The UK's Largest Customer Review Website for the Property Industry
Letters of Distinction
3.8/5, 65 Reviews
69% Recommended
89% letting valuation accuracy
71% letting fee satisfaction
Letters of Distinction offer a wide ranging service for both Landlords and Tenants alike and can offer specialist advice on property investment as well as residential lettings in York and the surrounding areas.
"I would not give Letters of..."
Share On : 
1 Star Review
By : 'Jasmine'
Services : Letting(As a Tenant)
Rent PCM : £450
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO41
26 Jul 2017
People found this helpful1
I would not give Letters of Distinction 1 star however this was necessary to leave this review. What can I say about letters if distinction? Should you wish to use an unorganised, unhelpful, rude and extortionately priced letting agent you've come to the right place! I greatly appreciated having to overpay considerably for my energy bills when given an incorrect reading when signing my tenancy. When endlessly working to find out which meter was my own not one person in the company could confirm the serial number or even where the meters within my flat were kept. I can see they are obviously a company who care for there customers as when handed my notice on the property 4 months into my tenancy (which I was told would be long term as people always stay here for a long period of time) I advised Letters of Distinction I would then have no home. I was unable to pay to leave the tenancy early because the property was being put up for sale, I had to stay and be homeless when the tenancy was over. I was told that if any property's within my price range came up they would let me know, funnily enough I came home form work one day to see the sign outside my flat 'Let agreed with Letters of Distinction'. At this point I had not received any contact apart from the template emails wishing me happiness in my new home.. which I'm sure you understand is a kick in the teeth when you're going to be homeless. During the sale process of the property I was hounded with phone calls regarding viewings advising me they had no keys to do this (which seemed strange as they had keys to come and review the property during my stay) I advised I was in the emergency room in hospital however they still hounded me to find a set of keys for them to have. I am still now being contacted about arranging viewings, I have not resided in this property for a month now. I had contacted Letters of Distinction regarding my disappointment in the service I received however they took the best route of customer service and decided to ignore this which unfortunately left me no choice but to leave them a review as requested when I moved out of the property. I do hope many people stay away from this disgrace of a letting agent and go to a company that are aware they are dealing with people's lives and homes.
Comments on Agent Fees
The fees are astonishing, to change the date on signing my tenancy agreement a couple of hours later would have been an additional fee of £50, to change a number in a diary...
Was this helpful?:
By : Francesca McCarthy
26 Jul 2017Dear Jasmine I have investigated your complaint and wanted to come back to you as soon as possible to address your comments. I would have liked the option to respond to this directly but unfortunately this is the first I have heard of your dissatisfaction of our service following you vacating the premises. When signing for a rental we can never absolutely assure that something will be long term, the truth is that people do generally stay within the building you were living for long er terms and I can absolutely assure you that we would have received no confirmation from the landlord prior to you moving in that they were looking to sell otherwise this is something we would advise before you committed to signing an agreement. Circumstances can unfortunately change for landlords at any given time, as they can for anyone. This does mean that even the landlord may not have had any idea at the time of you moving in that they would need to sell. Of course we would offer to help you find another apartment within your price range, the apartment you are referring to that was let within the village was around £200 per month higher that the apartment you were residing in. The sales process mentioned was not dealt with by ourselves but a local agent within the village, we do hold a set of keys (as you mentioned) and we are very sorry that they contacted yourself instead but since you lived within close proximity of their agency they would not travel to us in order to collect keys. We did advise them that this would have been an easier solution. I cannot comment any further on this as the communication/viewings were not from our firm. I would suggest contacting the local agent in question to inform them that you have vacated the property. The fees we charge are very average among other letting agents. We would not charge to move an appointment on the same date as this would not require a date change, but of course if the date is to change unfortunately it isn't just a case of changing one date. There is a lot of administration in the background and various paperwork that needs to be changed which not only takes time but also additional resources. We would not charge this unless the paperwork has already been drawn up which means it would be quite last minute, as I am sure you can imagine if we didn't charge a fee people would be swapping and changing dates constantly. This is a normal charge, I will add that many agents charge as much as £125.00 for the initial drawing up of a tenancy agreement separate from the referencing and administration fees so we don't feel that the charge for amending the documentation is unfair. I have spoken to every member of staff within the office and the lady you spoke to on notice being served has advised that you were quite understandably upset about the situation and that she had offered her assistance in helping you with your next move, the lady dealing with your check out advised that you were very pleasant to deal with and that she has received no comments on dissatisfaction of service. We do pride ourselves on our customer service and do receive many comments to the contrary. Of course we appreciate receiving feedback both good and bad as it helps us review where we might be able to improve, I have read your comments to the team and we will continue to learn from your experience however I do feel that whilst you had to vacate the property earlier than expected this was something that was entirely out of our power. It is a very upsetting process and one that many of us have been through, I can assure you it is not something we wanted and after reviewing the situation I do feel we did try to help you through the process as much as we could. If you would still like to discuss this further then please do not hesitate to contact me personally on 01904 529 539. Kind regards Francesca McCarthy Branch Manager
Browse popular links for estate agents, letting agents and properties nearby
Latest Reviews
Performance Statistics
| Services | Valuation | Fees | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letting | 89% | 71.00% | £450 | £1,700 |
Review Statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | From Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | | | | | | | | |
| 25 | 4 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Address
Letters of Distinction
169 Holgate Road, York, North Yorkshire
YO24 4DF
01904 529539
Opening Hours
- Monday :
- Tuesday :
- Wednesday :
- Thursday :
- Friday :
- Saturday :
- Sunday :
- 09:00 - 17:30
- 09:00 - 17:30
