We moved after 6 months due to these people

When we had to move to Newark, in 2015, we had to find a house quickly. When we looked at the house managed by Martin and Co. it looked fine. It was clean and though there were a few small problems we were assured that they would be taken care of. We were also concerned about parking, as the house was in the high street, but we were told that they were sure that we could get a permit to park in the high street. When the day to move in arrived, we had driven up from the South, having spent three days packing, and arrived around 4:30pm. We signed papers in their office and they gave us the key, closing their doors at 5pm to go home. When we arrived at the house just after 5pm, it was a mess! There was mud and leaves everywhere. There was old food stuck to the kitchen surfaces, pee in the toilets, hairs in the bath....the works! We were newly married so didn't have a couch or chairs to sit on yet, and since we expected it to be clean (as promised by Martin and Co. upon viewing) we also didn't have a vacuum cleaner yet. So after a long day and no food, we then had to go shopping for a vacuum cleaner and cleaning products in a town that we didn't know, before the shops all closed, so that we could clean the carpets and surfaces for us to make food and sit down on. Thanks Martin and Co. We even found an old pan with thick, sludgy, smelly grease still in it, molding away inside the oven! The next day we marched over to them to have a word and their excuse was "Sorry, we must have missed the pan and the leaves and mud all over the house wasn't our fault, it was workers who'd come in to fix the place." When I asked why no one had inspected and cleaned the place after the workers had gone, weeks before we moved in, they had no answer and really, made it clear they didn't care. Next we noticed that there was no carbon monoxide alarm where the boiler was, inside our bedroom. The law making the installation of carbon monoxide alarms compulsory was two months away from being official but we honestly thought that they wouldn't mind giving us one early as spending a few pounds on something you have to buy in 2 months' time anyway is highly preferable to finding tenants dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in their beds. But no. When we politely asked for one, the girl in the office answered us with "We don't need to give you one until October." Only a week later when I explained to a different man that people die from carbon monoxide poisoning and that is why the new law had been made, did we get one. Hilariously, 3 months later, he came to inspect the house and asked where the carbon monoxide alarm was saying "you should all have one, it is the law." in a really pompous way as if we didn't know anything about houses or safety. When we tried to get parking permit like they said we would be able to, the council told us that there was no such thing available for Newark high street and so we were stuck parking 10 minutes away. This added 20 minutes onto even the shortest, quickest of journeys we took and carrying things from the car was always a nightmare if there was more than 4 large items. We later realised that Martin and Co. manage quite a lot of properties in the high street, and have been doing so for a long time. They must have known that it is impossible to have permit parking in the direct area! And they knew that whether or not we had parking by the house would make or break our decision to take the house in the first place. Sneaky, if you ask me, or just incompetent. When we looked at the inventory, all the hair straightener melt marks on the carpets and some of the marks on the walls were not on it, the dirt everywhere was not on it and even a whole room in the house had been left off. It was the worst try at an inventory for a house, that we'd ever seen. When we added in all the marks and damage to the house, they didn't know why we did and were annoyed by it. I had to explain to them that if it is not in the inventory and we come to leave the house, that they could easily say that WE caused the damage and hold back part of our deposit. They denied that they would do that, but I'd made that mistake in the past and wasn't going to do it again.....or let them get away with doing half a job either. Whenever they were supposed to do their jobs, they had a look of disdain and "I can't be bothered" attitude, even though doing those things is their job! It is what they are there for every day. They were always as unhelpful as they could be, and getting a bit of simple manners out of them was impossible. The staff that deal with tenants there need to go for some training (particularly in people skills), lighten up and get a grip. We decided within the first month of living in that house, to move out once our six month contract was up and since then we have actively avoided even viewing a house when it is managed by them. Never again.

Wilmie Burton - 02/11/2016 | report this review