The UK's Largest Customer Review Website for the Property Industry
The UK's Largest Customer Review Website for the Property Industry

3.9/5, 56 Reviews
73% Recommended
100% letting valuation accuracy
69% letting fee satisfaction
By : 'Jack'
Services : Letting(As a Tenant)
Rent PCM : £1330
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
With regret, I am leaving Brand Vaughan a 1-star review to reflect my experience with them. This is not a reflection of all staff at the company, as I did indeed have some positive, professional experiences during my tenancy. It appears to me that from reviews online, Brand Vaughan seem to earn a good amount of praise from those wishing to buy & sell property. However, like many other fellow student tenants, I have had a poor experience renting with this agent. I rented a one-bedroom student flat with BV last year with my then-partner. The property was in a good location, was modern, and of just the right size for us. Regretfully, we noticed a few issues after moving-in. The ceiling was leaking and a large part of the ceiling therefore had to be removed. The downstairs smoke alarm was damaged by said leak and never replaced. We had to evacuate one night due to the remaining smoke alarms sounding, with the lights indicating a 'gas leak'. On arrival of the emergency gas engineer, they found no fault, but informed us that they were surprised that the property didn't have a carbon monoxide alarm and that we didn't have the correct number of smoke detectors in the flat. Due to the leak, the hallway walls became covered in mould, damp and condensation, which looked bad and smelled worse. This affected my partner's asthma. Despite regular cleaning, use of dehumidifiers and a re-paint, the issue persisted. The bathroom drain was poorly-fitted and leaked. The bedroom curtains came down a week after move-in. One of the windows in the bedroom didn't open. An upstairs window didn't open. Most of the wall edges suffered from paint-cracking. The bed frame was weak. The inventory on check-in missed several issues which I then added. Ironically, on check-out the inventory was very detailed and didn't take into consideration the issues we had logged during the tenancy, which suggests a failure of communication. The check-out inventory also suggested a need for professional cleaning... I had cleaned and redecorated the entire flat and then paid for a professional cleaner to service the flat before moving out... so this seemed unfair. We only had one set of keys throughout the tenancy as this was all we were given. On check-out it took several emails to clarify that we were only given one set and should not be liable to pay for a replacement. The above issues could have been rectified more quickly, in part, if there was a clearer process for reporting and resolving maintenance issues. Although FixFlo appears to be a very handy online system, ultimately all of my maintenance requests were then sent back to the landlord to deal with. So, in the end, I had to log via FixFlo and email the landlord directly, in the hope of passing the information to them before what would have been 5 working days if left solely with the agent. These issues aside, the most significant problem we encountered was after our tenancy ended. We paid rent inclusive of the electric bill. Afterward, due to what was framed to be our 'high usage' (more likely caused by the recent increase in energy costs and the need for heating due to poor window insulation) we were made to pay the difference between what the agent calculated to be total usage minus rent contribution. We were therefore left with almost £1.3k to pay. Despite challenging this, we paid the charge after the threat of legal action. The way this charge was raised to us by Tony Sparrowhawk and the subsequent communications showed minimal understanding, simply demanding the payment in full asap. The agent evidently needs to decide if they wish to offer a property fully inclusive of bills, or offer a property where the tenants are liable for the full bill. Instead, they appear to sell the dream and hide behind a 'fair usage' clause. This appears to lie with the agent, not the landlord, as ultimately it is the agent who 'sells' the property and deals with the tenants. If you are a local student, I would recommend using an alternative letting agent or renting from a university directly.
| Services | Valuation | Fees | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letting | 100% | 69.00% | £590 | £2,492 |
Brand Vaughan
110 St Georges Road, Kemp Town, Brighton, Hampshire
BN2 1EA
01273 683 111
By : 'Chris'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN1
Terrible agency. Aggressive and threatening staff, caused my daughter severe mental... Read Full Review
By : 'May'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN1
I'm really let down! I'm sharing my story to help prevent others from having to deal with the same problem. In February, I'll be moving to Brighton for work. We started looking for a property in January because we live in London and getting a property to view is really tough. As... Read Full Review
By : 'Jack'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £1330
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
With regret, I am leaving Brand Vaughan a 1-star review to reflect my experience with them. This is not a reflection of all staff at the company, as I did indeed have some positive, professional experiences during my tenancy. It appears to me that from reviews online, Brand Vaughan seem to... Read Full Review
By : 'Krzysztof'
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
My name is Krzysztof Perek, and I am writing to you on behalf of my partner, Alexander Nadasky, and myself. We are both residents of Brighton, currently residing at 2 Abbey Road since February 2023. We are international students who moved from London to Brighton in search of employment... Read Full Review
By : 'unhappy'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £2492
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
our house has rotting floor boards and a reoccurring damp/ mould problem which the land lords are fighting tooth and nail not to fix. we've sent several emails with photographic proof and we've been told that we need to open the windows and run the heating(which we were already doing)... Read Full Review
By : Andy
4 Apr 2024Brand Vaughan is an awful letting agency. I have been renting a flat from Brand Vaughan for a long time. Unfortunately, after many years of neglect by my landlord, the flat is now in an extremely ...

