Our experience with APW lettings may well have been an isolated one, but it was a terrible one. We have tried to bring the issues to the attention of the company directors and managers to ensure others don't have the same experience but have been met with a nonchalant, un-empathetic response which ironically sums up our experience of the company. We are positing this review to express our personal experiences and appreciate others may have had significantly different ones. None-the-less all the information is true and factual. We have tried to create a balanced view and have remained tolerant and polite toward the company throughout. Our experience can be summarised as follows: Summary: Ø All of the items detailed below have led to an incredibly bad experience at a stressful time. Throughout, there was no appreciation or empathy from any of the colleagues we dealt with. Ø We observed a continual lack of professionalism. Ø This experience has left us extremely disappointed, and is far away from the experiences from our previous and current letting agents. Ø We wrote to one of the Company Directors in order to bring these items to their attention and avoid other people to going through what we have been through. The company carried out an investigation during which they did not once try to contract or speak to either of us and have sent a blanket response saying they believe they have done nothing wrong and (as they stated) closing the matter. I think it's probably important to say to the doubters who will no doubt be reading and feel the need to comment on this, that we are two working professionals in our late 30's, we kept the property in immaculate condition and we never missed or were never late in any payments. Here is our story: 1. Pre-contract § Right to live in the UK; we were asked on several occasions about our right to live in the UK. This included an e-mail which set out the detailed legal requirements, even after our reference checks had been completed and passed. § 2 weeks to move in and no contract, despite multiple attempts to obtain this § On enquiring about the signed contract (2 weeks prior to move in) we were informed the landlady wanted to meet us. We had asked for this before Christmas due to tight timelines, this is now mid Jan § There was no push from APW for the contract to be signed but insistent on the deposit before Christmas: a. No contract in place b. Despite the out of office automatic message due to Christmas time/holidays, e-mails were sent to tell us if we do not pay the full payment by the following day we would have to wait for another month – no phone call due to criticality of the situation § We were asked to ensure that rent paid by 1st of the month, and if the 1st of the month is on the weekend, we must ensure it is paid the prior working day before as we have been told that APW office/finance department not open on weekend – so much detail but still no contract § Despite our explicit request for a long term contract (min 2 years), we were been told by APW that the maximum contract length they accommodate is 12 months. This was not what we requested prior to receiving the contract 2. During the contract § Check in report highlighted health and safety issues related to the blinds – never fixed despite APW highlighting the legal article for compliance § A couple of months after we moved in we have been asked to accommodate the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) § We reported issues with the boiler on a number of occasions (it crashed 2-3 times per week) that leads to no hot water or heating – we accommodated the quotes but no action was taken § After 1 month of moving in, we had a house inspection – no issues were found § The boiler was not been fixed and yet somebody was sent to fix the garden gate 3. Notice (within 4 months of moving in) § The way the notice was issued – tone, media, timing (by e-mail and letter just before bank holiday) – without rational (or a phone call) – the reason only being provided after we enquired § The notice was issued before the minimum break period of 4 months § There was no help from APW to facilitate us in dealing with the situation § Explicit statement from APW that landlady is the priority and not the tenant § Quick to quote specific elements of our contract to avoid helping us but when we queried about elements of the contract related to our exit (e.g. re-turfing the vegetable patch per our contract) – no knowledge of our contract was demonstrated § Despite the fact we asked for help (e.g. refund part of the agency fees by landlady and/or APW), or help with removal etc. given we only moved in 4 months prior, all we received form APW was a firm, contractual and cold response 4. Checkout § We attended the checkout physically. None of our comments were noted in the checkout report e.g. where APW explicitly asked us to recoat the kitchen surfaces with the product provided by the landlady, the report simply notes a sticky surface. § The agent was not aware the specificity of the contract – report written accordingly 5. Deposit § More than 1 month to get the deposit back despite multiple reminders and the fact we had had to find the entirety of the new deposit to allow us to move § Significant effort and chasing of open actions from checkout; no pro-activeness was seen § We were asked for the same document 3 times, when we responded to the initial request the same day. è How can it be complicated to release a deposit after 4 months of living there with 2 professional who kept the place immaculate (e.g. no marks on walls, garden cleaner/tidier than when we moved in) 6. Escalation: § As no significant progress was made but many issues remained, we escalated to the manager, who except a blank apology took no action to improve the situation. We are sure that many people have a great experience with APW lettings but we most certainly did not. We hope that by sharing this others won't experience the same issues and that perhaps the company may take some time to reflect again on the issues we raised and why this led to us having such a bad experience.