I wanted to write this review in order to inform students NOT to rent a property from Phillip James and go elsewhere, moving out and renting off a private landlord has affirmed my feelings that Phillip James are bloody terrible...I can only speak for the Withington Branch, but I would like to share my experiences with them. I was one of 6 individuals who rented a room in a 6 bedroom student house in Fallowfield, Manchester. First of all, before we moved into the property, we were promised that they were going to make improvements to the house before we moved in, this was part of the reason we were sold on the house! When we moved into the property, none of the things promised had been done, a lot of the areas had not even been cleaned, we were okay with it but on top of this, there was no microwave, bin or hoover, all things we had to request. In addition to this, the gas was not running properly for AN ENTIRE MONTH, we were aware that it had been switched off due to previous tenants not paying and the house being unoccupied for a year, but we were told that it would be sorted for the date we moved in, when we did move in, it seemed like the matter had been totally forgotten about, I had to do all my cooking in the microwave and oven for an entire month, and it was extremely lucky that the shower was electric and the heating did not need to be on at that time of year!! I feel like the company is very disorganised.... Secondly, You are not allocated a specific member of staff, the relationship you have with them feels completely impersonal, when you call up with any issues, you are usually put through to someone you have never spoken to before, and usually have to repeat things to them that you have said several times over the phone even in the same week.... We had in incident in the house where a member suffered some mental health issues and abrubtly left the property, leaving us all liable for his rent. I feel like the way I was spoken to about the matter was completely cold and unecessary, what happened in the house actually made me feel very low the entire christmas period last year, which was worsened by the fact I recieved an email from a member of staff on christmas eve announcing that we were liable for his rent as he had left the country. I read the email on a lovely evening spent in the pub on christmas eve which was instantly made to feel very uptight over the entire christmas period. I expressed I thought it was pretty inconsiderate to tell me something like that on christmas eve when they are a student estate agent and should be aware that it is impossible to sort out a new tenant/organise viewings with potential punters if you are students who travel back to different places over the holidays, especially christmas!! I spent boxing day and the following days putting up ads, but I soon realised I was pretty much helpless until I got back to manchester. I feel like he really should have known this all along! When I replied to the staff member, I feel like the way he phrased things was blunt, unapoligetic and demeaning. I now have an amazing and friendly landlord who just focuses on one property and I know if the same thing had happened in my new house he would have handled the situation completely differently and atleast shown a slight bit of empathy... FINALLY, Our contract ended in June, however I recieved my cheque for the deposit just last week, they said they needed confirmation that we had payed all of our last bills which I can understand, but the company we were with was completely useless and was not providing us with one. In the end we recieved the deposit, the 6 of us were charged 25 pounds each for 'cleaning and replacing 2 light bulbs' I don't know how the price of that was concluded it �150 and I didn't realised tenants were liable when light bulbs blew but It didn't feel like too much so I just let it slide, on top of this though, we were charged a �30 admin fee, and �100 of the original amount we payed has miraculously dissappeared off the statement, when I emailed them requesting they break down the costs they have not responded to my email. JUST AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. I have spent time writing this review to make sure people did not make the same mistake I did.