Beal's Estate Agents
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I lived in a property let by Beals from…
I lived in a property let by Beals from April 2021 until July 2022, from the outset and during this period I had several problems with the property, the oven wasn't working properly to begin with and I could only use the hobs, neither was the shower (it was leaking from the box), the plug sockets in the bedroom and kitchen didn't work and the window in the living room didn't lock shut properly. To say the least, from the start, trying to get these repairs carried out was like trying to get blood out of a stone, I was leaving emails, ringing the branch and then head office when eventually informed I had to go through them. The window was repaired, however that was short lived because just after the work men left I noticed a massive crack in the window branching away from the handle. It was to be just over year before they eventually came and changed the glass in June 2022. The oven was repaired but broke a few months later, that never got repaired. The plug sockets were eventually looked at when the window glass was repaired in June 2022, they were found to be disconnected from the main power source, however they were not fixed by the time I left. The shower was finally repaired just after I handed in my notice to vacate at the end of June 2022. On top of all that the bathroom sink broke in March 2022 (the drain pipe deteriorated where it joined to the plug hole and broke away completely). This wasn't repaired until June 2022. Throughout this whole period I was chasing up when the repairs would be made and all I would get was "I'm so sorry this hasn't been dealt with sooner, I will leave a note for the maintenance team and they will get back to you". During my tenancy I had two periodic inspections where I was present and made the repairs known and was told the same thing. Also whilst I'm on that I was quite alarmed to get a call one day out of the blue saying "is your partner* not at home?", (*name removed for security purposes) when I said "no she's at work today, why?" , they said oh not to worry it's because one of my colleagues was going to do an inspection and we didn't have a key to the property. It wasn't until afterwards I found that more and more strange A: because they knew I wasn't home and B: because they were asking why she wasn't home. So as far as I can tell, it feel like somebody had physically gone to the property to attempt to visit, I had received no prior notification of an inspection and I never had any complaints or missed payments. I certainly feel that if they had a key at that time then they would have entered the property. The only reason they didn't have a key is when I first moved in the front door lock kept jamming so it was replaced by their maintenance team, the worker said he would take the key to the office to save me doing it. As he was bought in by Beals and he said he was on his way there I thought that made sense. However it transpired they never received the spare key. Eventually after the phone call I gave them a key. Finally, I am currently awaiting my deposit, from what I was told when I handed the keys back on 25th of July, the new tenant should've been in there almost 4 days (from 1st August) and I have heard absolutely nothing since I was told on 25th my tenancy would finish on 31st July, So I rang head office and it turns out the final inspection was carried out on the 30th July and apparently it turns out the report has been sent to the wrong email address..... One last bit of incompetency from Beals perhaps? All in all my time in a Beals property had been nothing short of stressful and irritating and I will avoid them at all costs in future. *update* I have now received a call from Beals and they have contacted the landlord who is currently carrying out repairs to the property and my tenancy is now due to finish on the 7th August with the new tenant moving in on the 8th. I have been told I am due to receive my deposit in full plus 1 days rent.