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Apr 11,2014
Apr 11,2014
1
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My partner and I let a flat through FJ Lord which was managed by their maintenance company from June 2012 ¢â‚¬â€œ December 2013.
It pains me to have to spend the time writing this review but I was disgusted, continually shocked and frankly appalled at the level of ¢â‚¬Ëœservice' provided to my partner and I before, during and after our tenancy.
I will start at the beginning. We viewed a property in April 2012 and wished to take it; we were required to put £1,000 down to make an offer, which if accepted we could not get back, if we were to pull out of the deal. This is the highest ¢â‚¬Ëœoffer deposit' I have ever had to put down but we did as we wanted the flat. We did however request items inserted to our AST.
When it came to moving in there were issues with getting the keys and when we eventually did we found that most of the things requested in our AST had not been honoured. Our flat had not been cleaned to the extent that there was cigarette ash everywhere and the carpets had not been cleaned despite us stressing that we would only take the flat if they were to be professionally cleaned (they were stained badly and stank of stale smoke). Moreover the internal door handles were broken, something we requested be fixed, they were not fixed and for the whole duration of our tenancy we could not lock our bathroom door or even close it from the outside. The toilet seat was broken; for about the first 12 months of our tenancy we did not have a toilet seat that we could sit on. We stopped having guests to visit as they could not use the toilet; we only could because we learned to live with it. This was not a cheap flat in my opinion, it was in excess of £1,500 pcm for a 2 bedroom flat.
We spent the first 6 months of our tenancy chasing all of the above problems but it was pointless. We were told we needed to speak to the agents, who told us to speak to maintenance. We would speak to maintenance who would say someone else was dealing with our account. That person would say someone else was dealing with it. We were told that despite us requesting the carpets to be professionally cleaned this would not be honoured unless the money to pay for this came from the previous tenant's deposit. Eventually the money was deducted from the previous tenants deposit and we were then told that the carpets would not be cleaned as the flat had all our belongings in it and ¢â‚¬Ëœlogistically' it was not now feasible to clean the carpets. Can you believe it? The door handles were never fixed meaning we could never close and open internal doors. After 12 months of hounding we eventually had a toilet seat that we could sit on. These items are just the tip of the iceberg, the ones that have stuck in my memory more than most. What is the point of the AST if it is something that we as tenants must honour, but estate agents and landlords do not? A one-way agreement? I asked for clauses to be inserted to our contract, under the ¢â‚¬Ëœindividually negotiated clauses' section. I was categorically told that this could not happen (what then is the point in this section) and that our AST requirements would be honoured. I was lied to. Time and time again I was lied to.
Our mind was made up a couple of weeks after we moved in that we would leave at the end of our tenancy. I did not however expect our 18 month tenancy to be quite so full of such appalling service as it was.
Our tenancy came to and end and we vacated the property, leaving it in an unrecognisable state of cleanliness compared to how we found it. 3 weeks after the end of our tenancy we were informed deductions would be made from our deposit, did I expect anything less? And guess what, deductions were being made for all sorts of things that we had spent 18 months attempting to get fixed. It was another 5 weeks before we had any money returned. So about 8 weeks after we left the property we had 70% of our deposit returned with the remaining 30% still being withheld. I spent more hours calling and emailing the offices of Spicerhaart and FJ Lord. I was fobbed off and told contradicting things from different people on a daily basis. After 10 weeks I became more urgent, aware that we only had 3 months from the end of our tenancy to raise disputes with the TDS. Finally most of our deposit was returned but about 5% was deducted (the deduction being to fix something that was broken when we moved in). In the end we gave up.
I spent 2 years almost constantly calling and sending emails to Spicerhaart and FJ Lord for things that I should not have needed to. I wouldn't have minded if we had been poor tenants. However our rent was always paid in full and on time, we kept the property spotlessly clean and in a far superior state than it had been left for us. I had to continually battle for things that were just simply not honoured and for money that belonged to us and was owed to us.
I have rented in London for 8/9 years now and used 4/5 different agencies, all of the others have good and bad points but I would use them all again except FJ Lord and Spicerhaart.
I would advise anyone to absolutely avoid this company at all costs!!!!
It pains me to have to spend the time writing this review but I was disgusted, continually shocked and frankly appalled at the level of ¢â‚¬Ëœservice' provided to my partner and I before, during and after our tenancy.
I will start at the beginning. We viewed a property in April 2012 and wished to take it; we were required to put £1,000 down to make an offer, which if accepted we could not get back, if we were to pull out of the deal. This is the highest ¢â‚¬Ëœoffer deposit' I have ever had to put down but we did as we wanted the flat. We did however request items inserted to our AST.
When it came to moving in there were issues with getting the keys and when we eventually did we found that most of the things requested in our AST had not been honoured. Our flat had not been cleaned to the extent that there was cigarette ash everywhere and the carpets had not been cleaned despite us stressing that we would only take the flat if they were to be professionally cleaned (they were stained badly and stank of stale smoke). Moreover the internal door handles were broken, something we requested be fixed, they were not fixed and for the whole duration of our tenancy we could not lock our bathroom door or even close it from the outside. The toilet seat was broken; for about the first 12 months of our tenancy we did not have a toilet seat that we could sit on. We stopped having guests to visit as they could not use the toilet; we only could because we learned to live with it. This was not a cheap flat in my opinion, it was in excess of £1,500 pcm for a 2 bedroom flat.
