Evelyn

Jun 25, 2024

Agents are individually fine, would not use this letting agency again.

I used Maskells Estate to let a property with them from September 2023 through September 2024. The landlord decided to sell the property midway through and thus had me move out 3 months early in June 2024. I was told at this time that I would be reimbursed for the rent I had already paid (I am a student and pay 6 monthly) and the deposit returned after I had the flat professionally cleaned. The process of setting up the tenancy was fairly quick and the letting agent (Alex) was amazing! However, once the tenancy started this changed. Alex was replaced by an agent (Vashti), who to her credit, did her best, but the landlord was difficult. The landlord was impossible to contact or communicate with, and this led to issues with maintenance. The clerk they hired for the inventory had also left out over 30 items, and this caused problems down the line. Once I moved out, however, this changed again. A new agent (Hayley) took over from Vashti for the termination of the tenancy. While Hayley has mostly been fairly good at communicating with me, I have been moved out/tenancy ended for over 3 weeks and still have yet to receive any information regarding my deposit or the reimbursement of the rent I had paid for the final 3 months of my tenancy. I have not received any charges against the deposit, I have not received the deposit back (even though legally the limit is within 10 days of move out), and I have not heard anything about the reimbursement for my rent. The only thing I have heard is that the professional cleaning was insufficient - even though I hired the company Vashti recommended. While Maskells seems to be a fine letting agency, they unfortunately work with bad clerks, sketchy landlords, and assist in housing scams. I would never work with them again because I am still waiting for the over £10,000 that I am owed. Update/edit: At the time of the original post, I had not received any information about my money. I was successfully reimbursed for the entirety of my deposit and my rent (but only after I said I would bring in legal counsel and mentioned London's guidelines that landlords return rent within 10 days of the tenancy ending) approximately 5 weeks after my move out was confirmed. I still stick with my original review - the landlord had no intention of allowing me to stay for the entirety of the original lease, something the letting agency would have been aware of. It took me threatening legal involvement to get my money back, and I think I was more than fair with stating I would accept a return of my money within 6 weeks. As stated in the original review, anything requiring the landlord's approval took a very long time. My statement regarding the maintenance being "fast" was referring to how quickly the maintenance was completed AFTER the confirmation/the month spent asking for it in the first place. The clerk did a terrible job, and they attempted to penalise me for leaving things that were in the property before I moved in because the clerk had forgotten to include 30+ items, even after I was told to "do my best and leave things that were not mine in the property" even if they were not in the document. If I had not insisted on my deposit being returned within a reasonable time frame and contested the charges, I would not have gotten the deposit back. They attempted to scam me out of my deposit and my rent with false excuses, and I fully believe if I had not been firm with my communications and my intent to bring on a lawyer it never would have been returned. Like I said in the original review, the letting agents were individually fine and fairly competent, but overall it was not a good experience. The property was nice, but everything was overcomplicated, convoluted, and difficult because of the landlord. I will add a star, bringing this to a 2 star review since my money has since been returned, but I believe that is more than fair.