Brand Vaughan Reviews I Student Letting Agents – WhichPad

If you’re a young student renting for the first time, my advice after a year with Brand Vaughan is very simple: DO NOT RENT WITH THEM. I rented a student property in Brighton with four other tenants during the final year of my degree, and I can confidently say that the neighbours’ cats were probably the most competent part of the entire experience. The house was unclean when I moved in and my bedroom already had damage. There was mould in the bathroom, repairs and maintenance were repeatedly chased, and getting things sorted seemed to be an achievement in itself. Our tumble dryer made clothes smell so bad after being “dried” that I ended up hanging mine out instead. There wasn’t even enough fridge space for five people, so an additional fridge was brought in. At the end of the tenancy I was then charged for alleged damage to the floor where the fridge had been — damage which I strongly disputed. We were also nearly expected to pay for the replacement of an already faulty washing machine. Thankfully, after escalating this to someone more senior, we were no longer expected to pay. Apparently successfully proving that you shouldn’t have to buy your landlord a new washing machine is just another fun extracurricular activity to fit around your degree. The housemate situation was equally awful, and repeated complaints did not feel as though they were taken seriously. One housemate regularly smoked weed and the house frequently reeked of it. This was reported, but from my experience nothing effective was done. Another would game and shout into her computer/Xbox until around 4am. This was particularly enjoyable when I had a 9am lecture or needed to be at work for 7:30am. There were also people cooking and making noise in the kitchen at ridiculous times when others were trying to sleep. Again: complaints, complaints, complaints. Very little seemed to change. After about THREE MONTHS, I was already so unhappy that I emailed explaining how badly the living situation was affecting my mental health and that I wanted to move out. I did not feel that the seriousness of what I was telling them was properly acknowledged. This was all happening while I was completing the final year of my degree, writing my dissertation AND working full-time alongside university. And then there was the money. Brighton is already ridiculously expensive for students. Even with my maintenance loan AND working full-time, I could barely afford the rent and basic living costs. I had to borrow significant amounts of money from my family just to get through the year, which I am now having to pay back. After all of that, I finished the tenancy with an additional charge of around £500. Lovely little leaving present. For me, the entire experience felt like an enormous waste of money and caused a ridiculous amount of stress during what was already one of the most important years of my education. I genuinely believe the financial pressure and living situation affected my university experience. What bothered me most was how vulnerable you are as a young person renting for the first time. You’re trying to understand tenancy agreements, manage university deadlines, work enough hours to afford Brighton rent and somehow have a functioning life at the same time. In my experience, I did not feel supported or taken seriously when problems arose. Instead, I came away feeling that my inexperience and how busy and stressed I already was made everything much harder to challenge. So, genuinely: I would never rent with Brand Vaughan again. If you’re a student considering it, document EVERYTHING when you move in. Take photos and videos of every mark, every bit of damage and every problem, keep every email, and do not assume that something you have reported will necessarily be remembered when it comes to the end of your tenancy. And my other life lesson from this year: do not convince yourself that moving into a house with complete strangers will be fine. 😭 If you can, live with friends, family or people you actually know and trust. Your home should be somewhere you can relax, not somewhere you sit wondering whether tonight’s entertainment will be the smell of weed, an Xbox concert at 4am, or another email about the house. Positives? Free parking in Brighton was genuinely great. And the neighbours’ cats were lovely. Would recommend the cats. Would not recommend the tenancy.

don’t let with. avoid. everything is broken and they don’t do anything! blame students for everything that is the landlords fault.

We have had an issue with rats for sometime now but they refuse to help us sort it out. We can hear them all day and night yet because we dont have actual evidence they keep dismissing the problem by saying it might be the wind.

We were getting some work done to our house as there was damp that wasn’t our fault. We weren’t aware that anybody was coming in nor how long they were going to be working for. They came 1 day and then left and then we assumed they were done but they came back the following week. All this time our living room was impractical to enter

Firstly one of the shower room shower fell off the wall and it took about a week and a half for them to send someone out to fix it even though I am one female living with four males so needed that shower. Secondly said shower breaks and stopped working and I have put in the form and never got a message back until one of them called me about a separate problem in which I then had to speak about the shower and didn’t get much of a response just got told that they would forward it to a maintenance person but have not heard back, once ones female and four males living in this house. Finally, I think there is a problem with rodents in the walls and ceilings and floors and I have tried to contact them about this as it is quite a big issue and can lead to quite a lot of property damage which will be very expensive, but instead of sending someone out or resolving the matter they just said to monitor it in case it gets worse and let them know if I actually see a rat which I don’t really want to see.

The house is lovely and maintained very well by the landlord but the agency was very difficult to work with leading up to moving in.

Quick to solve any problems we have had and has given us flexible payment options for our rent, which was very helpful.

Although the house itself was maintained to a moderate standard, we had an issue with one of our shower. We flagged the issue to Brand Vaughan who took a lengthy amount of time to respond to the email. This meant the shower was not fixed for around a week and 5 people were made to share one shower.

Great accommodation

I loved Rootes accommodation would recommend

Pretty quick to respond to maintenance issues

Was helpful, however communication could slightly improve

Moving into this house off campus next year. Letting agents seem helpful and attentive right now, the £100 to secure house before any signing though felt unnecessary but worked out ok. House seems good as of now but will know more in the coming 12 months

No issues with Brand vaughan, been a smooth process throughout