We spent the first 6 months of our tenancy chasing all of the above problems but it was pointless. We were told we needed to speak to the agents, who told us to speak to maintenance. We would speak to maintenance who would say someone else was dealing with our account. That person would say someone else was dealing with it. We were told that despite us requesting the carpets to be professionally cleaned this would not be honoured unless the money to pay for this came from the previous tenant's deposit. Eventually the money was deducted from the previous tenants deposit and we were then told that the carpets would not be cleaned as the flat had all our belongings in it and ¢â‚¬Ëœlogistically' it was not now feasible to clean the carpets. Can you believe it? The door handles were never fixed meaning we could never close and open internal doors. After 12 months of hounding we eventually had a toilet seat that we could sit on. These items are just the tip of the iceberg, the ones that have stuck in my memory more than most. What is the point of the AST if it is something that we as tenants must honour, but estate agents and landlords do not? A one-way agreement? I asked for clauses to be inserted to our contract, under the ¢â‚¬Ëœindividually negotiated clauses' section. I was categorically told that this could not happen (what then is the point in this section) and that our AST requirements would be honoured. I was lied to. Time and time again I was lied to.
Our mind was made up a couple of weeks after we moved in that we would leave at the end of our tenancy. I did not however expect our 18 month tenancy to be quite so full of such appalling service as it was.
Our tenancy came to and end and we vacated the property, leaving it in an unrecognisable state of cleanliness compared to how we found it. 3 weeks after the end of our tenancy we were informed deductions would be made from our deposit, did I expect anything less? And guess what, deductions were being made for all sorts of things that we had spent 18 months attempting to get fixed. It was another 5 weeks before we had any money returned. So about 8 weeks after we left the property we had 70% of our deposit returned with the remaining 30% still being withheld. I spent more hours calling and emailing the offices of Spicerhaart and FJ Lord. I was fobbed off and told contradicting things from different people on a daily basis. After 10 weeks I became more urgent, aware that we only had 3 months from the end of our tenancy to raise disputes with the TDS. Finally most of our deposit was returned but about 5% was deducted (the deduction being to fix something that was broken when we moved in). In the end we gave up.
I spent 2 years almost constantly calling and sending emails to Spicerhaart and FJ Lord for things that I should not have needed to. I wouldn't have minded if we had been poor tenants. However our rent was always paid in full and on time, we kept the property spotlessly clean and in a far superior state than it had been left for us. I had to continually battle for things that were just simply not honoured and for money that belonged to us and was owed to us.
I have rented in London for 8/9 years now and used 4/5 different agencies, all of the others have good and bad points but I would use them all again except FJ Lord and Spicerhaart.
I would advise anyone to absolutely avoid this company at all costs!!!!
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Opening Hours
Address
Felicity J Lord
310 Mare Street
Hackney,London
Greater London
E8 1EJ
020 8986 2698
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 25% | 0% | £775,000 | £775,000 |
| Lettings | 100% | 50% | £1,200 | £2,200 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Areas covered
- E8
- E9
- E5
- E2
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- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
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Mar 28,2012
Mar 28,2012
31
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I cannot express enough how awful my experience has been with Felicity J Lord. From the day we were meant to move in up till now 9 months later there has been nothing but problems and any attempt at getting resolutions is like getting blood out ...
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Mar 28, 2012
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After reading the other reviews they reminded me of something else that we had the same problem with. We asked if there were any hidden fees before we moved and were told there were none. On moving day when we were desperate for somewhere to move to suddenly we have to pay hundreds of pounds in admin costs and legal costs and costs to produce the tenancy agreement etc etc. I cant remember if it was as much as the £600 that others have mentioned, but it was definitely more than £100 from each o ...
Apr 12,2023
Apr 12,2023
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We rented our house out through FJL for years and found them helpful, proactive and swift to sort our problems but selling through them was amazing. They worked so hard and the Branch Manager, Charlie, bent over backwards to get our sale “ over the line”. ...
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Mar 16,2023
Mar 16,2023
0
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really appreciated the communication from. faisal and vivian in the hackney and stoke newington offices respectively.
Great agents with a real interest in their applicants...
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Feb 20,2023
Feb 20,2023
0
people found
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So far I've had a seamless and enjoyable experience selling my property with Felicity J Lord, I had a great connection with the branch manager Charlie Saville and his team, got viewings quickly and a couple of offers within a couple of weeks, now in ...
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May 26,2022
May 26,2022
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have mainly been corresponding with Faisal Hussain.
Faisal is very professional, approachable. I have never had to chase him up for anything....
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Oct 12,2021
Oct 12,2021
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Calls go to a concierge (who are delightful) - but no-one calls you back. 2 months and waiting for response from manager! Terrible service...
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Mar 23,2020
Mar 23,2020
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have been waiting since November for a deposit refund and we are now approaching April. My concern is less about the money now but more about the outright disregard and care given to me.
