Noble City Living Sheffield

The worst company I have ever dealt with and a horrible experience that has left me traumatised. I will break down this review into 4 parts: i: viewing stage ii: Contract signing stage iii: Moving in stage iv: Moving out/Refund stage Viewing Stage I was moving to Sheffield from London to start a new Job in April. I contacted the agency via Rightmove on March 6th 2021. I selected two different 1 bedroom flats on Rightmove to view. I got an email response from Jade Ata the next day requesting to confirm a booking date and time for the viewings which I did and we agreed a time and date. Good start I thought so far. On the day of the viewing I receive a call from another person called Louise who is the lettings agent confirming my viewing but asked me what property I was looking for. This was quite surprising as I assumed they knew it was for a 1 bedroom flat as per the adverts and my confirmation with Jade. How wrong I was! Louise said the 2 flats I was going to view were actually student rooms not 1 bedroom flats. She apologised that Jade didn’t actually check the type of property I needed. I was driving all the way from London to view these 2 properties so luckily Louise checked. She then advised there are two other 1 bedroom properties I can view on the same day instead (Lightbox and Printworks). However the price for these was significantly higher than that quoted on Rightmove. I drove from London on 12th March to view Lightbox and Printworks. Lightbox was a construction site at the time of viewing. The man who was showing me around guaranteed it would all be complete by April which is when I wanted to move in. I then viewed Printworks which was a complete waste of time as it was just a student room and I was looking for a 1 bedroom flat. I decided to put an offer in the next day for a 1 bedroom flat at Lightbox with the expectation it would be completed by my moving in date. I emailed Louise to confirm the offer the next day. Contract signing and documents stage So far, the main issue was Jade choosing the wrong properties for me to view. She did not bother to confirm what kind of property I was looking for. A few days after contacting Louise, I received an email confirming my offer for the flat I chose at the rental price agreed on the viewing day with instructions to complete a form with details such as name, address, moving in date, and proof of ID etc. Upon reading the email the rental price quoted was much higher than the one agreed on viewing day (£735 PCM compared to £693 PCM). I queried this with Noble and they said that all the £693PCM flats were gone already but they offered me another flat at £715 PCM. This was strange considering they were available at the time of viewing. However, I took their word for it and filled out the form and sent to Noble along with ID documents on 15th March. 2 days later on 17th March I receive an email below from Jade: ‘Hi There This apartment is now being returned back to the market.’ I called back immediately and asked what this was about. Jade never answers calls, so another member of the team, Leanne had to check records and confirmed that they received my offer email and form and she apologised for the error. Another small hiccup I thought. I received the contract to sign on 24th March. My guarantor and I signed it within a day and sent back. I then receive an email from Jade on 30th March: ‘Hi There, We note this application form has not been returned therefore the flat is now being returned back to the market ‘ I immediately emailed Jade back with screenshot of signed contract but there was no reply. So I called Louise to query this and she confirmed Jade sent the email in error. Now that’s 2 wrong emails Jade had sent. This obviously caused me stress and anxiety; every time you think you’ve done your part to be then told they haven’t received anything and flat being returned. Jade is so incompetent its actually infuriating! I hesitantly proceeded but all these doubts were flowing through my mind. What else could go wrong I wondered? They couldn’t even get basic admin things correct. After contract signed, I didn’t hear back for a few days so I called to check the progress and they said they were still waiting for the proof of ID from both me and guarantor. I explained that I sent it last week. Again they had no idea so they had to check and they got back to confirm ID had been received. I then payed the first month’s rent of £715 on 7th April before my moving in date. iii: Moving in stage Now this is where the rollercoaster of ineptitude and deceitfulness begins from Noble. We agreed a moving in date of Sunday 11 April. Usually before moving in, you’d expect some kind of checking in information such as name of person who will be there to check you in, their contact details in case of emergency or running late and a time to meet. I didn’t receive any of this information in the week or so before moving in despite being told I would. I called the agency 3 times that week and finally was told someone will meet us there at 3pm to give us the keys to my flat. Upon arrival to Lightbox with a van full of belongings driven all the way from London with my fiancé to help me, we are greeted by the security man Paul. We said we are here to check in to our only to be immediately told, sorry you can’t that flat is no longer available! At this stage we were shocked and horrified. He then had to call Jade and Louise to try to get some