[Bels]

"SPACELET" is the agency that advertises itself [on gumtree as well]: we charge a small fee but we save you loads of money in rent..

1st you would never see what they promised to show ( they supposed to have "plenty" of properties in the area i wanted, at least i heard it before paying the fee of £70, but in fact i saw just one. they had problems contacting me with landlords despite that i was avilable all day.all days.

2nd the person that dealt with me (angela) was very unpolite and unprofessional, it is not what you expect when you pay for service..

3rd i clearly stated that my budget is 140-160, chosen area and i had to move in by 22nd of march. angela said i had plenty of time and she had what i want. so i paid. BIG mistake!
thieves feeding on our naivety!

i regret this decision and i would like to warn everybody.
what comes easy is fishy darlings ;-/

[karen]

don't do this.Last year I payed £50 to someone and never found a room for me.I found out (you should not pay people to find a room) IT the law

[Adam]

If its been found out that spacelet is all a fraud, why does Gumtree allow it on its site

[nicolekollermann@web.de]

Hi everybody,

We recently rented a flat through Chiltern Estates and would like to WARN you all. Don't rent through this agency. They are EXTREMELY unprofessional and a real rip off.
We had the most horrible experiences. We could not move in on time, had no heating, no hot water and no washing machine for a month (in January) and had to move out again after 2 months because the landlord had not paid his morgage for 6 months and by court order, the flat was taken over by the bank.
We never got any of our deposit back.

If you had a similar experience with this agency or know someone who had, please get in touch with me. We would like to sue this company.

Cheers Nicole

[Guest]

Nor through Empire Real Estate in Willesdeen Green. Lazy, unprofessional and to be honest dependant on which agent you get just plain rude.

We've had nothing but issues with them the last two properties we've been in. If everything's smooth sailing there's no problem but as soon as an issue pops up i'ts more hasstle than it's worth. I've got friends who are also having/had issues with them, to my knowledge they have at least three legal cases pending against them for various things.

[Bels]

Guys,
thanks for all your comments. I think that sharing those thoughts may help someone not to make the same mistake.

All the best

[riles]

Hi,

I agree, one should never pay someone to find a pad for you.

I had a very bad experience with flatland1971.com, based in glouster road, London.

thieving... is what they are.

I reccomend gumtree for all your accomodation searching needs.

Rgsd
Ross

[jenny]

I paid Flatfinder £70 and they are a total rip off. They are an aussie company ripping their own people off. Don't go to Flatfinder folks you will regret it.

[Helie]

I was going to look in flatland..good job I read this first.

Can someone start a list of good agencies?

[agnesk]

Am a relocation agent and interior designer. For those of you looking for a property to let such as bedsit, studio to 1,2,3+ bedroom flats/houses within greater london areas and Kent, drop me a line. I'ii do my best to get you the right accomodation from the right sources and you only pay me after completion(once you decide to move into the property!!!).

for more information, drop me a line,
Agnes
deco4homes@msn.com

[pollypocket]

I am a landlord and have had two lots of tenants thru Oaktree West London based in Ealing W5. The reports I have had via the tenants is that they are upfront and trustworthy - and they do return your calls!! They are always polite and they are professional in their approach. As a landlord I would recommend going thru them if looking for accommodation in the W3,W5,W13 etc area.

[suegibs]

Hey, guys we all have bad experience with various companies - no matter how good they are. All companies have good an bad days. I have actually done a survey of London letting agencies as part of a programme for the BBC and not all of them are dishonest or rip-offs. There are a few who are downright dishonest one in Gloucester Road and another in Kensington advertise heavilly and then don't produce the goods. The trick is to go to the agencies and ask them if you can look at the properties they are advertising. The ones who can't do this and make excuses like "Oh this one has just been taken" etc are not worth paying money for. Ask them what they can show you first and if you like what they have only then pay them. During our survey we found that the biggest problem that agents had was with people's expectations. No offence but most of the people who use Gumtree are antipodeans and what you don't realise is that property in London is very expensive. People when they first come here tend to convert their currency into £'s and expect the same standard as back home for very little. Unfortunately, properties in the lower bracket tend to be quite grotty. I'm sure just like your own property structures back home. We have some extremely good properties here and some fantastic ones but they don't come cheap. There are an awful lot of people with an awful lot of money in this town who can afford to pay high rents. Hope this has been helplful.

[Guest300]

Good point about the mismatch between what’s on the market versus tenant’s expectations. Essentially, London is overcrowded and high rent is the outcome, making it a Landlord’s market with the wealthiest bagging the best accommodation.

However, when you compare ‘Wanted’ ads in Gumtree for desired properties with those actually ‘Offered’, there is often quite a gulf between the two. Hopefully, the flat/houses wanted section provides a good service for tenants have their preferences met (location, size of property, rent level, etc).

I’m always intrigued by the ‘Wanted’ ads for 5/6 bedroom properties in zone 1 as hardly any even exist.

Also intrigued by adverts where tenants renting a house or flat together stipulate that the landlord to pay for all utility bills and council tax when most ‘offered’ properties routinely make it the tenants responsibility.

I also wonder whether those requesting nice 1 bed flats in central London for £600pcm have their request met to their satisfaction as I live outside central London where nasty flats demand much higher rent...

[eirkstat]

I wish I had read the comments on this forum before I registered with flatland. But unfortunately I did not. Therefore, I end up spending 61.50 pounds on something that did not provide me with anything. A service totally useless to me and to everyone that is looking for a place in London. The very first place they send me to, after I signed up with them, was the tiniest studio I had ever seen.

Therefore, I am suggesting you not to use their services. And if you think they might have a property in their books that you are seriously interested in then call them and tell them your membership number is 192. Make sure it is a girl that calls them and if they ask for a name tell them Eirini Koutoumanou. They way to pronounce this is as Irini, where 'i' as in 'list' and the surname as Kutumanu, where 'u' is pronounced as in 'urdu'. My membership finishes in 3 months, i.e. 31 June. I was looking for a studio but apparently you can say that things have changed in case you are looking for something different.

Please spread the message to as many people as possible.

Cheers. Eirini.

P.S. If someone does use my membership number and they ask for more details just email me at eirkstat@yahoo.co.uk and i'll give you the answers to all the questions.

[ross_kamini]

thanks for the comments about agents, i think we should all get together to protest this agents bussiness, we should do something so they can join some sort of goverment bodies as a landlord tenant we all been victim oneway or another.............

[neecheecat]

I also had a bad experiece with flatland a few years ago - what a con!

can anyone recommend any GOOD agencies that don't charge extortionate fees or any websites/newspapers that have GENUINE listings from private landlords?