After being dealt with by the initial agent whom I ...
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Dec 18,2018
Dec 18,2018
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Viewed a property on Thursday evening (we were the first people to view the property). We put down a holding deposit of £1000 the next day and were assured that this meant noone else would be able to view the property. We were then informed on ...
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Comment on agent fees
Agent fees are the highest we've come across so far.
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Jun 14,2018
Jun 14,2018
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Renting through FJL has been the most horrendous, stressful experience in my 10 years in London. So much has gone wrong it's too much to list. They have been so incompetent and unhelpful. I would warn anyone to avoid them unless you want to have the ...
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Comment on agent fees
Bad - c £500 just for reference checks and signing a lease
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May 11,2016
May 11,2016
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
This was the most horrific experience I've ever had and I lived in London for nearly a decade.
Scandalous behaviour. I kind of wish they were rude to me, at least then I would have some substance. They gave us the wrong keys, they didn't ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Over four hundred pounds for showing us the flat and e-mailing us the contract? With putting us in conflict (now resolved) with landlady.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Over four hundred pounds for showing us the flat and e-mailing us the contract? With putting us in conflict (now resolved) with landlady.
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Mar 09, 2018
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(1)
Hi there,
We apologies for the poor experience you received with us, please email in to [email protected] so we can look into your experience.
Thank you,
Regards
Ross ...
Nov 29,2014
Nov 29,2014
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Felicity J Lord charged us over £400 for 'reference checks' 'coordinateion 'check in' service when we rented our flat through them. This is over double what we've paid before over the past 4 years in London. So as per their website and company literature we expected a ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Listened to me and understood my very reasonable request without arrogance or laying blame on everyone else.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
These do not at all reflect the service FJL provide, not only was the service poor and incomplete when I questioned them on it they were arrogant and defensive which I don't expect when paying for a premium service. You cannot claim to provide a list of services to validate a huge fee then when these services are not delivered shrug off responsibility.
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Dec 05, 2014
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Dear J Berridge
I'm really sorry to hear this. Please can you email [email protected] so we can look into this for you.
Many thanks
Melanie Smith
Customer Relations Manager ...
Apr 11,2014
Apr 11,2014
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
My partner and I let a flat through FJ Lord which was managed by their maintenance company from June 2012 ¢â‚¬â€œ December 2013.
It pains me to have to spend the time writing this review but I was disgusted, continually shocked and frankly appalled at the level of ¢â‚¬Ëœ...
read full review
read full review
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Sep 07, 2015
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I was charged £300 for tenant referencing and changing one name on the tenancy when I took it over from another tenant. This is three times any amount I have paid before. When I received the contract I found my signature had been forged so I was not able to raise concerns about any of the clauses. The worst of these is that it says they keep any interest accrued on our deposit. THIS IS NOT COMPLIANT with the tenancy deposit scheme. There are several things which don't work or are in poor repair ...
Feb 27,2014
Feb 27,2014
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
They take your card details before putting an offer through to the landlord and if the offer is accepted they withdraw a £1000 security deposit. This security deposit is mainly to secure THEMSELVES that you wont back away from your offer or you'll lose your deposit ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Be honorable!Attached Filesnbsp;
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Mar 22,2013
Mar 22,2013
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Really bad experience. They take £1000 holding deposit off you if you change your mind for good reasons. Really upset that we won't be getting money back, but have found a much nicer place with a much more reputable agent....
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Jul 14,2012
Jul 14,2012
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Felicity J Lord are so unbelievably useless, threatening, expensive and ineffective that I had to share it here in the hope that other people don't have to experience it.
Every dealing with them over the two years I have been renting (as a tenant) through ...
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Mar 02,2012
Mar 02,2012
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Never before has an Agent taken a deposit and said "You have the flat" only to call 4 days later and say "You don't have the flat". To compound this illegality 8 days after I paid them my deposit they are yet to repay it. This agent ...
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Feb 20,2012
Feb 20,2012
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Fees for moving into a 1 bedroom flat - £630. Will never use Felicity J Lord again once this 12 month contract is up....
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What agent could do to change your mind?
They should immediately inform you of ALL of their fees, not tell you while you are filling in an offer form. Far too much information required for guarantors, even after that they charge ‚£30 for a further previous landlord reference and expect you to sort it out.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Dec 01,2011
Dec 01,2011
8
people found
this helpful
this helpful
They charge staggering fees!! They were not up front about them at all and despite my asking them several times if there were any fees I should know about they only drop the bomb at the last minute when we are desperate to move in.
600 ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Not charge such insane fees, and being transparent about them from the outset.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Mar 28, 2012
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We had exactly the same problem. We asked if there were any hidden fees before we moved and were told there were none. On moving day when desperate suddenly we have to pay hundreds of pounds in admin costs and legal costs etc etc. I can remember if it was as much as £600 , we managed to reduce it a bit but was definitely more than £100 for each of the 3 of us moving in. ...
No fees information available
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 2:26 PM 14/06/2018 by Shobad Ahmed
I am very concerned that I have become involved with this agent and not sure what to do.