Graysons Property – Student Reviews On Letting Agents

I unfortunately had the misfortune of living in two different Graysons Properties, Gelt House on St Bede’s Terrace, Sunderland and City View on Thornhill Crescent, Sunderland. The check in appointments were fairly smooth and easy but that is where the positives end. While living at the flat on St Bede’s Terrace we encountered many problems. Firstly, my mattress was severely stained with unknown substances. When I asked them to at least provide me a mattress topper, they came a week later with a duvet. They then eventually brought a topper after a further few days. The window in the kitchen/lounge broke in the winter making the room freezing cold all the time. No attempt was made to fix it despite an issue being raised numerous times. Someone eventually came round in April to fix it, once it was warm again. This property didn’t require a deposit but we were charged £50 each for some small bits of blu tac left on the wall in one of the other tenants’ bedrooms. While still living at the flat on St Bede’s Terrace, we viewed another Graysons flat in City View in Sunderland City Centre. The agent showing us around the flat told me to park in the carpark behind the building and that it would be fine, yet there was a parking ticket on my car just 15 minutes later. We only rented with Graysons again due to no other flats or houses being available, it was a last resort. At the flat on Thornhill Crescent, we reported the sofa and one of the drawers in the fridge as broken minutes after we moved in. The sofa was in terrible condition and yet again no effort was made to fix it despite raising the issue multiple times. No effort was made to fix the drawer either. Despite these issues being caused by previous tenants, Graysons attempted to deduct significant parts of our deposits to fix them. In the Thornhill Crescent flat, one of the three hanging lights above the table was broke when we moved in. We reported it and someone came to take it down, when he was leaving, he said I’ll see you in 10 months with a new one while laughing. We laughed as well thinking it was a joke, it wasn’t. The app is useless and not user friendly. Numerous appointments are made and cancelled all the time, so you don’t actually know when a member of staff is going to come into the flat. The app also logs you out at random times. The flat on Thornhill Crescent had an issue with silverfish. We raised this issue many times and they’d send someone out every now and then yet nothing was ever done to fix the problem. Graysons attempted to charge us for things that fall under general wear and tear. For example, an invoice of £50 was raised for some small marks on the wall. Our tenancy ended on the 8th of September and I only received my deposit on the 14th of November after numerous emails, countless phone calls and broken promises. I’ve called three times in the last three days alone, I probably only got it back when I did because I said I would take it further. When arguing against the wrongful deposit deductions, the property manager actually had the nerve to ask me if I’d be willing to contribute to the cost of fixing the sofa and broken fridge draw which they had already accepted were damaged before I moved in. I wouldn’t recommend Graysons unless you want a long, painful, 2 and a half month argument to get your deposit back. Avoid.

Moving in day was horrendous. We travelled 2.5 hours to move our son in for his second year at uni. First of all they didn’t have him on the list to move in, then said his room wasn’t ready. After standing around for an hour they agreed to let him move in. Bearing in mind he had already missed his first week in uni because of the disorganisation, then we had to clean the flat as it wasn’t ready. He had no way of getting his mail as the post box was rammed full of mail for previous tenants and he wasn’t given a key. The fridges were rancid and the kitchen cupboards full of crap. There was no sweeping brush, hoover or bin. The kids had to source these themselves. The dishwasher was broken and didn’t get fixed until the day before they all moved out. A maintenance guy came to do a spot check and found black mould in the locked cupboard. Throughout their year, there had been a leak in one of the flats above which had left damage in this flat, the floor becoming a strange yellow colour. Again, the maintenance guy said it was mould. Within a month of moving into the flat my son started to develop a rash which quickly spread to his whole body. His eyelids were swollen and red. We took him to a walk in GP while he was home at Christmas and it cleared up. When he came home again in February it was back. We took him to another walk in GP and it improved whilst home but flared up again once he was back in the flat. At Easter he looked terrible. He couldn’t sleep for the soreness and itching and consequently had to resit his exam. He saw the GP again in Newcastle and was treated for the dermatitis likely caused by the mould. This is the point at which I realised the conditions they were living in. I have since changed his GP so that we could get him referred to dermatology, however, after spending the summer at home his skin is back to normal. After moving out of the flat, Grayson Properties have refused to refund any of his £450 deposit due to a mark on his ceiling which was caused by the above flat leak, and trying to charge us an extra £100 on top of that. They should be ashamed of themselves. Not only have they failed to actually maintain their own properties, they are stealing money from vulnerable young adults and doing nothing to actually rectify their own problems. The living conditions are disgusting and so is the way they conduct themselves. Take a look at their mission statement and why the business was started. To provide better living conditions! I will be taking this matter further and I’m in the process of reporting Grayson Properties to the Housing Ombudsman and council under the advice of Citizens Advice.

– Don’t sign for a flat and expect to get your full deposit back. They charge a standard ~£70 cleaning fee when you move out, and is only dropped once you contest with their deposit scheme. Emailing them with valid reasons such as hiring professional cleaners are not enough. There will also be charges for fair wear and tear that you will have to dispute. – Constant inspections in which they raise issues about the smallest things such as: not being allowed to have mirrors, not being allowed to sleep in the kitchen – If you do move in, you’ll have to use their own app to communicate with them, and at the end of the tenancy they remove any conversations you’ve had through the app so remember to screenshot everything. – The flat I lived in was decorated well, however the materials used were cheap and fell apart easily. They also charged you if any of it was damaged.

Our flat has been great so far and we have not had to report any problems.

The apartment was recently renovated and is well-designed. The doors can be loud when opening and closing but overall a nice place to live. However, Grayson Properties enforces a lot of rules and can complain about unnecessary things.