- 09:00 - 17:30
- 09:00 - 17:30
- 09:00 - 17:30
- Closed
- Closed
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
Advertise on
- ?Relocation Agent Network
- ?National Homes Network
- ?Move With Us
- allAgents Portal
- OnTheMarket
- ?Rightmove
- ?Zoopla
Social Media
Members of
Rankings
Latest Properties
No Property Found
No Property Found
Victoria North - Useless, ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Matt'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £800
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO31
11 Jan 2020
People found this helpful0
Victoria North - Useless, rude, unprofessional and incompetent. We left the flat absolutely spotless and then charged a ridiculous £220 out of our deposit for cleaning an oven which had been done before we left (quite literally, the invoice says oven cleaning). When we pushed back she ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Would give 0 stars if I ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Abi'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £800
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO31
11 Jan 2020
People found this helpful1
Would give 0 stars if I could. Weeks of chasing to respond to emails and fobbed off to be told 'we will be called back' to no avail. No deposit return breakdown provided for 2 and a half months after vacating and they would not return any undisputed amounts either after several chasers. ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Terrible experience. The ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'A'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £750
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO31
19 Nov 2019
People found this helpful0
Terrible experience. The staff are extremely rude and unprofessional, particularly Victoria North. Despite chasing them and giving them 42 days to provide a cost breakdown of the proposed charges, we received no adequate response and every time we rang, the correct manager was 'in a ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Sally Male is THE BEST! We ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'Amanda'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £875
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO31
28 Sept 2019
People found this helpful0
Sally Male is THE BEST! We just moved to York from the United States and we couldn't find a place to live. We were stressed and we tried going everywhere to find a place and just kept coming up empty handed. However, from day one, I worked with Sally and she went above and beyond everyone we ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
They always side with the ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'David'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £700
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO10
22 Aug 2019
People found this helpful1
They always side with the landlord, even when the landlord is clearly in breach of contract. Repair requests take forever to get resolved and you have to chase them constantly. Rude and threatening staff, worthy of a debt collection agent. I’m glad I’m finally moving house, ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
I rented through them for 5 ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'David'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO10
21 Aug 2019
People found this helpful0
I rented through them for 5 years. Never get things resolved and they always side with the landlord. Repair requests take forever to get dealt with. Rude and threatening staff, worthy of a dept collection ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Awful ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Mif'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £995
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO24
5 Jul 2019
People found this helpful0
Awful experience. Never ever trust them if you are looking to rent a property. Hopeless. Don't expect your deposit back once you have given them. No matter how you clean the property before leaving they won't give you back. Always biased and takes landlord ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
We lived in a property at ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Zhi'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £625
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO30
12 Mar 2019
People found this helpful0
We lived in a property at Pembroke Street for more than 3 years, we planned to move out 16th of last December, but the agency told us we must pay rent to the end of December, so we paid whole month rent, then in November we informed the Letters of Distinction that we would live there until our rent ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
Bad
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Fantastic ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'Amy'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £650
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO23
25 Apr 2018
People found this helpful0
Letters of Distinction were incredibly helpful in assisting me and my friend in renting our first property. They were always easy to get in contact with and were quick to offer any help that was needed. We were able to move in a month and the transaction couldn't have gone more smoothly. ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Terrible service for ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Still'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £950
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO30
31 Oct 2017
People found this helpful0
Terrible service for renters. Maryam was unhelpful, failed to take any responsibility or ownership of a dispute I had, despite me emailing at least 3 times over 6 months asking for a resolution. I have still not had my deposit or rental overpayment returned, despite being officially checked out of ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
I have yet to receive my overpayment or deposit, and they claim it takes them 10 working days to process after they have resolved any queries. Under the TDS guidelines they should return the deposit within 10 days
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
My experience with Letters of ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Jo'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £650
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO24
17 Aug 2017
People found this helpful2
My experience with Letters of Distinction has been the most stressful, upsetting time I have ever encountered. The administration fees are ridiculously high, for example, if you choose to renew your tenancy, you must pay 60.00. From the start of my tenancy, I was made to feel that the agency give ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
The fees are unnecessarily high
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
I would not give Letters of ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Jasmine'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £450
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO41
26 Jul 2017
People found this helpful1
I would not give Letters of Distinction 1 star however this was necessary to leave this review. What can I say about letters if distinction? Should you wish to use an unorganised, unhelpful, rude and extortionately priced letting agent you've come to the right place! I greatly appreciated having ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
The fees are astonishing, to change the date on signing my tenancy agreement a couple of hours later would have been an additional fee of £50, to change a number in a diary...
