Grosvenor Properties – Student Reviews On Letting Agents

This letting agent has been so awful do not use them. We are a group of 5 students living on Islingword Street and they have completely scammed us. They took all of our deposits, they don’t respond to emails or calls, they don’t have any official sites to get through to anyone. DO NOT USE

Awful communication, wouldn’t help with any issues raised, and took a £1000 from our deposit for for damages and wear and tear we had reported and asked to be fixed 7mo the before our tendency ended. These repairs were never made and ignored.

We had the worst experience with Grosvenor Properties as first time student renters. They were rude, aggressive and completely neglectful. Before you sign the contract and for the first month of the tenancy they seem on top of their stuff and perfectly nice. Once they have your money they soon switch. We lived in a house with rotten windows all year, all through winter in the freezing cold. They would take months to reply to our emails, ignored our texts and calls. Kim Champion who works for them came to our house and shouted at us and was threatening to a tenant’s mother. They fabricated charges for our deposit, and charged us for pre excising issues (that we had reported). They charge ridiculous amounts for rent, and you get basically no service. They don’t even have an office – probably to avoid angry students and guarantors from contacting them further. Avoid like the plague. Caused us a year of stress, anxiety and a lot of hard work. They also fined us for late rent payments which were a result of corona virus having an impact on our financial situations. Disgusting company, disgusting people. They will probably change their name soon to avoid the bad reviews (they tried to change their name to CityLets to avoid responsibility for our house. The reviews on their website are clearly fake, Kim certainly is not a Champion.

They fleece you for everything you have! DO NOT BUY FROM GROSVENOR! Ridiculous rent, deposit absolutely rinsed when it was returned to us. The epitome of taking absolute advantage of financially vulnerable students.

worst worst worst agency, I am still trying to get my deposit back. The fact they don’t have an actual office so you cannot go and confront them is disgusting. They just ignore emails and are so unorganised. Absolute scum CALL ROGUE TRADERS

We signed on with this agency with big hopes, but sadly left with even bigger overdrafts. This agency will bleed you dry. As a previous tenant I would highly recommend not touching anything in the house during your tenancy, as they will find a way to charge you for it come the end of the year. If you feel the need to use your mattress at any point during the year make sure that you are particularly un-moist, as any form of mark will result in the whole thing being replaced, rather than logically being cleaned for a fraction of the price. Come the end of our tenancy we lost a large portion of our deposit, which disappeared around the same time as the agencies helpfulness. We have since had the majority of this deposit rightly returned to us, alas our faith in the agency has yet to reappear. We have since moved on

100% would NOT recommend going with Grosvenor Properties. Like all of the other reviews have stated, they are absolute crooks. They honestly will do anything to get as much money from you as possible by having hidden charges everywhere. Before we moved in, Kim Champion made us so many promises, none of which were kept. He promised that any of the furniture that we did not want (lousy desks and plastic school chairs in the bedrooms) would be picked up and stored for us free of charge, a promise that was not kept. When we moved in, we were told that the entire house had been professionally cleaned, though there was mould in all of the kitchen cupboards, bathrooms and bedrooms. We were also horrified with the condition of the sofas that were provided for us, as they were stained, smelt, dirty and covered in mould. Once confronting Grosvenor with this issue, they were incredibly reluctant to give us new sofas, and it was only after we found drugs hidden in them that they finally agreed to replace them. Despite this, we still had to wait for over a month for the new sofas to arrive. We then found that one of the bedrooms had a very noticeable leak from the upstairs bathroom, which had not been sorted all summer before we moved in. It had left a large yellow stain across the entirety of one wall and was damp to touch. Surely if the house had been professionally cleaned, as promised, then Grosvenor would have noticed this issue and sorted it out promptly. They were also very unhelpful in sorting out the issue, simply painting over it once the leak had stopped, leaving one of us to sleep in a damp, mouldy room with a dehumidifier for the rest of the year. Another issue we experienced was that on one of the first days of our tenancy, Kim, accompanied by two men unknown to us, let himself into the house around 9am with no warning and without knocking first. This is a clear violation of their contract; though there was little we could do about it due to the lack of proof and the fact that we were naïve to how much of a violation this really was at the time. This was a reoccurring issue, as they seemed to lack the ability to give us the full 24 hours notice of a visit. Additionally, after promising us a two-year contract before moving in, we were told just a few months into our first year that we would have to move out as soon as we finished university for summer (3 months prior to our first year of our contract ending) as the landlords wished to renovate the property and sell it on. However, 2 months later, we found our house being advertised online as a student letting again and Grosvenor could not give a full explanation for this. After being with a new agency for this year, we have truly seen how unprofessional Grosevenor Properties really are. I would urge any students to stay away from this company, as they are unhelpful crooks.

Myself and 4 other flatmates have been with Grosvenor properties for 2 years and I can honestly say I will never go back to them. ‘But you were with them for 2 years!?’ I hear you say. This is an unfortunate consequence of Grosvenor being initially very promising and us being led to sign for another year before the crushing reality of their ineptitude coming down on us. The most frustrating thing about Grosvenor is their frank lack of transparency. From ‘forgetting’ to mention essential charges at the end of the tenancy to blatant and inaccurate inventories, they will squeeze every penny out of you in the most dishonest and crude ways. Furthermore, their abandonment mentality regarding maintenance and general inquires leaves much to be desired. They will hang you out to dry, turn your pockets out and leave you none the wiser. Oh, and yes they would send you a service charge for their swift and efficient mugging soon after. Yes, I understand I am a student and living is not going to be sunshine and rainbows. But, even after accepting this, I feel I have to put my experience into words to help future buyers. The only category I would give them 2 star in (and not 1 or less if I could) would be the quality of housing. The houses are nice with a reasonable price tag but they unusually come with a host of maintenance issues which are not going to be looked at and they know it. Hope this helps, just please avoid Grosvenor and save yourself the agony.

