Williams of Petersfield

TL;DR: Assume Williams of Petersfield will try to screw you, so prepare and act accordingly. Pro-tip for anyone renting with this outfit: If you plan on doing a full clean of the place before moving out, DO NOT PAY YOUR LAST TWO MONTHS' RENT! They WILL try to rob you of as much of your deposit as they can, regardless of the state of the dwelling. I left the place absolutely spotless but they attempted to scam me out of almost 200 G.B.P. I can only imagine they're in cahoots with their "cleaning service." Full story: * The initial omens were not good. A humorless, charmless, officious woman, with zero customer service nous, upbraided me for having scheduled a bed delivery for the first day of my tenancy, hence requiring the keys as early in the day as possible so as not to miss said delivery. I countered that my tenancy actually began at midnight so I could insist on the keys being handed over to me then but that went right over her head. * At move-in, I found the place had a dirty carpet, mold under the washing machine's seal's flap, food crumbs on the refrigerator seal, water streaks on bathroom tiles, disgustingly filthy range hood filter, caked-in dust on the curtain rails, etc. That is Williams of Petersfield's understanding of "professional standard" of cleanliness. * Upon the expiry of my initial one-year lease, I was paying rent on a quarterly rolling basis. In August of 2021 I told them I would let them know within the first week or two of September if I would be staying for another year or if I would be leaving the country and vacating the premises through the year's end. They decided to serve on me an evacuation notice instead, thus forcing my hand and potentially leaving me having to scramble to find somewhere to live, even if only for a month or two before I was potentially going to leave the country (which I ended up doing). * Having clocked them for the scumbags they are, I decided to not pay the last month's rent but have them take it from the deposit. Foolishly, however, I cleaned the place, leaving it in infinitely better state than I received it in. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't have. * The check-out inventory found multiple instances of "some light clean needed." Because of course it did. You're never going to win on that one. They tried to ding me for 180 G.B.P. for the general clean + carpet clean (more than the remaining deposit balance). * They completely stonewalled my emails and ignored my attempts at reasoning. I raised a dispute with MyDeposits, which took five months and ultimately ruled against WIlliams of Petersfield on most counts. These people are sleazeballs. They treat you like a number. If you know what's good for you, you'll return the favor.