I am David Rolph, I deal with many hundreds of students each year and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoy it, however, just occasionally things go wrong. The tenants in question I found to be really nice throughout the tenancy so was a little disappointed to read that the feelings weren't mutual, however, I can see why they ended up being disappointed. Any issues were dealt with very quickly, however, they will have you believe differently
It is true, the house was not perfect when they moved in, however we did everything in our power to correct any areas needing attention as quickly as possible. It is at this point and only this point that I spoke to one of the parents. Other than once more after checkout, this was the only time I spoke to a parent.
Unfortunately for this group, they left it till late in the day to look for a house and ended up having to join 2 others that they didnt know to complete their group of 4. One of their housemates disappeared after 1 month and, although there was an advance to cover some of the rent, there was still 4-5 months of rent unpaid. Try as the tenants did they couldn't replace him so this rent was deducted from the deposit, clearly a source for anger and disappointment, however, there is no-one here they can blame except the tenant that disappeared. Sadly it seems, I bore the brunt of the anger. Throughout this whole process, I was in communication with the University of Surrey trying to get their accommodations office to send anyone looking for a room to contact us or the tenants.
In order to reduce this liability, we even agreed to end their tenancy over a month early to save them money.
We charged them no cleaning costs at checkout due to the problems we had at the start of the tenancy, however, we did have to pay for a van load of rubbish to be taken away, this was deducted from the deposit.
By letting them off the last month and a half rent, we effectively saved them over £2000, however, for some reason, this wasn't good enough.
I deal extensively with the University and students and have never been accused of being arrogant or rude, however, if that is the opinion of Rachel and Francesca then I am sorry you feel this way.
With regards to the quality of the house, there are better and there are worse. We do not accept any sub-standard properties and ensure that certification and high standards are kept up to date. This said, following this tenancy we recommended a new bathroom be put in to this house and it's been very much enjoyed by every tenant since.
I am sorry your housemate let you down so badly, I do wish however, that if you decide to write a review, you be honest and fair. Making up issues and comments to satisfy your anger just to damage my reputation is simply not fair. Honest and constructive criticism is always welcome.