legal action against Albany, due to their absolute greed and disrespect for tenants.
For the last 6 months of our tenancy, the shower did not work, nor did the hot tap in the bath. We requested this was fixed multiple times, and it is even documented in our inspection report, but Albany ignored every request to repair it. Jamie More at Albany has blamed the property manager that carried out our inspection, and a whole host of other things. There were multiple other maintenance issues, however in all our complaints we have focussed on the above, as they are a basic human right which they are not providing, despite us paying close to £10,000 a year for the flat.
I asked Jamie who I could escalate this to, and he told me he was the manager, so I couldn’t take It any further. It turns out this isn’t true, and we have submitted a formal complaint to the management based in Ireland, which they have acknowledged, and now completely ignored despite me following up with them to ask for a reply. They are still withholding our deposit, and refusing to comment on why they didn’t carry out any of the maintenance that was required. We are now over a month, and they are refusing to share the findings of the investigation.
Further to this, when we moved out of the property they took 3 weeks to send us a report, and have presented us with extraordinarily high deposit deductions.
A few examples of this are
- Jamie stabbed a knife in to the worktop, to show the worktop was damp, in order for us to pay for the repair/replacement. However on the initial move in document, the worktops are noted as water damaged, because they have used untreated wood around a kitchen sink. Albany have acknowledge the damage in the initial inspection before we moved in , and then attempted to blame us to extort money from our deposit to repair it.
- Charged us £176 for cleaning, despite the property being cleaned before we moved out. The evidence of this is some photos of some dust on top of a lightshade and bookcase, which we now admit we missed and apologised for. Jamie claims we are being charged £16 per hour, for 11 hours of cleaning. This is a tiny 1 bed flat that was cleaned by us, a cleaning company could absolutely not have spent 11 hours in there, as there would potentially have been 1 hour max to do. (£176 would normally cover a full tenancy clean, however on this occasion it was just some surfaces) I have requested the invoice from the cleaning company, but Albany will not provide it. Almost certainty because the work was never done, because the need for the work never existed.
- £220 to repair some damage to walls and poorly filled holes. Jamie blamed me for trying to put an extra shelf up in the bathroom – but has now conceded that actually I didn’t, and the shelf fell off the bathroom wall because the walls are soaked inside. I tried to fill the holes to make it look better for the incoming tenants, and he has decided to charge us for this work? He promised to look in to this, and reduce it from the deposit deductions, but needless to say he hasn’t done it.
- Jamie promised me further images he had of the property before had to demonstrate his case, Jamie has said twice he will send them over, he has not done it despite multiple reminders.
- Refused to provide any invoices of the work being carried out at our expense, presumably because it hasn’t been done.
There are endless amounts of other complaints about a company who treat tenants with utter contempt.
Moving from Albany has been the best thing we have ever done, and I look forward to presenting all the evidence of their greed to the Housing & Property Chamber. My advice would be to use any other letting agent in Edinburgh before considering Albany.
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Opening Hours
Address
Albany Lettings
168 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh
City of Edinburgh
EH10 4ER
0131 229 3999
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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- Block Management
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Mar 17,2023
Mar 17,2023
0
people found
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Having been a tennet with a number off letting agents in edinburgh, Nicola and her team at Albany lettings are one off the best ones we have let with, any problems are very quickly resolved with absolutely no fuss....
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Nov 02,2020
Nov 02,2020
5
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I don’t complain about things often, and deal with a lot of companies every day, and have had other successful tenancy’s, but I can confidently say Albany Lettings are the worst company I have ever dealt with.
We are now at the point ...
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Apr 29,2020
Apr 29,2020
0
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We changed from an unsatisfactory agent 2 years ago and have been 100% pleased with Albany Lettings. We have found them to respond very quickly but with a great ability to 'get on with the job of managing' without troubling us with detail.
We are particularly impressed ...
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Nov 02,2019
Nov 02,2019
3
people found
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Pictures show the condition of the Albany property on the day we moved it (photos are holes in the wall after us filling them - a great welcome to our new "home"). These holes were concealed behind posters etc so not visible on viewing. We ...
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May 02,2019
May 02,2019
1
people found
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this helpful
They didn't bother to turn up for the viewing or give me any warning. Very inconvenient and I won't be wasting time with them again....
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May 02, 2019
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(1)
I am sorry again about the mix up with your appointment which was a genuine error over another viewing at the property at the same time which was cancelled. I have emailed you to explain this although sorry that we couldn't meet your demand for financial compensation.
I am also sorry that you do not wish to re-book the appointment and allow us to show you the property. ...
Jun 17,2018
Jun 17,2018
0
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We have used Albany Lettings now on 5 occasions to let property .We have on every occasion found them to be efficient ,very helpful and accommodating in dealing with all queries etc professionally and courteously. We have mainly dealt with Claire who has shown great professionalism ...
