SB Living Ltd

Unfortunately, we are not in a position to recommend Sbliving. Cons: 1. Already from the viewing I could see that they were not the most professional agency. Viewing was conducted aprox. 15 mins after scheduled time, by the cleaner (apparently the member of staff was off sick). Although the cleaner was nice, understanbly they were not in a position to answer any questions. Anyway, I decided to go with the property. 2. Signing up was alright, although there was extra paperwork involved since they required a guarantor despite me being in full-time employment. 3. Also, I did not get a move-in date until the last minute and they didn't seem to care much about it. 4. The biggest issue arose when our property had to be completely rewired. Communication was awful from their side with their description of what had to be done changing almost daily. After long negotiations, the works went ahead and lasted for more than a week interrupting our working lives during COVID and leaving our place in a complete mess (see photos). We were also left with no carpets/laminate in one of the rooms and the landing for two-three months following the completion of the rewiring. On top of that, we received at least 4-5 emails/calls, and 3 visits by different workmen before the floor was finally reinstalled with carpet although the rest of the property had laminate. Similar issues with rewiring were faced by all of our neighbours (some elderly) at Pelham Place. 5. They requested a monthly increase of £55 after a year, at which point we (and some of our neighbours) decided to vacate 6. It took them more than a month to return our deposit. The landlord tried to claim £130 but their claims were so ridiculous that they had to drop them all after one rebuttal email. It is clear that the agency supports an opportunistic approach when it comes to deposits. Also, beware, their inventories are so very basic that they might leave you exposed at the end when they try and make claims. 6. Also, another word of caution, the agency will often claim that actions are ultimately up to the landlords, but in our case, at Pelham Place, the properties are actually owned by the immediate family 7. Staff turnover is bad and this only makes communication worse. Looking at Glassdoor comments you don't get the impression that staff are treated well. 8. If anything goes wrong, their reflexes are to blame the tenants. E.g. there was a leak at the shop below and we got a patronising call informing us that we should be more careful cleaning the balcony drains. It then turned out that the leak had nothing to do with us. Pros: 1. You do get some contacts for emergency repairs. Their contractors are very friendly but not always the most professional. 2. Their properties tend to be on the cheaper end, but once you deal with them, you understand why. Overall, we would not engage with them again if we had a choice.

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