Lighthouse Property Services Ltd

Where do I start. Let through Lighthouse as a student at Lincoln uni for my second year and from the very first day me and my 3 other housemates had problem after problem that piled up as more and more went unresolved, and those that were fixed took a lot of pushing from us and a ridiculously long time to fix. The first day we arrived, the house was filthy. This was beyond a bit of dirt/wear and tear; there was dirt/dust everywhere, the bins were full, any my room didn't even have a wardrobe or a functioning light fixture. After complaining (rightfully so) about the filth and lack of essential items I was paying for I was greeted with a level of sass by one of the agents that was downright unprofessional. When picking up my keys, all I was told was that in my room, room 1, there was a problem with the light. Whether this was the bulb, lamp, fixture, shade, or anything else was not clear at all. Then, when I went to ask when I would have any light in my room or a wardrobe for a suitcase full of clothes that I had brought the agents response was "I don't have a crystal ball". You'd expect at least a level of professionalism to follow after a clear case of incompetence. Not at Lighthouse. To add to this, our house that came equipped with a breakfast bar came with normal size chairs that were impossible to sit at, forcing us to buy a table to be able to eat in the kitchen, the blinds in one of the bedrooms upstairs didn't fit the window, allowing light in all the time, blinds in another bedroom upstairs were broken and sellotaped together, and many of the doors in the house wouldn't stay open or closed, had giant cracks in, and looked like they were going to fall apart. These problems were reported on the first day of residency, and either went unfixed (the bedroom with the too small blinds/broken doors) or took several months to fix (broken blinds). Over the year, I went into their office, called their number, and sent them emails dozens of times for problem after problem that arose with the house, which I have copy and pasted below from an email that I sent Lighthouse early on in the year and each time I got more frustrated than the last at both the helplessness of agents due to the Landlord very clearly not being willing to spend any money on a house that was damp, old, and broken and very clearly needed some permanent fixes, not temporary fixes like plastering and tiling walls that were riddled with damp. Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to Lighthouse with just some of the problems we faced, and whether or not they were fixed. There seriously is too many problems for me to list them all off the top of my head and Lighthouse still rarely even seemed phased by our problems: Reported issues that have been resolved: Room 1 - no wardrobe on arrival Room 1 - broken light fixture on arrival, was told upon arrival that there was an issue with the light in room 1 Room 4 - electrical socket sparking upon use Upstairs bathroom - large nail protruding out of the ground No vacuum upon arrival, we were told of this fact the day we arrived Reported issues that have yet to be resolved (these issues span from our first arrival to the property in September to today): Room 2 - blinds too short to fit window, large gap at bottom lets light in making blinds virtually useless (have had a technician come in and see this, note it, and inform us the landlord will be given a quote as it is clearly wrong, but nothing heard since) Room 2 - damp spots on wall, have been seen dripping (another technician has observed these and made note of them, but nothing heard since) Room 3 - bed slats broken/improperly fixed making bed unstable (2 different technicians have come in and both told me that that needs to be fixed and that the landlord will be contacted regarding it, but nothing heard since) Room 3 - loose drain pipe by window (2 different technicians have come in and looked at it and noted that it needs replacing or repairing, but have heard nothing since) Room 4 - blind broken, several slats in the blind have been broken since arrival (a technician has come round and looked at this, measured the area for a new blind to be fitted and told us that the landlord will be given a quote, but we have heard nothing since) Garden - concrete slab holding fence up closest to garden gate on left hand side of the garden has broken and fallen off (had an employee come around to assess it but was unable to fix it himself, told me they will have to get someone in to replace either the slab or the section of fence, but have heard nothing since) Upstairs landing - damp spots and bulging of ceiling, as stated above Outside front of house - a brick has collapsed and separated from the house at the front (was shown to employee that surveyed the fence, pictures taken) Kitchen - damp spots on walls (same technician that looked at the damp spots in room 2 surveyed this, made notes and told us that once a quote was made it will be given to the landlord but have heard nothing since) Living room - lack of sealing agent around corner, causing an alarming amount of slugs to come in every day (been reported multiple times in person to the office and shown to an employee upon inspection and to a technician, was told that the landlord will receive a quote and fix it, but have heard nothing since) Unreported issues that were resolved ourselves, but I still feel the need to have documentation of: House was not cleaned upon arrival, was in appalling condition Kitchen - as the kitchen has a breakfast bar, not table was present which is acceptable, but we were given standard sized chairs for a breakfast bar rather than bar stools Shortly after this email, we encountered mice excrement in our house repeatedly, popping up in places ranging from my room, the cutlery drawer, under the stairs, and - most shockingly - my bed. As far as I am aware the very clear hole under the stairs where the mice were very clearly getting in from was only fixed a month before we moved out, approximately 4 months after the problem first arose. I would also like to list some more problems we faced by letting with Lighthouse without rambling too much as it would simply take too long: Not permitted any contact with the landlord after asking several times Emergency 24 hour contact number not functioning, going straight to voicemail indicating to leave a text but then I never got a response to my text telling me if my problem was or wasn't urgent and worthy of a call-out The garden reaching a ridiculous state of being overgrown by the end of the year Loose wallpaper, holes and marks in walls, and rusty nails poking out of bathtub base One of the room's mattresses was very badly stained, the other had pubes on it on the day of arrival It took 2 days for an electrician to be called and come round to fix a socket that was *sparking* when switched on or off without an appliance in It took a week and a half for my room's light fixture to be fixed, meaning there was no light at all in there It took approximately two weeks for a wardrobe to arrive in my room, and one of the agents asked if I had been given an extra cabinet instead, which was wrong and not indicated on the inventory or agreement regardless Many of these problems were told, reported, shown via pictures in person or email, and indicated to several different Lighthouse staff members, all of which took note of them, for any sort of fix to either fall through completely or take more pestering from myself or far too long to be fixed in, for the most part, a very cheap manner. All in all, my review will end here simply because I could go on forever about how bad experience I've had with Lighthouse but the shortened version of all this is: DON'T LET WITH LIGHTHOUSE. In our experience, the landlord was cheap, uncaring, and unwilling to communicate with us, the house was falling apart, filthy, and lacking necessities upon arrival. Lighthouse staff members are at their best helpless when dealing with a bad landlord who is unwilling to fix anything and, at worst, rude, uncaring, and, quite frankly, useless. I've never been happier to move house and change letting agents.