Shaws Estate Agents Ltd

Very bad experience with this agency, especially in the last period when we (me and my brother) needed to leave the house to move abroad. At the beginning of the rent they forgot to give us the inventory and, although I understand it was our fault to realise it too late and never asked for it, we were never aware of what was written there, giving full trust to the agency. At the end of the tenancy, we received an email with a lot of deductions (from the deposit) related to something that was already missing, included ridiculous estimations for things that definitely worth less. In that list were included also things that were already in bad conditions and other ones marked as ruined without considering the normal use after two years of tenancy. Unfortunately, we had a clear evidence that they tried to get some extra money using the list as a valid excuse. The day we left the house, the agency started complaining about some dead leaves in the garden, normal episode being winter, and they asked to be paid for a gardener (!) just to use a broom, given also that the garden has just few flower beds and it is paved. The day we left the house they started some works inside, for 12 days. They asked us to pay the professional cleaning including the dirt caused by their contractors! In their sense, we should have had paid the cleaning service before the works and then the landlord should have paid again at the end. After many emails, they understood that it was pointless to clean the house twice and they agreed to share the cleaning service. But they tried to let us pay for all. Please forgive us if we are going to report another episode: after few months we moved in, we asked for the missing room's door keys. They gave us the same answer: that they were already in the inventory, and, although we tried to explain the situation (of the missing inventory), they didn't agree to replace them. Eventually, we bought just one lock for one door, given the quite cheap price, and we never asked for a refund. Now, if the check-out list reported by them would be honest, it should at least include the other missing key, but it doesn't. They incredibly forgot that episode, or that one related to the garden. How could they forget to add those things to the list, if they were right and the garden was really dirty (our pictures, of course, showed the perfect conditions) or we really lost the keys (of course not)? Why didn't they answer our questions when we told them that they were wrong, or when we asked to send us the signed inventory, that of course, they didn't have? I would also highlight the very unprofessional behaviour of the agency: during the viewings on the last month, they came to the house without any notice in more than one occasion. And especially one day it was very embarrassing, having myself a shower! Also, the agent that came to the viewings didn't know the house: didn't know about the garden, about the fireplace, or the alarm! All things that didn't help to show the good quality of the house to the new potential tenants. They were not responsible for the contractors that we were letting entering in the house: on more than one occasion we complained about them because they were leaving the toilet dirty, the lights on or they were walking on the carpet with the shoes. One day we were abroad, they pretended to let enter one of their contractors in the house: I proposed to wait for our return, just a few days after, but they started to threaten us saying that in the contract we MUST let enter someone if they give us one day of notice, interpreting the contract only as they want. When we gave the notice in January, they told us that we were breaking the contract. It was containing a very unclear clause that would have allowed us to leave early without breaking it. After many emails, included some from Shelter that supported our thesis, they ignored our questions when we asked for their interpretation of the contract in those sentences. We were willing to accept their thesis if they could have demonstrated that they were right, but the answer was to talk about these things you should call a lawyer. Again, after having accepted something we were not considered fair, they were not helping us to reach an agreement with the landlord, but they showed themselves defending the landlord only. We think this shows enough evidence of the agency acting in bad faith and our frustration to suffer its very bad and unprofessional behaviour. We have always paid the rent punctual and we have also received congratulations from them on how clean we were during their checks. We hope this review could help future tenants to avoid the same problems and frustrations we have had. We have read, too late, other reviews describing similar problems with them, and we are willing to initiate a legal procedure, if possible, with other people that would like to share the legal expenses. We can, of course, provide any written evidence of what we said above to anyone interested. To conclude, we are going to write here the part of the contract with the not really clear sentence about the notice. Many people told us we were right, but, unfortunately, we live in a world where a solicitor is more expensive than what we should pay to the strongest one. In the contract is written that we could give at least one month notice after the first year (already passed at the time of the notice in January 2017). The agency gave us a new contract at the end of the first year (2016), where it was written that it was renewing and extending the previous one (it also reported the date of 2015). The agency said that the date to be considered is that one in the new contract, so it affirmed that we had to pay the rent until the expiring date. Thanks for your attention. […] The Landlord and Tenant have the right to terminate the Tenancy on or after the first twelve months by giving the Landlord not less than one month from the Tenant and two months from the Landlord prior notice in writing. […] The Tenant is holding over the premises on the terms of an existing Agreement dated 13/06/2015 and made between the same parties hereto together with the contents therein specified in the Inventory and Schedule of Condition (the Existing Agreement) and this Agreement renews and extends the Existing Agreement. Both the Landlord and the Tenant agree for the period of this Agreement to observe and perform their obligations under the Existing Agreement.