I am writing this review after having moved into said one-bedroom flat in Oxford with my partner, let by Martin & Co, four months ago in June 2015. Me and my partner are from another country in Europe and had just moved to England then. We both visited the property beforehand and noted certain issues with the flat that we addressed at the viewing. The issues included mould spotting all over the flat, old and stained carpeting in the lounge, as well as single-glazed windows on the street side of the flat. The letting agents agreed to consult with the landlord and after a while, confirmed that the landlord would carry out the necessary renovations prior to our tenancy. These renovations were included in the contract, everything seemed serious and reliable to us because we had in writing what would be done before signing the contract. On the day that we moved in, we were stunned to find that none of the mould had been removed, even though there was a clause in our contract stating that this would be taken care of prior to our tenancy. We reported the breach of contract to Martin & Co immediately who then ordered a handyman to clean down the mould with sugar soap and paint over it. This did not happen until week 3 of our tenancy. It took the handyman several days to complete this job which was a big inconvenience for us and we did not feel that this was a proper way of taking care of long-term mould removal. We spoke to our upstairs neighbor who has been living in her flat for 12 years and who also has ongoing issues with Martin & Co concerning her flat. She told us that the house is poorly insulated, that it suffered from excessive dampness (which we had noticed during the first weeks as our laundry would not dry and there was lots of condensation on the windows) and that many tenants before us moved out for this reason. We now had the confirmation that we had been tricked into renting a flat that was in disrepair, poorly maintained and very prone to mould. We then went ahead and consulted local authorities in Oxford, including the CAB, the Council and Shelter, who referred us to the Environmental Health department. An officer from this department came by our house and inspected the flat, noting all the issues we had with it and finding even more issues that we were not aware of as rather inexperienced tenants. The officer wrote a report to the letting agents/landlord and asked them to rectify these issues within three months. The mould had already been removed by then so we could not prove the mould issue to him at this point (although we had pictures). During these three months of us waiting for the corrective works to be carried out, which are coming to an end now, we have continuously expressed our discontent with the dampness issue, the fact that we have to take our laundry to the laundrette to dry it and reported that we were seeing some mould growing back in the bathroom and the bedroom. Obviously so, because sugar soap and a paint job do not take care of the actual issue causing the mould to come back. We knew this would happen eventually. When we reported the new mould, we were blamed because the mould must have apparently been 'induced by our lifestyle' (not ventilating, heating properly). This is a common practice of letting agents in cases like this and we did not let this impress us in any way. They knew that the house has had issues for years and the Environmental Health department confirmed this in their report. The agents have probably played the blame game with any tenant before us as well. Overall, their service was poor even apart from this audacity. We continuously followed up with them to make sure the proposed works by the EH department would be carried out soon. We have now waited for almost three months, and the works have not been carried out yet. It is autumn now and the conditions in our flat have worsened. They simply kept on putting us off and urged us to wait until they heard back from the landlord in order to proceed with making an appointment with contractors. A week ago, a radiator in our kitchen started leaking. For about a week after reporting the issue, our mails were ignored until we threatened going to Shelter or the CAB again. Robert Tupman, our property manager then told us he would send a contractor over on a Saturday at a certain time. We waited, but no one showed up as this matter was quite urgent to us. Mr. Tupman then steered clear of all guilt saying that he did not have our phone number (which is a lie obviously). We continued to write him emails about the issue, asking when someone could come over to fix it. Today (which is part of the reason why I am writing this review today) he wrote us an email saying that contractors were on their way to the property right now. Me and my partner were at work and we had expressed to Martin & Co plenty of times before today that we do not wish anyone to enter the property without us being there. What they as letting agents do is simply hand out keys to someone's flat to their contractors who can then trespass without the tenant's consent. Where I come from, this is absolutely illegal. From what I gathered in online research, a letting agent or landlord has to give the tenant a 24-hour notice before accessing the property in England. Martin & Co clearly do not respect tenant's rights, have clearly assaulted us by failing to ask for our consent to let contractors enter our home and have invaded our privacy in every way possible. Not only have they rented out a property in disrepair with serious mould and dampness issues, they have also let third parties enter our flat without consulting us first and asking for permission. This case was not an emergency, the house was not on fire, nor was it flooded. I strongly advise any person looking to rent or buy a property with Martin & Co in Oxford not to do any business with them. We were not treated fairly, we were disrespected, our privacy was invaded, they breached the tenancy contract and the only way we can sum this experience up is that we received the shittiest service from them we have ever experienced in letting a flat. We will now consider taking legal action against them for their actions and hope that this review is helping someone out there not to get fooled by them as we did.