By : 'Ashley'
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN1
I have used other agents and consider myself very lucky to have contacted Beth at Brand Vaughan, she was very knowledgeable, polite, easy to talk to and was and is extremely efficient. I look forward to a long relationship with her and Brand... Read Full Review

By : 'Caitlyn'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN2
Beth was amazing with showing us exactly what we wanted and told us everything we wanted to know about the houses, and she let us look around as much as we wanted and film the houses for our other two housemates which was very much... Read Full Review
By : 'Amanda'
Services : Letting( As a Prospective Landlord/Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN1
Needs to improve communication skills with customers. The way this agent came across was quite abrupt and invasive. I will not use this agent... Read Full Review

By : 'Chloe'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £590
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN1
Beth was absolutely brilliant! She was super attentive, very funny and went above and beyond! She helped me with my application and called me straight away when I sent any emails. Really amazing customer service... Read Full Review

By : 'Chris'
Services : Letting( Admin )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Cannot praise Chloe, student lets, enough! So professional and helpful. When your dealing with someone so knowledgable and helpful, you know you've made the right decision with your... Read Full Review
By : 'ANON'
Services : Letting( As a Owner )
Rent PCM : £1575
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
Beyond useless! Poor communication throughout the lettings process and just abysmal at finding suitable and reliable tenants. The main priority would appear to get anyone in, regardless how their references stack up, and get you on their books. I've now last eight months rent (and counting)... Read Full Review
By : 'Rachel'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
Absolute shambles of an agency and property manager. As a young student, I have been treated with no respect or dignity, with deliberately slow and meaningless replies. AVOID THIS AGENCY AT ALL COSTS. They see tenants as money and not human... Read Full Review

By : 'Cosmo'
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )
Sold price : £650000
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN2
Bought and sold a property through their Kemp Town branch in challenging circumstances amidst the pandemic. Michael, Felix, Timothy and the rest of the team were faultless throughout. Always available, helpful, communicative and endlessly patient in dealing with all our enquiries and requests,... Read Full Review

By : 'Jamie'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £900
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
I was interested in renting a property in kemptown and Brand Vaughn took a sizeable holding fee (many hundreds of pounds.) The company they use to do a credit search ask for incredible amounts of personal and family information and will not take responsibility for how that data is kept. On learning ... Read Full Review
By : Salima
18 Dec 2020Hi Jamie, have you done a formal complaint about it ? Did you got your money back? I'm on a similar situation as you they just didn't explained all the things and lead me to do the holding deposit ...
By : 'Sam'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £795
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
Rented out a small studio flat, move in process was smooth, only issues I had for during tenancy was a drainage problem (had plumbers in 4-5 times) as the taps were flow limited (bills were included, flow limited to save them money) They weren't powerful enough to push stuff through the pipes ... Read Full Review
By : 'Isabelle'
Services : Letting( As a Prospective Landlord/Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN1
Terrible letting agency, they will lie, mislead you and waste your time. Two properties we saw with them, the first was a property we saw and put an application in for, only for it to be denied because the landlord did not wish to let to students. Brand Vaughan knew we were students when we... Read Full Review
By : 'Rebecca'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
Absolutely the worst letting agents I’ve ever had to deal with. They lie, change locks without consent. Allow viewings when advised it was inconvenient at the time they wanted other students to view property. The actual owner of the company owned the house my son was living in and the... Read Full Review
By : 'madon'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Rent PCM : £900
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : BN2
i payed £400 towards a deposit to take property off market. then after passing referencing they said my guarantor fell through (although the guarantor had 2 million in assets). i then gave them another guarantor who was also a property developer then they declined finishing the application. be very ... Read Full Review
the wavered the agency fees but i have a feeling they were trying to get the £400 which was supposed to be non refundable deposit. they did say they were going to refund me, however, i dont know whether that was because they saw i had some clout behind me with property developers and i knew what i was talking about or if they genuinely were struggling with the application

By : 'JackieB'
Services : Sales( As a Buyer )
Sold price : £235
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN2
An excellent, professional and helpful team / service. Would highly recommend. The team helped us all through the process of purchasing a flat from start to finish and after too! Jon Antony, in particular, went above and beyond in helping us with issues that arose both during and after purchase. ... Read Full Review


By : 'Roger'
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : BN2
These agents acted with great professionalism from the start and kept us informed of every stage of the sale. I really wasn't expecting the quick sale they promised, but we were all astounded that this was achieved within 24 hours of signing the sales contract! A superb team and I will... Read Full Review
Best rate agreed quickly.
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.