Leef Property Management Ltd

AVOID! If I could 0 starts I absolutely would!!! Horrendous letting agent with some of the worst customer service I’ve ever came across in my life. We rented a flat with leef, upon viewing we were really keen to be accepted as the flat seemed ideal at first glance but were advised that the flat needed, and I quote “a bit of a clean” before we could receive the keys. As a first time renters and our first home together, we were desperate to get into the property and said we would clean it ourselves. The flat was absolutely filthy, the oven was full of grease and took 2 deep cleans before it was usable, skirting boards in the bathroom had rotted away due to urine and were stained, not to mention the bathroom stunk. The floor tiles in the bathroom were also marked and stained with urine, which I had to attempt to remove myself with a toothbrush. The previous tenants hair was in the shower plug and sink, as well as being in multiple drawers in the kitchen where the previous tenant had also left crumbs of food & dirt. Behind one of the drawers there was caramel that had obviously spilled and not been cleaned up. The carpets were filthy throughout. The hall was full of marks and scratches, and bedrooms had paint of different shades of white which we wanted to decorate but decided against because of how high the ceilings are and the fact the property had been handed to us in this state we didn’t see how it was our responsibility, surprise surprise these marks are now being blamed on us despite the fact you can see them in the inventory images that were taken the day we moved in, conveniently they were taken at an angle that doesn’t make the marks look bad but they are there and you can see them. Windows were cracked when we moved in, cupboard doors in the kitchen were hanging off but we couldn’t fix these as the wood behind had worn away. The only room we painted was the living room, which we painted in white. Within a couple of weeks of being in the flat, our downstairs neighbour reported a leak that was coming from the flat so we had to report it and plumbers came out after a few days but the leak was not fixed so they had to come back out to refit a new shower, which I had to chase around 2 months later as they still hadn’t been out. These issues were reported in October / November 21 and weren’t rectified until January 2022. We informed them the cooker didn’t work at all in January and we were unable to cook meals for my partners two year old, and it took them until MAY to resolve this so we were without a cooker and had to use an air fryer for every single meal. When they did finally send the plumbers out again to fit new tiles in the shower area they did a poor job as they didn’t even refit the skirting boards. On 28/11/2021 I emailed advising radiators I’m the living room did not work and asked if someone could come and look at them, but received no response. The door handle also broke, which I reported but was not fixed and we ended up getting locked out of the property at 11.30pm and had to pay £180 to a locksmith which admittedly Leef did pay back but only after I chased the monies and this was received around 10 days later meaning we were £180 down for all other bills . Trying to get in touch with Leef has been a nightmare from the start, they repeatedly completely ignore your emails and then when they need something from you are very rude and demanding, prime example of this was when we were trying to sign our tenancy and had been emailing multiple times to get information but were getting ignored, but when they needed something signing from us I received a really snotty phone call despite advising we were on holiday. They also refused to provide a reference so we could register for social housing, as they stated we would have to hand our notice in before they would provide this, despite me saying we were not intending on moving out we just wanted to get on the social housing list, but it was still refused. When moving out of the property, our notice was not acknowledged so I had to chase this to ensure we would not be charged for another months rent. Leef then said I would have to let people into the property for viewings, despite it being a few days before Christmas. I obliged, cancelled work calls because I work from home and made sure the flat was spotless for no one to arrive from Leef and no viewings to take place. We have been nothing but understand with this god awful company, and initially declined a £50 rent deduction when our shower wasn’t working as we didn’t want to seem like we were a problem / moaning unnecessarily but we have been treated like crap from the moment we looked at the flat up until now when we are waiting for the deposit back. They inspected the property in April 2022 and found no issues whatsoever with the flat, which they would’ve easily noticed as we had the bare essentials when it comes to furniture. They also didn’t register my deposit with DPS when we moved in, and have repeatedly ignored emails that I’ve sent asking for guidance, even going as far as ignoring my phone calls up until today when I finally received a response but guess what the response was? This unprofessional, vile excuse of a company are demanding to keep the £577 deposit because of the hob being broken (which I reported as I dropped something on there when emptying cupboards and it’s a glass hob. They are also demanding we pay £250 for paint work that needs doing on marks that were already there when we moved in!! Bear in mind, that takes us above the £577 deposit, so we apparently have to pay an additional £70! They’re expecting us to pay for repainting marks on walls that were there before we moved in, and any additional marks have been caused by normal wear & tear from where our bed has been against the wall / storage boxes have been.