Young Lee

At first when we started renting with Young Lee, we thought it was going to be quite a difficult relationship. I'd only been with one other agency ever and my experience with that agency was so-so. When we initially started renting the flat, there were a few problems including the bathroom door not closing because it was swollen, the window in the bathroom being extremely difficult to shut, the hinges on my bedroom door not being very secure and the latch of the door to the flat being faulty. We had a bit of a back and forth about the bathroom door because it was though that the wood was swollen because the flat had not been occupied for a while and the solution would be to turn the heating on. When that didn't work, we informed the agency and then they realised it was because of the generous layers of paint on the door. They were quick to get the contractors over to look into those issues and they were all resolved within the week of those issues being reported. After that, they were really efficient at getting other issues sorted. Some of the notable moments were sending out an electrician the same day the circuit kept on tripping (which saved us having to worry about any of our food going to waste), getting a pole for the internal window in the first bedroom and refitting the door of one of the cupboards when they fell off. The biggest problem that happened in the flat was the leaking situation in the second bedroom. A pipe on the side of the building had become blocked and the water from it began hitting the brickwork and leaking into the bedroom. This flooded the floor and started to mould two of the walls in the bedroom. However, this was not of the fault of Young Lee, but another agency (as it was the pipe that was owned by the neighbouring building. At first, the other managing agents called out their contractors to sort the problem, but it later became apparent that the contractors were trying to cover the problem as opposed to solving the problems they were paid for. They were supposed to remove all the rotting timbers from the room and the roof (as this proved hazardous) and then they were supposed to redo half the walls in the bedroom. If it wasn't for Sue from Young Lee keeping a close eye on the work being done and her constant contact with the other managing agency, the work would have turned into a cover up and who knows what else would have happened as a result of the laziness of those contractors. Sue fully understood the situation and she arranged a £200 reduction for the months we were unable to use that room, got the other agency to put a dehumidifier in there to help the mould problem until it was sorted, and she said that if the work ended up extending to the living room, or if we'd had enough of the situation, we could move out without notice. She also stopped those contractors who were about to cover up the issues and got her own contractors to do the job properly. It was a rough 10 months dealing with the problem, but Young Lee were incredibly empathetic and professional during this time. They solved the problem and stopped the roof from collapsing on our heads, literally. There were a couple of issues that we'd wish had been resolved during our 3-4 year tenancy including the skylight in bedroom being replaced (there was no airflow in that bedroom and it needed a window that you could open to prevent condensation) and the boiler being replaced (although, this was replaced in our last 2 months there), but those things were halted by the leaking issue and also the pandemic (the work on the skylight was supposed to happen at the beginning of this year). Also, we understand that the money of all these things come out the pocket of the landlord and the landlord even came personally to apologise for all the situations we were in. We were really treated like people, not just tenants. When it came to the end of the tenancy, they sent us some recommendations of cleaning companies that would do a good job of doing an end of tenancy clean. They also treated us as good tenants and didn't charge us for anything that was beyond wear and tear. And when it came to getting our deposit back, they were the ones who were trying to get it back to us quickly as possible which was a really nice change. There's no perfect agency, but we felt like we were treated with care with this one. If there was a property available with the agency that had more bedrooms, we probably would have stayed with them.