Stay away & don’t fall for their tricks
Dexters is one of the worst lettings agencies I had the misfortune of dealing with. Here are the list of just few of things that happened while renting one of their properties in Kensington.
- on moving in: pizza was found behind radiator. Hair everywhere. They admitted to only having spot cleaned the property
- front lock was not working and got stuck in the property multiple times having had to climb out of the window. Would not immediately deal with the issue
- had to have the flat professionally cleaned
- all the cupboards were broken, toilet leaking, boiler (in the bedroom) rattling
- front window on a ground floor flat not lockable (little bit of a security hazard)
- impossible to get hold of anyone
- no insulation, had a 2 year case with the council as the property below was a student accommodation and the noise / cigarette smoke was unbearable in the bedroom. Dexters didn’t acknowledge
- no maintenance was every carried out
- boiler had to be shut down as it was a safety hazard and a danger to tenants. Not hot water or heating in the middle of winter for weeks
- during viewings to relet the property, there was never a 24 hour notification that strangers would enter my property / sometimes was not notified at all. They broke a lamp and caused other issues during each viewing of which I didn’t know about happening
- they did not admit to breaking into my property so had to open a case against them
- did not respond or take any of the legal issues seriously
- tried to cover up the breach of contract with a £150 John Lewis voucher
- never heard from a property manager
- went in to ask for the spare set of keys in their office and they just handed it out without confirming who I was
- they tried to blame the owner of the property and made them pay for breaking the law
- they turned around and said that I addressed the complaints to the owner when in fact it was dexters
- they will always try to do check outs at the property when you are not available. Make sure you find out who is doing the property check out and do it on the phone together. Record it.
Anyone who is in similar situation please don’t give up. What worked for me is to 1) complain to the director at the branch who will insult you with shutting the conversation down, probably a £50 compensation and say they are not responsible. 2) take this further and even if you don’t have one say you have a solicitor and are reaching out to the Managing Director. 3) write and official complaint to the MD. They will tell you that the branch director will reopen a case at the branch. 4) they will offer you something higher, always ask for it in a written format and not the phone 5) if you are unhappy then take it to the (free) legal complaints body (usually The Ombudsman)
6) don’t give up, push through and hold them accountable so that they stop taking advantage of tenants and ruining the renting experiences and temporarily their lives
