“I used this agency for my current flat. Although I ......”
1 Star Review
Dec 17,2013
By:
'Linda'
Dec 17,2013
Branch: London, 90 Notting Hill Gate
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: W9
Branch: London, 90 Notting Hill Gate
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: W9
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I used this agency for my current flat. Although I was reluctant to work with them, as they didn't really listen to my needs, I let their letting agent, Davis Martens; convince me to show me some properties. As expected, he showed me properties I wouldn't like, but the last one seemed to be perfect, as it was newly refurbished, and Foxtons was the agency that sold the flat to my landlord. I trusted it, and let Foxtons rent the flat to me, and pressured me to come up with almost £5000 in 2 days.
As a foreigner from the Netherlands, where apartments, especially in the high end ranges, are built according to safety measures and high standards, I didn't know I had to check this with Foxtons before signing the rental agreement.
When I moved in I didn't have lights and heating for two weeks, there were leakages, furnitures hadn't arrived (took 3 weeks), the flat wasn't cleaned (took more than a month), smoke came out of the oven etc. When the specialist electrician came, he found out that the Electricity was wired wrongly, and that it had burned through. If it had gone further, it would have caused fire. Furthermore, until now (two months down the road), I'm Lucky if I get water to shower, and even more lucky if it's hot water; when I told the landlord about this, he said that the water has difficulty getting up to the third floor, and that the pipes are old (obviously my jaws were on the floor the moment he mentioned this. To make things worse, he said London is an old city. I mean come on; in 2013, water can't get into a three floor story building? Amsterdam is an old city too, but we don't have the issues you have in London). Next to that, when I turn the dishwasher or washing machine on, the place fills up with smoke and the smell of burnt rubber, and other issues such as the fact that the windows can't open because they have been painted shut and the cords to open them, are missing (totally forgotten by the specialist that built it).
When I told all of this to Foxtons, their only response was that they don't manage the flat, and that I should deal with it with the landlord. And, this is the agency I paid almost £400 for the one minute they showed me this flat, their horrible service; the landlord had to pay them two months' rent to find a tenant for him and draft up this agreement that I could have done myself. And, they sold this property to the landlord, which has unverified safety certificates as it turns out now. I wouldn't be surprised if the gas blows up the building one day.
I'm still waiting for the landlord to fix everything before these two months are over. As the landlord is oblivious and never checked the flat before I moved in (he literally bought it two weeks before I moved in), I'm convinced that Foxtons was aware of the issues. Obviously I would never recommend FOXTONS to anyone.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Acknowledge problems and try to find a solution with the landlord, and compensate me for the two months I've been paying full rent while I can't use the flat to 100% satisfaction according to the rental agreement, and living in a condition for two months which is not safe.
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