This is a letter I wrote some time ago about Martin & Co in Croydon. Martin & Co's head office are also liars and never use them. This is what happened to our property rented to them: FAO: Carrie-Anne Heath I refer to your email dated 18th October stating that Martin & Co Croydon acted professionally in respect of the management of our property at 17 Saxon Road. I would like to now give you an update since your correspondence. • The tenants vacated the property 3 weeks ago with the last months rent unpaid. Sam assured us she would contact a person called Dmitri, the son of Mrs Kukummeva, who always brought the rent to her in cash and would endeavour to collect the unpaid rent. It seems Dmitri did not live in the property but in some curious way collected the rent. Sam has business dealings with this person and his wife and it looks like this guy was subletting the property. We have not heard from Sam since and have, of course, received no rent. • We assumed that someone from Martin & Co would be present when the tenants vacated to determine the state of the property (as stated in your email) and also take the meter readings and collect the keys. Martin & Co were aware that we were out of the country when the tenants left. This obviously didn't happen. We heard nothing from Martin & Co and sent builders around to change the locks as we were concerned about the property. They were instructed to break down the back door if necesssary to gain entry. They didn't have to as the front door was unlocked. Anyone could have simply gained entry to the property without having to break in. Also all the windows were left wide open at the front and the back. • We have been to the property today with the builders and the place is totally ruined. We estimate it will cost around �10,000 to put it back to the state it was in when rented initially. Kitchen worktops ruined, bathroom in such a state no human being could enter it, all rooms vandalised, carpets disgusting and so on and so on. Photographs have been taken to prove this. We have also picked up mail for about 10 different names which obviously proves that more than 4 or 5 people occupied the house. Having opened some of this mail, we have found that no bills have been paid and the Gas and Electricity are threating to disconnect. There are numerous letters from the Water Rates and other companies threating bailiffs etc. • We received an email from someone at Martin & Co on Thursday last with no apology and no confirmation that they have any keys or had inspected the property (which they obviously didn't). They did state that they had transferred the deposit to our bank account. We checked today and no monies have been received. In your email you stated that Sam is holding the full deposit for you, well we sincerely hope she is and would like the full deposit back. All in all Martin & Co have not honoured their part of the contract. I have checked re the Letting Agents obligations and it seems they have failed on numerous issues. When we met Sam at the property on 19th October ( the day she was going around to collect the rent) she admitted she did not hold any keys. As there was nobody there we could not get in. She also made a comment in passing, heard by 2 witnesses, that god knows what you will find in there with 10-15 people living there. An admission that there were more than 4-5 people in residence. She did visit the property the following day and called us and informed us that one room was being used as a brothel...lovely. In one way I don't put much blame on Sam but would have to carry the blame to her mother, Sue, who suddenly has gone very quiet. I believe she is still the proprietor of Martin & Co Croydon but taking a back seat. We were not surprised to hear that you put no blame on Martin & Co Croydon and we didn't expect anything else. After all they are a franchise and your opinoin would be biased. We also note that Martin & Co are not members of NAEA or ARLA but are registered with NALS. We do not intend to let this matter rest and irrespective of the cost we will take this matter through the courts and endeavour to gain the compensation we deserve. The least we will expect is a total refund of all the management fees charged by Martin & Co as they did not manage our property in a proper manner. We will also pursue to the end that Martin & Co's membership is rescinded by NALS. Sean Duffy