There’s not much to say that hasn’t been said in the other reviews, absolutely awful agency and I regret staying with them for two years. Disgusting money grabbing scum. Avoid at all costs

As usual, this ‘agency’ seemed all too helpful when I was negotiating for a shared let in Jersey Street. One year on and having moved to another property, trying to deal with them on the usual rip-off when it comes to getting my deposit back is like pulling teeth. Actually, I’d rather go to the dentist for root canal treatment than deal with this lot, particularly, the owner, one Linda Harmer-Strange. OK, we all expect a bit of give and take when it comes to the end of term cleaning bills but to charge me for a bounced cheque when I’d never paid by cheque was a bit much and then to add insult to injury, their in-house arithmetic left a lot to be desired and of course, it was a mistake to their advantage! Trying to get a measly £35 out of this lot is, as I said, like pulling teeth. I get the usual stonewall responses which I am sure is to just make me go away. It’s only £35 after all. But it’s the principle which counts. And, this is in addition to the withheld deposit amount of £200 which I am battling to have refunded. Please be wary of using Grosvenor Properties.

Grosvenor fill the typical stereotype of a student letting agency ready to rinse you for every penny you have. At the start of the tenancy they seemed really nice and happy to help. We had a few problems with privacy in the respect that in their contract legally they’re meant to give us 24 hours notice before showing up. To our surprise a whole group of people were shown round in a house viewing that we had not been told about. We messaged the agency about this who outright lied about it saying they had text us, which simply wasn’t true. They care more about getting the most money than the actually tenants. When it came to July, moving out time. They sent round an agent to do a report on everything that needed doing in the house. Some things I personally feel are the owners responsibility. Professional carpet and sofa cleaners, professional gardener, window cleaner, oven cleaner. We did it all, forked out £240 for professionals, filled in wholes, repainted bits of the wall, replaced light bulbs, redid the grouting. We mopped, hoovered, scrubbed the house with bleach. However when the report came back they said cleaning was poor, we hadn’t had professional cleaners in (even though we sent them the receipts), hadn’t hoovered or mopped and charged us £626 for ‘cleaning costs’. Like others have said, they pre fabricate problems, because they already have painters and professional cleaners booked in for the next day after we moved out anyway. They refused to talk to any of us apart from the lead tenant and basically washed their hands of us. What makes it worst is they took rent for July out of my account which I didn’t owe and charged my £25 to put it back in again. They want your money and any niceties is just an act.

Poor customer service throughout the tenancy no one seems to care at the office problems take forever resolve.They make you feel like your an idiot for calling them when you require their assistants.

The estate agents are perfectly nice when viewing houses. However, during the winter our house was VERY damp, one of rooms was inhabitable as it was so damp and mouldy. as a consequence, my drawers became covered in green mould and some of my clothes and shoes. Needless to say I was horrified and the estate agents responded by telling us to have the heating on and leave all the windows open. We had the heating on every evening but this did not solve any problems with the damp. We are yet to see if they take our whole deposit even though we have reported all problems to them as and when they have happened e.g. broken toilet, blocked shower. Would NOT recommend Grosvenor, they can be very rude and unhelpful.

When we first got is contact with the agents they were very responsive, and appeared to want to help us find a house we wanted. They did push us into putting our deposit down and we love the house. One of our house mates is from Jersey, and they stated she must pay the full 12 months up front or we would loose the house, this had not been mentioned when asking previously! And would recommend anyone not from England to avoid using them. At the beginning of te tenancy they dealt with problems promptly and even got us an extra fridge. However the last couple of months they have almost avoiding response, we went 2 months without hot water in our second shower and kitchen. Although overall we are very happy with our house.

Strongly advise against Grosvenor. They’re manner is terrible and they illegitimately took our deposits for pre-existing and fabricated problems. Absolute crooks, should be banned from letting property.

This agency just wants your money, they made you feel good at the start and as they have your back and will help you, yes bullshit. They ask me for the 200£ Agency fee, I paid so they could separate my room while we are going to make the contract, etc. They wanted a UK guarantor, with my dad has a house in Belfast, united kingdom, but for them its not part of it. Anyway, I asked two people friends of my mom so that they could be my guarantor. They tried to send the two email. And when I say to them maybe try with this friend. They were like… Our policy says the if we work more the three times you have to pay the deposit and everything in advance. Since the start they were asking for everything upfront, even of my dad has the money as they ask for a photo of my dad bank account of how much he earns per year, they ”offer” that, they had never told me about their policy of ”3 intents” not even in the contract which is unfair! After that I refuse to pay everything upfront as it was unjust that they create rules whenever they want, they say to me good luck looking for a room. Horrible service! Making young people being anxious and want to take more money At all cost. As a first experience with an agency, I will never go back with this one

When we first signed the contact with Grosvenor lettings we were not aware of the hidden costs. we were charged extortionate amounts of money for letters sent to us about things which were totally out of our control. We reported a rat problem to the agency early in the tenancy, they had not told us the property had history of rat infestations. Then charged us for the pleasure of the correspondence about the rats, additionally we were left without a lock on our front door for three months as the agency refused to pay for a locksmith. The agency refused to speak civilly to tenants, reducing myself and other tenants to tears on a regular basis blaming us for problems with the house which were present before we moved in. It was a horrible experience for a first time tenancy and i would warn anyone against letting with Grosvenor. They treat you well during the viewings then completely turn on you once they’ve got your deposit.