Beyond harrowing experience dealing with Keatons Hackney. I never normally write reviews, let alone a long one like this one… Like everyone, I'm really busy and REALLY don't have the time. But I am so traumatised by my experience, I want to warn other landlords/landladies about it. I have a small number of properties and I've been working with Keatons in Hackney for nearly 10 years. There have been big issues in the past when they've dropped the ball and caused issues - but my experience in the past two years has been absolutely harrowing and caused me and my partner huge additional stress (both emotional and financial) during an already difficult time, during Covid. They always charge an annual renewal fee on top of their finders' fee, if the tenant stays in the property for subsequent years: i.e. a fee for the tenant staying in year 2, 3, 4, etc. We've always paid their 'renewal' fee without question. But for the past two years they haven't picked up the phone to us or our tenants – to see if we are happy or if the tenants want to stay. They still send us invoices for renewal without checking if the tenants have actually renewed! We queried this as being a terrible service & very unprofessional (we had to query via email as they refuse to call you), since one of our tenants hasn't renewed – he's being relocated. We offered to negotiate their fee and agree to pay them a reasonable amount on the basis that the tenant hasn't signed a new contract. They refused point blank. We asked about 10 times, maybe more, for a phone call with Keatons Hackney to come to a sensible agreement for us to pay them a reasonable amount - and they refused. They sent us countless emails which were incredibly aggressive, threatening and bullying in tone, giving us a strict deadline to pay their fee IN FULL and threatening legal action if we didn't. We explained we are self-employed with no work during Covid, and not in a position to pay their huge fee – which felt particularly wrong when they haven't actually provided a service at all and there's not been a renewal for one tenant. After a while we didn't hear anything and we breathed a huge sigh of relief to finally stop receiving such dreadful, bullying emails. We didn't hear anything for approx six months, then we received a court summons from Keatons out of the blue. We were advised we would have a strong chance of winning if we challenged their court case but obviously it's a risk, so yet again their bullying tactics won out. They know that most landlords aren't in a position to fight them in court, with Keatons' vast financial resources. They probably do this all the time to other landlords, as it seemed to be a such a well-oiled machine. We have been left traumatised and had to use the last of our savings to pay them. Keatons are the Hotel California of estate agents. I do wonder if they are struggling financially based on their treatment of us. As they have been so desperate and ruthless clawing their full fee (plus 'costs') in spite of providing NO SERVICE. I've worked in property since 2005 and I've never know any company behave in such an unprofessional way, with no regard for service, long-term relationships, or integrity. BE AWARE: some agents will agree to a tenant find fee ONLY (with NO annual renewal fee) if you ask. It's worth ringing around to check. Or there is also online services. I don't know if I'm allowed to name names here - but you can easily find the online agents. For £80 average they'll list the property on all the portals like Zoopla and Rightmove, they do credit/reference checks and send the contract for signature. They send a tenant move in pack. They even offer property maintenance at reasonable price ongoing if you want it. You obviously have to do the viewings but it's easy to do this in a day and you can vet your tenant which is really important. You're saving £5,000+++ on average per property when you factor in all the renewal fees!