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Comment on agent fees
Acceptable
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Feb 02,2018
Feb 02,2018
0
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We are tenants, and about to move into a private rented property. Our landlord used Albany Lettings to advertise his property, and find suitable tennants, thankfully us.
Claire Gordon has been our contact throughout our application process, and is efficient, friendly, and has gone above ...
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Comment on agent fees
Good
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Jan 14,2018
Jan 14,2018
0
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Albany has been one of the best agency I've worked with as tenants. They are quick to respond to any queries and repairs. They also strive to contact you well in advance should work or viewings are required and are empathetic about the inconvenience caused ...
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Comment on agent fees
N/A for tenant.
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Aug 31,2017
Aug 31,2017
0
people found
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Wonderful service with Albany letting. They took such good care of our flat over the past two years that I had to thank them personally. First class service and staff were so kind and friendly. Would definitely use them again....
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Comment on agent fees
Really good competitive fees. Worth every penny.
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Jun 01,2017
Jun 01,2017
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We live on the other side of the world and Albany lettings have been managing our properties over the last 8 Years. We very much appreciate the proactive attitude and swift manner any Issues are dealt with by the agency. We are very confident that our ...
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Comment on agent fees
Very reasonable, all costs clearly listed and advised of in advance, discount for multiple lets
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Apr 14,2017
Apr 14,2017
1
people found
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I am a private landlord and I have been using Albany letting for over 10 years to find me suitable tenants.
I find Albany to be extremely knowledgable about the rental market and always offer excellent advice.
Albany staff in my experience always go above and ...
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Comment on agent fees
Albany's Fee are very reasonable and offer good value for money
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Feb 06,2017
Feb 06,2017
0
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Many Thanks to all the staff at Albany for your help & kindness when I needed a property to rent. You were always so polite & efficient in dealing with any queries.
Special Thanks to Claire.
I could definitely recommend Albany Lettings to anyone searching for a ...
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Jan 31,2017
Jan 31,2017
0
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I have used Albany exclusively for 14 years to find a tenant only as I manage the properties myself. I have always found Albany very good at sourcing a good tenant and providing me with a professional handover service. They do the hard work of sourcing, ...
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Comment on agent fees
Competitive.
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Sep 29,2015
Sep 29,2015
0
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All in all a good letting agency, we rented our 2 bedroom flat with Albany Lettings for just over 2 years at a very reasonable price, and experienced no problems with the flat. It was in good condition and if any repairs needed to be undertaken the ...
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Oct 08, 2015
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Hi Bethany, thank you for your review and apologies for the misunderstanding with the windows. Best of luck for the future. ...
Sep 25,2015
Sep 25,2015
0
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I would recommend Albany Lettings to anyone. We had a great flat at an excellent price for them, and they were really good to deal with during the tenancy. At the end, we were only charged a small amount for the cleaning - and as ...
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Comment on agent fees
They do charge fees, but I would still recommend them for overall service.
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Oct 08, 2015
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Brian, thank you for your kind review and again for looking after the flat so well. Tom. ...
Jul 20,2015
Jul 20,2015
0
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I was looking for a flat when I wanted to start my Masters degree a year ago. The viewing I had with Albany lettings was very nice, they gave me many details about the flat and everything around the contract et cetera worked so well ...
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Oct 08, 2015
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Thanks for your kind review Dani, I hope everything is going well back home. ...
Jun 03,2015
Jun 03,2015
0
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I have rented a flat with Albany for 3 years and have found their service to be excellent. They are quick in dealing with issues and ensure that their tenants are happy in the properties they let out. A friend of mine also recently let out ...
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Feb 04,2015
Feb 04,2015
0
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Very professional letting agent. Good communication with all staff throughout and final inspection dealt with quickly. Speed of response to any issues very good....
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Sep 17,2013
Sep 17,2013
2
people found
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this helpful
Not a resonsible letting agents.
Wanted to view a propert in Edinburgh. After arranging viewing, I got a call back on the day saying they were sorry as the current tenant was not able to let us view the property that day. After rearranging for ...
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Jun 18,2013
Jun 18,2013
1
people found
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My boyfriend and I were looking to rent a property without viewing it first (not ideal but we had our reasons why) from Albany Lettings. The first TWO people we spoke to, on separate occasions were nice and understanding about blind renting and the contract ...
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Feb 18,2013
Feb 18,2013
5
people found
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I have been a tenant quite a few times in the past and this is without a doubt the worst company I have come across. Terrible customer service - every person working there is unfriendly, unhelpful and completely incompetent. Avoid Albany Lettings!!!...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
There is absolutely no way I will use this letting agent again, and I will ensure none of my friends with Edinburgh do either.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
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Last updated at 4:02 PM 02/07/2018 by allAgents