more information. Jade never picked up so he eventually got through to Louise who suggested we can move into another flat, either one on ground floor or one on 3rd floor. We went to have a look at them only to find that none of them had been finished or furnished. I took the phone from Paul to speak to Louise to try to understand what was going on. She said that the investor for the flat we signed the contract for pulled out the night before and that the flat was no longer available. She said as it was a weekend there was no one in the office to let us know. We were understandably upset at this stage. What strikes me is that if Louise knew they received that email then I’m sure someone else in the office knew yet she or no one else didn’t inform us the flat was no longer available before we arrived. We reluctantly agreed to take the flat above the one originally intended for us but as this was not ready or furnished, we had to unload a whole van of stuff into another flat for storage so that it can then be moved to the new flat when it was ready. Louise confirmed it will be ready in 2 or 3 days and that the workers will move all the stuff into the new flat. Whilst this was a solution of some sorts, it was not an ideal one as we came all the way from London to pick up the flat keys on 11th April and hoped to unpack everything and organise the flat to how it needed to be before I started work. Now with this setback, I had to come back to Sheffield yet again on another day to pick up the keys for the alternative flat whenever it was ready which meant taking a day off work at very short notice, spending more money on train tickets and not mentioning the great inconvenience and stress this would cause. I emailed Noble on 12th April describing the events of the moving in day and how I’ve been let down. I asked that I get compensated for my troubles, increased travel costs and a pro rata rent reduction in next month’s rent as I didn’t actually move in on the specified date and that they were in breach of tenancy agreement. Jade replied with not a single word of apology or any empathy or to appreciate my concerns. She basically said that it wasn’t their fault and they’ve done nothing wrong and that as the contract wasn’t signed by the landlord they were not in breach of contract. When I signed the contract a few weeks previously, I assumed the landlord signed too, so when Jade said that the landlord hasn’t signed, it was a bit of a shock. But at the same time it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. A whole week passed and I received no updates form Noble if the alternative flat was ready. I was due to start my new job the following week so time wasn’t on my side. Several calls and emails to Noble and still no response. By that point I was sick to the teeth of this agency and its sheer incompetence, I decided to look for alternative accommodation. Luckily I found a similar flat only 5 minutes away. Online viewing was arranged instantly and contract was signed (by all parties this time) within 2 days and everything went so smooth. How different to my experiences with Noble! I then contacted Noble to say that I would like to cancel our contract and get my refund as I was no longer legally contracted to them. I requested if I can come to Lightbox to collect my belongings to take to my new flat. This was agreed. Upon arrival to Lightbox, I was informed by one of the workers that the alternative flat intended for me was actually completed within a day and that they informed Noble but Noble didn’t even tell me it was completed! At this point I was no longer surprised and thought good riddance to this bunch of cowboys so I took some of my belongings to my new flat. I agreed I’d be back with my fiancé a few days later with his car to take the rest of my belongings. Upon arrival, a mother and son were checking in to their flat to be told that there was no record of anyone checking in that day and their names were not listed. It was like déjà vu again and all my sympathies went out to that family. They had travelled from Middlesbrough with a van full of stuff too. An hour later it transpired that their original flat was taken and they had to be moved to the flat next door. They had to sign a new contract there and then before they could move in. It was a shock an inconvenience to them too but luckily resolved on the same day. Yet more incompetence from Noble. I took my remaining belongings and left happily knowing I’d never have to see or deal with Noble again (or so I thought). On 20th April, I emailed Jade to request a refund of the first month’s rent I payed them. Surprisingly Jade didn’t respond to my email. A week had passed so I contacted Noble again and Leanne asked for my bank details which I provided her on 26th April. I was told it will take 7-10 days for payment to go through. After 10 days no payment was received so I called them on 11th May to be told by Leanne that due to the Good Friday and Easter Monday bank holiday the payments were delayed. This was a complete nonsense because I requested the refund on 26th April (Easter bank holidays were on 2 and 5th April!). Leanne called back on same day saying that she actually meant to say that payment was delayed due to the 3rd May bank holiday. I finally received the money on 11th May a good 20 days after I originally requested it. In summary, avoid this company if you want to maintain your sanity and dignity. Jade Ata is the worst agent ever.