Hove Lets – Student Reviews On Letting Agents

Our experience with this agency has been by far the worst since we started letting flats. On the surface the house looked okay and was promised a professional cleaning before we would move in. On the first week of our arrival we started to have constant issues with water leaks, water tank issues, dangerous electric sparks coming out of main sockets for the water tank after the first week of use…and it continued like this until the end; we even had vermin issues! (Because of the uncooperative position of the landlord in solving the problem, we had no choice than supporting the large cost of getting rid of it). The carpet had a very bad smell when we moved in, and we needed to put strong incense constantly to cover it, had to buy product to try and remove the smell. My girlfriend started to have strong allergies because of the dust mites (something she never had before in her life). Clearly the carpet was not professionally cleaned. We tried to talk with the agency about it but they didn’t do anything. And actually when we left this place and had to pay a professional cleaning, the cleaners told us that the carpet was definitely not treated since more then a year and we were only in the flat for a 6-month period. After 2 and a half-month we started to see big dark stains on the wall, which was mould. We discovered big holes behind and under some of the furniture and floor completely rotten in the kitchen and in the bedroom. When we had a few phone calls with the agency to deal with theses issues, they were generally very condescending and rude. We even had one of their contractors coming to the flat trying to enter our house without any notice at all. Even after we left they tried to blame us for damages that were already there when we got in. Fortunately we had some proof and could deny it all to get our deposit back but it took us at least a month and a half to resolve the entire dispute and get most of our money back. Avoid this agency at all cost; or if you are already contracted with them, make sure you keep track of all the communication you exchange and have your inventory check ready in case needed. Its the first time I write a review to complain and I do not know if it will change anything but I believe it should not be permitted to treat people like this. I really hope that future tenants see my message and actually see as well all the other bad reviews posted (unfortunately we were unlucky as we didn’t check prior signing the contract) before dealing with this agency and maybe avoid the terrible experience we had from beginning to end.

Our house was a pigsty when we moved in. The ‘professional cleaning’ that had been completed was grossly unsatisfactory. There was food residue on the ceiling when we moved in, the cupboards hadn’t been cleaned, there was dust and scum everywhere. It seemed like they had only done the very basics. Furthermore, when we moved in, almost everything was broken. Our sofa, 3 of the wardrobes in the rooms, and 3 sets of blinds were broken. We had no blind (and hence no privacy) in the living room, the shower door was unhinged and dangerous. Communications with Hove Lets have tended to be desperate and are often met by argument. The only decent lettings agent is Alan who actually listens to and solves problems. The others are unsympathetic and I have often felt disregarded, disrespected and even belittled. Our property is still in poor condition after living here for over a year and a half; the mould last year was out of control and we all got very ill. Students beware, go elsewehere if you can.

Hove lets are a terrible company for there tenants needs, they have no communication skills, out to get every little bit of money out of you, they take for ever to fix any problems. They don’t communicate with you at all and expect their tenants to chase the problems themselves, the staff are clueless and have no customer service skills, what’s so ever, they are like robots. Useless people. Don’t go with them all kind to u at first then they just forget about you, like your not even human.

Moved into our house, had one or two issues over the year we stayed. They were really responsive and attentive. It took a while to get one issue resolved but wasn’t their fault, and they kept chasing the workman for me.

Don’t expect to be treated like a client. No manners, no remorse.

Mould throughout the house I have no curtains my bed is gross//so many springs. I hate my house.

Brilliant letting agency staff have been OK with us so far would recommend them to other students.

Truly awful service. Poor handling of issues and will be non-responsive to your calls or e-mails unless it about rent! I’ve dealt with many agents and these are by far the worst!

How these people are still in business is beyond me. Literally the worst agency in Brighton surely. Won’t do anything about serious issues that you report, will try to bleed extra money out of you, & are generally so unprofessional that they should be closed down.

Just dreadful service, property, maintenance and after care. Smarmy director Mr Bennett assured us that the boiler would be checked, back door would be fixed, mould and leak sorted. NOTHING! Really appalling and hopefully people will read this, and other reviews across the internet and not place some money in their grubby palms. Do not even deserve 1 star.