Comments (1)Was this helpful?:
By : Francesca McCarthy
26 Jul 2017Dear Jasmine I have investigated your complaint and wanted to come back to you as soon as possible to address your comments. I would have liked the option to respond to this directly but...
I rented a house that was ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'PoorYorkie'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO26
22 Mar 2017
People found this helpful2
I rented a house that was managed by letters of distinction which means I had no contact with the owner of the house. The reason I give a low rating for this agency is because of the amount of money I basically threw down the drain due to their high letting fees and the amount they take from the ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
Bad, very high fees. Some fees are not listed in tenancy pack like deposit admin fees.
Comments (1)Was this helpful?:
By : Francesca McCarthy
30 Mar 2017Thank you for your feedback, we absolutely take all comments on board and whilst I am of course disappointed that the feedback is negative I wanted to take the time to go through this and address...
Not so helpful and heard lots ...
Share On :
3 Star Review
By : 'Crooks'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO31
18 Oct 2016
People found this helpful2
Not so helpful and heard lots that they DONT give back your deposit even when apartment has been professionally cleaned .... so many past Tenants have been STUNG! Not getting all deposit back. You wouldn't mind but you work hard for that money they whisk away without any ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
BAD - �60 for renewal? It's a sub standard letter on PC that needs one touch of button! Pfffttt! Robbing sods ...
Comments (1)Was this helpful?:
By : Francesca McCarthy
30 Mar 2017Thank you for your feedback, apologies for the delay in response but this review had not been seen until now. There is a great deal of administration that is involved within the renewal process which ...
Great experience. Everything ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'Adriana'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO24
19 Sept 2016
People found this helpful3
Great experience. Everything was very quick and easy. The team very friendly and they did everything to please both parts. I would highly recommend this agency to everyone who wants to move quick and without much effort. They help you with everything. Thank you Letters of ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
Good
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Fantastic service from a very ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'Andrew'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £975
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO31
11 May 2016
People found this helpful4
Fantastic service from a very professional organisation with great attention to detail and customer service paramount. Nothing was to much trouble and everything dealt with positively, efficiently and courteously. Highly ... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Better than some
Comments on Agent Fees
Better than some
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
An incredible team of ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'Letters'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO31
5 May 2016
People found this helpful4
An incredible team of professionals. Very fair and decent with and even handed approach towards tenants/landlords. Any property issues are dealt with in a timely manner. This York based company are highly recommended. Becki Bulmer and Francesca McCarthy are ... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
good
Comments on Agent Fees
good
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Awful experience. Never ever ...
Share On :
1 Star Review
By : 'Imy'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : YO32
28 Mar 2016
People found this helpful3
Awful experience. Never ever trust them if you are looking to rent a property. Hopeless. Don't expect your deposit back once you have given them. No matter how you clean the property before leaving they won't give you back. Always biased and takes landlord ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
Having used this agency for 7 ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'J&J'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO10
18 Mar 2016
People found this helpful3
Having used this agency for 7 years, have once again found their service admirable. Quick to find new and suitable tenants plus staff and management contractors always ... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
Fees are fair and competitive.
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
I have used Letters of ...
Share On :
5 Star Review
By : 'PeteSh'
Branch : York, 169 Holgate Road
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Rent PCM : £775
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : YO31
24 Feb 2016
People found this helpful3
I have used Letters of Distinction for many years now and have always been happy with their dedication, professionalism and ability to provide good quality tenants for my ... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Reasonable
Comments on Agent Fees
Reasonable
Comments (0)Was this helpful?:
1 - 20 of 65 items
No Staff Registered
NaN - NaN of items
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.
