Nicholas George

Dear Joshua, I'm very sorry to hear that you did not have an enjoyable experience with us. However, your review is inaccurate in a number of aspects, as well as being borderline rude in others. If we were quite as horrendous as you claim, the question must be asked why you chose to remain in the property for almost 3 years. Dealing with some of your claims specifically, I personally came down to 'listen' to your fridgefreezer, as did one of my colleagues. We were both of the opinion that any noise it was generating was very much within the normal range of what one would expect from such an appliance. We cannot justify spending hundreds of pounds of a landlord's money on something we did not feel was just and reasonable. Again, I personally inspected your lounge ceiling following the leak from above. Following this there was a tiny crack between the ceiling boards, less than a millimetre, which was filled. I disagree that this was done in a shoddy fashion and also disagree that any further action on this was warranted. Granted, the carpets got just a little wet in places as a result of this incident, but once dry it is hard to see what additional repairs you would have wanted. If you kicked over a bucket of water in your lounge by accident, I'm not sure you would decide to change the carpets? I completely refute your suggestion that we would in any way risk tenant's safety by refusing to replace non-working smoke alarms, and would ask for further evidence of this. This is quite a serious allegation. It is hard to describe the hob as 'ancient', given that the flat you lived in was only constructed in 2008, so it was therefore only 12 years old at most. I'm sorry if this hob was not replaced as quickly as you would have liked but this has been rather an exceptional year where both ourselves and our contractors have been under massive pressure and certainly every business I have come into contact with in the last 6 months appears to be, understandably, running more slowly than usual. I'm sorry about this and I am sorry if you are not understanding of this. As it happens, we did not choose the 'cheapest no-brand hob' to replace it with. I do not have the invoice to hand but I can see cost from our usual supplier was £339 fitted. It would have been possible for us to go a lot cheaper than this, so I am afraid your comments are just wrong. I'm sorry if you were not happy with our position regarding supplying a landlord reference. I would point out that we did ultimately give you a reference, which were are of course not legally obligated to do, and did not charge you anything for it, as we have never charged to supply landlord references to tenants, unlike most Letting Agents. Without wanting to get too technical, supplying a reference before a tenant has formally given notice exposes a landlord/agent to certain risks - by all means research this further or contact me directly for clarification. The flat did need cleaning, we are happy to post photographs as part of this review if you would like. We aim to have deposits returned just as soon as we can, again we have been working under particularly trying conditions. If no work needs doing, this process happens more quickly. In cases such as yours, where cleaning is required, the process takes longer as for example cleaners need to be appointed, attend and then submit their invoice, so that the correct amount is deducted from the deposit. Your last paragraph I'm afraid is just complete and utter nonsense and holds no spec of truth whatsoever. I shall spend my evening finding companies to leave positive reviews about, instead of writing overblown untruths and spewing negativity in these already fairly grim times. Max Redgrave - Managing Director

Dear Max, your review seems to confirm everything that I set out in my review in very mild terms. You are the one who has descended into the gutter with terms such as "spewing", "untruths", "nonsense", and "no spec [sic] of truth". I am sitting next to a fridge that cost £170 new and makes no sound; the one you agree you twice refused to replace shuddered loudly all night. It was so bad, I moved it to the adjoining bedroom and eventually had to purchase my own fridge. The smoke alarms were reported in email several times. Also, out of courtesy and care for the next tenants, I pointed out in email that they needed replacing when I left as well. I am happy to report that after threats of legal action I have received most of my deposit back from the company you manage.