Where do I begin? There have been several problems with our house. 1) I lived in this house last year and had to move out for two weeks before my next tenancy began. Which is fair enough. I come back to find that all of my post has been thrown away (including important information about an appointment at the hospital, Uni information and a tax rebate). Additionally, the letting agent has charged myself and the previous tenants money from our deposit for cleaning that has not been done and gardening that has not been done. They have yet to send round cleaners to solve the mouldy curtains etc. This was 2 months ago. 2) Our oven has been broken for 2 months, they sent someone round to fix it (after a month of ‘we’ll get someone on it’ and countless complaints) only to have the maintenance guy fiddle with a thermometer and leave the oven in the exact same state it was left in. Not heating up, showing a light even when the oven is switched off etc. 3) Our front door has a significant gap between it and the door frame, allowing not only draft but slugs and all sorts of other insects from the street to come in. Going to the kitchen in the morning and treading on slugs is not pleasant let me tell you. Additionally, only one of the bolts on the doors work leaving the door extremely unsafe and not at all secure. Once again, this issue has been raised with Hove Lets multiple times from each of the 5 tenants (e-mails and phone calls) and we have always been fobbed off with “We’ll get someone on it”. 2 months in, still waiting. 4) One of our tenants has a leak coming through her bedroom ceiling, she has called and emailed pictures to the estate agent and been given the standard line of “We’ll send someone round”. It’s been 2 weeks. There are many other issues but for the sake of sounding like a broken record I won’t go on. It is however safe to say that Hove Lets are the most incompetent letting agents in Brighton, which is saying something. Essentially, if you have a maintenance issue at your house and you are with Hove Lets, do not expect for it to be fixed anytime within your tenancy. Oh, but they will charge you for the issues from your deposit once you leave. Disgraceful practice. I am leaving this review in the hope that potential customers of theirs will read it and not make the same mistake we have done by going with them.

The issues regarding damp and mould in the house have been ridiculous. We complained several times and the response was always nothing or something very vague like ‘we will get someone onto that’. In fact the damp in the lounge was left so long it grew to around 5ft and was making the wall go brown. It was so bad they had to chip out a lot of the brick, we have had a dehumidifier in the lounge for a good few weeks now and they still need to treat it and re-plaster/paint the wall. Also the agency hasn’t been telling us when the workers are coming round. And so one night when one of my housemates was struggling to sleep and he had to leave for work at midday, his sleep was disrupted when they came in the house at half 7 and started making a lot of noise (I could hear them from the top floor). In regards to the mould, most of the bedrooms have had problems and when we reported that the entire backboard of a wardrobe was covered in mould and was starting to damage clothing we received no response for ages. So we took it upon ourselves to remove the panel and put it downstairs. We sent the agency a long email explaining the issue again and even sent pictures. We asked them to replace the wardrobe and come and collect the mouldy panel. We heard nothing back. Then a week or so later I got a phone call from a company saying they are delivering a wardrobe. When they delivered it they refused to take the old wardrobe, so we all pulled together to dissemble the mouldy wardrobe which had to then be left in the lounge as we had nowhere to dispose of it. A good few weeks later we got a phone call from some other workers saying they were coming to collect the wardrobe, after several no shows the wardrobe pieces were finally collected. The lack of communication from the agency has been so poor.

This agency have been so poor with responses, having some serious problems such as the front door swelling (the only exit from the house) in which i was stuck inside alone and no one was able to come and let me out of the house for a good hour and a half! When someone did turn up he didnt know what the problem was and i had to pass him my key through the window! I was then stuck a week later alone again at 8 am in which the office wasnt open for ages and becauase the door hadnt been fixed prior to our tennancy (they already knew about the problem) i ended up missint uni lectures !!!

The state of the house was almost satisfactory when we moved in, it was run down due to wear and tear with little car. All of the furniture in the house was cheap, unsuitable for use and poorly assembled. We had the worst mould problem I’ve seen for around 3 months with very slow response from the letting agents. We were told to “dry our washing outside”, in the middle of December and despite the fact the old windows were souly to blame for the problem. Upon checkout, the company tried to take every penny of our deposit back and it took much arguing to secure what little we could of our deposit back. Would not recommend renting a property from this letting agent as a student.